A rare letter written by President Abraham Lincoln in 1864 was expected to sell between $3 million to $5 million US dollars in a Sotheby’s auction today.

It met expectations and in fact broke a record for any presidential manuscript and any American manuscript ever auctioned. The final winning bid was $3,401,000.

The manuscript was Lincoln’s response to a "Children’s Petition to the President asking him to free all the little slave children in this country."

According to a Sotheby’s press release,

"The letter, which is arguably Lincoln’s most personal and powerful statement on God, slavery and emancipation, was purchased by an American private collector bidding over the telephone."

In the reply to the children’s letter, Lincoln wrote,

“Please tell these little people I am very glad their young hearts are so full of just and generous sympathy and that, while I have not the power to grant all they ask, I trust they will remember that God has, and that, as it seems, He wills to do it.”

The letter was part of a collection of Lincoln rarities from the Dr. Robert Small Trust.

In addition to Lincoln documents, several other prominent letters and documents went up for auction from prominent historical figures like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Buchanan, Calvin Coolidge, and John Brown.

A listing of these and their final winning bids can be read in the Sotheby’s sales results.