Description:

Andrew Jackson Writes to Neighbor about Overseer in Midst of Presidential Campaign

"the numerous & unfounded calumnies circulated against me, has had no injurious effect in Virginia."

In this great letter, Andrew Jackson writes about both slavery and the election from his Hermitage plantation to his neighbor Captain Peter Moseley. Jackson thanks Moseley for a recommendation for an overseer and political news from Virginia. He mentions that "unfounded calumnies" circulated against him, like the infamous Coffin Handbills, had not seemed to hurt his chances of winning the presidential election in Virginia.

ANDREW JACKSON, Autograph Letter Signed, to Peter Moseley, September 19, 1828, Hermitage, Tennessee. 1 p., 6.25" x 7.375". General toning; light staining; very good.

Complete Transcript
Hermitage Septr 19th 1828
Dr sir
Yours of this day is just received, and from your recommendation of Mr Hill I would have employed him, but I have some short time since, made an engagement with Mr Steel, now in the employment of Mr Craghead; therefore cannot make any other engagement. From the character you give Mr Hill, he cannot remain long out of profitable employment.
I thank you kindly for the political information communicated through you, from your friend in Virginia, from which it would appear, that the numerous & unfounded calumnies circulated against me, has had no injurious effect in Virginia.
Mrs J. united with me in kind salutations to you & your family
yours respectfully
Andrew Jackson
Capt P Mosely

[integral leaf:] Capt Peter Mosely / present / pr boy }

Historical Background
After his election to the presidency, Andrew Jackson hired Graves W. Steele (d. 1838) as overseer for his Hermitage plantation. In a letter written in August 1829, then President Jackson wrote of Steele, "I am pleased that you find all well at the Hermitage, and that Mr. Steel has done his duty and has treated my Negroes humanely. So long as he treats my Negroes well, I have no wish to remove him. I have confidence in his honesty & industry, and I well know negroes will complain often without cause...." A few months later, in a letter directly to Steele, the President was not so pleased, when he wrote, "an overseer is accountable to his employer for all losses sustained through his neglect.... Therefore you see the necessity of forwarding to me...a full account of your guardianship with the loss of my property, & with the cause that has lead to it." Jackson later rehired Steele for another three years, and Steele served as overseer at The Hermitage until 1832.

Editor John Binns of Philadelphia issued at least twenty-six different configurations of "coffin handbills" during the contentious election of 1828, each charging Jackson with a variety of murders of militiamen, Native Americans, and others. In the election in November, Andrew Jackson defeated incumbent President John Quincy Adams with 55.5 percent of the popular vote and a resounding 178-to-83 victory in the Electoral College. Jackson won fifteen states to Adams's nine, and Jackson carried Virginia and its 24 electoral votes with 69 percent of the popular vote.

Peter Guerrant Moseley (1776-1861) was born in Virginia. In 1798, he married Judith Moseley in Virginia, and they had six children before her death. He served as a captain in the War of 1812. In December 1818, he married Sarah Trigg Brown, a widow from Georgia, in Sumner County, Tennessee. In 1830, President Jackson purchased 151 acres from Moseley to add to his Hermitage plantation. In the following year, Jackson purchased another 250 acres from Moseley that he traded to Thomas J. Donelson for a different lot. Moseley and his family moved to Mississippi in 1838, where he established a plantation. In 1860, he owned 14 slaves, and he died in Yazoo City the following year.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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