Sep 17, 2015 - Sale 2391

Sale 2391 - Lot 295

Price Realized: $ 18,750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
"GOD PROTECT US FROM THIS TEMPESTUOUS SEA OF LIBERTY" (PRESIDENTS--1800 CAMPAIGN.) Mattoon, Ebenezer. A first-hand account of Jefferson's election by the House of Representatives. 3 Autograph Letters Signed as United States Representative to Judge Samuel Henshaw of Northampton, MA. 8 pages, each 10 x 8 inches, on 3 folding sheets, the first two letters with address panels on verso, the first bearing inked "Wash.City" and "Free" stamps and Mattoon's free frank; the first letter with marginal tears at the seals, the final with a complete closed separation along the center fold. (MRS) Washington, 6 to 17 February 1801
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a dramatic eyewitness account of the young nation's first succession crisis, with a Federalist congressman expressing his desire to fire his pistol into the Jeffersonian mob. Ebenezer Mattoon (1755-1843) had just been sent to Congress by the Massachusetts voters in a special election, taking office four days before writing the first of these letters. He was unimpressed with the nation's capitol at first sight: "There is nothing here pleasing but the name; and if the great and good Washington ever erred, it was undoubtedly in fixing upon this place and plan of a city." The government was in turmoil, with the presidential election still in dispute between Democrats Jefferson and Burr, who had tied in the Electoral College. Mattoon, like some other Federalists, was amused at the spectacle: "The Demos say they will die at their posts rather than give up Jefferson; we have no objection to the death of both." Four more days did not boost his confidence: "There is only the name of government here, without any regular exercise of it. . . . Mr. Jefferson's eloquence could not restrain the sovereign people last evening. He attempted it to no purpose, and some had their windows broken by the rascals that paraded the streets."
The final and most dramatic letter was written at "Congress Hall" at 1:00 p.m, 17 February: "The Speaker has this moment declared that Thomas Jefferson is chosen President of the United States." He then describes the entire balloting process as it stretched over several days. The 28th ballot was taken at midnight on the 12th: "Several gentlemen that had been sick with fevers for several days appeared with their nurses and beds in the Committee rooms, with a determination to die there, rather than loose their object." The New England states were asked to secede if they insisted on obstructing the inevitable. Finally Delaware representative James Bayard announced his willingness to shift his vote to Jefferson, "and this in fact decided the election; he has endeavored to exculpate himself, but he cannot do it . . . his reputation must and will suffer." Mattoon complained of "mobs which paraded the streets the greater part of last night, huzzahing for Jefferson and Liberty, and this moment while I am writing there is a mob under my windows, calling for an illumination on account of the election. . . . I long to discharge my pistols among the devils." He concludes: "God protect us from this tempestuous sea of liberty. If this is the beginning, what will be the end?" Provenance: Parke-Bernet sale, 22 March 1966, lot 81, to the consignor.