PIERCE, FRANKLIN. (1804-1869). Fourteenth president of the United States. ALS. (“Franklin Pierce”). 2pp. 4to. Andover, Mass., April 4, 1862. To his former personal secretary SIDNEY WEBSTER (1828-1910).

“As on other occasions, so now, your thoughtfulness and good judgement have been of essential service to me. If the copies had not been sent to Mr. Latham, the letters must have appeared in an incomplete form and so indeed they would have appeared, but for the forecast, which suggested the preparation of the copies for the Express. I need not say how much I appreciate all this. The Post & Courier will copy tomorrow morning from the Express -- Mr. Latham has not sent me a printer copy of Mr. Seward’s response, unless it may have been directed to Concord. I should like to know the date of Dr. Hopkins punitative [sic] letter written from Fort Lafayette. Gov. McClelland in a letter of March 31 says that he does not know such a person as Dr. Hopkins nor can he find any person in Detroit who ever heard of him before this affair. He does not believe that any such League or association as that suggested in the Detroit Tribune has existed or now exists in any Town or City of Michigan. I thank you for the article from the Commercial Advertiser. It is not deliberately intentionally & maliciously false, like the Evening Post. What can be the reason that whether in public station or in retirement – final retirement, the Republican hounds must hold steady on my trail? I have become so much accustomed to the sound of the pack that fortunately it does not disturb me. Give my love to Sarah -- Yr friend…”

It was Pierce’s interest in U.S. territorial expansion and its relation to the issue of slavery that undermined Pierce’s presidency, specifically the unpopularity of the Kansas-Nebraska Act whose passage on May 30, 1854 contributed to the rise of the Republican Party. The legislation, drafted by Pierce and Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, opened Kansas to settlement while allowing popular sovereignty to determine whether Kansas would permit slavery. This led both pro- and anti-slavery advocates to settle in Kansas for the sole purpose of casting their ballots on the matter. The resulting violence, such as that famously perpetrated by John Brown, was dubbed “Bleeding Kansas,” and helped further divide both the Democratic Party and the entire nation, propelling it toward civil war.

Because of the political discord that marked Pierce’s presidency, the Democratic Party decided not to nominate him for reelection. From afar he managed to stay abreast of American affairs and maintained an extensive correspondence with Webster, a New Hampshire native who, after graduating from Yale University and Harvard Law School, became President Pierce’s private secretary. The pair formed a close relationship that lasted long after Pierce left Washington. In 1860, Webster married Sarah Morris Fish, the eldest daughter of Senator Hamilton Fish of New York, Ulysses S. Grant’s future secretary of state. In 1892, Webster published Franklin Pierce and His Administration.

Our letter concerns the notorious “Hopkins Hoax,” in which Pierce was implicated in a fake conspiracy to overthrow the government. In September 1861, Pierce had visited Detroit, where a bookseller overheard him making remarks critical of President Lincoln, and which he reported to Secretary of State William H. Seward (1801-1872). Furthermore, Pierce was accused of participating in a cabal against the president, and the Republican Detroit Tribune added that Pierce was affiliated with the pro-Confederate Knights of the Golden Circle. This prompted a Pierce supporter, Dr. Guy S. Hopkins, to demonstrate the gullibility of the Republican press by sending the Detroit Tribune and Detroit Advertiser a fabricated letter implicating Pierce. The newspapers brought the letter to Seward’s attention, which led to the arrest of several people in Michigan, including Hopkins. Pierce was notified of the accusations, which he vehemently denied. After his arrest, Hopkins confessed, leading Seward to cover up the fact that he had been duped, not even admitting his mistake, privately, to Pierce. However, the matter resurfaced in March 1862, when some Republican journals printed Hopkins’ letter and it was reproduced in newspapers across the country. Pierce felt compelled to clear his name and his Senate allies called for Seward’s correspondence with him to be made public. Seward resisted, after which Pierce’s friends obtained the letters from Seward’s files and read them on the Senate floor, much to the administration’s embarrassment. Our letter discusses the newspapers, Seward’s letters and a letter Hopkins penned from Fort Lafayette, which was used to house Confederate prisoners and political opponents when Lincoln suspended habeas corpus. Our letter also mentions former Michigan Governor Robert McClelland (1807-1880), who had served as Pierce’s Secretary of the Interior. One of Pierce’s Democratic allies was Congressman Milton S. Latham (1827-1882), a former Pierce political appointee who holds the record for the shortest term ever held by any California governor, having resigned his post after a mere five days in 1860 to represent the new state in Congress.

On the recto and verso of a folded sheet of paper, blind embossed with the small crest of the United States in the upper left corner. Some light wear, otherwise fine. Rare with this unusual and currently relevant content!