Raynor HCA 2014-04
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/1/2014
JEFFERSON, Thomas, President. Letter signed ("Th: Jefferson") as President, to an unnamed governor Washington, December 13, 1803. 1 page, 8 1/4 x 10”, slight browning at right edge, professionally tipped to larger sheet. Jefferson writes in full; "At the request of the Senate and H[ouse] of Rep[resentatives] of the U.S., I transmit to you a copy of an article of amendment proposed by Congress to be added to the Constitution of the U.S., respecting the election of President and Vice President, to be laid before the legislature of the State over which you preside: and I tender you assurances of my high respect and consideration. Th: Jefferson". The twelfth Amendment to the Constitution was enacted in response to the grave Constitutional crisis which occurred in the election of 1801. The amendment spells out in the most precise terms the electoral procedure for choosing the President and Vice-President, stipulating that, "The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President...; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President..." (MacDonald, ed., Select Documents Illustrative of the History of the United States, 1968, pp. 43-44). The debacle of the 1801 elections is well-known. The Consitution, as originally ratified, merely stated that the candidate with the most electoral votes would become President and the candidate with the next highest tally, Vice-President. The 1801 election, which pitted Jefferson and Aaron Burr against the Federalist incumbent, John Adams, resulted in a tie. Jefferson and his running-mate each tallied 73 votes to Adams's 65. The election was thus thrown into the House of Representatives, although it had been clear during the campaign that Jefferson was the presidential candidate and Burr the vice-presidential candidate. Die-hard Federalists, who considered Burr a more desirable candidate than the Virginian, attempted to promote Burr's election as President. Adding to the problem, Burr himself would not concede. "There was grave uncertainty and at least a threat of chaos. There was even talk of civil war" (Dumas Malone, Jefferson the President, 1970, p. 6). In the House, each state was allowed to cast a single ballot based on the majority of that state's delegation. Between 11 and 17 February, 1801, a total of 36 ballots were taken, all deadlocked. In the end the great Federalist, Alexander Hamilton, who disagreed with Jefferson but considered him the lesser of two evils, solicited Federalist support for Jefferson. The deadlock broken, Jefferson was declared President-elect on 17 February 1801. The Twelfth Amendment, drafted to correct this oversight in the Constitution was ratified and went into effect in September 1804, in time for Jefferson's second election to a second term. This item was sold in 1995 ($25,000) and more recently at Christie’s in The Forbes Collection of American Historical Documents, Part V auction on November 2, 2006.
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