A LETTER FROM THE HON. TIMOTHY PICKERING, A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES FROM THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS, EXHIBITING TO HIS. CONSTITUENTS A VIEW OF THE IMMINENT DANGER OF AN UNNECESSARY AND RUINOUS WAR; (Addressed to His Excellency James Sullivan, Governor of the said State)
Boston, Mass: Greenough and Stebbins, 1808. First Edition (or Second; see Sabin 62652). Pamphlet. 16 pp. 23 cm. Disbound from a volume of bound pamphlets. Small tear in last leaf. Some spots on title page, and final pages.16 pp. Pickering served in the Massachusetts militia and Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was the third United States Secretary of State, serving from 1795 until 1800, under Presidents George Washington and John Adams. The Massachusetts Republican Governor, James Sullivan, refused to even read the letter, which contained harsh criticism of the Embargo act, claimed Jefferson had presented no real arguments for its enactment and called for its nullification by the state legislators. Along with most other Federalists he opposed the War of 1812. Pickering was elected to the United States House of Representatives in the 1812 election, where he remained until 1817. And while his congressional career is best remembered for his leadership of the New England secession movement and the Hartford Convention, Pickering ruined his political career when he became involved with said Hartford Convention of 1815. Howes P343. Item #82977
Howes mentions that Mr. Pickering's letter was first published at Boston in 1808, and reprinted many times in that same year; it was the first of many protests against The Embargo Act. Howes P343. Sabin 62652.
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