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Hancock, John - Retained Copy to Isaac Sherman

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:2,500.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 7,500.00 USD
Hancock, John - Retained Copy to Isaac Sherman
<Our item number 119281><B>Hancock, John.</B> AL as Governor of Massachusetts, 1p, 13&#34; x 7¾&#34;, Boston, 1782 April 23. Hancock&#39;s retained copy to Isaac Sherman, commissary officer of the garrison at Dartmouth. Very good; overall toning; archivally reinforced with japan paper on verso; two lines of text at horizontal folds have tiny areas of paper loss, but still legible. Boldly penned.<BR><BR>In this letter, an incensed Hancock fires Sherman for insubordination, after Sherman defied the state constitution and appealed directly to the General Court for funding. In full: &#34;<I>By a Resolve of the General Court which has been laid before me in consequence of a Petition from you as Commissary, I find you have been in Boston & have undertaken to lay a State of the Fort & Garrison at Dartmouth, its Defects & the necessaries wanting, before the Court, & Applied for their Aid; had you have been an officer appointed by the Court, & Amenable to them, there might have been some propriety in the mode o f your Application, but as in the present instance you have gone directly counter to the Constitution, which very explicitly points out the Line of your Duty, & as you have thrown such an open Contempt upon me as Commander in Chief, to whom only you were Amenable, I am now to inform you that it is my positive order that you immediately on Receipt of this deliver to Lieut. William Gordon what Public Stores & Provisions belonging to this Common Wealth you may have in your hands, and Exhibit the whole of your Accounts in order to a Settlement; I have appointed Mr. Gordon Commissary to the Troops that may be station&#39;d at Dartmouth, by order of the Governor of this Common Wealth, whom I shall Depend will strictly conform to the Constitution & Regulate his Conduct thereby</I>.&#34; <BR>Estimated Value &#36;5,000-7,500. <I><BR>The Hancock-Chase Collection, formerly housed at the National Museum of American History.</I> <BR><BR>Our item number 119281<BR><IMAGES><P ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC=" http://www.goldbergcoins.net/liveauction/43jpegs/119281.jpg"> </P></IMAGES>