ASSOCIATE JUSTICE LEVI WOODBURY - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 04/01/1842 - HFSID 154794

LEVI WOODBURY
Seeks a Navy commission for a former colleague's son
Autograph Letter signed: "Levi Woodbury" as U.S. Senator, 1p, 8x10. Senate Chamber, 1842 April 1. To "Sir". In full: "I have been for some years acquainted with the efforts of Thos. Gain of New York in behalf of the apprentice system in the Navy. He has a promising son, who is anxious to enter the Navy as a Midshipman, and believing that the father has some peculiar claims on the country in that branch of the public service, I should be gratified to see his son selected. Respectfully". Levi Woodbury was President Jackson's Secretary of the Navy (1831-1834) and Secretary of the Treasury (1834-1837), continuing in the Treasury when Van Buren became President (1837-1841). When he wrote this letter, he was obviously in transition, writing as Navy Secretary from his new location at Treasury. Woodbury was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by President Polk and served on the Supreme Court from 1845 until his death in 1851. He also held elective offices, including Governor of New Hampshire (1823-1824) and U.S. Senator from that state (1825-1831, 1841-1845). He sought the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1848. In the period when this letter was written, it was common for Senators to attend to correspondence while seated in the Senate Chamber and listening to the oratory there. Lightly creased. Minor nicks at right edge. Overall, fine condition.