21

James K. Polk

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:5,000.00 - 7,000.00 USD
James K. Polk

Bidding Over

The auction is over for this lot.
The auctioneer wasn't accepting online bids for this lot.

Contact the auctioneer for information on the auction results.

Search for other lots to bid on...
Auction Date:2018 Aug 08 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
ALS as president, one page, 8 x 10, June 15, 1845. Letter to "Hon. R. J. Walker, Sec. of the Treasury," in full: "I have an important letter from…Maj'r Donelson, of the 4th Inst.—Can you call on me at Coleman's before 11 o'clock this morning?" In fine condition, with a short split to the end of one of the intersecting folds.

Andrew Jackson Donelson, the adopted son of President Andrew Jackson, had been instrumental in helping Polk to win the Democratic nomination for president in 1844. He was then appointed as the US charge d’affaires to the Republic of Texas, with the aim of aiding America’s annexation of Texas. On June 4th—as Polk mentions in this letter—Donelson wrote to report Mexican troop movements on the Rio Grande, indicating that he believed an invasion of Texas would follow immediately upon Texas’ ratification of the annexation resolution. In a letter written by Polk to Donelson on the same day as this one, June 15th, he instructed him to let the Texas Convention vote for annexation on July 4th, promising to defend it: ‘The people of Texas, may be assured…that when she becomes a member of our Union, we will not only defend her but do her full and ample justice.’ Texas indeed voted for annexation on July 4, 1845, setting the stage for the Mexican-American War a year later.