Buchanan, James Autograph letter signed ("James Buchanan")...

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Buchanan, James Autograph letter signed ("James Buchanan") Buchanan, James Autograph letter signed ("James Buchanan"), 1 page (7 ¾ x 9 ¾ in.; 196 x 247 mm.), "Wheatland, near Lancaster [Pennsylvania]," 28 March 1853 to Thomas Fitzgerald, Esq. The letter concerns incessant requests of recommendation for positions within the Pennsylvania state government. Small holes at fold intersections; mounting remnants on blank overleaf on verso. James Buchanan gets bombarded with requests of recommendation for employment positions within the Pennsylvania state government. Buchanan pens in full: "Mr. Riter writes me that a kind word from me will aid him in procuring employment in Philadelphia under the administration; but does not say what employment he desires or expects. If it be in the Custom House, & even if the gentleman whom I recommended for Collector should be appointed, I doubt whether I can interfere with his appointments from the City & County. Amid the very numerous friends there to whom I am under political obligations which I should gladly repay, how am I to select a few of them & refuse to recommend the remainder? Should I recommend all those whom I would gladly serve what would my recommendations be worth? I know that you are capable of appreciating my situation & therefore make these remarks. I have been laboring incessantly, night & day, for several weeks to serve my friends in Washington; & my present inclination is to leave the collectors appointments to the Democracy of the City & County, without my interference." By 1853, James Buchanan was a popular and experienced state politician. He represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives and later the Senate and served as Minister to Russia under President Andrew Jackson; Secretary of State under James K. Polk and just a few months after this letter, Franklin Pierce appointed Buchanan Minister to the United Kingdom. Being well connected can take its toll. The incessant requests for recommendations finally causes Buchanan to defer "to the Democracy of the City & County" without his interference. Four years later Buchanan was sworn in as President March 4, 1857.