In the U.S. Circuit Court Lincoln & Herndon file declaration in Collins et al. v. Cook. Plaintiffs ask damages of $1,000 for failure of defendant to pay two promissory notes of $596.23 and $132.27. Record.

Lincoln writes an opinion concerning the welfare of eighteen-year-old Irish immigrant John Fitzgerald. Shortly after arriving in Springfield, Fitzgerald "fell sick, and became a public charge." Someone asked Lincoln to determine which governmental entity—the City of Springfield or Sangamon County—should "bear the charge." After studying the "new city charter," Lincoln concludes, "I think the Legislature intended that all public charges, arising from the indigence of persons, resident within the City, were to be borne by the City—and not by the County." Opinion, 18 December 1854, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, IL; Opinion Concerning John Fitzgerald, 18 December 1854, CW, 2:294-95.