Millard Fillmore 1852 Document Signed as President

President Fillmore introduces his American consul "to the Bey of Tunis"

13th President. Partly-printed document signed “Millard Fillmore” AS PRESIDENT, one page, 8 x 9.75, September 21, 1852. President Fillmore directs the Secretary of State to “affix the Seal of the United States to a letter accrediting Joseph H. Nicholson, as Consul, to the Bey of Tunis”.

Signed nicely at the conclusion by Millard Fillmore. In fine condition.

The son and namesake of Joseph Hopper Nicholson, Sr., a U.S. Congressman and the Chief Judge for the Sixth Judiciary Court, Nicholson, Jr. (1806-1872) was a prominent Maryland lawyer and politician who was commissioned United States Consul at Tunis by President Millard Fillmore. Afterward, he was appointed Principal Executive Clerk of the United States Senate, a position created for Nicholson, which he filled until 1861.

Ahmad Pasha Bey, known as the ‘Great Reformer’ of modern Tunisia, ruled from 1837 until 1855. During his reign, Tunisia made its first effort to institute European-inspired political and military reforms. However, his most enduring effort was making Tunisia the first country in the Muslim world to officially abolish slavery. In January 1846, Ahmad Pasha Bey promulgated a decree to permanently abolish slavery, two years before the abolition of slavery in the French colonies in 1848. This decision was unprecedented in the Muslim world at the time.