275

Stay of execution for a mutinous seaman, signed by James Madison and James Monroe.

Washington, 6 February 1813
Document Signed by James Madison as President and by James Monroe as Secretary of State. One page, 15¼ x 9½ inches to sight; worn, conserved with loss of a few letters including a 1-inch area in the main text. Framed with two smaller engravings of Madison and Monroe and a three-page summary of the document; not examined outside of frame.

In 1811, young Uriah Philips Levy (1792-1862) became part-owner and master of a schooner called the George Washington. In January 1812, while heading homeward from the Canary Islands, Levy made a short visit to another ship. Two of his men, first mate Samuel Tully and seaman John Dalton, mutinied and made off with the George Washington, killing another seaman in the process. Levy caught up with them in the Caribbean and brought them to justice, and they were both sentenced to death. The appointed 10 December 1812 day at the gallows was dramatic, according to a Boston Centinel report. Tully was hanged, and the halter was around Dalton's neck when a presidential stay of execution was read. After being returned to prison, Dalton received this additional stay of execution from President Madison. In part:

"Whereas sentence of death was passed by the Circuit Court . . . upon a certain John Dalton who was duly convicted of piracy, which sentence was to have been executed . . . on the 10th day of December last, and whereas the President of the United States did respite the [exe]cution of the said sentence, from time to time, until the 15th day of February inst., and has thought proper [to again?] respite the same. Now therefore be it known [that I?] Jame[s] Madison, President of the United States of America, for divers good causes and considerations, do hereby further respite the execution of the aforesaid sentence until the fifteenth day of March next ensuing." 

Dalton later received a full pardon, per the Buffalo Patriot of 13 July 1813. As for Captain Levy, he soon joined the United States Navy, and became the first Jewish commodore in the service--one of the most prominent Jewish citizens of the early 19th century.   

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