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1725

Meriwether Lewis

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:30,000.00 - 40,000.00 USD
Meriwether Lewis

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Auction Date:2012 Feb 15 @ 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
ALS signed “M. Lewis,” one page, 7.75 x 5, February 10, 1802. As secretary to Thomas Jefferson, Lewis extends an invitation to Dolley Madison, in full: "The President through me presents his most respectful compliments to Mrs. Madison and assures her he will be very happy in the company of herself and such other ladies as Mrs. M. may think proper to bring with her this evening—Wednesday. Feb. 10. 1802. M. Lewis.” Lewis also pens “Mrs. Madison” on the reverse. In very good condition, with evidence of professional repairs and reinforcements (primarily to the integral leaf), light intersecting folds, scattered areas of light soiling, some trivial foxing, and the text a bit light, but completely legible.

President Jefferson entered the White House in 1801 as a widower, and for social occasions he relied on friend Dolley Madison, the wife of his secretary of state, as his hostess. She was often accompanied by her charming, younger sister Anna, who was described as “a belle of Washington society…she so impressed Thomas Jefferson that he always chose her as his hostess for social events if Dolley was not available.” Anna was probably one of the “such other ladies” whose company Jefferson preferred to attend the February 10 party.

Lewis served as the president’s private secretary from Jefferson’s inauguration until he left to lead the expedition that bears his, and William Clark’s, names. A Virginian, Lewis had known Jefferson since childhood and resided at the White House, performing a wide range of duties which included organizing the president’s social calendar and arranging elegant dinner parties prepared by a French culinary staff. In 1804, Jefferson chose his old friend to lead the transcontinental expedition that explored the Louisiana Purchase from 1804-1806, and the president named him Governor of the Louisiana Territory in 1807. Two years later Lewis would be found at Grinder's Stand, an inn on the Natchez Trace, with multiple gunshot wounds…a death that remains a mystery.
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