Beschreibung:

JACKSON, ANDREW, President . Letter signed in full as Major General of Militia to "His Excellency" John Sevier, Governor of Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, 2 January 1807 [misdated 1806]. 2 pages, 4to, tiny tear at one edge. AS THE BURR CONSPIRACY UNRAVELS, "OLD HICKORY" MOBILIZES THE FRONTIER MILITIA A very early Jackson letter, in the wake of the collapse of the Burr Conspiracy. "Your order of the 29th November reached me...& on the receipt thereof I immediately issued the necessary orders to the Genls. of the different Brigades under my command, without delay to make their returns to me of the strength & condition of respective Brigades: I have further ordered that the militia of my division be placed into the most complete and perfect order. From the patriotic zeal displayed by the Officers & men...over whom I have the direction, there is no doubt, should the tocsin of Warr be so [ordered?] they will deserve well of their Country, and that they can be brought in good order into the field in ten days after they receive Marching Orders....I am delayed in making more [men] to you on account of the failure of Genl. [Isaac] Roberts -- from what cause the delay has arisen I know not ....As soon as I receive Genl. Roberts's return my return shall be forwarded....Should he fail in complying with my order..., disagreable as it may be, to have to arrest a General Officer, my duty will compel me to order a Court of Inquiry. I hope his compliance will prevent the necessity of this disagreable process..." Former vice-President Burr, along with General James Wilkinson, the Commander at St. Louis, and others had plotted to seize Spanish-held territories along the Mississippi. Burr visited and befriended Jackson at the Hermitage in Nashville in 1805 and cleverly drew Jackson into his scheme, playing on the soldier's anti-Spanish sentiments. Jackson agreed to provide boats and provisions for Burr's force when the time came to move down the Mississippi, but when the treasonous and self-serving nature of Burr's plans became known to Jackson in November 1806, he wrote warning letters to Jefferson and others. A grand jury in Frankfort, Kentucky, though, dismissed charges against Burr for illegally raising troops. Burr returned to Nashville and convinced Jackson that his aims were neither treasonous nor illegal. Jackson delivered the boats to him and Burr and his followers departed on 22 December 1806 for New Orleans. Wilkinson, though, had betrayed Burr's real territorial designs to Jefferson, and the President issued a proclamation declaring that a military conspiracy was in progress and calling for the arrest of those involved. On January 1, 1807, Jackson received orders from Jefferson to hold his militia forces in readiness to march against the conspirators and to be ready to repel any military force which attempted to seize lands along the frontier. The conspiracy, though, collapsed without the need for military action, to Jackson's disappointment. See Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Empire, 1767-1821 (New York, 1977), Chapter 10 "The Burr Conspiracy" for a full account.