Item 30: Partial Letter of Pardon from James K. Polk to Unknown, 1846 May 21
Item — Box: 9, Folder: 30
Dates
- Created: 1846 May 21
Creator
Disclaimer for Name and Subject Authorities
Some of the name and subject authority tags have been assigned by educated guessing and estimation of persons and subjects by region, age, profession, and familial relationships. They have been thoroughly researched by using primary and secondary sources available digitally, and named in each description, or in some cases linked directly to the person tag.
Access:
All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.
Extent
1 items
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Type of Material:
End of a warrant
Condition Note:
Poor. The page is torn from the remainder and the lightweight material makes the page difficult to handle.
Measurements:
8 ¼ in. x 4 ¼ in.
Location:
Washington, D.C.
Description:
The following item depicts a fragment of a document being written by James K. Polk, the 11th president of the United States. The language seems to mirror that of other items of pardon written by him and other presidential figures. This can be seen in items digitized on website’s such as Internet Archive, who has a comprehensive Diary of James K. Polk, or Heritage Auctions, who has a letter of pardon with similar sentences.
The presidential pardons are very notable, even some of pertinent from the National Archives that were stolen by a man in 2022, that can be found digitized on their website.
The letter from Heritage Auctions is written in the same year, possible allowing us to infer that a similar context is found within our own item. The letter signed by Polk there relates to his act of pardoning the sentences of 269 people during his presidency. Though most of the notable names were commuted after these letters, including John C. Fermont, a man convicted of mutiny by a court martial in 1848 and Gideon Johnson Pillow, who was charged with insubordination in 1848, the item on Heritage Auctions and in our own collection possible demonstrate that his pardons began shortly after taking office in 1846.
Transcription of image (left): “I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the United States to 'the remission of penalty incurred by the Master of the Brig 'Corinth' for violation of the Revenue Laws' dated this day, and signed by me: and for so doing this shall be his warrant. James K. Polk” Heritage Auction.
Transcription of image (left): “I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the United States to 'the remission of penalty incurred by the Master of the Brig 'Corinth' for violation of the Revenue Laws' dated this day, and signed by me: and for so doing this shall be his warrant. James K. Polk” Heritage Auction.
Transcription:
shall be his warrant.
James K Polk
Washington. 26th May, 1846.
Creator
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu