I agree with James Hershman's recommendation to consult Leonard White's The
Jacksonians. There may be personnel rosters in the State Department
records possessed by NARA. You would need to check the Record Group(s)
for the State Department. McLane's entry in the 1933 edition ofThe
Dictionary of American Biographycites what may well be a useful source:
Gaillard Hunt,The Department of State, 1914. The bureaucracies of the
Cabinet departments were very small in the ante bellumperiod, so it should
not be too difficult to identify the unnamed "undermessenger." If U.S.
District Attorneys were involved in such matters as manumission disputes,
you might have to consult their records. (The USDA for the District of
Columbia in 1833 was Francis Scott Key -- whose brother-in-law was Roger B.
Taney, Attorney General and then Secretary of the Treasury in that year).
White's volumes emphasize how closely interrelated were the members of the
higher civil service in early America. Given the patronage policy of the
Jackson Administration, I would speculate that McLane's "undermessenger"
could have been a fellow Delawarean, albeit of a lower social status.
Incidently, during my dissertation research -- coincidently focussing on
1833 -- I was amazed to see how quickly correspondence could be "turned
around" by the Washington bureaucrats. They might respond immediately to
a letter, or even follow up a response sent in the morning with an update
in the afternoon, in time for a later mail pickup. Correspondence between
D.C. and northern points such as Philadelphia evidently moved with
surprising speed.
I'm a bit puzzled by the State Dept referring to McLane as a "non-career
appointee," although it's literally correct inasmuch as virtually all
Cabinet members are indeed "non-career appointees."
Clifford Tobias, Ph.D.
Philadelphia Support Office
National Park Service
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Henry Wiencek
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Sent by: cc:
Discussion of Subject: "Undermessengers" -- what are?
research and
writing about
Virginia history
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LIB.VA.US>
09/20/2002 12:31
PM AST
Please respond to
Discussion of
research and
writing about
Virginia history
A fellow researcher has turned up a document dated Sept. 13, 1833 from
an unnamed person who identified himself as the "undermessenger" of the
US Secretary of State. Would that have been the lowest-level of gopher?
I'd like to try to identify this person, but I don't know if State Dept.
Records would list "undermessengers." The document is of great interest
as it involved a back-door attempt to manumit a slave. The Secretary on
that date was Louis McLane, a "Non-career appointee," according to the
State Dept. Website, from Delaware.
Henry Wiencek
Charlottesville
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