Description:

Joseph Story
Cambridge, MA, ca. 1842-44
Joseph Story (3) ALS to Associate Justice John McLean, 1842-44
Archive
A collection of three letters from Joseph Story to fellow Supreme Court justice John McLean. Each measuring 7.75" x 9.75", ranging in date from 1842 to 1844. Signed throughout as "Joseph Story", with contents including remarks on the death of McLean's wife, an introduction to an associate, and the health of Story's mother. Exhibits light age toning and minor wear to edges, with expected mailing folds to all. Otherwise, very good. Please see accompanying images for further condition information.

The lot includes:

1.) 3pp autograph letter with integral address leaf, Cambridge, MA, January 1, 1842. Within, Story sends his condolences to McLean on the death of his wife, Rebecca Edwards McLean, who died in early December 1841. The letter begins: "It grieved me exceedingly to learn a few weeks since through the newspapers that you had had the misfortune to lose your excellent wife. I say excellent, for although my personal acquaintance with her was but brief & limited; yet I have been long accustomed to hear her spoken of by her intimate friends with the deepest feelings of affection & attachment…."

2.) 1p autograph letter with integral address leaf, Cambridge, MA, January 30, 1843. Story writes to introduce McLean to an associate, and asks if he may further introduce him to other Supreme Court justices. In part: "I send you by my friend & former pupil in the Law School Caleb W. Loring Esq… Mr. Loring is the son of one of our most distinguished lawyers in Boston, & is himself in all respects worthy of your esteem & confidence. I pray you to introduce him to my Brethren & such members of the Bar, as he may wish to know."

3.) 1p autograph letter with integral address leaf, Cambridge, MA, November 29, 1844. Within, Story asks McLean's forgiveness at being delayed in coming to Washington due to his mother's ill health. In part: "Since I last wrote you, my mother (who is 86 years of age) has been taken ill of a Typhus fever- She has been ill for five or six days, and I had no knowledge of it until yesterday- I consider her case very alarming, & fear the worst…." Contrary to her son's concerns, Story's mother would- in fact- outlive him by two years.

Joseph Story (1779-1845) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court from 1812 to 1845. He is most remembered for his opinions in Martin v. Hunter's Lessee and United States v. The Amistad, and especially for his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, first published in 1833. A notable challenger to Jacksonian democracy, Story believed it to be an "oppression" of property rights by republican governments.

John McLean (1785-1861) was an American jurist and politician who served in the United States Congress, as Postmaster General under Presidents Monroe and John Quincy Adams, and as a justice of the Ohio and U.S. Supreme Courts. He was often discussed for the Whig Party nominations for president, and is also one of the few people who served in all three branches of government. On the court, McLean became known as an opponent of slavery, becoming the sole dissenter in the fugitive slave case of Prigg v. Pennsylvania and one of two justices to dissent in the landmark Dred Scott case.

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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  • Dimensions: 7.75" x 9.75"
  • Medium: Archive

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