1822 LETTER FROM ROBERT GOODLOE HARPER - BALTIMORE MD - SENATOR & CONGRESSMAN

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1822 LETTER FROM ROBERT GOODLOE HARPER - BALTIMORE MD - SENATOR & CONGRESSMAN:
$65.00

1 pg. letter, approx. 7-3/4\" x 9-3/4\", dated at Baltimore, Md., Jan. 8, 1822, from Robert Goodloe Harper (signed \"R.G. Harper\"), to Elias B. Caldwell (Clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court), at Washington, D.C.

Stampless folded letter has red \"BALTIMORE MD.\" cds postmarkand manuscript \"10\" rate.

Scarce autograph letter signed(ALS)of ROBERT GOODLOE HARPER, (1765-1825) - U.S. CONGRESSMAN FROM S.C., AND U.S. SENATOR FROM MD.; FAMOUS FOR HIS PHRASE: \"MILLIONS FOR DEFENSE, BUT NOT ONE CENT FOR TRIBUTE\". EARLY LEADER IN THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY - THE TOWN OF HARPER, LIBERIA IS NAMED FOR HIM.

Robert Goodlow Harper was bornnear Fredericksburg, Va; Moved with parents to Granville, N.C. in 1769; At age 15, he joined a volunteer Cavalry Corps and fought in the Revolutionary War; Graduated from the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1785; Studied law in Charleston, S.C., and was admitted to the bar in 1786; Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, 1790-1795; In U.S. Congress, from S.C., 1795-1801, and was Chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee;Moved to Baltimore, MD. and practiced law; Served in the War of 1812, and attained the rank of Major General in the Maryland Militia; Member of the Maryland State Senate; In U.S. Senate, from Maryland, Jan. 1815 until his resignation in Dec., 1815; Best remember for the phrase, \"Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute\" - made as a toast during a dinner for John Marshall in 1798, in response to a statement made by the French Minister suggesting a payment to France to stop her preying on U.S. Shipping.He was a leader in the Maryland Colonization Society and the American Colonization Society (established 1817), and the town of Harper, in Liberia, is named for him.

The letter is to Elias Boudinot Caldwell, (1776-1825), who had practiced law with Francis Scott Key, and in1800, at age 24, hewas appointed Clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court, and served until his death in 1825, at age 49. Caldwell, like Harper, was a founding member of the American Colonization Society, and served as its secretary.

The letter has interesting content pertaining to a case coming up before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Ship Francis & Eliza vs. the United States. In 1819, the British Brig, \"Francis & Eliza\", was seized in New Orleans for violation of the Navigation Act of 1818, and the ship was condemned and sold. The owners protested the seizure & sale of their ship, and after losing in the U.S. District Court, appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in their favor. Since the ship had been sold, and could no longer be returned to the owners, the U.S. Government paid them the purchase price.

The letter includes:

\"My dear Sir,

Will you be so good as to inform me, as soon as convenient, whether there is on the docket of the Supreme Court a case from New Orleans of the Ship Francis & Eliza vs. The U. States, or of Wm. Coates, Claimant of the Ship Francis & Eliza vs. the United States? If there be such a case, when did it come up, and what is its number on the Docket for next Term?

Yours most respectfully,

R.G. Harper\"

Very Fine.

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