1154

WELLES, GIDEON

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:200.00 - 300.00 USD
WELLES, GIDEON
(1802 - 1878) Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy who proposed the blockade of Southern ports and the construction of an ironclad fleet. Good political content A.L.S. 3pp. 4to., Hartford, May 9, 1845 to Secretary of War William Marcy concerning a newly appointed revenue collector in Bridgeport, Connecticut, noting that the appointee: ""...S. Loundsbury...took the benefit of the Bankrupt Act..."" and disparaging the nominee's supporters: ""...John Cotton Smith Jr. begged the appointment of delegate to Baltimore [convention] pledged himself and was instructed to vote for Mr. Van Buren. Faithless to his pledge & instructions, he appears at the Treasury Department and asks as some reward for his infidelity, that one of his friends, a bankrupt, may be made a revenue officer...This is the second Bankrupt appointed a revenue officer...in Connecticut, and there was a loud outcry..."" It should be remembered that William Marcy coined the phrase ""to the victors belong the spoils"". Usual folds, otherwise very good condition.