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Description:
1815 Presidential Commission signed by Monroe & Madison. Partially handwritten. Fromerly folded in eightths. Seal of the United States Office of War attached at the top. Attractively framed. 24"H x 20.5"W. "President of the United States of America, To all who shall see these presents Greeting: Know ye, That reposing special Trust and Confidence in the Patriotism, Valour, Fidelity and Abilities of John Irving, junior, I do appoint him Assistant Adjutant general, with the brevet rank if Major, in the service of the United States: to rank as such from the first day of April, eighteen hundred and thirteen: He is therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the duty of Assistant Adjutant General by doing and performing all manner of things thereunto belongining. And I do strictly charge and require all Officers and Soldiers under his Command to be obedient to his Orders as Assistant Adjutant General. And he is to observe and follow such Orders and Direction from time to time as he shall receive from me of the future President of the United States of America or the General or the superior Officers set over him according to the Rules of Discipline of War. This Commission to continue in force during the Pleasure of the President of the United States for the time being. (next paragraph) By Command of the PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA. (James Monroe's signature) Given under my hand at Washington, the firt day of January, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and fifteen, and in the thirty ninth Year of the Indepedence of the United States. (James Madison's signature)" Madison: Madison's presidency was dominated by foreign affairs. Both Britain and France committed depredations on American shipping, but Britain was more resented, partly because with the greatest navy it was more effective and partly because Americans were extremely sensitive to British insults to national honour. Certain expansionist elements looking to both Florida and Canada began to press for war and took advantage of the issue of naval protection. Madison's own aim was to preserve the principle of freedom of the seas and to assert the ability of the United States to protect its own interests and its citizens. While striving to confront the European adversaries impartially, he was drawn into war against Britain, which was declared in June 1812 on a vote of 79–49 in the House and 19–13 in the Senate. There was almost no support for war in the Northern states.
The war began and ended in irony. The British had already rescinded the offending orders in council, but the news had not reached the United States at the time of the declaration. The Americans were poorly placed from every point of view. Ideological objections to armies and navies had been responsible for a minimal naval force. Ideological objections to banks had been responsible, in 1812, for the Senate's refusal to renew the charter of the Bank of the United States. Mercantile sentiment was hostile to the administration. Under the circumstances, it was remarkable that the United States succeeded in staggering through two years of war, eventually winning important naval successes at sea, on the Great Lakes, and on Lake Champlain. On land, a British raiding party burned public buildings in Washington, D.C., and drove President Madison to flee from his capital. The only action with long-term implications was Andrew Jackson's victory at New Orleans—won in January 1815, two weeks after peace had been signed in Ghent, Belg. Jackson's political reputation rose directly from this battle.
In historical retrospect, the most important aspect of the peace settlement was an agreement to set up a boundary commission for the Canadian border, which could thenceforth be left unguarded. It was not the end of Anglo-American hostility, but the agreement marked the advent of an era of mutual trust. The conclusion of the War of 1812, which has sometimes been called the Second War of American Independence, marked a historical cycle. It resulted in a pacification of the old feelings of pain and resentment against Great Britain and her people—still for many Americans a kind of paternal relationship. And, by freeing them of anxieties on this front, it also freed Americans to look to the west.
Monroe: He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in the spring of 1810. In the following winter he was again chosen governor, serving from January to November 1811, when he resigned to become secretary of state under James Madison, a position he held until March 1817. The direction of foreign affairs in the troubled period immediately preceding and during the War of 1812, with Great Britain, thus fell upon him. On September 27, 1814, after the capture of Washington, D.C., by the British, he was appointed secretary of war and discharged the duties of this office, in addition to those of the Department of State, until March 1815.
| Status: For Sale |
Reference#: 380900 |
| Condition:
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Year:
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