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30-B Maine Antique Digest, April 2017
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AUCTION -
30-B
Draft of a letter to an unnamed recipient, possibly
Jeremiah Wadsworth, regarding the presidential
election of 1796, two pages on a single 13" x 8" sheet,
New York, early November 1796, one paragraph of
seven lines scored through with ink, some light stains,
a few short marginal repairs, mounting stub at left
margin. It sold for $56,250 (est. $25,000/35,000) to Seth
Kaller, who said it was the most important political
letter in the sale and now is part of his Hamilton
collection that he will offer at the New York Antiquarian
Book Fair at the Park Avenue Armory for $3.5 million
(for the entire collection).
In the 19th century some of the text in this letter was
expunged from the record in
The Papers of Alexander
Hamilton
. The missing comments were highly critical of
Jefferson. The complete text had not been seen for well
over a century by historians.
The rancor between Treasury Secretary Hamilton
and Secretary of State Jefferson as well as the growing
rivalry of the Federalists and the Democratic-
Republicans had induced Washington to stay on for
a second term. His refusal to serve a third term led to
the first contested presidential election in American
history. Federalist Alexander Hamilton supported a
strong central government and backed John Adams and
Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina for vice president.
The Democratic–Republicans favored states rights and
chose Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr of New York.
At the time, electors cast one vote for president
and one for vice president, and the candidate with
the most votes became president and the runner-up
became vice president. Hamilton wrote, “All personal
and partial considerations must be discarded, and
everything must give way to the great object of
excluding Jefferson.” According to the catalog, on
November 8, 1796, Hamilton sent a brief letter to
Jeremiah Wadsworth stating, “A few days since I
wrote you my opinion concerning the good policy of
supporting faithfully
Pinckney
as well as
Adams
,” so
it seems likely that this draft was for a letter
sent to Wadsworth, a Hartford, Connecticut,
merchant and politician who represented his
state in both the Continental Congress and
the United States House of Representatives.
Hamilton was telling him to vote for Pinckney
so that Jefferson would not be elected.
Hamilton’s maneuvering misfired because
winning as vice president positioned Jefferson
to win the presidency in 1800.
Letter signed by Richard Folwell, “Ricd. Folwell,” to Edward
Jones, providing background information, intended for
Alexander Hamilton, on Maria Reynolds and a supposed
conspiracy to entrap him, three pages, 16" x 10", Philadelphia,
August 12, 1797. Reinforced at the central fold and with a few
short marginal tears, it sold for $56,250 (est. $40,000/60,000).
This is one of the few surviving primary documents relating
to the great scandal of Hamilton’s life. It fully corroborates
Hamilton’s explanation of the origin of the episode. Folwell
writes that Maria Reynolds’s husband said she should
insinuate “herself on certain high and influential Characters,—
endeavour to make Assignations with them, and actually
prostitute herself to gull Money from them.”
According to the catalog, in the summer of 1791 23-year-old
Maria Reynolds called on Hamilton, as a fellow New Yorker,
asking him to help her relocate to Philadelphia. Hamilton’s
family was in Albany with his wife’s parents. Hamilton later
wrote in the “Reynolds Pamphlet” that something “other than
pecuniary consolation would be acceptable” to Mrs. Reynolds.
So the young woman became his mistress. In December her
husband, James Reynolds, wrote to Hamilton and said he knew
about the affair and proposed that Hamilton pay him $1000 to
leave Philadelphia. Hamilton paid the blackmail and continued
the affair. Hamilton continued to pay Reynolds other sums.
Later, when Reynolds was imprisoned for forgery, Hamilton
would not come to his aid. Subsequently, Reynolds met James
Monroe, Hamilton’s political enemy, and Monroe made copies
of the Reynolds/Hamilton correspondence and shared it with
Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton continued to attack Jefferson’s
policies and personal conduct. The affair came to public notice
in two pamphlets by James Callendar. Facing ruin, Hamilton
reasoned that he had to issue a pamphlet, in which he fully
admitted to the affair with Maria Reynolds but disproved a
charge of financial impropriety. The Folwell letter reveals the
character of Maria Reynolds and the financial fraud of her
husband and was used by those who rallied to Hamilton’s
support. The Hamiltons’ marriage survived the Reynolds
affair, and while his public life continued, the scandal ended
any possibility of Hamilton’s winning an elective office.
This is a letter by Pierre Charles L’Enfant to Alexander
Hamilton in which L’Enfant seeks Hamilton’s intervention
with the Common Council of the City of New York. It is eight
pages (10" x 7
⅞
"), dated July 14, 1801. The address is at the
foot of the last page, “general Alexander Hamilton”; pages
are numbered [1]–2–7[8], with an integral blank from the
now-lost address leaf bearing endorsements by Hamilton,
including “Compensation to Supervisors Bank of New
York.” With some very light browning, it sold for $25,000
(est. $10,000/15,000). The catalog states, “L’Enfant, who
had served during the American Revolution as a French
volunteer in the Corps of Engineers, redesigned the old
Jacobean City Hall on Wall Street into Federal Hall,
the first capitol of the United States government
under the Constitution. The Common Council of the
City of New York proposed giving L’Enfant ten acres
of land in the city as payment; he refused the tract
as inadequate. In 1801, he again sought payment and
the Council proposed a stipend of $750 for his services.
L’Enfant, on the other hand, sought a fee of $6000,
which he reckoned was the value of the tract of land that
he had originally been offered. In this lengthy letter—
known to the editor of the Hamilton
Papers
only through
a reference to it in Hamilton’s response—L’Enfant
wheedles and coaxes Hamilton to mediate a resolution.”
Among the 18 bidders at the
Hamilton sale who had never bid
at Sotheby’s before was Zack
Pelosky, who is in the in fifth grade
at Friends Seminary in New York
City. He came to the sale with his
mother to spend money he had
saved but was not successful. He
tried to buy a manuscript copy
of letters by George Washington
and George Cabot to Timothy
Pickering regarding who would be
second in command of the army
during the Quasi-War with France
in 1798. The lot sold for $1875 (est.
$2000/3000). Zack Pelosky said
he has seen the musical
Hamilton
three times and has a passion for
Hamilton, “not just the musical
but the man and for the American
Revolution.” Solis-Cohen photo.
Two autograph memoranda (one shown), one with a
diagram, planning the gardens at the Grange, New
York City, 1802. The first is two pages on a bifolium
(12
⅝
" x 7
⅞
"); the second is 5¾" x 5½". These are
Hamilton’s plans for the gardens for his beloved
Grange, the only house he ever owned. The catalog
states, “The Grange was a handsome two-story Federal
house designed by architect John McComb Jr. and
named after Hamilton’s family house in Scotland, as
well as his uncle James Lytton’s plantation in St. Croix.
The house was originally the centerpiece of Hamilton’s
extensive estate in upper Manhattan. The Grange was
completed in 1802, so Hamilton was able to live there
for just two years prior to his death. The larger of the
two memoranda focuses on flower gardens.”
The letter requests raspberries in the orchard, with
tulips, lilies, and hyacinths in the garden, with wild
roses around the outside and laurel at the foot. The
letter also said, “a few dogwood trees...along the
margin of the grove would be very pleasant, but the
fruit trees there must first be removed and advanced
in front.” The property was designated a National
Historic Landmark in 1960. The Grange has been
moved twice and is now a National Park Service site in
St. Nicholas Park in Harlem. These garden plans sold
for $40,000 (est. $15,000/25,000) to an absentee bidder.