Interesting ALS signed “H. Clay,” one page both sides, 7.75 x 9.75, October 9, 1815. Letter to M. D. Hardin, in part: "I think it is my duty to state for the consideration and decision of the Governor the situation in which the representation in the H. of R. of the U. States for this District is placed. Under a commission from the President, as Minister Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary to treat with Great Britain of Commerce, I acted after the third of March last, and as last as the third of July, on which day I signed a Convention, regulating certain branches of the Commercial Intercourse between the two Countries. By the second paragraph of the sixth section of the first article of the Constitution of the U. States, 'no person holding any office under the U. States shall be a member of either house during his continuance in office.' Having been elected a member for this district and my term of service commencing on the 4th of March last, the question is was my seat vacated by the office which I held, certainly as late as the third of July last, under the U. States?…I take the liberty of inclosing for your perusal the letter of a gentleman of distinguished talents who has made some research into the subject." In very good to fine condition, with light toning and staining. Accompanied by the detached address panel, with the center panel addressed in Clay's own hand. Clay's tenure as a Kentucky congressman was interrupted from 1814 to 1815, when he traveled to Europe to sign a commercial convention as minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain. His worries concerning his vacated former seat were allayed not long after having written this letter; on October 30, 1815, Clay filled his own vacancy when he was elected in a special election as a Democratic Republican to the Fourteenth Congress. A fascinating bit of Clay history.
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