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Benjamin Franklin Approves Sale of Land Confiscated from Loyalist Joseph Galloway

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Partially Printed Document Signed, as President of the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, granting Thomas Leiper five lots in Philadelphia, November 7, 1787, Philadelphia. Countersigned by James Trimble on behalf of Secretary Charles Biddle; docketed and inscribed on verso by master of rolls and recorder of deeds Matthew Irwin, with paper and wax seal, February 1788. 1 p., 21 x 12-1/2 in.

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As president of the Supreme Executive Council (i.e., governor) of Pennsylvania, Franklin approves the sale of five lots at Market and 13th Streets in Philadelphia.

Item #27901, $35,000

Benjamin Harrison Tells Justice Shiras His Appointment Criteria; Forty-Five Years Later Justice Brandeis Appreciates Them

BENJAMIN HARRISON, Typed Letter Signed, to George Shiras Jr., August 11, 1892, Loon Lake, New York. On Executive Mansion stationery. 1 p., 8 x 10½ in. #27727 With: LOUIS D. BRANDEIS, Autograph Letter Signed, to W. A. Heilprin, December 16, 1937, Washington, D.C. On Supreme Court of the United States stationery; includes envelope. 1 p.

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President Harrison nominated Shiras as an associate justice of the Supreme Court on July 19, 1892. The Senate confirmed his appointment a week later.

President Benjamin Harrison offers his non-partisan rationale for selecting attorney George Shiras Jr. of Pennsylvania to be an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He also insisted he would not appoint those who held narrow constitutional views that would prevent the government from operating properly. Shiras, who practiced law privately for nearly forty years, had never served in public office or as a judge. He was sworn in on October 10, 1892, and remained on the bench until 1903.

Decades later, Washington businessman William A. Heilprin sent Harrison’s letter to Associate Justice Louis D. Brandeis, who shared it with fellow Associate Justice Owen J. Roberts. Brandeis wrote a brief letter to Heilprin in returning the Harrison letter to him. The two letters have remained together ever since.

Item #27727, $12,500

Celebrating a Report of McClellan’s Death

BENJAMIN PRENTISS (1819-1901), Autograph Letter Signed (“Prentiss”) Columbus, [Kentucky], March 4, 1862. 1 p., 7¾ x 8¾ in.

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Item #20740, $2,400

Booker T. Washington Writes Brief Notes for Speeches

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Autograph Manuscript Documents, Notes for Speeches or Reports, ca. 1890-1915. Several pages are written on blank or verso of “Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute” letterhead and one is on the verso of “Grand Union Hotel” stationery from New York City. 17 pp., 5¾ x 8½ in. to 8½ x 11 in.

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Proud of Race / Serious Problem, / all can help / In & out of slavery

These pages of notes, written by African American leader and educator Booker T. Washington, are not fully developed texts but are likely either speaking points for speeches or points to stress in reports. A few can be tied to specific speeches Washington gave in the mid-1890s, but many refer to anecdotes or themes that he used in multiple speeches over a lifetime of addressing black and white audiences.

Washington’s approach to the path for African Americans to rise out of the miseries of slavery was more gradual than that of other African American leaders and aimed for accommodation to white hostility, fearing that the more confrontational methods espoused by others would lead to disaster for his race. The educational institutions and business organizations he nurtured created a more confident and capable generation of leaders who led African Americans to demand equal political and civil rights in the mid-twentieth century.

Item #27518, $11,000

Caleb Cushing, U.S. Congressman,
Calls for Annexation of Canada

CALEB CUSHING, Autograph Letter Signed, to an unidentified recipient, Newburyport, [ Massachusetts], September 28, 1839.

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“I Trust We May Live To See The Stars & Stripes Floating Over The Citadel Over Quebec.”

Item #20021, $1,750

Calvin Coolidge Appoints Trustee of the National Training School for Girls

CALVIN COOLIDGE, Partially Printed Document Signed, April 18, 1925, Washington, DC. Appointment of Mrs. Otto L. Veerhoff as Trustee of the National Training School for Girls. Countersigned by U.S. Attorney General John G. Sargent (1860-1939); includes a “Department of Justice” red embossed seal. 1 p., 10½ x 16 in.

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President Calvin Coolidge reappoints Amy Louise Veerhoff as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Training School for Girls. Originally appointed by President Warren G. Harding, Veerhoff served as president of the Board of Trustees for several years.

Item #26525, $1,500

Carrie Chapman Catt Signed 1899 Receipt to Fellow Suffragette Harriet Taylor Upton

CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT, Autograph Document Signed. Check. New York, N.Y., December 31, 1899. 1 p.

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Item #21678.22, $375

Carrie Chapman Catt’s Book, with editor’s letter promoting the “Co-Workers Edition” – to a noted Chicago Suffrage leader, millionaire and vice chair of Republican Party

CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT & NETTIE ROGERS SHULER, Book. Woman Suffrage and Politics: The Inner Story of the Suffrage Movement. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1923. No. 122 of 1,000 “Co-workers edition,” copy belonging to Chicago suffragist, millionaire and vice chairman of the Republican Party, Bertha Baur. 504 pp., 5¾ x 8¼ in.

