1925

Photograph signed

Title: [Meeting of the World War Debt Commission]

Signed by all twenty delegates pictured. Stamped a "National Photo" on the verso. Herbert Hoover, who was among the delegates, is seated near the center left.

GLC04233

19 June 1788

Hancock, John, 1737-1793

Document signed

Title: [Resolution of Massachusetts Legislature]

Signed approved by Hancock. Also signed by Theodore Sedgwick, Speaker of the House, and Samuel Phillips, President. Certified as a true copy by John Avery as Secretary. Concerns levying taxes on the polls and estates in Worcester County, Massachusetts in order to discharge debts. One seated engraving of John Hancock included.

GLC04432

February 23, 1803

Shays, Daniel, 1747-1825

Manuscript document signed

Title: [Inventory of Daniel Shays' creditors]

Signed by the witness to Shays' statement by Jonathan Danforth. Describes Shays as "of the city of New York an insolvent debtor." This most likely not the same Daniel Shays who fomented the Shays' Rebellion.

GLC04296

23 November 1779

Morris, Robert, 1734-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Jonathan Hudson & Co.

No Free Frank. Contests Hudson & Co.'s claim of losses, discusses debts, and comments on the plummeting value of Continental currency. One full length seated black and white engraving of Robert Morris included.

GLC04540

2 January 1794

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Ross

Asks Ross for a loan of $450. Written the day after Jefferson resigned as Secretary of State. The loan may have been used to help pay off some of the debts Jefferson incurred while secretary or to help with a major building project he began at Monticello in the spring of 1794. Docketed by Ross, indicating that the money had been loaned in cash.

GLC04615

18 March 1789

Washington, George, 1732-1799

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Mercer

Written one month before taking his oath of office as the first United States President, Washington attempts to collect a debt owed by the estate of James' father John Mercer. States that he was formerly promised repayment by James' brother, Colonel John Francis Mercer, but John did not deliver the sum in full. Informs James "I am thus explicit, for the purpose of evincing to you, that necessity alone prompts me to make this plain and unequivocal declaration" regarding reimbursement. Reveals willingness to receive land titles as repayment. Expresses his wish to secure titles for two lots…

GLC04860

4 August 1791

Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804

Letter signed

Title: [Treasury Department circular].

Discusses payment of public debt and Department of the Treasury matters, including a procedural change aimed at reducing fraud. Accompanied by engraving (GLC04842.08.02).

GLC04842.08.01

13 May 1874

Cartwright, Alexander Joy, 1820-1892

Autograph document signed

Title: [Document regarding the estate of Hawaii's Dowager Queen Emma]

Serving as the administrator for the estate of Dowager Queen Emma, Cartwright confirms a sum of money Frank Pratt owes the estate. Also records that H. A. Wactman owes Emma's estate $1000.

GLC04730

December 1870

Arkansas. Supreme Court.

Manuscript document

Title: [Gideon Pillow v. Brown & Childress as executor of John Pointer, appeal from Philips Circuit Court]

Supreme Court of Arkansas case. Involves Pointer's sale of 85 slaves to Pillow on 28 December 1860. Discusses the legitimacy of enforcing slavery related cases. Focuses on unpaid debt, and interest on unpaid debt, that might have accrued during the course of the Civil War. Cites an earlier precedent from the 18th century: "This question first arose in the United States shortly after the War of 1776 and it was held that on contracts made before the War, when the parties belong within the opposing forces, that the debt was suspended and that interest did not run (accrue) unless the creditor…

GLC06244

3 January 1786

Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Thomas Willing

Opposes the repeal of the charter of the Bank of North America on Constitutional grounds and discusses the power of assembly. Remarks upon the ill conduct of the House in violating the charter and calls the assembly incompetent. States that the assembly is not fit to handle " ...granting charters, compiling debts, fixing funds for the redemption of debts, making money, or any thing else which requires permanency." Intends to publish a pamphlet on these topics. Willing was President of the Bank of North America.

GLC06276

26 December 1774

Washington, George, 1732-1799

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Mercer

Written by Washington a month after the adjournment of the first Continental Congress to Mercer as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. Informs Mercer of the cost of purchases made for him in Frederick, Maryland including £29 for a slave named Kate. Says the whole of Mercer's purchase was for £2385.14.2. Has heard nothing from Colonel Payton on the Loudoun County land for which Mercer was charged. Washington is involved in a disputed land deal through Mercer for Gray & Adams land, and he writes that it appears that the land in question is 56 acres short of the 1224 he was going to…

GLC06335

9 October 1804

Hobart, Benjamin, 1781-1877

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Aaron Hobart

Mentions that he owes several people money, including the shoemaker, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Tobor, and asks his nephew to act as his representative in the matter. Also sends a receipt in this letter "for what [he] paid Dr. West for the postage of the Chronicle." Mentions that at the time he was writing this letter there was a storm that damaged several houses, killed cattle, blew logs down. The damage was so great that not even "one hundred thousand, dollars would ... make good." As a result, his father as well as Aaron Hobart's father will have a lot to do this winter.

GLC06313.04.001

10 December 1862

Clisby, Joseph, fl. 1862

Newspaper

Title: Macon daily telegraph. [no. 881 (December 10, 1862)]

Subjects include Confederate War Debt, Lincoln's Emancipation Policy, Article on Compensated Emancipation. Includes general advertisements and land sale advertisements.

