United States Supreme Court associate justice (1762-1829) and the nephew of George Washington. ALS, one page both sides, 7.5 x 9.25, July 21, 1803. Handwritten letter from Mount Vernon to William Cranch, who was then serving as a judge of the United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia. In full: "I think I mentioned to Mr. Dallas in April last, that you were engaged in preparing for publication reports of the decisions in the Supreme Court since the removal of the Govt. to Washington, and regretted that there would be a chasm between his last volume & your work unless he would fill it up. He said that he should not publish those cases but would with pleasure furnish you with his notes of them. This I think is the substance of the conversation which passed between us, and I have no doubt of your obtaining his notes very readily upon application. It would be unfortunate in my opinion if the chain of decisions in the supreme national court should be interrupted by the omission of any one important case, and I should therefore strongly recommend an application being made to Mr. Dallas without loss of time that the cases may be published in the order they were decided. I should feel it no trouble to pressure the manuscript copy of the useful work on which you are engaged; but I am too well assured of your accuracy to venture with imperfect notes & a more imperfect memory any corrections whatsoever.” In fine condition, with seal-related paper loss to the integral address leaf. In addition to his federal judgeship, William Cranch succeeded Alexander J. Dallas as Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, holding the position from 1802 to 1815.
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