Beschreibung:

NOAH, Mordecai Manuel (1785-1851). Autograph letter signed ("M M Noah") to Secretary of the Treasury Samuel Ingham (1779-1860), New York, 27 August 1830. 5¼ pages, 4to , in very fine condition. "WE MUST MOVE IN THIS MATTER": NOAH, A JACKSON SUPPORTER, VIEWS THE DEEPENING NULLIFICATION CRISIS An particularly outspoken letter of Noah, a former journalist in Charleston and one of the most prominent Jewish-American leaders of the period. He comments on the worsening Nullification crisis in South Carolina and criticizes the lax enforcement of customs regulations by the Treasury Department. After a career in journalism, Noah held a variety of appointments including ambassador to Tunis and sheriff of New York. Here, as surveyor of the Port of New York, he writes to Jackson's Secretary of the Treasury, expressing alarm over South Carolina's intensifying opposition to the federal tariff: "I am somewhat uneasy about the movements in South Carolina particularly the last meeting at Columbia at which the Chancellor presided & John Taylor assisted. If these were our enemies they would be disposed of without difficulty, but they are friends whom we value & whose political support is necessary for the administration. Our strength is weakened by their defection and as 'an ounce of preventive is worth a pound of cure,' something must be done in a friendly confidential way to bring them back to the right path and we must move in this matter. If I could be spared a few weeks I would attend the meeting of the Legislature at Columbia. I know most of the leading men & have some warm friends in the house & think I could induce them to pause." (The crisis of courase, came to a head in 1832 with South Carolina's Ordinance of Nullification and Jackson's proclamation equating nullification with treason. Finally, a revised tariff averted the use of Federal force.) Noah offeres a detailed analysis of the problems in enforcing Treasury Department regulations: "The vigilant enforcement of any Revenue laws is a cardinal point with the President [Jackson] as well as yourself yet all the vigilance...will be null & void if transgressors can find protection at the Treasury Dept. I have beheld...the indifference exhibited by persons who are caught flagrante delicto in evading the laws...If escape is impossible they console themselves with the assurance that an application to the Treasury will restore them the forfeited property." Referring to a recent case, Noah is incensed that the violators will be excused: "In the case of the Hopes Delight...a gross violation of the laws & false swearing throughout, will be made out to be an accidental misapprehension & ignorance of the law, & the parties have no doubt that goods illegally imported will be restored." He believes, though, that a few convictions will "have a salutary effect upon importers & all persons disposed to treat the law with indifference." Noah concludes with a review of local politics, assuring Ingham that they Democrats must win the governor's seat, or their state will go to Henry Clay in the next presidential election. Letter of Noah are quite uncommon, especially of this length and with important political content.