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Gouverneur Morris autograph letter signed ("Gouv Morris"). ...
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Description
Gouverneur Morris autograph letter signed ("Gouv Morris"). Four pages of a bifolium, 8" x 9.75", Washington; February 23, 1802. Docketed.Gouverneur Morris writes in detail about import duties pending before the U.S. Senate.
Letter by Morris, U.S. senator from New York, to the New York commercial house of Leroy, Bayard & McEvers concerning proposed ad valorem taxes in the U.S. Senate. The letter reads, in part:
"I am asham'd to have been so dilatory in acknowledging your kind Letter of the 20th of January. My other avocations have prevented me from taking up the Subject of it which indeed is not yet up before our House. The Observations you have had the Goodness to transmit are important but there are some Points to which I must entreat a little of your Attention. It appears to me that Duties so high as 15%ad valorem will not be collected on Articles of considerable Value and little Size. Loaf Sugar I see pays 9 cents per Pound on the Importation. If the Expense of Smuggling that Article were not alone a sufficient Security of the Home Manufacture the Duties would certainly be evaded. I take this Article meerly [sic] as an Instance to elucidate what I mean by the General Position that our Duties ought to be lowered to that Point which considering the Nature of the Article and other Circumstances will leave to the Smuggler no Temptation adequate to the Risque [sic] and Expense. Could you not make or cause to be made out a List of the Duties such as they now stand and then where it is not ad valorem carry into a separate Column the natural Peace [piece] Price, without Duty, and after that in another Column in the same Line the Duty which the Article would bear under all Circumstances...The Manufacturer may perhaps at first be alarm'd lest their Business should be destroyed by the mercantile Competition but it seems 1st. to be doubtful whether the great Body of the People ought in justice to pay so heavy a Tax, of which not one farthing goes into the public Treasury, to support a Manufacturer which ministers to Luxury...In the 2nd Place the prudent Manufacturer should consider a Duty too high may tend to kill the Goose which now lays golden Eggs in his nest. But 3dly. Of this or any other high Tax must be laid either to gratify him or relieve the public Necessities it must be done in some other shape than as a Duty for Duties so high will be rendered abortive by Smuggling..." Signed, "Gouv Morris."
LeRoy, Bayard & McEvers was initially founded in 1787 as LeRoy and Bayard by Herman Leroy (1758-1841) and William Bayard (1761-1826). It was renamed in 1796 following James McEvers's (d. 1817) partnership and remained operational under that name until McEvers's retirement in 1816, after which it was renamed LeRoy, Bayard & Co. At its height, the firm provided both mercantile and banking services and was one of the largest commercial houses in New York City.
Gouverneur Morris (1752-1816) served as a delegate for New York in the Continental Congress (1777-1778) and signed the Articles of Confederation in July 1778. He then attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787 as a delegate for Pennsylvania (following his 1779 move from New York to Philadelphia). He signed the U.S. Constitution, of which he authored a significant amount, including the famous Preamble, on September 17, 1787. Morris was appointed U.S. Minister Plenipotentiary to France by President George Washington from 1792 to 1794 and served in the U.S. Senate from 1800 to 1803. Also included is a hand-colored steel engraving of Morris by Johnson, Fry & Co., circa 1862.
Condition: A few minor areas of dried adhesive residue along right margin of page 4, presumably indicating prior mounting; toning from residue extends through letter. Biographical slip has been affixed at top of page one.
Auction Info
2022 June 25 The Founding Fathers' Fight for Liberty and the Birth of a New Nation - Part I Manuscripts Signature® Auction #6257 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2022
25th
Saturday
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