Description:

James Monroe
London, England, June 17, 1807
James Monroe Writes from London as co-US Minister
AL

James Monroe (1758-1831). Autograph Letter Fragment potentially to Thomas Jefferson or James Madison, which includes 185 words in James Monroe's hand plus an additional 60 words that he struck through in the process of composing the letter. 2 pp, 8" x 6.5", London, England, June 17, 1807. Bottom of sheet clipped away; irregular bottom edge; partial separation on fold; general toning - else near fine.

This letter reports on Monroe's role in London as co-U.S. Minister. It was likely written either to President Thomas Jefferson or Secretary of State James Madison. It originally enclosed Monroe's correspondence with British Foreign Secretary George Canning regarding a request for safe passage by merchant James Swan of Boston for arms purchased from Holland for the U.S. government. The British wanted assurances that the arms would not fall into the hands of their French enemies in the War of the Fourth Coalition, the latest in a series of Napoleonic Wars that had engulfed Europe.

Much of Monroe's time in London in 1807 was filled with pressing American claims for redress for British impressment of sailors from American ships, including the famous Chesapeake-Leopard affair.

Complete Transcript
"London June 17 1807
Dear Sir
I have the pleasure to enclose you a copy of my correspondence with Mr Secretary Canning relative to a safe conduct requested by Mr Swan for certain arms wh he proposes to send from Holland to the UStates as it appear'd by his letter to you that they could not be exported without your sanction, & by your note annexed to it that you would take suitable precaution for their safe conveyance to the UStates [documents sent to me as I possessed with yr approbation]. I thought it my duty to submit the application to his Majesty's government, and in a manner to give it all the weight to which it was justly entitled. I send you a copy of the cor[respondence]...on a presumption...that as it was necessary....
[Verso:]
a confirmation of this by any recent evidence, be so good as to communicate it to us as soon as in your power.
Having only just heard that Mr Dorr is on the point of setting out it is impossible for me to add more than the assurance of the respect & esteem of very truly yrs"

Historical Background
President Thomas Jefferson sent James Monroe of Virginia and William Pinkney of Maryland as co-U.S. Ministers to the Court of St. James's in Great Britain. There, they negotiated the Monroe-Pinkney Treaty to renew the 1795 Jay Treaty and signed it on December 31, 1806. It addressed the British practice of impressing sailors from American ships and the neutral rights of American ships during the ongoing Napoleonic Wars. When it arrived in the United States in March 1807, President Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of State James Madison rejected the treaty, did not submit it to the Senate, and it never took effect. Madison's rejection caused a rift between Madison and Monroe that lasted for several years, until Monroe joined James Madison's administration as Secretary of State in 1811.

When the crew of the British HMS Leopard attacked the American frigate USS Chesapeake off Norfolk, Virginia, and removed four crew members on June 22, 1807, five days after Monroe drafted this letter, tensions grew between the two nations. Many Americans called for war with Great Britain. Jefferson's failure to obtain satisfaction from British envoys led him to turn to economic warfare and the Embargo of 1807. This strife ultimately led to the War of 1812 between the two nations.

James Monroe (1758-1831) was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, and he attended the College of William and Mary before dropping out to serve as an officer in the Revolutionary War. He studied law under Thomas Jefferson from 1780 to 1783, and served as a delegate to the Continental Congress. He represented Virginia as a U.S. Senator (1790-94) and twice served as governor of Virginia (1799-1802, 1811). From 1794 to 1796, Monroe served as the U.S. minister to France. In 1803, he helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase for President Jefferson and then served as ambassador to the United Kingdom (1803-1807).

Monroe served as President James Madison's Secretary of State (1811-1817) and briefly as Secretary of War (1814-1815). Elected President in 1816 and again in 1820, receiving 231 out of 232 electoral votes in his reelection bid, his party's ascendancy was heralded as the Era of Good Feelings. His administration is notable for the recognition of the new Latin American republics and, of course, the Monroe Doctrine, written by his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams. In Monroe's Annual Message of 1823, he responded to European threats of encroachment on Latin American land by declaring that the American continents, "by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European Power." Although Monroe could do little to back up these statements, the doctrine influenced American foreign policy through the rest of the century. Through the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819, the United States gained Florida and a clearer demarcation of its border with New Spain in the West. Monroe retired to Monroe Hill, now part of the University of Virginia, and Oak Hill, his plantation in Loudoun County, for the remainder of his life.

Henry Rose (1772-1810) was born in Virginia and studied medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1795, he married his stepsister Ann Washington Robinson (1778-1860), and they had one child. They settled at Union Hill, a plantation near modern Fairfax City. He speculated in land in Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Georgia. In 1799, he was listed as owning 20 enslaved persons over the age of 16, but his estate lists no slaves that he owned at his death. In 1801-1802, he represented Fairfax County as a Democratic-Republican in the Virginia General Assembly. He died in Occoquan, Virginia.

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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