RARE “Massachusetts Politician\" Alexander De Witt Hand Written Letter For Sale

Up for sale "Massachusetts Politician" Alexander De Witt Hand Written Letter W/ Rare Stamp.

ES-9807

Alexander

De Witt (April 2, 1798 – January 13, 1879)

was a 19th-century American politician from

the state of Massachusetts. Born in New Braintree, Massachusetts, De Witt

worked in textile manufacturing in Oxford, Massachusetts. Active in politics

as a Democrat, he was elected

to the Massachusetts House of

Representatives in 1830, serving until 1836. He served in the Massachusetts State Senate in 1842, 1844,

1850, and 1851.[ An anti-slavery activist, De Witt later joined the Free Soil

Party. As a Free Soiler he was elected to the United States Congress in 1853. In January

1854, he was one of six signatories of the "Appeal of the Independent

Democrats", drafted to oppose the Kansas-Nebraska Act. After the demise of

the Free Soil Party, De Witt joined the American

Party, then the only major party with an anti-slavery platform. He

won a second term in 1854, and served in the 34th Congress.[ He was defeated

in his 1856 offer for reelection and returned to his previous work as a textile

manufacturer. De Witt later became a Republican, and supported

the Union during the American Civil War by participating in efforts

to recruit and equip soldiers for Massachusetts regiments. De Witt died in

Oxford on January 13, 1879. He is buried in Oxford's South Cemetery.