Description:

Sherman William



W.T. Sherman ALS, Superb Content Re: President Hayes & Political Lobbying

 

3pp ALS inscribed overall and signed by legendary Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) as "W.T. Sherman / General" on the bottom of the third page. Written in Washington, D.C. on December 16, 1877. On watermarked cream and blue-lined bifold stationery. Expected wear includes paper folds, a few with minor closed tears, and scattered foxing, else near fine. 5" x 8".

 

In part, with unchanged spelling and punctuation.

 

"Dear Jordan (?),

 

Yrs of Dec 15 is received, and I again assure you of my best wishes for your success and prosperity -. Your own case is but one of the thousands that come to me for personal + official assistance.

 

You know that appeals of this kind have driven my family out of Washington, and I can only see them occasionally - I have arranged to go to St Louis tomorrow night + meantime am summoned before a Senate Committee tomorrow morning, so that I doubt if I will come see the President until after New Years.

 

It is really wrong for me to add to his embarrassments by urging personal Recommendations but I enclose herewith a letter to the Postmaster General, with whom I have a most friendly acquaintance, which will probably make (?) you to put in your application so as to get his valuable assistance. I understand the President to be committed to the Rule of making appointments + Port offices acceptable to the peoples of the locality.

 

Therefore I advise you to get your petition signed by the best people of Washington -

 

Truly yr friend,

 

W.T. Sherman

 

General - ".

 

19th U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes had begun his presidency nine months earlier, in early March 1877. And although W.T. Sherman had been appointed General of the Army in 1869, which mostly entailed policing Indian Territories in the West, he also ventured into Washington, D.C. on occasion. By all accounts, Sherman disapproved of the capital, complained that he was lobbied by "thousands" of applicants just like his correspondent, in numbers that literally forced his family to flee. Sherman's letter to his petitioner is nevertheless encouraging and helpful, including, as it once did, the recommendation of Sherman's friend and Hayes's Postmaster General David M. Key (1824-1900).

 

Hayes was one of a succession of late-nineteenth-century Republican presidents who consolidated Reconstruction policies after the Civil War. Although many contemporaries view Hayes's single term as one of the best of the worst, historians concede that he also achieved a lot. Hayes is credited with further reconciling the North and South, advocating for hard currency, and even restoring popular faith in the presidency. His administration also instituted many positive civil service reforms. This policy is referred to in our letter, when Sherman writes of President Hayes's "Rule of making appointments + Post offices acceptable to the peoples of the locality" as opposed to making appointments based on a centralized spoils system.

 



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May 15, 2019 10:30 AM EDT
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