Lot #12

John Quincy Adams Autograph Letter Signed as a Massachusetts Congressman

Description

“I cannot pass over the occasion of your Election as Governor of your native state, without offering you my hearty congratulations”—Quincy commends his former Secretary of the Navy

ALS as a Massachusetts congressman, one page, 8 x 10, November 7, 1832. Addressed from Quincy, a handwritten letter to Samuel L. Southard, Adams’s former Secretary of the Navy and the new governor of New Jersey, in full: “I cannot pass over the occasion of your Election as Governor of your native state, without offering you my hearty congratulations; which are due still more to the state, and the country than to yourself. I take the same opportunity to ask your acceptance of a Moral and Historical Tale upon the Conquest of Ireland by Henry the Second.” The reverse is docketed by an unknown hand. In very good to fine condition, with short fold splits, and a stain to the upper right edge.

President James Monroe selected Senator Southard to be Secretary of the Navy in September 1823, and he remained in office under President John Quincy Adams. During these years, he also served briefly as ad interim Secretary of the Treasury (1825) and Secretary of War (1828). After a stint as the New Jersey Attorney General, Southard was elected as the state’s new governor in 1832, before ultimately returning to the U.S. Senate the following year. During the next decade, he was a leader of the Whig Party and attained national prominence as chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs. As President pro tempore of the Senate, he was first in the presidential line of succession after the death of William Henry Harrison and the accession of Vice President John Tyler to the presidency.

Auction Info

• Auction Title: Fine Autographs and Artifacts Ft. The Bob Neuwirth collection, Bob Dylan and Folk Music
• Dates: #713 - Ended 03/12/2025

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