Abraham Lincoln Appoints the Arabist Edward Joy Morris as Minister Resident to Turkey

Courting Pennsylvania by way of Constantinople, Lincoln puts the finishing touches on his appointment of Keystone State Congressman Edward Joy Morris, the Minister Resident to Turkey; the Seal of the United States, the President directs, is to be affixed to the envelope of a letter - carrying Morris’ credentials - addressed to His Imperial Highness, the Sultan of Turkey.

A month before, Lincoln wrote that it seemed “Pennsylvania is well entitled to the place,” and so picked Morris who, happily, was not only a good Republican, but a seasoned traveler who had visited, and written about, the Levant. In 1842 he published Notes of a Tour through Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Arabia Petraea, to the Holy Land " and in 1855,  translated from the German Alfred De Besse’s The Turkish Empire, Embracing the Religion, Manners, and Customs of the People: with a Memoir of the Reigning Sultan and Omer Pacha.
 
Morris remained Minister at Constantinople until October, 1870.

Document Signed, as President, partially printed and accomplished in manuscript, 1 page, quarto, Washington, June 12, 1861. To the Secretary of State, William Henry Seward.