With: ROSE YOUNG. Typed Letter Signed, March 15, 1923, to Bertha Baur, New York, NY. On colorful illustrated “The Woman Citizen” letterhead. 1 p., 8⅜ x 10¾ in. #25601.01

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The gates to political enfranchisement have swung open. The women are inside.

Item #25601, $1,150

An Act to Incorporate the Ohio Insurance Company

CARTER B. HARLAN, Manuscript Document Signed, as Secretary of State of Ohio, attesting that this is a true copy. February 4, 1826 [December 5, 1839]. 3 pp. Double Folio ribbon tied at head. With: WISON SHANNON. Document Signed. December 5, 1839. 1 p.

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Item #20483, $450

Chaim Weizmann to British Superintendent Dismissed from Palestine Police Force

CHAIM WEIZMANN, Typed Letter Signed, to Fred A. Partridge, London, December 6, 1931. On stationery personalized with Weizmann’s address: “Oakwood / 16 Addison Crescent / W14.” 2 pp., 6⅞ x 8⅞ in.

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“...the evil fate which seems to overtake our few good friends in the service of the Palestine Government makes me feel a greater bitterness than I can well express… You will have to consider whether you are prepared to face a good deal of unpleasantness in Palestine, or whether you would prefer to try to get transferred to some other service in a country where my friendship, and the friendship of the Jewish residents generally, will not count against you!

Item #26111, $6,800

Charles Lindbergh Signed Map of China and Japan from Historic 1931 “North to the Orient” Flight

CHARLES A. LINDBERGH, Map of China and Japan, signed and inscribed "Lindbergh, Orient Flight, 1931” in pencil. 1 p., 27¾ x 20¾ in.

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Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh planned this pathbreaking flight to chart a route for future Pan American flights to Japan and China. They flew by way of Canada, Alaska, and Siberia over the north Pacific.

On July 27, 1931, they took off from New York, flying over Ontario and Canada’s Northwest Territories, feasting during a stop in Barrow, Alaska, before flying over the Bering Sea. A month after departing, they arrived on Hokkaido Island, Japan, before continuing to China.

Item #27570.04, $24,000

Requesting Another Battery of Artillery During the Siege of Yorktown

CHARLES SMITH HAMILTON (1822-1891), Autograph Letter Signed (“C. S. Hamilton”), as General U.S. Army, with additional autograph endorsements on verso by S. P. Heintzelman, James A. Hardie and William F. Barry. Div. Hd. Qrs., April 12, 1862. To Gen. S. Williams. 2 pp, 7¾ x 10 in., ruled paper, closed tear.

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In the middle of the Civil War Siege of Yorktown, General Charles Hamilton fruitlessly asks for more artillery.

Item #20363.05, $800

Charles Thomson’s Secret Journal of the Confederation Congress, Including Detailed Description of the Great Seal and Negotiations for the Treaty of Paris to End the Revolutionary War

CHARLES THOMSON, Manuscript Document, Journal as Secretary of Confederation Congress, 1782-1783. 104 pp., 6½ x 7⅞ in. Contemporary marbled boards; sympathetically rebacked; burgundy cloth chemise and slipcase, burgundy morocco spine lettered gilt. Together with: Mrs. Charles Thomson’s three calling cards.

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The Devise for an Armorial Achievement and reverse of a great Seal for the United States.... The Escutcheon on the breast of the American bald Eagle displayed...and in his beak a scroll inscribed with this motto ‘E pluribus unum.’

This remarkable handwritten journal includes a description of the Great Seal of the United States; Thomson is now credited with being the final designer. There is also a crucial diplomatic report by Edmund Randolph entitled “Facts and Observations in support of the several claims of the United States not included in their Ultimatum of the 15 of June, 1781”; the text of the Preliminary Articles of Peace between the United States of America and Great Britain, signed on November 30, 1782; summaries of the treaties between Great Britain and France and Great Britain and Spain, signed on January 20, 1783; and correspondence in French between British negotiator Alleyne Fitz Herbert and American Peace Commissioners John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, also of January 20, 1783.

Randolph’s report comprises two thirds of the text in this journal and was not made public until 1820-1821, when the “Secret Journals” of Congress were first published under the direction of President James Monroe in conformity with resolutions of Congress.

Item #26592, $925,000

Congress Begs the States for the Power to Regulate Trade and Negotiate Treaties

CHARLES THOMSON, Document Signed as Secretary of Congress. Resolutions Concerning Foreign Commerce. April 30, 1784, [Annapolis, Maryland]. 1 p., 7¾ x 12¾ in.

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“The fortune of every citizen is interested in the success thereof [of trade]; for it is the constant source of wealth and incentive to industry; and the value of our produce and our land must ever rise or fall in proportion to the prosperous or adverse state of trade.…”

Item #20874.99, $54,000

Charles Thomson (One of Only Two Men to Sign the Declaration of Independence on July 4) Sends Treaty of Paris Proclamation Officially Ending the Revolutionary War

CHARLES THOMSON, Manuscript Letter Signed, to Georgia Governor John Houstoun, January 16, 1784, Annapolis, Maryland. 1 p., 6¼ x 7¾ in.

