JOHN
TYLER. Autograph
Note Signed as President to Mr. Skinner, no place [probably Washington,
DC], 27 September 1841. 1 page, 7” x 4½”.
During
his first year as President, John Tyler asks for more information about
a problematic postmaster. “Mr. Skinner will oblige me,”
he writes, “by sending me the papers in connection with the
intermedling Post Master of whom he spoke on Saturday Evening.”
He has signed, “J. Tyler,” and added the date,
“Sepr. 27, 1841.”
The letter
dates from a significant moment in Tyler’s administration. Elected
Vice President on the Whig ticket in 1840, Tyler assumed the Presidency
following the death of William Henry Harrison in April 1841. But as
a former Democrat with a states' rights and strict constructionist philosophy,
Tyler soon found himself at odds with most Whigs on questions of a national
bank, federal land policy, the tariff, and leadership of the party.
By the date of this letter, he had already used the veto power twice
on Whig-sponsored legislation, and on September 11, 1841, five members
of his six-man Cabinet, all Harrison appointees, had resigned in protest.
This included the Postmaster General, and at the date of this letter,
Tyler’s own nominee for that position had not yet assumed office.
The Mr. Skinner whom Tyler addresses here may have been a Post Office
official who was carrying out the Postmaster General’s duties
in this interim period.
There
is some slight marginal staining caused by prior mounting, but most
of this could be matted out. The note is in very good condition overall.
$1500.00
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