Documents
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William Henry Harrison Four-Language Sea Letter Signed as President
An incredible rarity. Fewer than 40 of Harrison’s presidential signatures are known to exist in any format, from complete to partial letters and documents, down to clipped signatures that retain some proof of the date. Of those, only a dozen or so complete documents signed as president are known in private hands. Succumbing to pneumonia…
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John Jay Appoints Richard Varick as Mayor of New York City
John Jay—Declaration signer, Continental Congress President, Governor, First Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court—appoints the mayor who saw New York City’s population double during his tenure. “The People of the State of New York, by the grace of God free and independent.… Do nominate, constitute and appoint the said Richard Varick to be Mayor…
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George Washington Signed Military Commission, Preparing for a Decisive Battle Against Native Americans and the British in the Midwest
George Washington-signed military commissions are rare on the market, and we do not recall ever seeing a more attractive example. Two weeks after his second inauguration, President Washington appoints William Winston as Captain of Light Dragoons. By the time Winston joined the army in the Northwest Territory, he had been promoted to command the entire…
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The Bill of Rights: Congressman and Future Speaker of the House Theodore Sedgwick’s Copy in 1789 Journal of the Senate
An incredible rarity with unique association to one of the people who played an active role in creating the first laws of the United States of America. The Bill of Rights appeared in two 1789 book printings —this Senate Journal and the Acts Passed at a Congress of the United States—both printed soon after the…
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The Penultimate Draft of the Bill of Rights—Still Finalizing What Became the First Amendment
This issue of the Gazette of the United States prints the proposed constitutional amendments approved by the U.S. Senate on September 9, before a joint committee worked out the final details. Both houses finalized the twelve proposed amendments by joint resolution two days after the issue appeared. “Congress shall make no law establishing articles of faith, or…
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Samuel Huntington Signed Connecticut Laws, Heavily Annotated Noting Legislative Changes
The volume begins with the Royal Charter granted by King Charles II in 1662, followed by the Articles of Confederation, and then a compilation of the governing acts for Connecticut through 1786, including key legislation that ultimately ended slavery in the state. “And whereas sound Policy requires that the Abolition of Slavery should be effected…