Alexander Hamilton letter signed and free franked ("A Hamilton" and "Free A Hamilton") as Secretary of the Treasury. Two pages of a bifolium, 7.75" x 10", "Treasury Department"; July 21, 1792. Addressed to William Ellery (1727-1820) as Collector of the Customs at New Port, Rhode Island. Free franked by Hamilton. Docketed by Ellery. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton writes to Collector of the Customs William Ellery regarding an act for registering and clearing vessels. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) writes to William Ellery expounding upon details of a recent act titled "An Act for Registering and Clearing Vessels, Regulating the Coasting Trade, and for other purposes." Ellery wrote to Hamilton on June 25, asking him to clarify two points regarding sections 14 and 29 of the act. There, Ellery inquired, "A figured head is put to a vessel after she has been registered: doth such alteration render it necessary that she should be registered anew? and if so, should the cause thereof be expressed in her new Register? The master of a vessel of twenty tons or upwards licensed to trade between the difft. districts of the United States produces a certified manifest to the Collector of the District where she arrives: but has on board his vessel goods of foreign growth or manufacture, of less value than two hundred dollars, which are not mentioned in his manifest are such goods liable to seizure and forfeiture?" In this letter, Hamilton responds to Ellery's questions. It reads, in part: "...A figure head being put to a vessel after she has been registered, does not appear to be one of the alterations described in the law, which makes a new registry necessary. But it will be advisable and proper in such cases, to make a note of it on the Register; as otherwise a question might be made productive of embarrassment to owners and masters, whether the vessel was the same, which was intended by the Registers. With regard to the other question proposed in your letter of the 25th...I am of opinion that in every case in which licensed vessels are required to have manifests, these manifests must comprise the whole Cargo. If they do not, as in the case stated, they are not such manifests as the law requires; and consequently not only the penalty of 400 dollars is incurred but all the goods on board, as well those contained in the defective Manifest, as those not contained in it, are subject to forfeiture." Signed, "A Hamilton". Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757- 1804), New York's only signer of the Constitution and secretary and aide-de-camp to General Washington during the American Revolution, served as the first Secretary of the Treasury from 1789 to 1795. Hamilton was mortally wounded in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr in 1804. William Ellery (1727-1820) was a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. He served as a Rhode Island delegate in the Second Continental Congress and a member of the Marine Committee of Congress. After retiring from Congress, Ellery spent the final thirty years of his life as collector of customs for Newport. The association between Ellery, a representative from Rhode Island who signed the Declaration, and Hamilton, an influential delegate to the Constitutional Convention and founder of the Federalist Party, make this an extremely desirable historical manuscript. The letter is accompanied by a hand-colored steel engraving of Hamilton published by Johnson, Fry & Co. Reference: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 11, February 1792 – June 1792, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1966, pages 563–564. Condition: Small area of paper loss at integral fold from seal removal upon opening touches one word of text. Near complete separation along integral fold with portion repaired with archival tape. Splitting starting at horizontal folds. Light toning. HID03101062020 © 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

Buyer's Premium per Lot:
25% on the first $300,000 (minimum $49), plus 20% of any amount between $300,001 and $3,000,000, plus 15% of any amount over $3,000,001 per lot.