ALS as president, two pages, 7.75 x 9.75, Executive Mansion letterhead, June 24, 1874. Letter to the departing Postmaster General Hon. John A. J. Creswell upon his resignation. In part: “As I expressed to you verbally this morning, when you tendered your resignation of this office of Postmaster General, it is with the deepest regret to me that you should have felt such a course necessary—You are the last of the original members of the Cabinet named by me as I was entering upon my present duties—and it makes me feel as if old associations were being broken up that I had hoped might be continued through my official life. In separating officially I have but two hopes to express: First, that I may get a successor who will be as faithful and efficient in the performance of the duties of the office you assign; second, a personal friend that I can have the same attachment for. Your record has been satisfactory to me, and I know it will so prove to the country ‘at large.’” Handsomely archivally mounted, cloth-matted, and framed with a portrait of Grant. Also includes Creswell’s letter of resignation, addressed to “The President,” in part: “After more than five years of continuous service, I am constrained by a proper regard for my private interests to resign the office of Postmaster General.” In very good to fine condition, with several horizontal creases and toning to the perimeter. Oversized.
As evident from this response by Grant, Creswell’s resignation was sudden and unexpected. Adding to Grant’s dismay was the fact that Creswell did an excellent job—he made sweeping reforms and reduced costs, implemented the first penny postcard, increased mail routes, and controversially abolished the congressional franking privilege that reduced revenue by five percent annually. Grant hoped to fill the vacancy with either a Southerner or New Englander, and with the approval of his cabinet appointed former Connecticut governor and minister to Russia Marshall Jewell. A rare handwritten presidential letter to a cabinet member, this is an excellent piece of historical significance. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.
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