Partly-printed DS, signed “A. Lincoln,” one page, 7.5 x 6.25, April 20, 1840. Promissory note, in part: "Twelve Months after date, we jointly and severally promise to pay Erastus Wright School Commissioner, and Agent for the Inhabitants of the County of Sangamon, for the use of the inhabitants of the County Sangamon, the sum of one hundred dollars." Signed at the conclusion by William Butler, Nathaniel Hay, and Abraham Lincoln. In good to very good condition, with heavy toning, and professional repairs to paper loss and tears, two of which pass through the signature.
On April 20, 1840, William Butler borrowed $100 from school fund commissioner Erastus Wright and promised with this document to make payments semi-annually with 12 percent annual interest until repaid. Nathaniel Hay and Abraham Lincoln co-signed the note as sureties that Butler would repay the loan. Hay immediately paid $6 as interest for the first six months, paid $12 in April 1841 for interest for one year, and paid $106 on September 6, 1842, for the principal and remaining interest.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 had established the principle of setting aside the sixteenth section (640 acres) of each township for the support of education. In Illinois, each county appointed a school commissioner to sell land in these sections and to make loans of the proceeds to support public schools in the county. In the case of the loan to Butler represented by this document, the school fund gained $24 in 29 months on the loan of $100. When purchasers or borrowers failed to pay their debts, the school commissioner turned to the local courts to obtain payment. Lincoln and his partners handled dozens of such cases for Wright.
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