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Fantastic Letter from Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story to Secretary of the Treasury Alexander J. Dallas during the War of 1812
Fantastic Letter from Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story to Secretary of the Treasury Alexander J. Dallas during the War of 1812
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Story Joseph

Fantastic Letter from Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story to Secretary of the Treasury Alexander J. Dallas during the War of 1812

 

“What I chiefly wish now to bring into consideration are measures adopted to secure the permanence of the Union under the existing constitution....” Joseph Story, Autograph Letter Signed, to Alexander J. Dallas, December 13, 1814, Salem, Massachusetts. 16 pp., 7.875" x 9.875". Originally on four folios, some folios now separated at center fold; expected folds; some edge chipping with minimal effect on text.

 

In this remarkable letter, Democratic-Republican Associate Justice Story cautions Secretary of the Treasury Dallas about the tendency toward disunion in the New England states. Two days after Story wrote this letter, New England Federalists gathered in Hartford, Connecticut, for a series of meetings to express their grievances over the ongoing War of 1812 and their concerns about the federal government’s increasing power. They continued secret meetings through January 5 and adopted a series of proposed constitutional amendments, though they did not propose the secession of New England.

 

Unlike the convention at Hartford, Story’s solution to the problem of disunion in New England was the increase of federal power, especially toward large states like Massachusetts that he thought threatened the Union. He advocated an increase in the authority and jurisdiction of federal courts, a national bank, a national bankruptcy law, a small standing army to enforce the laws, and the appointment of patriotic Federalists to some federal positions.

 

Less than two weeks after Story wrote this letter, negotiators signed the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, ending the War of 1812. When messengers from the Federalists’ Hartford Convention reached Washington in February, their demands were eclipsed by news of the Treaty of Ghent and of Andrew Jackson’s overwhelming victory at New Orleans on January 8. Many of Story’s proposals eventually found their way into federal law.

 

Excerpts:

 

“the critical state of our country calls on every citizen however humble, or however retired from public or political life to state with frankness & candour such considerations & facts as may be useful to the functionaries of the nation.”

 

“I will venture also to assert that your propositions for a national bank & for a vigorous system of taxation have met the unanimous approbation of every friend of the Govt. in this section of the nation; and if these propositions had been promptly met & acted upon by Congress I am entirely persuaded that the public confidence in the credit & resources of the nation would have been restored. Unfortunately, Congress have seen fit to do other wise,; & their disunion, their want of energy & their delays have absolutely prostrated the national faith & shaken the national patriotism.”

 

“Indeed I can say with sorrow & regret that never since my first acquaintance with political life have I seen so entire a dissatisfaction with the Legislative body. It is a truth which Congress must practically [realize?], or we are ruined, that they must act promptly & vigorously & adopt plans which [should?] not stop short of the whole powers of the constitution. In the meantime another more melancholy effect is every day more & more visible in New-England. The opposition have gradually undermined in all classes of people here, an attachment to the Constitution of the U.S.”

 

“It is necessary to speak with frankness to you. Whatever may be the opinions of weak men in New-England, or misguided men, who do not wish to believe the fact, it cannot be disguised that the faction in this quarter aim at an utter dissolution of the Govt.”

 

“no man having real intelligence here doubts the existence of a deep & detestable plot to sever the Union.”

 

“It is my firm belief, that barring accidents or a pacification with G. Britain, that there is the highest probability that by next June the judicial & civil functions of the U.S. cannot & will not be carried on in Massachusetts, unless Congress adopt some measures calculated to meet the public dangers.”

 

“I consider the reestablishment of the public credit a sine qua non of the existence of the Union.”

 

“I would give to the courts of the U.S. the whole jurisdiction of the Constitution.... We have no general jurisdiction over ‘cases arising under the constitution laws or treaties of the U.S.’ Even in respect to your taxes we have no general jurisdiction to enforce the collection of them. If difficulties arise in the collection or exposition of these acts, with few exceptions, those causes must be exclusively tried in the state courts. Are the state courts the only proper tribunals to be entrusted with the execution of the laws of the U.S.?”

 

“I need not say to you, how easy it will be for a state if hostile to a national Bank to cripple, restrain or tax it, if State Tribunals alone are to decide its rights.”

 

“It is almost incredible, but it is true that the courts of the U.S. cannot punish any obstruction of a collector of the Taxes in the exercise of his duties. Happily the public in Massachusetts are not yet generally apprised of the fact. But they must soon be, for some officers within my knowledge have met with the [greatest?] abuse & injuries which a man of spirit can feel, & it begins to be understood that they are without remedy from the U.S....”

 

“It will be in vain for Congress to legislate in detail. The only reasonable or practicable course is to give to the courts of the U.S. jurisdiction over all such common law crimes as under the limited sovereignty of the U.S. under the constitution are properly crimes against the U.S.; and have the Courts to settle what these crimes are by judicial decision. If Congress will be so far beyond state jealousy & prejudice as to pass the Bill respecting the Judiciary now before them, almost all the practical difficulties on this subject will cease, and this alone will greatly aid in suppressing conspiracies & misdemeanors ag’t the U.S.”

 

“Feeble district attornies & Marshals, who have no might of character, & no legal talents, are worse than none. They make a mockery of the laws.”

 

“Further to assist in the enforcing of the Laws & in creating interest among the people at large let national Justices of the Peace & national Notaries public be appointed.”

