In his letter to President Lincoln, Gideon Wells seeks to clarify the legal underpinnings of the blockade of southern ports. A partial transcription reads: "If the interdiction is to be by Blockade, then the rules and principles of inter-national law must govern-the Confederate States must be considered and treated as a distinct nationality-their collectors, revenue officers, clearance, registers &c are to be recognized as legitimate. But, if the interdiction is to be by the closing of the ports, which is a legal, municipal enactment of our own government, asserting, and carrying into effect its own authority within our own jurisdiction, then the collectors of the Confederate States, are to be regarded as nullitys, their registries and clearances of no account, and those who disregard our authority and laws, do so at their peril." (Library of Congress, American Memory Collection, Abraham Lincoln Papers) Historical Society [nhnycw/aj aj78002])