96 American Manuscripts

CATALOGUE TWO HUNDRED NINETY-TWO 96 American Manuscripts WILLIAM REESE COMPANY 409 Temple Street New Haven, CT 06511 (203) 789-8081 A Note This catalogue is made up or manuscripts relating to the history of the Americas from the conquistadors, with the narrative of Domingo de Irala in South America in 1555, to a manuscript of “America the Beautiful” at the end of the 19th century. Included are letters, sketchbooks, ledgers, plat maps, requisition forms, drafts of government documents, memoirs, diaries, depositions, inventories, muster rolls, lec- ture notes, completed forms, family archives, and speeches. There is a magnificent Stephen Austin letter about the Texas Revolution, a certified copy of Amendment XII to the Constitution, and a host of other interesting material. Available on request or via our website are our recent catalogues 282, Recent Acquisitions in Americana; 283, American Presidents; 285, The English Colonies in North America 1590- 1763; 287, Western Americana; 288, The Ordeal of the Union; 290, The American Revolution 1765-1783; and 291, The United States Navy, as well as Bulletin 21, American Cartog- raphy; Bulletin 22, Evidence; Bulletin 24, Provenance; Bulletin 25, American Broadsides, and many more topical lists. Some of our catalogues, as well as some recent topical lists, are now posted on the Internet at www.reeseco.com. A portion of our stock may be viewed via links at www. reeseco.com. If you would like to receive e-mail notification when catalogues and lists are uploaded, please e-mail us at [email protected] or send us a fax, specifying whether you would like to receive the notifications in lieu of or in addition to paper catalogues. Terms Material herein is offered subject to prior sale. All items are as described and are con- sidered to be on approval. Notice of return must be given within ten days unless specific arrangements are made. Connecticut residents must be billed state sales tax. Postage and insurance charges are billed to all nonprepaid domestic orders. Overseas orders are sent by air unless otherwise requested, with full postage charges billed at our discretion. Payment by check, wire transfer or bank draft is preferred, but may also be made by MasterCard or Visa. William Reese Company Phone: (203) 789-8081 409 Temple Street Fax: (203) 865-7653 New Haven, CT 06511 E-mail: [email protected] www.williamreesecompany.com FRONT COVER: 11. Austin, Stephen F.: [Autograph Letter, Signed...]. Nashville, Tn. Feb. 25, 1836. REAR COVER: 27. [Constitutional Amendment]: [Manuscript Copy of Amendment XII of the United States Constitution...]. [Washington. Dec. 9, 1803]. John Adams Files a Legal Complaint Against a Boston Bookbinder 1. Adams, John: [PARTIALLY PRINTED FORM, COMPLETED IN MANUSCRIPT AND ENDORSED BY JOHN ADAMS, OUTLIN- ING A LEGAL COMPLAINT AGAINST A BOSTON BOOK- BINDER]. Boston. April 5, 1774. [1]p., docketed on verso. Folio. Old folds. Separation at some folds, with repairs on verso. Lightly soiled. Good. In a half morocco and cloth clamshell case, cloth chemise. Legal document for a suit brought against William McAlpine, bookbinder, by the “Proprietors of the Presbyterian Church in Boston”; the form is completed in John Adams’ hand and endorsed by him on the verso. The Presbyterian Church in Boston, having submitted several books to William McAlpine for binding but never receiving them in return despite repeated entreaties, sued him via a specially appointed committee for the sum of £12,000. This document is addressed to the Sheriff of Suffolk County, demanding a bond of £100 from William McAlpine and remanding him for a court appearance on the third Tuesday of April, 1774. Adams has outlined the case thus: The Proprietors of the Presbyterian Church in Long Lane, in said Boston, who sue by Simon Elliot of Boston in said county, Tobacconist, William McNeil of said Boston Rope Maker, William Mackay of said Boston Merchant, Robert Wier of said Boston Distiller, and John McLean of said Boston Watchmaker, a Committee specially chosen and appointed for that Purpose, in a Plea of Detinue, for that on the first day of last January, at said Boston, the said Pro- prietors delivered to the said William McAlpine, their books, called the Sessions Books, and also their other books called their Books of Records, of Marriages, Baptisms, and Deaths, (which books called the Sessions Books were to the said Proprietors, of the value of two thousand pounds, and which Books of Records of Marriages, Baptisms, and Deaths, are to the said Proprietors of the value of ten thousand pounds) to be redelivered to the said Proprietors on demand; yet the said William McAlpine, tho often requested hath never redelivered any of the said books to the said Proprietors but unjustly withholds and detains them. Before the Declaration of Independence from Britain, Adams was a well-known lawyer whose most famous case was the defense of the British soldiers in the Boston Massacre, in 1770. Though he worried at the time about