Jackson, Andrew (1767-1845) to John Y. Mason re: opinions on the annexation of Texas, US claim to Oregon

Hermitage
March 5th 1844

The Honble
John Y. Mason
Secretary of the Navy.
My dear Sir,
Seeing from the public prints, that you have taken charge of the Navy Department, I beg leave to congratulate you & our common country on this occasion - it gives great pleasure to the democracy of our Union as far as I hear & believe. From our present attitude with England - the Oregon question to settle, and the annexation of Texas, it was prudent of the President to place at the head of that Department a man of energy, vigilance, & talents sufficient to look at things as they are, & be prepared with that arm of our national defence. Oregon is ours - Texas ought to have been & now must be, or the safety of the south & west is jeopardized, new orleans insecure, and our revenue destroyed, by smuggling, & in a war with England, her & Texas united, a British force might in ten days from the sabine make a lodgment on the Mississippi, turn our [illegible], possess herself of the command of the navigation of Red River, raise a servile war, capture New Orleans, excite our Indians placed on our western borders to hostilities against us - with these [ancillaries], and her armies from Canada uniting on our west, How much blood & treasure would it take to regain New Orleans, put down the servile & Indian War thus created and supported by Great Britain. There is not an American heart & eye, that should not now be opened to the great security Texas will give to the United States & it ought to be seized with the greatest promptitude. I am very feeble and the theme has hurried me on untill my strength is exhausted.
I have been an applicant for a poor orphan boy, the son of a worthy Lady, made a widow & reduced to poverty by a disopated [sic] husband who by his intemperance, brought himself a premature death, leaving a widow & three children perfectly destitute. John Adams (no --- to John Q Adams) is a fine youth, of good moral habits, now 14 years & six months old, and well advanced in education - I had the promise of one of your predecessors, Mr. Henshaw, that he should have the first vacancy that occurred. I bring this orphan boy to your notice for a midshipman's warrant - it is all the favor I ask of the Government - and I solicit it for the orphan. He is a fine material for the Navy & at the age that he must be employed, for indolence begets evil - Will you please say to me can he be employed as a midshipman & when -
Accept the assurance of my high respect & esteem
Andrew Jackson

[Address:]
The Honble
John Y. Mason
Secretary of the Navy
Washington
D. Columbia

[Docket:]
Gen. Andrew Jackson