(JEFFERSON THOMAS) WITHERELL JOSIAH Autograph Letter Signed

Sale 2483 - Lot 173

Price Realized: $ 500

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

"DAY OF NOT LESS PERIL THAN ANY . . . SINCE THE YEAR 1777" (JEFFERSON, THOMAS.) WITHERELL, JOSIAH. Autograph Letter Signed, "J. Witherell," concerning New England's efforts to secede from the Union. 3 pages, 9 3/4x7 3/4 inches, on one folding sheet, with address panel on verso franked by Witherell; missing a 3x1-inch area from the edge of the final page, soiling to address panel, otherwise minimal wear. Washington, 23 March 1808

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In reaction to British treatment of American sailors, Congress passed a series of Embargo Acts in 1807 and 1808 which banned trade with Great Britain. This triggered a state of near-rebellion in northern New York and Vermont, which depended upon trade with Canada. Massachusetts politician Timothy Pickering, a former cabinet member, tried to foment New England's secession and entered into private negotiations with Britain. In this letter, loyal Jefferson supporter James Witherell (1759-1838) was writing as one of Vermont's U.S. Representatives to constituent Josiah Rising of Rupert, VT. He describes Aaron Burr as "in a state of actual conspiracy" and warns of the "dark machinations of Timothy Pickering and those who associate with him in his patricidal endeavors." He calls the threat "a day of not less peril than any which the United States have experienced since the year 1777." Defending the Embargo Acts, which he had voted for, Witherell assured Rising that "the embargo is not calculated to starve our poor citizens into distress or discontent.. . . . The President yesterday laid before us the subject matter of negotiation. . . . I am confident the true Americans will . . . come to peruse and compare the whole of the circu[mstances and] hold Mr. Jefferson in higher estimate than ever before."