2005-03
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/28/2005
FORSYTH, John (1780-1841) Slaveholder from Georgia who served as Secretary of State in the Van Buren Administration at the time of the Amistad Affair. Forsyth's primary goal seems to have been to minimize the negative political fallout, especially in the South, of the Amistad controversy. His strong pro-slavery views and his prior experience as minister to Spain from 1819-1823 undoubtedly affected his decision to support Spain's demands for return of the Amistad captives to Cuba based on Pinckney's Treaty of 1795. His position remained unchanged despite his private acknowledgment that the captives were not legal slaves, but rather Africans. Manuscript Letter Signed, "John Forsyth", 1p. quarto, Department of State, Washington, January 9, 1839, addressed to the President of the New York Chamber of Commerce, it reads in most part: "…Your letter…requesting precise information in regard to the existing state of the blockade, by the French naval forces, of the Mexican ports in the Gulf, was duly received. I have the honor to transmit to you, in reply, copies of two notes that have since passed between the Department and the French Legation here, on the subject of your inquiries…" Fine.
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