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LS as president, one page both sides, 8 x 9.75, June 22, 1831. Addressed from Washington, a letter to Mary ‘Polly’ Carroll Caton, in full: “Your favor of the 16th was duly received, and I have delayed acknowledging it only until I could have a conversation on the subject with the Secretary of State. There being at this moment no vacancy in the situations to which you refer, it is out of my power now to meet the wishes of your venerable father in regard to Mr Harper. I beg you, however, to convey to him the assurance that to be able to do so would be highly gratifying; and that should an opening occur, the pretensions of Mr Harper will be taken into consideration with every disposition on my part to view them in the most favorable light. I am about to leave this for the Rip Raps, where I have already experienced the benefit of sea bathing and retirement. On my return, should public business allow me another interval for recreation, it could not, I beg you to be assured, be passed more agreeably than in a visit to the Manor. Be pleased, Madam, to present to your father, and to accept for yourself, the assurance of my high regard & distinguished consideration.” In fine condition.
The recipient, Mary ‘Polly’ Carroll Caton, was the daughter of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, who was 93 years old when Jackson wrote this letter and died the following year. Jackson’s reference to her “venerable father” therefore carried particular significance, while his proposed visit to “the Manor” evidently refers to Doughoregan Manor, Carroll’s longtime Maryland estate. The “Mr Harper” for whom the family sought a government position was likely Charles Carroll Harper, Carroll’s grandson through his daughter Catherine and the late Senator Robert Goodloe Harper, although the letter itself identifies him only by surname.
The request came at a moment of considerable upheaval within Jackson’s administration: his first cabinet had recently broken apart in the aftermath of the Eaton affair, and Edward Livingston had succeeded Martin Van Buren as Secretary of State only weeks before this letter was written. Jackson notes that he had delayed his reply until he could personally discuss Harper’s prospects with the new secretary, ultimately reporting that “there [is] at this moment no vacancy,” while promising favorable consideration should an opening occur. The letter closes on a more personal note, with Jackson preparing to leave Washington for the Rip Raps in Hampton Roads, where he had already experienced the benefits of “sea bathing and retirement,” and expressing his hope of visiting the Carroll family upon his return. Written during the final years of the last surviving Signer, the letter captures a sitting president personally attending to a request from Charles Carroll’s family amid the reorganization of his administration, while offering an intimate glimpse of Jackson’s own plans for rest and recreation.
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