President Franklin Pierce Sets in Motion the Recall of the American Minister Resident in Turkey

George Marsh, the American Minister Resident in Turkey since 1849, was needed elsewhere, Pierce thought, and so set to recall him, that he might discharge a special mission to Greece.  A United States consular agent there had been imprisoned, and his property seized: Marsh was needed to report on the situation. By the next year, Marsh had freed the agent – a Dr. Jonas King, charged with “reviling the God of the universe and the Greek religion" – and in so doing, struck a blow for religious liberty in Greece.

This document set in motion the process of  Marsh’s recall.

Document Signed, as President, partially printed and accomplished in manuscript, being an Order to Affix the Seal to an envelope addressed to the Sultan of Turkey; 1 page, quarto, Washington, September 7, 1853. To the Secretary of State, William Learned Marcy.