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Charles Thomson of Pennsylvania served as Secretary of the Continental and Confederation Congresses throughout their entire fifteen-year existence, from 1774 to 1789. In that position, he signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th. With a very small executive department, the role was much more than clerical; especially when Congress was not in session, he essentially acted as the prime minister of the pre-Constitutional United States.

This letter to the governor of Georgia transmitted printed copies of the Proclamation of the Treaty of Paris and Congressional Resolution (both no longer present), written by Thomas Jefferson, recommending that the states restore the confiscated property of all British subjects who had “not borne arms against the...United States” in a “spirit of conciliation.” The recipient, John Houstoun, had taken office as governor of Georgia one week earlier.

Item #27680, $37,500

Excluding Chinese Immigration: President Chester Arthur Orders Seal Affixed to His Angell Treaty Proclamation

CHESTER ARTHUR, Partially Printed Document Signed, Order to Affix Seal of the United States to His Proclamation, October 10, 1881, Washington, DC. 1 p., 8 x 10 in.

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With this order, new President Chester A. Arthur authorized Secretary of State James G. Blaine to affix the seal of the United States to the fully ratified Angell Treaty of 1880 that suspended the immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States. Further discriminatory steps were enacted by subsequent legislation continuing until 1943.

Item #27711, ON HOLD

Cinque, Leader of the Amistad Revolt Autograph at an Abolitionist Fundraiser in Philadelphia

CINQUE, Autograph as Leader of the Amistad Captives. Philadelphia, Pa., May 27, 1841. 1 p. Also signed by F-foole [Fuli]. With two endorsements in unknown hand, the later one possibly written by Charles Evans in pencil.

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Cinque was an almost mythic figure during the controversies and legal cases surrounding the slave ship Amistad in 1839-1841. He freed himself and the other Africans in the hold of the Amistad, initiated the revolt that captured the ship, and led the ships’ voyage from waters near Cuba to the United States. After being captured off the coast of Long Island, while imprisoned in Connecticut as the Africans’ status was debated by the U.S. Supreme Court, Cinque learned to speak and write English. (That they spoke Mende was discovered by a linguistics professor at Yale, who then found translators—two escaped slaves who spoke both languages).

After winning their freedom, Cinque and some others embarked on a lecture tour to New York and Philadelphia in May 1841 to raise funds for their return home. Their enthusiastic reception by the abolitionist movement made for a busy schedule.  Among the stops, Cinque visited the Lombard Street School for black children in Philadelphia. 

This autograph, signed at the Lombard school on May 27, 1841, is one of only two or three known original signatures of Cinque.

Item #21884, PRICE ON REQUEST

Clothing the 1st Vermont Cavalry in the Civil War

COMPANY D, 1st VERMONT CAVALRY. [CIVIL WAR], Manuscript Document Signed, June 1862: List of clothing distributed to 54 men, including 25 caps, 24 blouses, 50 trousers, 66 flannel shirts, 15 drawers, 19 bootees, 69 stockings, and 3 blankets. Each row signed by the soldier who received the items. 1 p., 15½ x 23¾ in.

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Item #23879.02, $750

Daniel Chester French Adds Lincoln Memorial Statue to His Biography for Who’s Who

DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH, Printed Entry for Who’s Who in America, with handwritten correction, signed by French at bottom. October 1, 1921. New York City. 1 p. 8½ x 10¾ in.

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In 1899, Albert Nelson Marquis (1855-1943) published the first edition of Who’s Who in America with biographical information on 8,602 “leaders and achievers” from “every significant field of endeavor.” For the twelfth volume, to be published in 1922 or 1923, French received a printed version of his prior entry with a request for updates. French added his latest and greatest accomplishment, the completion in 1920 of his sculpture for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Item #24358, $1,000

Daniel Webster Details a Duel Challenge by Congressman John Randolph

DANIEL WEBSTER, Autograph Manuscript, recording circumstances around John Randolph’s challenge to a duel, ca. 1826-1831. 3 pp., 8 x 10 in.

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Mr. R sent Mr. W. a challenge, thro’ Mr. B. / Mr. W. wrote an answer, to this challenge, and was prepared to send it, thro’ Genl Wool, of the Army. / This answer, is the one alluded to, or spoken of, in the newspaper publication, of which Genl. B. has a manuscript copy….

I destroyed my letter, according to agreement; & kept no copy.…  I have scrupulously fulfilled my part of the agreement, as to not authorizing any publications.

John Randolph of Roanoke, Virginia, was infamous for his temper and language, which led him to challenge several contemporaries to duels. In 1816, Randolph, feeling scorned by Webster’s speech in a House debate over the sugar tax, first challenged Webster to a duel. Friends resolved the matter, and Randolph withdrew the challenge.

Item #24221, $8,500
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