Description:

Monroe James 1758 - 1831 Just after the electoral votes had been counted for the election of 1824, Monroe, as president, drafts a letter to his bitter enemy, Secretary of the Treasury William Crawford. Draft of an Autograph Letter, unsigned, in the hand of James Monroe as President, 1p, 7.75" x 9.5". Washington, D.C., December 10, 1824. Browned slightly and small water stain in upper left hand corner, tape repair on verso partially over but not obscuring Monroe's docket, "Decr 10, 1824 / to Mr Crawford". Very good condition. Verso has two notes not written in Monroe's hand: one identifying Crawford as Secretary of the Treasury and the other stating that it is Monroe's handwriting.

The draft shows Monroe struggling to find the best way to order Crawford to submit the annual report before Monroe presents it to Congress. In part, "I should have called on you in reference, to the late message, in what relates to your department, had I not been so muchäó_ by time, in preparing it, in consequence of the late period of at which I recd. the estimates and statements relating to it and and I not also concluded that the statements read from the dep't was perfectly correct."

The next ten lines are crossed out, as Monroe tries to best word his command to Crawford. The two men were barely on speaking terms at that time; Crawford, a recently failed presidential candidate, was furious with Monroe's slowness in putting through political appointments helpful to Crawford's campaign. Thus, Monroe tried to express his order as delicately as possible. The crossed out section, in part, reads, "I wish however, to have the perusal of your report before it is sent to Congress. When your report is prepared I shall be glad to see it before you send it on to Congress". The descending degrees of severity in his draft show his wish to most gingerly express his order as possible.to Congress". The descending degrees of severity in his draft show his wish to most gingerly express his order as possible.to Congress". The descending degrees of severity in his draft show his wish to most gingerly express his order as possible.

This letter, written on December 10, came just days after the electoral votes were counted in Congress for the election of 1824. Crawford was one of four candidates all running neck-in-neck for the presidency. However, in 1823, Crawford suffered a stroke, crippling his chance for the presidency. Therefore, the counting of the electoral votes just further proved that Crawford had lost the election. Monroe recognized this and tried his best to delicately phrase his command to his extremely volatile rival.

Since none of the four major candidates, Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and Crawford, received a majority of the electoral votes, the vote went to the House of Representatives. There, John Quincy Adams won easily when Clay controversially (some historians have claimed corruption on Clay's part) threw his support behind Adams. Jackson was infuriated, as he was the only non-politician of the group and lost, even though he had a majority of the popular vote and a plurality of the electoral votes.

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