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Hon. A. T. Akerman, Attorney General. Sir:

I hereby respectfully make application for the office of Pardon Clerk, now vacant in the Department of Justice.

I have served in the Department under Attorney Generals Speed, Stanbery, Browning, Evarts, Hoar, & yourself—am familiar with the general routine of the office (am the oldest in continuous service of any of the present clerks)—think I could soon learn the special duties of the pardon desk—and hope I should conscientiously seek to perform them, both with regard to their great official, and still greater moral obligations.

I would refer to Mr. Speed and Mr. Stanbery, Attorneys General, & Mr. Ashton, Assistant Attorney General, under whom I have acted as clerk, some of them for several years—and to Mr. Pleasants, late Chief Clerk—and if agreeable to you, or desirable, would bring written testimonials from them.

Very respectfully, Walt Whitman

Should it not be convenient to grant the foregoing application I respectfully ask to be promoted to a fourth-class clerkship, to date from 1st. of February, 1871.

Walt Whitman