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Lot 127
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Luther Martin, lawyer and assailer of the Constitution, signed ALS.
Luther Martin, lawyer and assailer of the Constitution, signed ALS.
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Description:

Martin Luther 1748 - 1826

Luther Martin, assailer of the Constitution, signed ALS.

Bi-fold ALS, heavily inscribed on one page, with the remaining pages blank and docketed to verso, 8" x 10". Paper is age toned and lightly soiled and grubby, expected folds, light bleeding to ink, expert repairs to paper loss on the second blank page. Red wax seal present. Signed and dated by Luther Martin, "Annapolis 2d June 1814", and signed as "Luther Martin"

ALS written about 15 years after the Constitutional Convention, when Luther Martin's postwar law practice grew to become one of the largest and most successful in the country. The beginning of the 1800s saw Martin as defense counsel in two controversial national cases. In the first case, Martin won an acquittal for his close friend Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase in his impeachment trial in 1805. Two years later, Martin was one of Aaron Burr's defense lawyers when Burr stood trial for treason in 1807.

This ALS penned in 1814 expresses Martin's concern to his peer John Stevens regarding his proceedings in the Orphans Court. ("Orphans' Court" is simply the historical name for a court that handles wills and estates). Martin writes: "I am concerned with you in the orphans Courts for Owen Elder, to establish the will of his brother John ... Be so good as to have the cause continued to a future day ... Are you concerned for Owen in the (illegible) brought against him by Snowden in the County Court? ... I have the Testimony in the orphans Court carefully reduced to writing in case of appeal".

Just 15 years earlier, Luther Martin assailed the Constitutional Convention, not only for what it was attempting to do, but also for how it was going about the job. He broke the pledge to secrecy under which the convention had met and informed the Maryland legislators that the convention had violated its instructions to meet "for the sole and express purpose of revising" the Articles of Confederation.

He noted that the convention delegates had taken it upon themselves to make a fresh start by creating an entirely new system of government. To Martin, such an effort was akin to launching a coup d'etat. George Washington and Benjamin Franklin had backed the change of direction of the convention, but, Martin said, we should not "suffer our eyes to be so far dazzled by the splendor of names, as to run blindfolded into what may be our destruction."

A wonderful and rare ALS by an intriguing, strong-willed individual who fought for his beliefs. Termed the "Federal Bull-Dog" by Thomas Jefferson, Martin attacked the proposed new form of government and continued to fight ratification of the Constitution through 1788. He lamented the ascension of the national government over the states and condemned what he saw as unequal representation in Congress. He owned six slaves of his own but opposed including slaves in determining representation (most slave owners supported counting slaves for the purposes of determining representation - as this would increase the power of Slave States) and believed that the absence of a jury in the U.S, Supreme Court gravely endangered freedom. At the convention, Martin complained, the aggrandizement of particular states and individuals often had been pursued more avidly than the welfare of the country. The assumption of the term "federal"" by those who favored a national government also irritated Martin. Maryland largely ignored Martin's warnings. In April 1788, it voted to ratify the Constitution, the seventh state to do so. In June, when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify, the required threshold had been reached, and the new Constitution took effect. Three years later, the first 10 amendments were added.

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