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183

John Tyler

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:15,000.00 - 17,000.00 USD
John Tyler

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Auction Date:2012 Aug 15 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : 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
Remarkable ALS, signed “J. Tyler,” three pages on two adjoining sheets, 7.75 x 10, dated June [18], 1856. Letter to Colonel John S. Cunningham in Washington, DC. In part: “I think that I said to you in my last letter that I have [sic, was] deliberating the question whether I should repeat my lecture for the benefit of the Mt. Vernon Association or not, upon a request to do so at Richmond on the 14 July and also at Lynchburg on such other day as I might select. If I did not do so in my last letter to you, it is proper for me now to state, that since the appearance of Mr. [John A.] Washington’s letter declining to sell Mt. Vernon (for so I construe that letter), I have indefinitely postpon’d all invitations from that association. I have also recievd [sic] invitations from the Library Association of St. Louis and the Lyceum of Poughkeepsie, but they are too distant from me and I have declined them…

The doings of the Convention at Cincinnati prove acceptable to most of the people hereabouts atho’ very many were the advocate of Genl. Pierce. No man certainly could have more strongly manifested his devotion to the constitutional rights of the South, and his failure to recieve [sic] its entire vote arrises [sic] more from what appears to be a settled determination to limit the Presidential term to four years than to any thing else. We may set it down as quite certain therefore that no man is to fill the chair longer than four years. Many of the Old Line Whigs will vote for Buck and Breck. That is the new Tip and Tie firm.”

Reverse of second page bears an address panel in Tyler’s hand to “Col. John S. Cunningham, Washington, D.C.,” free-franked in the upper right, “J. Tyler,” and bearing a “Free” stamp and a June 18, Norfolk cancellation.

In very good to fine condition, with intersecting folds, one through a single letter of signature, scattered light spotting and textual smudging, light show-through from writing on opposing sides, and some light mounting remnants to reverse of second page.

In this letter to his friend John Cunningham, a purser in the Navy, Tyler revisits a past discussion on whether or not to redeliver a lecture on the members of his presidential cabinet who had passed away, including John C. Calhoun and Daniel Webster. The Mount Vernon Association, the nation's first historic preservation society established in 1853 to raise money to buy and maintain Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate, requested his lecture in support of their cause. He writes in a personal manner, from friend to friend, informing Cunningham that he has “indefinitely postpon’d all invitations from that association.”

He continues with an account of the 1856 Democratic National Convention, held in Cincinnati, in which President Franklin Pierce was denied re-nomination, James Buchanan was nominated for President, and John C. Breckinridge for Vice President. The highlight of this letter is Tyler’s reference to his own past campaign song-turned-slogan from 1840, “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” The tune, referring to Harrison by the title of his victorious 1811 battle at Tippecanoe, debuted at a New York Whig Party rally in 1840 and spread through the nation, quickly becoming the most famous in American history. Twenty-five years past his own election, he alters the slogan to fit current candidates James Buchanan and John C. Breckinridge: “Many of the Old Line Whigs will vote for Buck and Breck. That is the new Tip and Tie firm.” This is a marvelous letter, not only special for its personal tone in navigating the business of a former president, but also for its reference to his own campaign slogan, one of the best-known of all time.
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