1838 letter signed by Levi Woodbury, United States Secretary of Treasury regarding interest payments from 250 Tennessee State Bonds to be kept in trust for the Chickasaws
Washington DC: n/a, 1838.
Letter. Manuscript letter. Approximately 8" x 10". One page of content. Letter folded. Signed by the Secretary of the Treasury at the bottom (it is possible the rest of the document was written in another hand). Paper folded to make 4 pages but the front side is the only page with content. "C 23" is written under the date. Very light toning and wear to the paper.
Letter reads:
Treasury Department July 20, 1838
Sir.
You will please to place as a special deposit in spe...?, to the credit of the Treasurer of the U.S. the sum of $6, 250, being the amount of Interest payable at your counter, the first instant?, on 250 Tennessee State Bonds held by this Department in trust for the Chickasaws; and make the usual return to the Treasurer and advise the Department thereof.
I am respectfully your Obt Servt [signed] Levi Woodbury Secretary of the Treasury
[addressed to] Wm. D. Lewis Esq. Cashier Girard Bank Phila
From wikipedia:
Levi Woodbury (December 22, 1789 – September 4, 1851) was an American attorney, jurist, and Democratic politician from New Hampshire. During a four-decade career in public office, Woodbury served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, a United States Senator, the ninth governor of New Hampshire, and cabinet member in the Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren administrations. He was promoted as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 1848....
As a U.S. Senator, Woodbury was a dependable Jackson Democrat, successfully working to end the Second Bank of the United States; like Jackson he favored an "independent" treasury system and "hard money" over paper money. In retrospect, the financial Panic of 1837 and the collapse of speculative land prices were legacies of Woodbury's tenure. After the Panic, Woodbury realised that the U.S. Treasury needed a more secure administration of its own funds than commercial banks supplied, and he backed the act for an "Independent Treasury System" passed by Congress in 1840. It was largely repealed under the new administration the following year, but the foundation was laid for an independent U.S. Treasury, finally established in 1846, under President James K. Polk. Woodbury also served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance during a Special Session of the 29th Congress. His ten-day chairmanship is the shortest on record.
This letter was addressed to William D. Lewis the Cashier of the Girard Bank in Philadelphia. From the New York Public Library Archives:
William David Lewis (1792-1881) was an American merchant and banker. He worked in Russia for his brother from 1818 to 1824 and then became an importer and commission merchant in Philadelphia. He was cashier of the Girard Bank in Philadelphia from 1832 to 1842 and financed a number of Pennsylvania railroads. Collection consists of Lewis's correspondence, diary, financial and legal papers, maps, and printed matter. Correspondence includes personal correspondence, 1818-1879; and correspondence concerning railroads, 1829-1864. Diary, 1840, is a journal of a trial trip of the boat Eureka. Financial papers, 1831-1862, and legal papers, 1841, also pertain to railroads during the period when Lewis was cashier at the Girard Bank. Other items include railroad charts and schedules, maps, and related printed materials. Very good. Item #36018
From AI overview:
Tennessee State Bonds were involved in the financial transactions related to the Chickasaw Nation, particularly concerning the funds generated from their land cessions. Specifically, federal law in the mid-19th century mandated that funds from Indian land sales be invested in federal bonds. However, Secretaries of the Interior sometimes invested these funds in state bonds, including those from Tennessee. This practice became problematic when Tennessee and other Southern states seceded during the Civil War, leading to a loss of the funds that were intended to benefit the Chickasaw Nation.
In addition to bond investments, the Chickasaw Nation's financial interactions with the United States government also involved direct payments for land cessions. For example, the 1818 Treaty with the Chickasaw agreed to pay the Chickasaws $20,000 annually for 15 years, along with paying off certain debts. In another instance, the Chickasaw ceded land to pay debts owed to trading companies. Therefore, while Tennessee State Bonds were part of the financial dealings related to Chickasaw land sales and removal, direct payments and debt settlements were also utilized.
Price: $250.00