the effects the case might have on his reputation, it certainly had no long-lasting negative ramifications – this letter is dated mere months before Adams was chosen to represent Massachusetts in the First Continental Congress, in September 1774. His reputation for fairness and equal-minded justice would see him through to the top ranks of the newly formed United States government. A wonderful piece of bibliographical history involving one of the greatest of Founding Fathers. $6750. The Secretary of State Writes John Trumbull About His Most Famous Painting, Now in the U.S. Capitol 2. Adams, John Quincy: [LETTER SIGNED BY JOHN QUINCY AD- AMS TO JOHN TRUMBULL CONCERNING HIS PAINTING, “THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE”]. Washington. Aug. 3, 1818. [1]p. Quarto. Inlaid in later paper. Old fold lines. Very minor soil- ing. Very good. In a half morocco and cloth clamshell case, spine gilt, leather labels. In 1817, Congress commissioned four paintings from John Trumbull to adorn the Rotunda of the United States Capitol. The first to be completed was “The Declara- tion of Independence,” which he would exhibit from September through December 1818 in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore before it made its way to Washington. In this letter, Secretary of State Adams conveys that President Monroe has no objections to Trumbull exhibiting the painting in New York before sending it along to Washington. The letter reads: “Sir, At the time when I had the pleasure of receiving your letter of 29 June, the President was absent from this city. Upon his late return here, I laid your letter before him, and he informed me that he thought there could be no objection whatever to your exhibiting at New York the picture of the Declaration of Independence, before sending it here.” The letter is signed with Adams’ distinctive curling signature. The painting was begun in Paris, likely at the suggestion of Thomas Jefferson, mentor and close friend of Trumbull. Jefferson provided Trumbull with a firsthand account of the event in the Assembly Room in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where Congress had met, providing a basis for the work. Rather than a depiction of the signing of the Declaration, the painting actually shows the committee tasked with drafting the document presenting it to Congress for approval. Combining a desire for historical accuracy with the need to visually commemorate a moment of transcendent historical importance, Trumbull depicts the entire committee presenting the document to John Hancock, president of Congress. Jefferson stands at the center, surrounded by John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Benjamin Franklin, and presents the document to Hancock. Hailed as the official painter of the Revolution, Trumbull studied painting and art in England and France. The youngest son of the governor of Connecticut, the elder John Trumbull very much wanted his son to go into law. Trumbull did study the law, but gladly joined the fight against the British when the Revolution broke out. He eventually served as Washington’s second aide-de-camp, having been brought to the General’s attention through some very accurate drawings he had made of British gun emplacements. He rose to the rank of colonel as a deputy adjutant-general, but resigned the commission he finally received because it was dated three months late, a slight his honor could not tolerate. He refused to return to the law, finding it quite distasteful, and chose instead to pursue his true passion, art, against his family’s wishes. Though he was never particularly wealthy in this pursuit, he did achieve a certain amount of success in his own lifetime. Among his most famous works are those commissioned in 1817 by Congress to adorn the Capitol: “The Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga,” “The Surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown,” “The Declaration of Independence,” and “The Resignation of General Washington.” $14,000. John Quincy Adams Denies Ever Being a Mason 3. Adams, John Quincy: [AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, FROM JOHN QUINCY ADAMS TO OLIVER HEARTWELL, DENY- ING ANY CONNECTION WITH THE FREEMASONS AND DISCUSSING THE MURDER OF WILLIAM MORGAN]. Wash- ington. April 19, 1828. [1]p. Quarto. Old fold lines. Minor foxing and offset- ting. Very good. A fine statement of principles by then President John Quincy Adams to Canandaigua, New York citizen Oliver Heartwell concerning the murder of anti-Masonic leader William Morgan – replying to Heartwell’s enquiry about Adams’ own associations with the Freemasons, but also stating his views on American justice. In his letter Adams denies any association with the Masons, but asks Heartwell not to publish his letter, lest it contribute to the uproar surrounding Morgan’s disappearance and probable death. William Morgan (1774-1826?) was a stonemason who settled in western New York.

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