Details
PIERCE, FRANKLIN, President. Autograph letter signed ("Fran Pierce") to John Y. Mason in Richmond, Virginia; Concord, New Hampshire, 22 June 1852. One page, 4to, integral blank, on blue paper. Fine condition.
Pierce, the Democratic candidate for President in the November elections, responds warmly to political advice from an influential southerner. "Pressing engagements which could not be deferred have prevented [me] from acknowledging your kind letter....I hope you will never hesitate to write with that freedom which...it has always been my pride to enjoy so fully....You are one of not a large circle from which suggestions come, properly & with weight. I had decided upon precisely the course you suggest & shall adhere to it strictly...."
Mason (1799-1859) served as Congressman from Virginia from 1831 to 1837 and was an ardent Democrat of the Jacksonian tradition. As the chairman of the committee on foreign affairs he had the honor of introducing the resolution calling for the annexation of Texas. Later he served as Secretary of the Navy under Tyler and Polk, then Attorney General and again as Secretary of the Navy. After retirement to his law practice in Richmond, Mason was chosen a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1850-51. In the election of 1852 he was a member of the Democratic state central committee, and strongly urged Virginians and the South to support Pierce, who opposed measures to curb slavery and generally took positions favorable to the South, over the dark-horse Whig, General Winfield Scott.
Pierce, the Democratic candidate for President in the November elections, responds warmly to political advice from an influential southerner. "Pressing engagements which could not be deferred have prevented [me] from acknowledging your kind letter....I hope you will never hesitate to write with that freedom which...it has always been my pride to enjoy so fully....You are one of not a large circle from which suggestions come, properly & with weight. I had decided upon precisely the course you suggest & shall adhere to it strictly...."
Mason (1799-1859) served as Congressman from Virginia from 1831 to 1837 and was an ardent Democrat of the Jacksonian tradition. As the chairman of the committee on foreign affairs he had the honor of introducing the resolution calling for the annexation of Texas. Later he served as Secretary of the Navy under Tyler and Polk, then Attorney General and again as Secretary of the Navy. After retirement to his law practice in Richmond, Mason was chosen a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1850-51. In the election of 1852 he was a member of the Democratic state central committee, and strongly urged Virginians and the South to support Pierce, who opposed measures to curb slavery and generally took positions favorable to the South, over the dark-horse Whig, General Winfield Scott.