Nov 08, 2018 - Sale 2492

Sale 2492 - Lot 44

Price Realized: $ 4,160
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 9,000
AMERICA FIRST: "MY COURSE . . . TO SECURE FIRST . . . THE AMERICAN PEOPLE" SAMUEL HOUSTON. Autograph Letter Signed, "SamHouston," as Senator, to Gideon Welles, praising his views on foreign policy, suggesting a method for choosing the right course of action: ask one's self what Andrew Jackson would have done in the same situation, stating that his guiding principle has been to ensure the prosperity and happiness of Americans before others, sending regards to Ned. 3 pages, 4to, written on a folded sheet; faint scattered bleedthrough, folds. Washington, 15 January 1852

Additional Details

". . . I commend your views in relation to our international policy as most wise, and truly practicle [sic]. It is a a [sic] good rule to recur to first principles, and by way of doing so, it seems to me, that a wise plan would be to ask, what would Gen'l Jackson decide to be proper, in any given case! In the present emergency, either you or I could guess what course he would adopt. My course has been, and ever will be, to secure first the prosperity & happiness of the American people. In the meantime, I will not fail to 'sympathize' with any, and every oppressed people & nation.

"What have we to do, with Hungary, more than with Poland, Ireland, or Rome? They are all equally objects of our sympathy. If they are not, I am not prepared to show the distinction by playing 'Leap Frog' at Festivals. . . ."

The "emergency" referred to in this letter is likely the tumult of revolution in Europe, including the failed rebellion of Hungary against Habsburg rule in 1848. In 1852, Lajos Kossuth, a noble who led the Hungarian revolutionaries and became their Governor-President for a time, toured the United States in the hope of gaining support for the cause of Hungary's patriots.

Published in the December 28, 1939 issue of The Houston Press, p. 16.