Jefferson, Thomas:

$45,000 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

[AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO SECRETARY OF WAR HENRY DEARBORN]. A remarkable letter written by President Thomas Jefferson to Secretary of War Henry Dearborn in which Jefferson swears "on my sacred honour" that he gives no credence to slanderous gossip circulating about Dearborn. Dearborn (1751-1829), a soldier and politician, was appointed by Jefferson to the post of secretary of war in 1801, a position he held throughout Jefferson's terms in office. He was moderately successful in most of his life's endeavors, excepting his command during the War of 1812, in which he lost Detroit to the British.Jefferson acknowledges receipt of Dearborn's recent letter regarding the slanders being spread about him by Seth Hunt, who was seeking a government appointment. The president admits that he had learned of the defamation from Gideon Granger, his postmaster general, but his response makes clear that his support of Dearborn is unwavering:"With respect to the slanders in which the two Mr. Hunts were implicated, I assure you on my sacred honour that I never heard one word uttered but from Mr. Granger and one other person who does not reside in this part of the country, nor is any way connected with the government; and the sole object of his communicating with me was to engage me to endeavor to prevent the matter being carried into the public papers. From neither of these gentlemen did I learn, or ever from any other quarter, that you even knew of the slanders in circu

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