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Elyton Alabama
May 17" 1866

Sir
I have the honor to request the appointment of Commissioner for the county of Jefferson Ala., under the Civil Rights Bills which has recently become the law of the land. 
Believing that impartial justice to the Freedman in the late rebel States is an impossibility without the interposition of United States laws administered by United States officers, that I possess the requisite qualifications for the office of Commissioner and that my appointment would meet the approbation of every loyal white and black man in the county. I will briefly state a few facts upon which my claims to your consideration are based. 
Though I have been a practicing physician in Jefferson County over sixteen years, I have by diligent study; during  a portion of the time acquired a knowledge of Common Law. My sentiments have always been anti-slavery
These sentiments and an almost idolatrous devotion to the fundamental principles of our