Description:

Monroe James

James Monroe Writes to U.S. Minister Regarding Messages to End the War of 1812

James Monroe, autograph letter signed, to William H. Crawford, October 19, 1814, Washington, D.C. 1 p., 7.75" x 9.875". Attached to paper frame; sealing wax on verso.

Complete Transcript

"Dept of State

19th Octr 1814.

Sir

The last Letters from our Ministers at Ghent render it probable that they will have left that Place before the arrival of Mr Purviance in Europe. In that event he is instructed to deliver the Despatches for them to you. Should this happen you will open the Packets and transmit to Mr Adams, & Mr Russell the Letters and Documents intended for them. The other Letters you will retain and the Documents you will dispose of as you think proper

With great Respect

I have the Honor to be

Sir

Your Mo Obt Sevt

Jas Monroe

William H. Crawford Esqr

Paris".


To try to bring an end to the War of 1812, peace discussions between the United States and Great Britain began in Ghent, United Netherlands, in August 1814. Negotiating for the Americans were John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, James A. Bayard Sr., Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin. After months of negotiation, both sides recognized that their countries wanted peace. With the defeat of Napoleon in the spring of 1814, Great Britain no longer needed to stop American shipments to France or impress American sailors, two of the primary reasons for the war. The Americans dropped demands for Canadian territory, and the negotiators signed a treaty on December 24, 1814, restoring the status quo antebellum. Both the British and American governments ratified the treaty in February 1815.

John H. Purviance (c. 1772-1820) had served as James Monroe’s secretary when Monroe was minister to France and again when he was minister to Great Britain. Monroe selected him to convey the Monroe-Pinkney Treaty of 1806 to President Thomas Jefferson. He later served as a clerk in the State Department, and Monroe selected him to take messages to the American negotiators at Ghent in 1814. He sailed from New York on the ship Fingal on October 23, 1814, and arrived off Torbay, England, on November 18.

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 (1811-17) and briefly as Secretary of War (1814-15). 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, for the remainder of his life.

William H. Crawford (1772-1834) was born in Virginia but moved with his family to South Carolina and then Georgia. He studied law, gained admission to the bar in 1799, and opened a practice in Lexington, Georgia. He served in the state House of Representatives as a Democratic-Republican from 1803 to 1807. He represented Georgia in the U.S. Senate from 1807 to 1813, serving as president pro tem for the last year of that term. In 1813, President James Madison appointed Crawford as U.S. minister to France, a position he held until shortly after the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. He then served as Secretary of War from August 1815 to October 1816 and as Secretary of the Treasury from 1816 to 1825, under both President Madison and President James Monroe. He was one of four Democratic-Republican candidates for President in 1824 and finished fourth in the popular vote and third in the electoral vote, carrying Georgia, Virginia, and Delaware.

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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