Gideon Welles was the editor of the Hartford Times newspaper and transformed it into a leading organ for the Democratic party in Connecticut and the Jackson Administration. From 1827-1835, he served as a Democrat in the Connecticut state legislature and then as Comptroller of Public Accounts. In gratitude for his support, President Jackson named Welles as Hartford’s postmaster in 1836, a position he held until 1841. Welles joined the new Republican Party in 1856, and in 1860 helped secure the nomination of Abraham Lincoln. In 1861, President Lincoln selected him as his Secretary of the Navy, in which capacity he served throughout the Civil War.
Autograph Letter Signed, "Comptroller's Office", Hartford, January 28, 1836 to Connecticut Governor Henry W. Edwards, resigning his position as State Comptroller: "...In consequence of having received an appointment from the Postmaster General, and entered upon the duties of that appointment, I have the honor to, and hereby do, resign into your hands the office of Comptroller of Public Accounts. In doing this, permit me to acknowledge the uniform courtesy and kindness I have experienced from yourself...With assurances of my high regard for yourself personally, and of gratitude and respect to the legislature and my fellow citizens for the confidence reposed in me, please to accept this, my resignation..."
This is the original resignation letter of Welles as he rose in his career, one that would end with his presence in Lincoln’s wartime cabinet.