May 11 Rare Autograph & Book Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/11/2023
Stebbins(1811-81), Democratic MOC from New York: ALS, 4 pp., 8 x 5, New Brighton, July 1864, to an unidentified correspondent: "I have recd a long private letter from the Ex Secty [Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase] which confirms all you intimate. His language is very plain and explicit. Am I not right in the conclusion that the precipitate and purely political act of Lincoln in attempting to destroy Mr. Chase after his three & one half years of fearful laboring will result in the loss of his throne? Will not the Ex Secty be in the field, he competing for the crown? His letter to me is friend [sic] with a kind of magnetism that inspires these reflections. I regret the failure of my plans, but am I not [? strong] with the new Secty [William P. Fessenden], as it is said I am with the whole administration?" During the end of Lincoln's first term as president, his chances for reelection appeared grim. Salmon Chase pursued his personal presidential ambitions at this point. In a fit of displeasure with the president, Chase submitted his resignation from the cabinet, only to have Lincoln unexpectedly accept it. Fessenden succeeded Chase 4 days before this letter was written.
Col. Henry George Stebbins (September 15, 1811 – December 9, 1881) was a U.S. Representative from New York during the latter half of the American Civil War.
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