America's Paper Trail: Amazing Manuscripts
From The Raab Collection
Following America's Paper Trail from the Rabb Collection
By Michael Stillman
The Raab Collection (formerly Steven Raab Autographs), a dealer in primarily American historical autographs, has issued its 15th anniversary catalogue, "Following America's Paper Trail in historical letters, documents & manuscripts." This is not a typical autograph catalogue. It is a catalogue of signed historical documents of great importance.
There is Andrew Jackson's appointment which challenged the assumption that the President could not fire cabinet or other officials he appointed which required congressional approval. There is Lincoln ordering the blockade of the South which started the Civil War. Raab even offers Theodore Roosevelt's letter in which he coined, no borrowed, the expression "speak softly and carry a big stick." We will get to these in due course, but for this review, we will start a bit earlier. The catalogue is in chronological order, so we will follow the same.
In 1792, John Adams served as Vice-President of the United States, but also as President of the Senate. In that capacity, it was his job to collect the electoral vote for that year's election. George Washington, already recognizing the growing split that would lead to the two-party system, ran for re-election as a unifier. It worked this time, but other than Monroe's re-election in 1820, the country would never see such unity again. However, at the vice-presidential level, the divisions became more pronounced, and Adams had to hold off a challenge from George Clinton. This document is Adams acknowledgement as Senate President of receiving the votes from Connecticut, which supported his vice-presidential candidacy. Priced at $75,000.
As mentioned, the election of 1820 would be the only other when the nation was so united. It was the "Era of Good Feeling." In 1819, President James Monroe took a trip around the country, and was warmly received wherever he went. Returning to Washington, he wrote this letter to the Mayor and City Council. He speaks of finding "a people virtuous and intelligent, attached to their free institutions, and firmly resolved to support them..." With regard to the Native Americans, Monroe says, "To the conditions of the Indians I have always paid attention, and shall feel happy in giving effect, as far as I may be able, to the wise & salutary laws of Congress calculated to promote their civilization and happiness." In a particularly significant point, he states, "I have endeavored to examine with care the dependence and connection of various parts of our Union on each other, and have observed with great satisfaction the eminent advantages which they respectively derive from the intercourse existing between them." This speaks to the slave/non-slave state divisions which would eventually split the nation, but in the following year, the Missouri Compromise would put even this issue on hold.
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America's Paper Trail: Amazing Manuscripts
From The Raab Collection
Lincoln orders blockade of southern ports in 1861.
It was certainly a wonderful time for the young nation, and yet by 1824, the rancor of the Quincy Adams-Jackson election would be splitting the nation, and by the end of the 1820s, the North-South divide would begin to grow wide and Jackson would be treating the Indians in ways not exactly designed to "promote their happiness." We could certainly use Monroe today. $29,000.
The election of 1824 would end on a contentious note, and not surprisingly. It was one of only four in American history where the candidate with the largest share of the popular vote was not elected (the others being Hayes-Tilden, Harrison-Cleveland, and Bush-Gore). Andrew Jackson believed that back door dealings between the successful John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay deprived him of earned victory. However, on the eve of the election, before anyone knew what was about to happen, the situation was more cordial. In 1824, James Tallmadge, a New York State assemblyman and former congressman, wrote Adams and Jackson about the possibility that the election might be thrown into the House of Representatives (there were also two other serious candidates) and his proposals to deal with it. Both Adams and Jackson, like good politicians, refused to take positions on Tallmadge's suggestions. For Adams, they were a "decision for others," for Jackson, he would "rest contented" with whatever decision others made. Jackson's letter is particularly interesting because he emphasizes how little interest he has personally in being president. He only ran because, "A portion of my country, however, & not through any solicitation of mine, have thought proper to consider me worthy of this high post..." And, if he lost, Jackson assures, "should the choice fall on any other, believe me, my dear sir, that not one moment's displeasure shall be felt by me." No, not one moment's displeasure, but four years' worth. Jackson would be quite displeased with the election being "stolen" from him, and would work for his revenge, four years later, when he would sweep Quincy Adams from office. $25,000 and $28,000.
One of those major constitutional issues would be decided in 1833 when President Jackson sought to remove treasury Secretary William Duane from office. Jackson, an opponent of the National Bank, wanted to remove federal funds from it. However, he needed to have his Treasury Secretary perform the operation, and Secretary Duane both refused to cooperate or resign. As this was a position that had originally required the consent of the Senate, it was not clear whether the Executive had the authority to fire such an official. That uncertainty would not stop Jackson, who would accomplish his goals by simply making the change. Less remembered is that Secretary Duane was not the first official Jackson removed. His first removal of a confirmed official was General Samuel Milroy, the obscure Register of the Land Office at Crawfordsville, Indiana. This document is Jackson's signed appointment of Charles Tyler to replace the "removed" General Milroy. Tyler was evidently no great celebrity either, as Jackson left a blank space for his first name, which Jackson evidently did not know, and which was never filled in. $7,000.
