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Jefferson Davis

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD
Jefferson Davis

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Auction Date:2018 Dec 05 @ 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, three pages on two adjoining sheets, 6 x 9.5, July 25, 1882. Written from Beauvoir, Mississippi, a letter to Georgia Congressman V. H. Manning, in full: “I have received your kind letter of the 20th inst., and also the valued gift of the 4th Vol. of War records. The three preceding vols. sent by you were duly received, and acknowledged, as I the more distinctly remember from replying from your offer to continue to send the series while you remained in Congress, by the expression of the hope, that for our country’s sake I hoped your term would continue long beyond the probable duration of that publication. You also generously offered to send to me any other publication I might desire; to that I did not reply, because of unwillingness to tax you so heavily, and being mindful of the influence such attention has on constituents, I wished you to have the benefit of it. In the secluded life I lead, seldom leaving home except when business forces me to do so, much opportunity is afforded for reflection on published events, and I am sorry to say little gratification or hope is derived from the study. It is the proverbial vice of old men, to think the times worse than they were, and I would be glad to believe that the mists of age distort to me the aspect of public affairs. I cannot rejoice in the colossal wealth acquired by some men and some corporations. Our fathers expected by abolishing primo geniture to secure the more equal distribution of wealth. They reckoned not exactly of the ‘progressive’ generations which should succeed, and looking on the so called progress unreal because it is in material not moral advancement there is ever ringing in my ears as prophetic of our fate, ‘the land to hastening ills a prey where wealth accumulates and men decay.’ But I did not intend to inflict on you a homily, would rather cheer you in the race you are running for that distinction, which will not be less because it is the fruit of the exceptional method of honorable, unselfish endeavor.” In fine condition, with old mounting traces on the reverse of the final page. A heartfelt letter from the 74-year-old Davis, who addresses many of the great themes that dominated the transformation of the South—the growth of personal and corporate fortunes, the increasing focus on materialism over morality, and the decline of the republican goals of the founding fathers.