Description:

James Madison ALS "If History be philosophy teaching by examples, it will, itself, be instructed by the Philosophy of such Discourses." Superb

JAMES MADISON, Autograph Letter Signed in text, to Lewis Cass, April 4, 1836, Montpelier, Virginia. 1 p., 5" x 8". Former President James Madison wrote this brief letter from his home at Montpelier to Secretary of War Lewis Cass, congratulating him on a recent speech to the American Historical Society. 

Complete Transcript
J. Madison with his respects to General Cass, offers many thanks for the copy of his late "Discourse before the American Historical Society at Washington." He has read it with great pleasure, the greater from its favorable bearing on the literary reputation of our Country. If History be philosophy teaching by examples, it will, itself, be instructed by the Philosophy of such Discourses.
Monpellier, April 4th 1836.

Ex. Autograph book of Detroit pianist Kathleen S. Trowbridge, the volume is the result of a lifetime of collecting. She obtained most from her own correspondence or attendance at musical and theatrical performances in Detroit, but she also benefited from private school teachers who wrote to prominent acquaintances and received signatures for Trowbridge and the generosity of descendants of Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan. Her cousin Donald M. Dickinson was Postmaster General during the second Grover Cleveland administration, giving Trowbridge access to the White House, where she gained a letter from First Lady Frances Cleveland and access to other influential people. Many other items and the balance of the book are included in this auction.

Historical Background
On January 30, 1836, Secretary of War Lewis Cass delivered a discourse to the American Historical Society in the Hall of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Speaking of the discovery of the "New World," Cass said, "Few events in the history of man can compare with this discovery. We are yet in the infancy of our career, and already the march of events has hurried on with an accelerated progress, which no sagacity could have forseen, and which no power can check. The impress of civilization is upon the whole continent, from Labrador to Cape Horn. Thirteen independent communities have asserted the right of self-government and have assumed their stations among the nations of the world."

Using President George Washington as an authority, Cass said, "But the promotion of literature belongs to all ages, and nations, and governments. 'Nor am I less persuaded,' said the patriot first called to administer the present constitution, and whose memory is already sanctified by his virtues and services, 'nor am I less persuaded,' he said in his first address to Congress, after he had entered upon the execution of his duties, 'that you will agree with me in opinion, that there is nothing which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is, in every country, the surest basis of public happiness. In one, in which the measures of government receive their impressions so immediately from the sense of the community as in ours, it is proportionably essential.' Wonderful man! Time is the great leveller of human pretensions. The judgment, which he pronounces upon men and their actions, is as just as it is irreversible."

The American Historical Society was formed in October 1835 "to discover, procure, and preserve whatever may relate to the Natural, Civil, Literary, and Ecclesiastical History of America in general, and of the United States in particular." Lewis Cass served as the society's first president, and newspaper editor and archivist Peter Force (1790-1868), soon to be elected mayor of Washington, served as the Corresponding Secretary. In 1840, the Society became the Department of American History and Antiquities in the newly formed National Institute for the Promotion of Science, which obtained a federal charter in 1842 but failed to obtain federal funds. After transferring its collections to the Smithsonian Institution, the Institute dissolved in 1862.

Cass's address was soon published as a 58-page pamphlet, which Cass sent to former President Madison.

James Madison (1751-1836) was born in Port Conway, Virginia, and graduated from Princeton University in 1771. He entered politics in 1776 and represented Virginia in the Congress of the Confederation from 1781 to 1783 and again from 1786 to 1787. Madison played a major role in the 1787 Constitutional Convention, for which he later became known as the "Father of the Constitution." He authored the Federalist Papers along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. Madison helped found Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican party in opposition to Hamilton's financial proposals. Madison represented Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1789 to 1797. Madison's served as Jefferson's Secretary of State (1801-1809) and then succeeded him to the Presidency for two terms (1809-1817). Madison's administration saw the culmination of Anglo-American tensions that resulted in the War of 1812, which officially began on June 18, 1812, and concluded with the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814. The last years of Madison's second term saw the transition to the Era of Good Feelings, as the Federalist party declined. When he left office, Madison retired to Montpelier, his tobacco plantation in Virginia. He also assisted Thomas Jefferson in the establishment of the University of Virginia, where Madison succeeded Jefferson as rector when Jefferson died.

Lewis Cass (1782-1866) was born in New Hampshire and attended Phillips Exeter Academy. In 1800, his family moved to Marietta, Ohio, where he studied law and gained admission to the bar. He won election to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1806, and in the following year, President Thomas Jefferson appointed him as U.S. Marshal for Ohio. He fought in the War of 1812, rising to the rank of brigadier general in the Regular Army by March 1813 and participating in the decisive Battle of the Thames in October of that year. As a reward for this military service, President James Madison appointed Cass as the governor of the Michigan Territory, a position he held from 1813 to 1831. President Andrew Jackson appointed him as Secretary of War in August 1831, and he held the position until October 1836, when Jackson appointed him as U.S. Minister to France. Cass served in that position until November 1842. He represented Michigan in the U.S. Senate from 1845 to 1848 and was the Democratic nominee for president in 1848. After losing the election to Whig Zachary Taylor, he returned to the U.S. Senate, serving from 1849 to 1857. He served as Secretary of State in James Buchanan's administration from 1857 to December 1860, when he resigned in protest of Buchanan's inaction in the face of southern secessionist threats to federal property.

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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