Andrew Johnson Appoints Deputy Postmaster One Week After Lincoln Is Shot; It Is Co-Signed By An Acting Secretary Of State Since William Seward Was Recovering From His Wounds

ANDREW JOHNSON (1808-1875). Andrew Johnson was the Seventeenth President.DS. 15 x 9 . 1pg. April 22, 1865. Washington, D.C. A document signed Andrew Johnson as President and W. Hunter as Acting Secretary of State. The new President appointed Daniel A. McDonald to Deputy Postmaster in Illinois. KNOW YE, That, reposing special trust and confidence in the Integrity, Ability, and Punctuality of Daniel A. McDonald, I DO APPOINT Him Deputy Postmaster, at Princeton, in the State of IllinoisAndrew Johnson W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State. This document was signed one week after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Princeton, Illinois was a significant stop on the Underground Railroad and a stronghold of the abolitionist movement. Appointing a postmaster there during the first week of Reconstruction was an attempt for Johnson to establish his authority over the post-war North and South. This document is also signed by William Hunter, the acting Secretary of State. The actual Secretary of State, William H. Seward, had been attacked by a co-conspirator of John Wilkes Booth on the same night Lincoln was shot. This document has a giant Johnson autograph, a large wax seal, folds and is professionally framed.