Mahlon Dickerson Letter on Missouri Compromise "ill temper which has been created by the Missouri question"

3pp, measuring 7.75" x 10", Washington, D.C., dated April 23, 1820. Signed "M. Dickerson" and addressed to N. Carey Esq. In his letter, Dickerson discusses the hostilities surrounding the Missouri Compromise, which had been passed the month prior, on March 6, 1820. Reading in part:

"It is greatly to be feared that all attempts to support domestic manufacturing will fail at this session in consequence of the delay in bringing forward the Tariff bill - & the ill temper which has been created by the Missouri question. The friends of the measure have taken too rank a hold for the present temper of Congress. So far, however, they have carried their measures by triumphant majorities…If the Bill should come to the Senate & I believe it will, an effort will be made so to modify it, that it will meet the approbation of a majority, and still answer in a great degree the just expectations of the manufacturers. It is impossible to do what we ought to do, but we shall endeavor to come as near to it as may be…All that was said upon the Missouri did not charge the fraction of a vote. The weight of New York & Pennsyla. on this question will almost ensure its success in the House of Representatives but that force is of but little avail in the Senate…We have more difficulties to contend with than you can well imagine, and those which are created by our pretend friends are not the least." Mahlon has also free-franked the address page. The letter has flattened mail folds, with light toning and foxing. There is mounting residue on the front left edge. Paper loss on the address page from the broken seal, which has not affected any text. Overall very good.

The Missouri Compromise was an agreement that admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state in exchange for legislation which prohibited slavery in the remaining Louisiana Purchase lands north of the 36°30′ parallel except for Missouri. The legislation was passed in Congress on March 3, 1820, and signed by President James Monroe on March 6, 1820. Mahlon Dickerson (1770-1853) served as a Justice for the Supreme Court of New Jersey, as well as a New Jersey Senator, Governor of New Jersey, and the 10th U.S. Secretary of the Navy.

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