LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 October Rare Books & Manuscripts #675  / 

30103

Robert Morris Autograph Letter Signed

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:700.00 USD Estimated At:1,400.00 - 1,600.00 USD
Robert Morris Autograph Letter Signed
<B>Robert Morris Autograph Letter Signed</B></I> “<I>Robt Morris,</B></I>” four full pages, 7.25” x 8.75”. Richmond, December 15, 1787. To his business associates in Baltimore, Messrs Carey & Tilghman. Morris proposed “<I>that you should purchase an additional quantity of Tobacco so as to make up a Cargo & that you should Charter & dispatch a ship as expeditiously as possible…the advices respecting Tobacco are very discouraging from Europe by the last Packet, it being an agreed point that there was enough there already for Two Years Consumption of all Europe…</B></I>” Morris gives detailed instructions on a shipment abroad that can be delivered either to Dieppe or Havre, both French cities on the English Channel, “<I>but I prefer very much sending to Dieppe.</B></I>” He advises that Whiteside in London and LeContaulx in Paris should be contacted to secure bills of lading and exchange. This letter was penned just three months after Robert Morris signed the U.S. Constitution; he had signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Morris, whose father had been a tobacco exporter in Maryland, had a three-year tobacco contract with France's Farmers-General which gave him, in effect, a monopoly on U.S. tobacco trade with France. It expired in late 1787, at the time he wrote this letter. Morris faced financial difficulty due to problems concerning the quality of his tobacco and the failure of London banking houses to honor his drafts. Two years later, he was elected to the first U.S. Senate, representing Pennsylvania. Morris tried to solve his financial difficulties by land speculation which eventually landed him in debtor's prison in 1798. Folds. In fine condition.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Flat Material, Small (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
Sign In to Bookmark Lot