?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 7,500
"THIS SUBJECT HATH BEEN TAKEN UP IN THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION" MONROE, JAMES. Autograph Letter Signed, "Jas. Monroe," to James Hunter ("Dear Sir"), asking after a trunk belonging to Mrs. Monroe's sister, expecting failure of any petition to the [Virginia] legislature concerning compensation for losses incurred from government impressment of his vessel, promising to bring suit against the Commonwealth if a petition were to fail, mentioning that the federal constitution addresses the subject of property, and noting that the [Virginia] constitution protects transactions. 1 1/2 pages, 4to, with integral address leaf addressed in his hand; seal tear and other minor holes at center vertical fold (one near signature). Richmond, 7 November 1787
". . . . You desir'd me to petition the Legislature in y'r favor for retribution of some losses sustained in a vessel impress'd for the use of the gov't. I can give you but indifferent grounds to calculate on for success; indeed I think that it will fail: not that it sho'd but . . . I will give it every aid in my power. I think it is y'r wish that in case it fails I sho'd commence a suit ag'nst the Commonwealth for it. This I shall not neglect. You also mentioned a desire that an act sho'd pass authorizing upon delivery of y'r property, to y'r creditors, y'r discharge from them. This subject hath been taken up in the federal constitution--this perhaps will make it less necessary, for under the constitution past as well as present & future transactions seem to be provided for. To me however there appears to be a propriety in taking the subject up upon general principles, & I doubt not upon y'r petition an act might be obtained to that effect." The Constitution of Virginia, adopted in 1776, included a Bill of Rights, which protected an individual's property against government seizure and assured trial by jury for other disputes. The principles that were embodied in the U.S. Bill of Rights were influenced by this Virginia Declaration of Rights and were debated during the Philadelphia Convention just two months prior to the writing of this letter. Although Monroe was not a delegate to the Convention, in 1788 he became a delegate to the Virginia convention to consider the Federal Constitution. James Hunter (1746-1788) was a merchant in Portsmouth. Does not appear in Preston's Comprehensive Catalogue of the Correspondence and Papers of James Monroe, 2001.
