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Thomas Jefferson LS

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:0.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 500.00 USD
Thomas Jefferson LS
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Thomas Jefferson letter signed as President, dated 26 August 1808. Letter is addressed to a Mr. Cook, Esq., and ''the select men of Newbury port'', which was a sea port in Massachusetts that began to decline after the Embargo Act of 1807. Letter reads, ''Sir, I beg leave to communicate through you the enclosed answer to the representation which came to me under cover from you, I do add the assurances of my respect. / Th. Jefferson''. Includes two notations on verso, one written at the time the letter was delivered and one by a previous owner in 1835. This letter is referenced in ''The Writings of Thomas Jefferson'' as a cover letter to a treatise by Jefferson defending the Embargo Act of 1807. In this longer letter, directed at residents of Newburyport, Boston and Providence, Jefferson writes, ''…to have submitted our rightful commerce to prohibitions and tributary exactions from others, would have been to surrender our independence. To resist them by arms was war, without consulting the state of things or the choice of the nation. The alternative preferred by the legislature of suspending a commerce…'' Jefferson wrote this letter in response to a coordinated orchestration of town meetings among the three port cities, and a subsequent flurry of petitions directed at Jefferson. Provenance from the Thomas Jefferson Library, consisting of a transcript of the ''Embargo letter'' and analysis of its significance, is included in the lot. Letter is housed in a black frame with grayish blue mat measuring 21'' x 17''. Letter, measuring 7'' x 8'', is in very good condition, with portion of paper missing on verso, though unnoticeable as the portion is located on a folded part of the letter which is not seen or written upon.