PRESIDENT MARTIN VAN BUREN - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 11/12/1814 - HFSID 13680
Price: $2,500.00
MARTIN VAN BUREN. Early ALS: "M.V. Buren" as State Senator, 2p, 8x9¾. No
place but probably Albany, 1814 November 12. To L. Elmerdorht Esq. In part: "Yours
directed to me at NYork was duly received & its contents attended to-having long since
established a perpetual non-intercourse with the man your business was with, it was somewhat
difficult of accomplishment…(confidential) on board the Steam Boat I fell in company with Peter
Townsend who tendered his services to me to get two votes from members over whom he thought
he had influence for Genl Armstrong for U.S. Senator & on my telling him I knew nothing of it
& had nothing to do with it, he appeared astonished & said he had no strong attachments there
& & much confused-What does this mean-in whose employ is this man-must we have the devil to
pay again-write me. The classification bill is extremely popular here…." War of 1812 Brigadier
General JOHN ARMSTRONG, U.S. Senator from New York from 1800-1802 and
1803-1840, had served as President Madison's Secretary of War from February 5, 1813 to
September 27, 1814, when he resigned and returned to agricultural pursuits at Red Hook,
New York. He did not return to the U.S. Senate as was favored by PETER TOWNSEND.
VAN BUREN's colleague in the State Senate, fellow Democrat Nathan Sanford, was elected
to succeed Democrat Obadiah German in the U.S. Senate. Van Buren may have returned to
Albany on Robert Fulton's steamboat, the Fulton, which traveled the Hudson from New
York to Albany. In Albany in 1814, 31-year-old State Senator Van Buren, who supported
President Madison's war policies, carried through the New York legislature an effective
war-measure known as "the classification bill", a draft providing for 12,000 men to be placed
at the disposal of the government for two years. Early content letters of Van Buren,
especially those relating to the War of 1812, are scarce and desirable. Fragile. Folds, not at
signature. Nicked at edges. Worn. Shaded, 5-inch vertical shading touches 7 words. Ink notes
at blank corner, signature side (unknown contemporary hand). Encapsulated.
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