On 6 January 1840, wrote a letter from , Illinois, to JS and his associates in in response to a letter JS sent him on 19 December 1839. Weber, a furniture manufacturer who moved to Springfield from Shepherdstown, Virginia, in 1836, was lobbying the legislature to explicitly instruct the state’s delegates in the Congress to vote in favor of the ’s petition for redress and reparations. In his letter, Weber reported on the state legislators’ initial response to the church’s case and on the obstacles that partisan politics presented to his efforts. The reason for and extent of Weber’s influence with state legislators are unclear, but it appears that he was a Democrat.

It is unknown how sent this letter to JS and when JS received it. Correspondence from usually arrived in in about three weeks, but some letters—such as JS’s 19 December letter to Weber—arrived much faster. JS likely received Weber’s letter in mid- to late January. Weber’s original letter is apparently not extant. entered the version featured here into JS Letterbook 2 between April and June 1840.