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George Washington ALS

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:1,000.00 USD
George Washington ALS
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Autograph letter signed �G. Washington� as President, one page, 4.5� x 7.5�. [Mount Vernon, Virginia], 18 July 1796. To the Secretary of War James McHenry and marked �Private� by the President. Integral leaf addressed by Washington to �James McHenry Esq.� Docketed by McHenry �18 July 1796 / from Washington.� In very good to near fine condition with writing dark and clear. Framed with an engraving of Washington to an overall size of 21'' x 28.5''; document has been adhered in several places, but not mounted, to matting of frame. In full, �I have not segacity [sic] enough to discover what end was to be answered by reporting: first, that I was to be in Philadelphia on the 4th, July, and secondly, when that report was contradicted by my non-appearance, then to account for it by a fall from my Phaeton. If any scheme could have Originated, or been facilitated by these, or any other reports, however unfounded, I should not have been surprised at the propagation of them; for evidence enough has been given that truth or falsehood is equally used, and indifferent to that class of men if their object can be obtained. I wish you well, and am always your Affectionate G. Washington.� Secretary of War McHenry knew that President Washington was not going to be in Philadelphia on 4 July 1796, to help celebrate the 20th anniversary of Independence. McHenry, from Philadelphia, wrote letters to the President on July 2nd (with enclosures) and July 3rd � each was acknowledged by Washington in a letter to McHenry on July 8th. The Secretary of War would not have sent these letters to Mount Vernon if he knew the President would soon be arriving in the nation�s capital. Judge Alexander Addison wrote to President Washington from Philadelphia on July 4th. He had heard that Washington would be in Philadelphia, beginning his letter: �Supposing that you would be in Philadelphia when I should arrive here�� Believing that the President still might be traveling to Philadelphia, Judge Addison concludes his letter, �If there is no certainty of your being here before the end of next week, I hope you will take the trouble of giving me the desired information by letter directed to me at Col. Gurney�s Philadelphia.� President Washington answered Judge Addison�s letter on 8 July 1796, giving him the information requested, with no mention of his supposed trip to Philadelphia. In this revealing letter, Washington cannot understand the reasoning behind a report, presumably propagated by McHenry, that he would be in Philadelphia on July 4th nor his absence attributed to a supposed fall from his Phaeton, his four wheel carriage. The President is not surprised, however, because he knows that there are men who would tell the truth or lie, depending upon the situation, to reach their desired object. George Washington died on 14 December 1799. A few months later, a parson named Mason Locke Weems published �A History of the Life and Death, Virtues and Exploits, of General George Washington.� Weems invented a tale of how a young George Washington received a new hatchet and used it to chop down his father�s prized cherry tree. Faced with telling the truth or lying, when his father asked him how the tree had fallen, George bravely cried out, �I cannot tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet.� In this magnificent letter, George Washington, in the last year of his presidency, centered around the Fourth of July, reacts to a lie about him and a second lie to cover up the first, evoking the most famous example of his fortitude of character, albeit a fictional tale, when he could not tell a lie. When John C. Fitzpatrick was editing �The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745-1799� for publication (1931-1944), he could not locate this letter. However, he found a copy in the �McHenry Photostats� in the Library of Congress and the text of this letter was published in Volume 35.