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George Washington

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
George Washington

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Auction Date:2014 Sep 10 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
ALS signed “Go: Washington,” one page, 7.25 x 9, Philadelphia, June 8, 1787. Letter to Roger Alden, secretary of Congress. In full: “I have been honoured with your favor of the 31st ult., enclosing The Gazette of New York—Let me entreat you to make my acknowledgements to the Honourable Members of Congress who were obliging as to direct them to be sent to me;—and that you would be pleased to accept, yourself, my thanks for the regularity with which they have been forwarded.” Reverse of second integral page is addressed in Washington’s hand, “Roger Alden, Esqr., D. Secretary to Congress,” with the page also retaining Washington’s black wax seal. In fine condition, with intersecting folds, one through a single letter of signature, a uniform shade of toning from previous display, and some small areas of paper loss and separations to second page. Accompanied by a 1977 certificate of authenticity from Charles Hamilton.

Less than two weeks before writing this letter, Washington had been installed as the president of the Constitutional Convention, called together to revise or replace the Articles of Confederation and put into place a new government more suited to handle the demands of the growing nation. One of the most contentious topics addressed during the convention was the establishment of the country’s executive branch and the power and responsibilities of the president, including debates on whether the presidency would be a single person or a board of three, what the term limits would be, and how the president would be elected. The pervasive belief that Washington himself would be the first president of the nation helped build enough support for the single-person presidency that it was finally accepted by the Convention. After nearly four months of debate, deliberation, and compromise, the resulting agreements were drafted as the United States Constitution. A superb and beautifully penned Washington letter sent at the start of this supremely important convention, which would define the parameters for his position as America’s first president.