Building the U.S. Navy
Manuscript Letter Signed, as Secretary of the Navy, to John Templeman, about purchasing timberlands needed for building U.S. Navy ships.
Georgetown: November 9, 1798.
Price:
$4,500.00
6pp, plus integral blank. Old folds, minor separation.
Item #379676
At the time of the ratification of the Constitution and the meeting of the First Congress in 1789, there was no U.S. Navy. However, with the need for protection of the American commercial fleet
following conflicts with the Barbary Powers, and with war with France seemingly imminent, when President John Adams came to office in 1798 among his first acts was the establishment of the Department of the Navy, the selection of Benjamin Stoddert as its first secretary and the rapid expansion of U.S. naval ships.
Stoddert had served with distinction during he Revolutionary War rising to the rank of Major, injured at the Battle of Brandywine. A successful Maryland tobacco merchant after the war, he assisted George Washington in quietly purchasing large tracts of land on the banks of the Potomac in what would become the nation's capital before speculation drove up prices. In the present letter, Stoddert appears to be attempting the same process, this time on behalf of the Navy. An effective organizer, and faced with anti-Federalist opposition to a standing navy and considerable debt, Stoddert is credited with establishing the first U.S. navy yards and the construction of numerous ships.
Anticipating the Federal Timber Purchases Act of February 25, 1799, in which Congress would authorize $200,000 to purchase standing timber on behalf of the Navy (the first such act), Stoddert on November 9, 1798 writes to John Templeman, a Georgetown merchant, banker and land speculator, requesting that he survey properties along the Potomac and quietly reserve first refusal on such lands as may have adequate timber for the construction of tall ships.
He begins the letter: "It is not unlikely that the public may want to purchase this winter a body of land on Potomac well cloathed with timber proper for building ships of the largest size. Well knowing your public spirit and activity and wishing to avail the public of your knowledge of the country, I have the pleasure to solicit the favour of you to examine as early as you can, the quality of the land, and the timber growing thereon between Cape Capen and Poto[mac] river, and enquire at what rates the land can be purchased, and what quantity can be obtained, convenient to the water of the River or Creek, and if you can secure the refusal of the land for two months, as if for your own account, it may be a desirable circumstance....”
Stoddert goes on to detail several potential properties he would like surveyed, including their owners, acreage and location. He continues: "I do not wish you to confine your attention to these tracts only. But to extend your examination of enquiries to every body of uncultivated and well timbered lands adjacent to the Potomac, or the navigable streams, which entry into it. It is possible after all however valuable and cheap the lands may be the Public may buy no part of it, but it is I think probable that a purchase may be made of perhaps 50,000 acres or more, and that it will be made on no other information than your report." He continues by detailing the type of information necessary for inclusion in the report, as well as how Templeman would be compensated for his work and expenses. "This is a confidential business, which on many accounts it is necessary you should keep entirely to yourself. A suspicion that you were imployed by the Public might excite extravagant expectations in the holders of the lands ... If I had not the fullest confidence in your judgment as well as zeal to ever the Public well, I would have not trusted a business which may be so important to the public interest, as well as my own reputation in your hands..."
Item #379676
At the time of the ratification of the Constitution and the meeting of the First Congress in 1789, there was no U.S. Navy. However, with the need for protection of the American commercial fleet
following conflicts with the Barbary Powers, and with war with France seemingly imminent, when President John Adams came to office in 1798 among his first acts was the establishment of the Department of the Navy, the selection of Benjamin Stoddert as its first secretary and the rapid expansion of U.S. naval ships.
Stoddert had served with distinction during he Revolutionary War rising to the rank of Major, injured at the Battle of Brandywine. A successful Maryland tobacco merchant after the war, he assisted George Washington in quietly purchasing large tracts of land on the banks of the Potomac in what would become the nation's capital before speculation drove up prices. In the present letter, Stoddert appears to be attempting the same process, this time on behalf of the Navy. An effective organizer, and faced with anti-Federalist opposition to a standing navy and considerable debt, Stoddert is credited with establishing the first U.S. navy yards and the construction of numerous ships.
Anticipating the Federal Timber Purchases Act of February 25, 1799, in which Congress would authorize $200,000 to purchase standing timber on behalf of the Navy (the first such act), Stoddert on November 9, 1798 writes to John Templeman, a Georgetown merchant, banker and land speculator, requesting that he survey properties along the Potomac and quietly reserve first refusal on such lands as may have adequate timber for the construction of tall ships.
He begins the letter: "It is not unlikely that the public may want to purchase this winter a body of land on Potomac well cloathed with timber proper for building ships of the largest size. Well knowing your public spirit and activity and wishing to avail the public of your knowledge of the country, I have the pleasure to solicit the favour of you to examine as early as you can, the quality of the land, and the timber growing thereon between Cape Capen and Poto[mac] river, and enquire at what rates the land can be purchased, and what quantity can be obtained, convenient to the water of the River or Creek, and if you can secure the refusal of the land for two months, as if for your own account, it may be a desirable circumstance....”
Stoddert goes on to detail several potential properties he would like surveyed, including their owners, acreage and location. He continues: "I do not wish you to confine your attention to these tracts only. But to extend your examination of enquiries to every body of uncultivated and well timbered lands adjacent to the Potomac, or the navigable streams, which entry into it. It is possible after all however valuable and cheap the lands may be the Public may buy no part of it, but it is I think probable that a purchase may be made of perhaps 50,000 acres or more, and that it will be made on no other information than your report." He continues by detailing the type of information necessary for inclusion in the report, as well as how Templeman would be compensated for his work and expenses. "This is a confidential business, which on many accounts it is necessary you should keep entirely to yourself. A suspicion that you were imployed by the Public might excite extravagant expectations in the holders of the lands ... If I had not the fullest confidence in your judgment as well as zeal to ever the Public well, I would have not trusted a business which may be so important to the public interest, as well as my own reputation in your hands..."
