The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-04-03
PRESIDENTS AS PENNIEN.
TUzIoUs DOCUMENTS IN THE
UNITED STATES SENATE.
Characteristics of PRESIDENTIAL Chi
Biography az shown i'm public
Pnpcrs Mcmc m Ocs.


In the executive Office of the United
States Senate there are preserved all the
executive messages of Presidents of the
United States from the foundation of the
government. Though not often referred
% some of these documents are becoming
worn, and recently General McCook, sec
'etary of the Senate, caused selections to
be made from the files, with a view to
preserving some of the interesting auto
graphs in cabinet by themselves. In
some cases the first message of Presi-
lent was taken, and when this was of
minor importance the first conspicuous
generally that making the nomina-
ions for cabinet positions-was taken.
They form an interesting collection of
historic mementoes, and one of the most
valuable autograph collections in the
land. None Of the Presidents, with the
exception of Washington and jefferson,
would be marked above fifty for penman-
ship by q civil service commission.
General Washington's first contribu-
! ton to the collection embodies nomina-
| tons for judges, marshals and attorneys
| for the districts of New York and New
| Jersey, and at the end of the same docu-
nents are the nominations of Thomas
Jefferson, Edmund Randolph and Sam
uel Osgood for secretary Of state, attor-
ney-general and postmastcr-general, re
,pectively. The signature is written in
a fair, legible hand which would pass
to-day for that of business man not
entirely careless of appearances, yet hav-
to let The details of penmanship take
| al -,
was penned entirely by himself, as fol-
! lows
UNITED STATES, July 9, 1893.
GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE Tho Presi
| lent of the United States will meet the Sen
ate in the Senate chamber at half past eleven
| o'clock tomorrow, to advise with them on
the terms of the treaty to be negotiated with
| the Southern Indians.
Go. WASHINGTON.
Mr.. Jefferson penncd his resignation
with the easy grace of Spencerian grad
uate, but his economy of space was such
that his documents as a whole fall below
the present standard of clerical excel
lence. He wrote most of his messages
with his own hand. One specimen en-
bodies no less than ninety denominations,
and covers almost to the last inch of
space three and one half pages of a letter
sheet. The first line is written within
half an inch of the top of the page, and
the words are crowded, sometimes twenty
upon line. Mr.. JefTersons sim
plicity is further exemplifed by
his method of transmission,
which shows him to have been re-
former in his day, as compared with his
predecessors Washington and Adams
sent their messages to the Senate by the
hands of their secretaries, or, in the case
Of treaties, often by the hands of the
agents in the negotiations, from whom,
as the messages frequently intimated,
the Senate might receive further infor-
nation regarding the subjects to which
they related. Mr.. Jefferson usually sent
his messages to the Nice-President by
mail. 1t was long before the days of
envelopes and mucilage, and the docu-
ments bear the postmarks and red waters
Of the ancient style. One of John Adams
autograph messages is as follows:
UNITED STATES, July 1, 1898.
GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE: | nominate
George Washington, of Mount Vernon to be
| Lieutenant General and Commandcr-in-C Chief
IF all the armies RAISED and to be raised in the
United States. JOHN ADAMS.
In this signature, as in all of Mr..
Adams signatures, the small letters are
more than half an inch long. A labored,
but unsuccessful, effort is apparent to
carry the same style throughout the en-
tire document. 1t betrays the handi-
work of one who aimed at more than he
was able to accomplish in the matter of
penmanship.
Mr.. Madison wrote an irregular hand,
| s :,
nomination of John Quincy Adams to be
minister plenipotentiary of the court of
st. Petersburg, which was one of several
nominations made in single message
bears the clerical marks of the Senate $
dsapproval 'Inexpedient to send
minister, wrote the executive clerk upon
the margin. Mr.. Madison then wrote a
second message, giving his reasons for
making the nomination and urging its
confirmation, but the session expired
without action. Mr.. Madison's nomina-
ton Of James Monroe to be secretary of
state was referred to a special committee
of Senators, and action was delayed for
several days, while his accounts as a
foreign minister were subjected to
scrutiny. The committee reported that
it found no reason for the rejection of
his nomination, and he was thereupon
unanimously confirmed.
Mr.. Monroe used coarse pen, and
wrote hesitatingly. He nominated his
cabinet on March 5, 1917, with John
Quincy Adams at the head as secretary
of state. Andrew Jackson's first mes
sage, dated March 6. 1929, is an auto
graph document, and more than any
other one of the series, its style seems
Characteristic of its author. Its letters
are angular and unsymmetrical, but they
are lcgible, and there is an air of self-asser-
ton about the document which culmi-
mates in the emphatic underscoring OF
the signature. Martin Van Buren's hand
was unsteady when he penned his frs;
message, as if he had not fully recovered
from the excitement and labors of his
Inauguration, but he wrote better the
next dav. james X. Folks contribution to
the collection Is an autograph message
penned in what would be taken for q
feminine hand yet with few of the grace
of penmanship. His autograph is rather