Description:

John McLean
Cincinnati, OH, April 7, 1857
John McLean ALS re: Dred Scott Opinion 1 Month After Decision, with 2 Related Letters
Archive
An autograph letter signed by Supreme Court Justice John McLean concerning the Dred Scott case, Cincinnati, dated April 7, 1857. Signed "John McLean" and addressed to Vermont Representative William C. Bradley. McLean's letter is accompanied by two other related letters; Jacob Collamer's (then serving as a Vermont Senator) transmittal letter as well as Bradley's response. All of the letters have flattened mail folds and light toning and foxing. There are two pin holes at top left corner of McLean's letter. Boldly signed, overall good condition.

Highlights from the letters:
1. John McLean ALS, April 7, 1857: "I enclose to you my opinion in the Dred Scott case. You will find several typographical errors, but they are so palpable that any one can correct them in reading the opinion. I recollect with great pleasure your visit last winter, and I hope we may again meet before we shall be called to our account. But, whether we shall meet or not, I pray you to [know] that I entertain for you the highest regard." The Dred Scott decision (which is not included) had been issued just a month prior on March 6, 1857.

2. Jacob Collamer ALS, April 14, 1857: "Judge McLean was very pleased with your calling on him last winter & he afterwards often conversed with me concerning you. I recently recd from him a letter in answer to one I wrote him as to the Dred Scott decision and with it he sent the inclosed [Dred Scott opinion] for you with the request that I would forward it to you as he had forgotten your address. I do this with great pleasure and I hope you may find time and inclination to express briefly to Judge McLean your view of the case. I do not mean by this that I wish you to prepare a review or brief or make an argument but to state your view of the decision & its effect, especially its effect on the public confidence in the court & its effect on quieting the political agitation of the country. "

3. William C. Bradley ALS, April 20, 1857: "I recd through Judge Collamer your very friendly letter enclosing yr opinion in the Dred Scott case. I thank you for both and it rejoices my heart to see after an acquaintance of almost half a century the ability conscientiousness and firmness with which you have uniformly adhered to principles entertained in the days of Madison. Situated as you are it would be hardly proper for me to write as I think of the prevailing decision but the voice of the country is doing it for me and the minority of the judges may yet live long enough to find that however reluctantly they have written the brightest page in their own history. As for me I never despair of the republic. [Illegible] may for a time do much towards perverting and subverting the foundations of right but there is more than compensation in the ultimate justice of the man of the people. I do not know that we shall ever meet again on earth but shall never fail to reciprocate the regard you have been pleased to express for [me]. Yours respectfully & truly Wm C Bradley."

John McLean (1785-1861) held two prominent positions in two branches of government during his career: U.S. Postmaster General between 1823-1829; and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1829 until his death in early April 1861. McLean became known for his anti-slavery beliefs, and was the sole dissenter in the fugitive slave case of Prigg v. Pennsylvania and one of only two justices to dissent in the landmark Dred Scott case, which argued that people of African descent were not intended to be included as citizens under the Constitution and therefore they could not claim the rights and privileges that the Constitution secured for citizens of the United States. The Dred Scott decision polarized the nation, and the feelings expressed by Justice McLean in his dissent, and by Collamer and Bradley in their letters reflect the outrage and condemnation of many in the North.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 4.75" x 7.75"
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