Partly-printed DS as president, signed “M. Van Buren,” one page, 8 x 10, February 29, 1840. President Van Buren authorizes and directs "the Secretary of State to affix the seal of the United States to the envelope of a letter to the Queen Regent of Spain of this date." Neatly signed at the conclusion in ink by President Martin Van Buren. In fine condition.
In his letter, President Van Buren evidently communicated news on the Amistad trial, a case resulting from the rebellion of Africans on board the Spanish schooner La Amistad in 1839. In early 1840, a federal district court found that the transport of the kidnapped Africans across the Atlantic Ocean on the Portuguese slave ship Tecora was in violation of US laws against international slave trade, and as illegally kidnapped people they thus had the right to use force to secure their freedom. The ruling was upheld on appeal in the circuit court, and ultimately upheld again by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1841. Isabella II was one of several claimants to ownership of the liberated slaves, and even after resolution of the case, the Spanish government continued to press the United States for compensation.
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