Viewing Douglas A. Hedin: "Documents regarding the terms of the Justices of the Supreme Court of Minnesota Territory, 1849-1858: PART THREE-B. Salary legislation, opinions of the U. S. Attorney General, and Meeker Manifesto." (MLHP, 2009)

Douglas A. Hedin: "Documents regarding the terms of the Justices of the Supreme Court of Minnesota Territory, 1849-1858: PART THREE-B. Salary legislation, opinions of the U. S. Attorney General, and Meeker Manifesto." (MLHP, 2009)

To encourage judges to remain at their posts, Congress enacted legislation in 1851-1853 that barred payment of salaries to judges who were absent from the territory for longer than sixty days. Legislation on the salaries of absentee judges is posted in this Part.

Three official opinions of the Attorney General on the President's power to remove territorial judges follow.

Bradley Meeker's open letter to the residents of Minnesota Territory, published in the "St. Anthony Express" on May 6, 1854, concludes this part. In this extraordinary 4,400 word manifesto, Meeker argued that his removal from the court by President Pierce one year earlier was illegal, improper and unconstitutional. The publication of this manifesto preceded by three months, Meeker's petition to the territorial court to be reinstated to his former post. The docket entry of the court's decision is posted in Part Two-B.

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