Beschreibung:

ADAMS, JOHN, President . Autograph letter boldly signed ("John Adams") as President, to SECRETARY OF WAR JAMES MCHENRY, Quincy, 17 September 1798. 1 page, 4to, 250 x 205mm. (9 3/4 x 8 1/4 in.), handsomely matted and glazed in a giltwood frame with a bronze portrait medallion . DURING THE QUASI-WAR WITH FRANCE, PRESIDENT ADAMS REQUESTS A COMMISSION FOR A VETERAN "...Inclosed [not present] is a Letter from John Hampdon Palmer of Vermont to Judge Cranch, requesting his aid in procuring a Pair of Colours. This young Gentleman is a Grandson of Old General Palmer, my neighbor, who was active and usefull in the early part of the late Revolution, and indeed I believe through the whole of it. He is represented to me as a Young Man of Sprightly Abilities. It would gratify my feelings very much to give him a Commission..." James McHenry (1753-1816) emigrated to America from Ireland in 1771. He later studied medicine under Dr. Benjamin Rush before volunteering to serve in the Continental Army as part of the medical staff in a military hospital in Cambridge, and he received recognition for his dedicated service. In 1783 he was appointed to Congress, where he remained until 1786. McHenry then served as Secretary of War under President Washington, and continued to serve under Adams until 1800. Adams ultimately removed McHenry from office due to his ties to Alexander Hamilton and his attempts to thwart Adams's policies.