U.S. Postmaster General David M. Key Signed Collection

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U.S. Postmaster General David M. Key Signed Collection:
$69.00

This is a collection of five items signed by David McKendree Key (1824-1900) of Tennessee, who was a Confederate Army officer, U.S. Senator, U.S. Postmaster General, and a U.S. Federal Judge. Popular American writer Mark Twain was a frequent critic of the U.S. Post Office, especially Key\'s policies requiring more detailed addresses on envelopes.
The first item is a 14 by 17 inch 1878 DS in which Postmaster General Key appoints Amos Ranck to be Postmaster at Morgantown, PA. The document has its orange seal. There are several folds in the document, including one through the seal. The Key signature is clear and bold. Ranck (1839-1936) was a farmer who lived with his wife Rebecca and six children.The collection includes a signed clip as Postmaster General attached to a 3 1/5 by 5 1/4 inch card on a page with a printed picture and typed information, a 1 1/2 page 1893 ALS on two District Court letterhead sheets appx. 8 1/2 by 11 inch with information about President Rutherford B. Hayes\' cabinet, a 1 1/3 page 1880 ANS on front and back of one folded U.S. Post Office Department 8 by 10 inch sheet thanking a topographer for maps, and an 8 by 10 inch 1879 U.S. Post Office Department certification LS about stamp orders as Postmaster General.
During the American Civil War (1861-1865) Key was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Confederate Army. An attorney by trade, hewas a Democratic U.S. Senator from Tennessee 1875-1877, the U.S. Postmaster General from 1877-1880 under President Hayes (a Republican who was a General with the Union during the Civil War), and a U.S. District Court Judge in Tennessee from 1880-1895.