ASSOCIATE JUSTICE LEVI WOODBURY - MANUSCRIPT LETTER SIGNED 05/26/1834 - HFSID 169237

LEVI WOODBURY
Upholds an Auditor's decision in a naval pay dispute
Manuscript LS: "Levi Woodbury" as Secretary of the Navy, 2p, 8x10. Navy Department, 1834 May 26. To Midshipman George A. Prentiss, U.S.S. Brandywine, Norfolk, Virginia. In full: "I have received your letter of the 24th instant, as to your pay. The qeustion settled by the 4th Auditor was one appropriate for his office - nor do I see that his decision departs from the principles and precedents heretofre of late years applied in similar cases - as it is not usual for the pay of officers, ordered to report in any vessel or yard in any acting capacity highter than their warrant or commission, to be increased till their new duties begin. Your increased pay as acting master of the Receiving Ship ceased of course when you were detached from that situation. It is regretted, that the decision should not correspond with your views, or should operate unfavourably on either your pay or messing; but it appears to conform to the general practice and regulations in other analogous cases, since the present Auditor came into office. I am respectfully your obedient servant." Docketed on blank integral leaf. Levi Woodbury (1789-1851) 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. Lightly creased and soiled. ¼-inch paper separation at outer edge of both horizontal folds. Ink on each side shows through lightly. Overall, fine condition.