1827 Folded Letter From Congressman William Hunter To Supreme Cord USA Judge Joseph Story?

hi all,
i got this letter in a lot a won at auction in germany.

i have a few questions:

am I getting the 2 people involved right?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Story

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willi..._politician)


on the front is states (what I read) change will no175. agree??

strange, but as I read the letter it is not about changing the will.

but that could be just me...English is not my native language.

of course any other comments or info is much appreciated

"Charge WH. No 175."
meaning he prepaid the letter, translated as instructions to the Providence post office:
Charge to the account of William Hunter, Box 175

ahhhh, you have a wealth of knowledge John, thank you for sharing.

the will thing totally did not make sense to me, now I see why LOL

The substance of the letter is a fascinating footnote to the early operations of the US Supreme Court. In addition to serving at the Supreme Court level, each justice "rode circuit" and decided local cases periodically; Story had responsibility for the First Circuit in Massachusetts and nearby. At the time, justices read circuit opinions from the bench and sent copies to the parties affected, and while the Supreme Court always has had an official "Reporter" publication, circuit opinions apparently did not. The dissemination to the broader public would have been erratic and occurred either through general newspaper reporting, or private for-profit publication of reports. The "Mr. Mason" mentioned in the letter is William P. Mason of Boston, who published Mason's Reports, "Reports of Cases in the Circuit Court of the United States for the First Circuit," from 1816 to 1830. Story's circuit decisions appeared in those volumes, but as a private publisher, Mason wasn't tied to any particular time schedule and apparently was three or four years late in publishing some of them. Hunter and his opponent, the local DA, both having failed to locate Mason for a transcript of an "analogous" opinion penned by Story, took the extraordinary step of writing to the Justice to request a copy.

palermo, thank you for this info, indeed very interesting. funny to see how that worked back in the day

Very interesting letter! Thanks for the historical context, CJPalermo.

Very cool cover.

what would the odds be that some will have the reply to this letter in their collection?
having that would be the best

And just in case someone is not familiar with US geography, the small city of Providence is the capital of the state of Rhode Island. It was founded in 1636 as Providence Plantations by some of the more extreme religious Puritans who were banned from Massachusetts Bay Colony. Which is saying something since the Puritans there were very devout in their religion. It wasn't until 1831 that the city developed and ratified a city charter. I see you are from the Netherlands which gives you a bit of a connection. Most of the Puritans had been forced to leave England and move to Holland because of their religion. In the early 1600s they began migrating to the Massachusetts Bay Colony going through England to get on the ships that were going there to start a Puritan religion based colony that eventually became the first permanent British settlement in what eventually grew and became the USA.

limo, thank you very much, this is so interesting. History

the reason I like covers more than stamps

You are very welcome! I also prefer covers especially when I can learn about their context in history which brings them alive for me.