PRESIDENT JOHN TYLER - AUTOGRAPH ENDORSEMENT SIGNED 04/26/1841 CO-SIGNED BY: ROBERT EDEN SCOTT - HFSID 4603
Price: $2,800.00
JOHN TYLER
Three weeks after becoming the first Vice President to replace a deceased
President, Tyler endorses a letter from Virginian politician Robert Eden Scott
recommending a doctor to government service.
Autograph Endorsement signed: "The writer of this/letter is a leading
mem/ber [sic] of the Va Legisla/ture [sic]/.J. Tyler".
1 page, 8x9¾. Endorsement on autograph letter signed "R.E. Scott".
Warrentown, Virginia, April 26, 1841. Addressed "To/The
President/of the United States". In full: "Sir,
Doctor Leach of this county visits the City with the intention of applying
for some employment under the government, and it gives me very great pleasure to
recommend him to your notice and favor. He is a gentleman of most excellent
moral character and great intelligence. Has been for many years past a resident
of this county and has exercised the office of Justice of the peace, a fact
which may be taken as full testimony to the estimation in which he is held here.
Dr. Leach has had the benefit of a liberal education, which united with good
natural parts well fit him for some consideration under the government. He has
been at all times an ardent and consistent Whig, and, I entertain no doubt, will
discharge with fidelity and success any employment which it may be his fortune
to receive." Robert Eden Scott (1808-1862), the writer of the letter,
served in the Virginia House of Delegates (1835-1842 and 1845-1851) and the
Virginia state constitutional convention (1850-1851) and the Virginia succession
convention (1861). He was a member of the Confederate Provisional Congress (as
was Tyler) from 1861 until May 3, 1862, when he was killed in a skirmish with
Union deserters. Just three weeks before this letter was written, President
William Henry Harrison died after only a month in office. It was the first time
a President had died in office. Vice President JOHN TYLER (1790-1862), who
had left for his home in Williamsburg, Virginia shortly after Harrison's
inauguration, was roused out of bed on the morning of April 5 with the news.
He rode to Washington the next day, where he was sworn in as President at
noon. Article II Section I of the U.S. Constitution provided that in case of
the death of the President, "the Powers and Duties of the said Office...shall
devolve on the Vice President." But there were those opposed to Tyler who
refused to address him as "President", saying that he was still the Vice
President with the powers and duties of the office of the presidency but not the
title. The public however, as evidenced by the address on this letter,
considered Tyler as the President. Tyler established a precedent by calling
himself the President, an action followed by Vice Presidents Fillmore, Andrew
Johnson, Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman and Lyndon
Baines Johnson when the President died. His precedent became the law in
1967, when the 25th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. Section 1
provides that "In case of the removal of the President from office or of his
death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President." Lightly
creased with folds. 1 horizontal fold touches the lower portion of the "y" in
Tyler's signature, which is also affected by an inkblot on the "T". Slight
separations at mid-horizontal folds, lightly soiled, else fine
condition.
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