Lot
399 
James Monroe, 1758-1831, 5th President 1817-25. Free frank "Department of State / James Monroe" as Secretary of State on 1816 folded cover to Messrs. R.H. & Wm. Douglas at Baltimore, light strikes of "Washn. City May 18" cds and matching "Free" straight line handstamp, Very Fine. Estimate $500 - 750.
Short letter written and signed by, S. Pleasonton.
As per Wikipedia, With the War of 1812 going poorly and worried that the British would attack Washington, Secretary of State James Monroe tasked Pleasonton with preserving the books and papers of the State Department. Pleasonton acquired several coarse linen bags, and filled them with all the Department's records. This included the still-unpublished secret journals of Congress, the commission and correspondence of George Washington, the Articles of Confederation, the United States Constitution, and all the treaties, laws, and correspondence of the Department made since 1789. He had all of this placed in coarse linen sacks and carted to a grist mill two miles beyond Georgetown. Before he left, he noticed the Declaration of Independence had been forgotten and was still hanging in its frame on the wall, and took that as well.
Realized: $450