 

“With a view also to a permanent cement of the Union, (which is one among other excellent effects of a national Bank) let a national bankrupt law be established.... Nor should a bankrupt law be confined to mere traders. It should extend to all classes of citizens where the Debts exceeded a certain amount.”

 

“Another important measure would be an entire revision of all our revenue laws to adapt them more effectually to the present & future state of our commerce. The taste for smuggling in New-England has become general; & it will hereafter be a permanent branch of business with a large class of citizens.”

 

“What I chiefly wish now to bring into consideration are measures adopted to secure the permanence of the Union under the existing constitution & to counteract the almost over whelming influence of the great states. And this as I have before observed can only be done by great public institutions & by spreading the arms of the U.S. over every legitimate object of patronage & constitutional authority.”

 

“It is clear now that from constitutional difficulties or state jealousies & opposition the militia cannot perform the duties which the constitution contemplated. They cannot effectively be called into action to repel invasion, suppress insurrections or execute the laws of the Union.”

 

“You may depend that if serious resistance to a disunion was demonstrated by the Govt. of the U.S. at this moment by precautionary measures, there would be no attempt to accomplish it.”

 

“Another & now important measure is the establishment at the seat of the Govt. of a first rate newspaper under the avowed patronage of the Govt. with an editor of the highest legal talents. No Govt on earth could stand if the press were in the hands of its opponents. In this country the liberty or rather licentiousness of the press is so overwhelming, unless great public patronage be given to support the administration of the national Govt, it must be gradually destroyed, be that administration whom it may.”

 

“In a free Govt like ours it is essential the public opinion should be enlightened on all public & political topics. If the Govt. do not defend itself; it will find few defenders elsewhere.... It cannot be concealed that no newspaper at the seat of Govt. has now the least influence. Indeed the National Intelligencer is so utterly insignificant in its editorial department, that its imbecility is a source of merriment to some & of deep & unavailing regret to many.”

 

“If the Union be dear, if the stability of the Govt. be an object, if public principles be worth preservation, they must be cherished & supported by a newspaper; and I hold that it is a legitimate, nay necessary object of the Govt’s patronage. Measures never have & never will defend themselves; & time & opportunity & industry will destroy the best institutions unless propped by the public patronage.”

 

“The truth is that if the sword is not now to be sheathed it never can be. If merely having been, or still being an honest federalist, devoted to the real interests of the country, will strike men from all chance of public preferment, the country will get out of one difficulty only to plunge into another; & honest men of both parties will by their divisions leave ample room for the corrupt, the ambitious, & the disappointed to break down the general govt.... If we can find highminded men of the character I have portrayed, willing & ready to take offices under the govt & lend their talents to them why should not District Attornies & marshals collectors &c be occasionally selected from them, where Republicans of the same grade of character cannot be found?”

 

“Depend upon it, the Govt. are now most unfaithfully served by many of its public officers from ignorance or imbecillity or _______.”

 

“But ruin is abroad on every side; & I should think myself unworthy of any confidence, if I dared to conceal truths important to the Govt. or were to shrink from disagreeable tasks because I have every thing to lose & nothing to gain by the irksome labour. I am embarked in the same common ship with my country, & much as I love my ease, I cannot think myself justified in a silence, when we are near a coast [fitted?] for shipwreck. What I have written is entirely in confidence & I wish it to remain unknown, unless any member of the Admtra should wish to see the letter.”

 

Joseph Story (1779-1845) was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard College in 1798. He read law in Marblehead and gained admission to the bar in 1801. He was also a poet and published “The Power of Solitude” in 1804, one of the first long poems by an American. He served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1805 to 1808, then represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives for four months in 1808-1809. When he returned to Massachusetts, he was re-elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he became speaker in 1811. In November 1811, President James Madison nominated him to the U.S. Supreme Court, the youngest person ever nominated to the office. The Senate confirmed his nomination, and Story served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1812 until his death. Story played a pivotal role in the Court’s asserting its Constitutional authority over state courts and state legislation. A strong ally of Chief Justice John Marshall, Story wrote more opinions than any other justice except Marshall between 1812 and 1832. After Marshall’s death and replacement by Roger B. Taney, Story more often was part of a dissenting minority. Story was also one of the most successful American authors of the first half of the nineteenth-century, with his legal treatises and commentaries earning him more than his salary on the Supreme Court.

 

Alexander J. Dallas (1759-1817) was born in Jamaica, but his family moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, and then London, England, while he was a child. He planned to study law, but he could not afford it. In 1780, he married Arabella Maria Smith (1761-1837) of Pennsylvania, the daughter of a British army officer, and they moved to Jamaica the following year. He gained admission to the bar there and moved to Philadelphia in 1783, where he was admitted to the bar in 1785. While practicing as an attorney he also briefly edited the Pennsylvania Herald and the Columbian Magazine. In 1791, he became the first reporter of U.S. Supreme Court decisions, using his own funds, but issuing volumes only years after the decisions. From 1791 to 1801, he served as Secretary of the Commonwealth and sometimes de facto governor of Pennsylvania. He helped found the Democratic-Republican party in Pennsylvania, and in 1801, President Thomas Jefferson appointed Dallas as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a position he held until 1814. He aided Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin in obtaining funds to support the War of 1812. President James Madison appointed Dallas as the Secretary of the Treasury in October 1814, and he held the position until October 1816. From March to August 1815, Dallas also served as acting Secretary of War and sometimes acting Secretary of State as well.

 

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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