From the Author of “Hail, Columbia”
Autograph Letter, signed (“Jos. Hopkinson”), to John Inskeep, “President of the Insurance Company of N. America”, resigning his position with the company.
[Philadelphia?]: November 10, 1815.
Price: $900.00
About the item
One page on single bifolium, addressed with wax seal on verso of conjugate leaf. 4to. From the Author of “Hail, Columbia”. Old folds, a few stains, overalll very good.
Item #247628
Hopkinson (1770 - 1842), a U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania and a highly esteemed jurist who argued several landmark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, is more popularly known as the author of the words to “Hail, Columbia”, which he wrote in 1798, and which became the unofficial national anthem until 1931, when Congress adopted “The Star Spangled Banner” as the national song.
This graceful letter of resignation to the President of the Insurance Company of N. America comes at a time when Hopkinson had just been elected to Congress on the Federalist ticket; in fact, he served two terms in the House of Representatives, from 1815 to 1819.
“An attention to my public avocations for the ensuing eighteen months will require me to be so much from home, that I shall not be able to render any services to your company adequate to the compensation to be received for them. It would be unconscientious to retain a situation when I can no longer fully perform the duties … I cannot, however, separate myself from them, after so long a connection, without an acknowledgment of the uninterrupted satisfaction I have had in all my intercourse with them and a deep sense not only of their kindness to me, but of their justice and liberality in all their transactions …”
According to Marquis James, BIOGRAPHY OF A BUSINESS, 1792-1942, the Insurance Company of North America primarily employed Hopkinson to handle foreign claims. John Inskeep was elected President of the Company in 1806; he was also twice Mayor of Philadelphia, from 1800 to1801, and 1805 to 1806.
