The 30 Minute Rule begins August 12 at 7:00 PM EDT. An Initial Bid Must Be Placed By August 12 at 6:00 PM EDT To Participate After 6:00 PM EDT
Partly-printed DS, signed “Th: Jefferson" as president and "James Madison" as secretary of state, one page, 16.75 x 16.75, November 21, 1806. Four-language ship's pass issued to “George C. Allen, master or commander of the Ship called the Citizen…lying at present in the port of New York, bound for Havanna and laden with Paper, Soap, Wine, Aniseed, empty Bottles, Beef, fish, Hats, Tea, Rouge, Dry Goods, Butter, Lard, Apples, Shoes, Saffron, & Lumber.” Signed neatly in the center in ink by President Thomas Jefferson and countersigned below by Secretary of State James Madison. The document is also signed by David Gelston as Collector of New York. The central portion retains the original white paper seals. In very good to fine condition, with trimmed edges, and some minor loss to the upper and lower right corners.
Issued on November 21, 1806, this ship's pass for the Citizen, bound from New York to Havana, bears the exact date of Napoleon's Berlin Decree, which inaugurated the Continental System and transformed the conditions under which American merchant vessels operated in the Atlantic world. Over the following year, the escalating conflict between Britain and France placed increasing pressure on neutral American commerce, as both powers imposed restrictions that threatened the maritime trade Jefferson and Madison sought to protect. Issued in four languages, the pass was designed to facilitate the movement of American merchant vessels through an Atlantic world increasingly shaped by the conflict between Britain and Napoleonic France. Notably, it is also countersigned by New York Collector David Gelston, the federal official who would soon be charged with enforcing Jefferson's Embargo Act, the policy that effectively curtailed the very trade routes such passports were designed to facilitate.
This item is Pre-Certified by PSA/DNA
Buy a third-party letter of authenticity for
$250.00
*This item has been pre-certified by a trusted third-party authentication service, and by placing a bid on this item, you agree to accept the opinion of this authentication service. If you wish to have an opinion rendered by a different authenticator of your choosing, you must do so prior to your placing of any bid. RR Auction is not responsible for differing opinions submitted 30 days after the date of the sale.
Third-party authentication service applies only to signatures and handwriting, and does not cover the addition of sketches, artwork, musical quotations, etc.
