The Fathers and Saviors of Our Country: A Presidential Sale

One page, 8vo (248 x 191 mm), with integral address leaf, old folds, seal repair, silked, some staining at right margin edge; matted.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON DEMANDS A FULL ACCOUNTING OF EXPENSES INCURRED DURING A TENSE MOMENT WITH SPAIN.

William Carmichael (1739-1795) was an American statesman and diplomat who, beginning in 1782, served as the Chargé d'Affaires to Spain, replacing John Jay. In January 1792, he was appointed by President Washington as one of the key commissioners responsible for negotiating with Spain over navigation rights on the Mississippi River. In the present letter, Alexander Hamilton, in his role as Secretary of the Treasury, asks that a full accounting of the commissioners' expenses be sent along to him by November 1, 1792.

Tensions between the United States and Spain had been high for some time, as Spain still controlled the lower reaches of the Mississippi River and was constantly dealing with American vessels straying into its territorial waters. These tensions also created additional pressures on the federal government, as American settlers threatened secession or even invasion of Spanish-controlled lands. Though instrumental in these negotiations, Carmichael did not live to see their conclusion; the situation was finally resolved in 1795 with the successful negotiation of Pickney's Treaty, which clearly defined the border between the United States and Spanish Florida and guaranteed American navigation rights on the Mississippi River.

In full: "It has been represented to me by the accounting Officers of the Treasury that a regular account of all the monies which have been received by you from our Commissioners in Europe, or which have been paid by them by your direction, would be requisite in the examination and adjustment of the accounts of the Said Commissioners.

"I have therefore to request that you will furnish me with an account, comprising those objects, down to the 1st of November 1792.

"As the document called for will be considered as an essential guide in the Settlement which is contemplated, I shall make no apology for troubling you on the occasion. With great consideration and esteem, I am, Sir, Your Obed. 'Servant'."

PROVENANCE:
Frank Lester Pleadwell (1872-1957); his sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 7 October 1958, Sale 1840 Lot 220; Joseph Metcalf Roebling (1907-1980), American horse-breeder and great-grandson of John Augustus Roebling, designer of the Brooklyn Bridge; his sale Sotheby's 28 April 1981, sale 4588 lot 54; Sotheby's New York, 27 January 2020, Lot 2185.