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James Monroe

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:600.00 - 800.00 USD
James Monroe

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Auction Date:2013 Sep 18 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, 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
War-dated DS, signed “Jas Monroe,” one page, 7.75 x 7.75, November 7, 1812. Directives to “the public and private armed vessels of the United States,” prohibiting them from interfering with “any British unarmed vessels bound to Sable Island and laden with supplies for the humane establishment at that place.” Signed at the conclusion by Monroe as secretary of state. In fine condition, with central horizontal and vertical folds, one through a single letter of signature, and a small area of paper loss to upper right and bottom edge.

Two hundred miles off the coast of Nova Scotia lies Sable Island, surrounded by dangerous, shifting sandbars which have caused hundreds of recorded shipwrecks over the last five centuries and earned it the nickname ‘the graveyard of the Atlantic.’ In 1801, the governor of Nova Scotia established a humanitarian settlement on the island to rescue sailors of any nation who encountered trouble there. Shortly after the US declared war on Britain in 1812, Secretary of State James Monroe issued this notice on behalf of President Madison, announcing that any unarmed British ships bound for “the humane establishment” there were to be uninterrupted. With Novia Scotia serving as one of the largest military bases for the British Royal Navy’s blockade and naval raids on the US, and the extreme importance that maritime domination held in the War of 1812, this is an especially interesting war-dated piece, showing an intelligent and diplomatic decision on the part of Madison and Monroe.