Lot 239

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Description:

Declaration Signer T. McKean and Constitution Signer J. Ingersoll Rare Broadside, "Electors of a President and Vice President of the United States"

THOMAS MCKEAN ET AL., Printed Letter Signed, to Isaac Worrall, August 3, 1792, Philadelphia. 1 p., 8" x 13.25". Expected folds; some chipping and tears on edges and folds; general toning; ink smear affecting one two words, but signatures all clear.

This fascinating letter seeking nominations for members of Congress and presidential electors from Pennsylvania is signed by Thomas McKean as part of a committee. McKean signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, and served as President of Delaware (1777), President of the Continental Congress (1781), Chief Justice of Pennsylvania (1777-1799), and Governor of Pennsylvania (1799-1808). Other signers include John Barclay, James Hutchinson, A. J. Dallas, Hilary Baker, and Jared Ingersoll.

Excerpts:

“By the enclosed copy of the minutes of the proceedings of a general meeting of the Citizens of Philadelphia, you will perceive, that the Citizens are desirous to obtain information ‘of the sense of the people in the different parts of the State, respecting the characters proper to be nominated as Representatives in Congress, and Electors of a President and Vice-President of the United States’; and they have committed to us the task of endeavoring to collect the materials, on which their judgment and choice, on this important business, may be fairly, independently, and satisfactorily, exercised.”

“All that we are authorized to do, (all that we have undertaken or mean to do, on the present occasion) is, to obtain a list of the various characters, whom the citizens of every denomination, and in every part of the State, deem to be qualified for Representatives in Congress, and Electors of a President and Vice-President of the United States; and to submit this list, without the influence of a selection, or a comment, to the deliberate consideration, and unbiased suffrages of the People.”

“Permit us, therefore, Sir, to request, that you will, as expeditiously as you can, communicate, by a letter addressed to the Honorable Thomas McKean, Esq. Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, the names of the persons (particularly of those in your neighbourhood) who, according to your own opinion, and the opinions of the inhabitants of the County in which you reside, ought to be preferred at the ensuing elections of Thirteen Representatives in Congress, and Fifteen Electors of a President and Vice-President of the United States.”

Thomas McKean (1734-1817) was born in the province of Pennsylvania to Irish immigrants and studied law under his cousin in New Castle, Delaware. He gained admission to the bar in Delaware in 1755 and in Pennsylvania in 1756. He served in the General Assembly of the Lower Counties (Delaware) from 1762 to 1776. Although he primarily lived in Philadelphia, he became the leader of the movement for American independence in Delaware. He served as one of Delaware’s delegates to the First and Second Continental Congresses and voted for the Declaration of Independence. He left before most of the delegates signed the Declaration and signed it later, perhaps as late as 1781. During the Revolutionary War, he was forced to relocate his family five times to evade British forces. He drafted the Delaware Constitution of 1776 virtually by himself, and it was the first state constitution produced after the Declaration of Independence. As a member of the Second Continental Congress from 1777 to 1783, McKean helped draft the Articles of Confederation and signed them. He served as Chief Justice of Pennsylvania from 1777 to 1799, and was a member of the convention in Pennsylvania that ratified the U.S. Constitution. Initially a Federalist, he became a Democratic-Republican in 1796 over Federalist domestic policies and compromises with Great Britain. He served three terms as governor of Pennsylvania from December 1799 to December 1808.

John Barclay (1749-1824) was born in Ireland and emigrated to America by 1775. He served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, then as President Judge of the Courts of Bucks County, Pennsylvania (1789), alderman in Philadelphia (1790-1791), and mayor of Philadelphia (1791-1793). He later served as a Federalist in the Pennsylvania Senate from 1811 to 1813.

James Hutchinson (1752-1793) was born in Pennsylvania into a Quaker family and began his medical education in 1771. He received a degree from the Medical Department of the College of Philadelphia in 1774 and served as apothecary to the Pennsylvania Hospital from 1773 to 1775. After studying surgery in London, he returned to Philadelphia in 1777. He served as a surgeon and volunteer soldier in the Revolutionary War, which led the Quakers to disown him. He also served as Surgeon-General of Pennsylvania from 1778 to 1784. He supported Pennsylvania’s radical constitution of 1776 but became an anti-Federalist after 1788. He died as a result of his work with victims of the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793.

Alexander James Dallas (1759-1817) was born in Jamaica and grew up in Scotland and England. He returned to Jamaica in 1781 and two years later moved to Philadelphia, where he practiced law and edited a newspaper and a magazine. He served as Secretary of the Commonwealth under Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Mifflin from 1791 to 1801. Because Mifflin was an alcoholic, Dallas served as de facto governor for much of the late 1790s. He helped found the Democratic-Republican party in Pennsylvania. From 1801 to 1814, he was the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In 1814, President James Madison appointed him as Secretary of the Treasury, a position he held for two years. For a brief period in 1815, Dallas also served as acting Secretary of War and acting Secretary of State.

Hilary Baker (1746-1798) served as a member of the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of 1787, alderman of Philadelphia (1789-1796), and mayor of Philadelphia (1796-1798). He died in the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia.

Jared Ingersoll (1749-1822) was born in Connecticut, the son of a prominent British official with strong Loyalist sentiments. The younger Ingersoll graduated from Yale College in 1766, and studied law in Philadelphia. Admitted to the bar in 1773, he continued the study of law in London from 1773 to 1776. He became committed to the cause of American independence, returned to Philadelphia in 1778, and established a law practice. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1780 and 1781, and to the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, at which he signed the U.S. Constitution. Ingersoll later served as Attorney General of Pennsylvania (1790-1799; 1811-1817) and as U.S. District Attorney for Pennsylvania (1800-1801).


This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.


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