MADISON, James. Letter signed (''James Madison'') as Secretary of State to James Sheafe, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 8 February 1804.
MADISON, James. Letter signed ("James Madison") as Secretary of State to James Sheafe, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 8 February 1804.
One page, 258 x 202mm, bifolium with integral transmittal address leaf bearing his franking signature (partial fold separations reinforced on verso with glassine, loss to top of address panel). Housed in a custom clamshell case.
Madison advises on a change in the terms of payment for the Louisiana Purchase: "I have to inform you, that instructions have been transmitted to Paris calculated to promote a modification, if possible, of the Convention of the 30th of April last, so as to divide the sum payable under it more equally among the claims, than may happen from its operation in its present form." In order to finance the $15 million purchase, which had been made James Monroe and Robert Livingston without Jefferson's knowledge, and well-beyond the President's instructions, the United States made a down payment of $3 million in gold and financed the balance with bonds using the firm Francis Baring and Company in London to handle the transaction.
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PROPERTY FROM THE ROGER D. JUDD COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL LETTERS, DOCUMENTS AND MANUSCRIPTS
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MADISON, James. Letter signed ("James Madison") as Secretary of State to James Sheafe, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 8 February 1804.
One page, 258 x 202mm, bifolium with integral transmittal address leaf bearing his franking signature (partial fold separations reinforced on verso with glassine, loss to top of address panel). Housed in a custom clamshell case.
Madison advises on a change in the terms of payment for the Louisiana Purchase: "I have to inform you, that instructions have been transmitted to Paris calculated to promote a modification, if possible, of the Convention of the 30th of April last, so as to divide the sum payable under it more equally among the claims, than may happen from its operation in its present form." In order to finance the $15 million purchase, which had been made James Monroe and Robert Livingston without Jefferson's knowledge, and well-beyond the President's instructions, the United States made a down payment of $3 million in gold and financed the balance with bonds using the firm Francis Baring and Company in London to handle the transaction.
Pre-Lot Text
PROPERTY FROM THE ROGER D. JUDD COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL LETTERS, DOCUMENTS AND MANUSCRIPTS
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