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America's Paper Trail: Amazing Manuscripts
From The Raab Collection
T.R. advises
Christmas of 1860 was not a very celebratory time in South Carolina. On December 20th, the South Carolina Convention voted to secede from the Union. However, South Carolina was alone at the time, and it would need the support of the other southern states to make it hold up. On the 24th, the state prepared a document to be sent to its southern neighbors, to be sent to "the people of the slaveholding states of the United States." In it, they described the U.S. constitution as an "experiment," one which "consisted in uniting under one Government different peoples, living in different climates, and having different pursuits of industry and institutions." They then say, "The experiment has failed." Lest anyone forget the purpose, they conclude, "We ask you to join us in forming a confederacy of Slaveholding States." On the following day, Christmas, 1860, the South Carolina Convention resolved to have the state's governor send its documents of secession to the other southern states to gain their support. Raab offers that resolution, as signed by the Clerk of the Convention. $130,000.
The preceding document could be described as one which started the rebellion. Here's one which started the Civil War. By April of 1861, the nation was on the brink of war. General Winfield Scott had prepared a plan for President Lincoln to strangle the South early on. It called for a naval blockade of its ports. Such a blockade would prevent importation of arms and export of cotton and other goods for cash. Ultimately, it was one of the major reasons for the South's eventual defeat. However, a blockade was considered an act of war, and a tacit admission that the Confederacy had become a separate nation. Once Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter, Lincoln realized he could no longer worry about such technicalities. A week later, on April 19th, Lincoln issued his proclamation blockading the Southern ports, perhaps the official start of war from the Union side. That signed proclamation is offered in this catalogue. $900,000.
In 1900, Theodore Roosevelt was a reform governor of New York. He found himself in battles with his own party's bosses, who would be happy to see him kicked upstairs shortly to the office of vice-president. Roosevelt was determined not to reappoint a corrupt insurance commissioner who had the support of the Republican bosses, and succeeded in outmaneuvering his opponents. Here he writes to an ally, Assemblyman Henry Sprague, on the success. Says Roosevelt, "I have always been fond of the West African proverb: 'Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.'" T.R. perhaps spoke more boisterously than softly, but he did carry a big stick, and he did go far. While the "you will go far" part has been forgotten, the rest remains the motto associated with this man who is surely one of the greatest presidents this nation has ever seen. $200,000.
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America's Paper Trail: Amazing Manuscripts
From The Raab Collection
The Last Will and Testament of President Warren Harding.
In 1910, when being associated with a prestigious university still commanded respect from the electorate, Woodrow Wilson was a reform president of Princeton University. It brought him popularity and national respect. The Democrats were very interested in seeing him run for Governor of New Jersey, but the party bosses were concerned that he would throw them all out and bring in his own party apparatus. To learn Wilson's intentions, they employed Wilson's friend John Harlan to act as a go between. Wilson reassures Harlan, "...I would not, if elected Governor, set about 'fighting and breaking down the existing Democratic organization and replacing it with one of my own.' The last thing I should think of would be building up a machine of my own." However, Wilson goes on to indicate that he would expect the party to work for the best interests of the state and that he would have power over appointments. Apparently the letter was sufficiently comforting, as Wilson would be elected New Jersey Governor later that year, and two years later complete his meteoric rise to the presidency. And if the name of the recipient of this letter, John Harlan, is familiar, that's not surprising. His father, John Harlan, was a Supreme Court justice who wrote a marvelous dissent in Plessy vs. Ferguson, the case which approved of "separate but equal" segregation (overturned in 1954's Brown vs. Board of Education), and his son, yet another John Harlan, was also appointed to the Supreme Court the year after the Brown decision. $40,000.
This is just a few of the truly amazing signed documents in this collection. Here are a few more. There is Grant's last command before he was temporarily exiled from field responsibility (he would return as general-in-chief and the course of the Civil War would be changed). There is also an odd later letter in which Grant debunks claims that he ever acted on the basis of dreams. Included is Warren Harding's almost last will and testament, prepared before the start of the western trip on which he died (a slightly revised version was probated). Another letter offered is from Orville Wright, prepared in 1944, 40+ years after Kitty Hawk, in response to those who claimed the Wright Brothers didn't invent the airplane. There is William Henry Harrison's first order as commander of the Northwest Army in 1812, a role which would propel him to the presidency 28 years later. Grover Cleveland was the only president to have two successors, as he was the only president to serve nonconsecutive terms. He outlived both of his successors, Benjamin Harrison and William McKinley, and Raab offers Cleveland's eulogies to both. There is a back channel attempt by F.D.R. to get the British more involved in forming a united front against the developing threats from Japan, Germany and Italy while appeaser Neville Chamberlain was still Prime Minister. Of course Churchill would later be the one doing the arm twisting to get America more involved. There's an anti-racism letter from Ronald Reagan sounding like a liberal Democrat, which he was in 1945. And there are documents from George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee, William Sherman, Harry Truman, John Marshall, Meriwether Lewis, Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, and W.C. Fields, to name a few more. This catalogue is a wonderful piece of Americana itself.
You will find The Raab Collection on the internet at RaabCollection.com, or you may call them at 610-446-6193.
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