President Fillmore Arranges to Attend Opening of the Railroad Line from the Atlantic to the Great Lakes

At the midpoint of the 19th century, nothing was more modern, or marvelous, than the railroad – so when the New York & Erie Railroad linked the lower Hudson Valley with the Great Lakes, it was cause for national celebration. In this letter President Fillmore discusses his, and his family’s, travel arrangements to the gala opening of the railroad line to Dunkirk. He and his entire cabinet, along with other notables of the day, assembled en masse in New York City on May 14th, to ride from the Atlantic shore to Lake Erie.
 
Fillmore also used the occasion to address the citizens who gathered at every stop,  speaking of the necessity of accepting the Compromise of 1850.

Autograph Letter Signed, as President, 2 pages, recto and verso, octavo, Washington, May 8, 1851. To "Dear Sir".