GLC05959.04

9 February 1861

Cooper, Peter, 1791-1883

Letter signed

Title: to John Sherman

Cooper, an inventor and philanthropist, replies to a letter from Sherman, a United States Representative from Ohio. Referring to the pending possibility of Civil War, states " I infer ... that there is much doubt that an arrangement will be made in time to secure the adhesion of the border states ... I am surprised and astonished when I see how little our Republican friends are aware of the widespread ruin that must attend a breaking up of a government, when all its parts must be thrown into the greatest possible doubt and uncertainty about the mode by which an reorganization can be affected…

GLC05801

23 November 1861

Bowen, John Stevens, 1829-1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to E. D. Blake

Col. Bowen urges Capt. Blake, acting assistant adjutant general under Confederate general Leonidas Polk, to urge Polk's attention to "the condition of my Quartermaster Dept." Notes that Polk owes money to him and "nearly every farmer around us…I say nothing about the men who are also in need of their pay…." Bowen, then commander of Camp Beauregard at Columbus, Kentucky, rose to the rank of major general before his death from dysentery in 1863. Polk's decision to occupy Columbus in the fall of 1861 was a blunder that led to Union control of Kentucky.

GLC05813

circa 1762-1767

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Autograph manuscript

Title: [Annotated manuscript copy of the 1732 acts of Parliament]

Jefferson's handwritten copy of a manuscript with notes entitled, "Anno quinto G[eorge]. II 1732. Cap. VII, An act for the more easy recovery of debts in his majesty's plantations and colonies in America." Establishes a law to coordinate debtors' laws throughout the colonies in order to facilitate British creditors' collection of debts. The act subjects all colonial debtors' property to the claims of his British creditor. With separate blank sheet of paper.

GLC05886

22 July 1787

Hichborn, Benjamin, 1746-1817

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Discusses a difficult situation of mutual friends, [possibly Henry] Jackson and [Stephen] Bruce, stating that "something must be done ... or they must both be ruined." Asks Knox for his "friendly aid in this interesting business," which seems to be financial in nature. Explains that Bruce will be departing for New York with "vouchers & information," with the goal of obtaining only "scanty justice." Written in Dorchester, a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.

GLC02437.03610

23 December 1787

Hichborn, Benjamin, 1746-1817

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Expresses his worry over a mutual friend [possibly someone eluding creditors] who is in danger. Hopes the friend is gone by the time Knox gets this letter. States, "things are at present in status quo, but hostilities are threatend from all quarters." Marked as "private."

GLC02437.03735

20 November 1789

Hichborn, Benjamin, 1746-1817

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Has browsed Knox's statement on the Flucker Estate and plans to attend to the matter of the creditors. Asks Knox to recommend that his friend [John] Tucker be appointed to the position of clerk of the Supreme Court, implying that the appointment would help Knox's case. Notes that Mr. Jay is already in support of Tucker. Stamped "Boston" and "Paid." Marked "private" on the address leaf.

GLC02437.04418

10 December 1789

Hichborn, Joseph D., fl. 1789

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Discusses recent financial difficulties, and asks to borrow money from Knox "to appear a little decent as were I lodg'd they have taken all my Cloths I should have wait'd on you myself But my dress was such that I was asham'd..." Previously asked Knox's brother, William, for help in obtaining prize money he is owed for serving as an officer on the Alliance under Captain John Paul Jones. Requests Knox to advance him the sum.

GLC02437.04434

10 September 1791

Hodgdon, Samuel, 1745-1824

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

References Knox's letter of 4 September. Is pleased to find his several drafts on General Henry Jackson have "met due honor." Is happy he can now "draw on him as your Notes become due here, until the whole sum is exhausted." Has already taken up three notes for him, "but for reasons that weigh with me I suffer all to be protested before I meddle with them." Says this will make Mr. Mead legally accountable. Goes into further details about the notes and says "I again repeat it, I think from present appearances I can manage your business better than if you were present." Knows Mead is "…

GLC02437.05150

28 September 1791

Hichborn, Benjamin, 1746-1817

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Reports that he has "at last settled the principles on which the account is to be closed very much to my satisfaction tho not exactly upon my first plan." Says their "friend" was not of service as expected and he had to come forward and negotiate for himself. Hopes to see Knox the following week. Reports that Madame de la Val and her party set off in a packet last Saturday. Writes, "they had a shocking time, but are well over it by this time." Concludes with "yours in more friend ship than I believe you have for me. -" Stamped "FREE" on verso.

GLC02437.05172

24 August 1795

Hodgdon, Samuel, 1745-1824

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Discusses business and warns him about entering into a business relationship with Mr. [George] Meade, stating "Mr. Mead[e] means to fail you altogether, and it appears to me it was his intention, before any of his acceptances became due, to do so - for he has not paid one of them ..."

GLC02437.06499

25 April 1796

Hill, William, fl. 1789-1796

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Writes that he must bring a lawsuit against Knox because he is the endorser of a note of William Bingham's. Declares that he has always respected Knox, but believes Bingham's behavior to be "shameful," having "not paid the least regard to his word, or promise." Explains his attempts to collect payment and Bingham's refusal to pay. Assures Knox that all attempts will be made to carry on this suit in a respectful, dignified manner.

GLC02437.06721

9 May 1796

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter

Title: to William Hill

Signature clipped, but handwriting suggests the author is Henry Knox. Discusses financial business between himself, Hill, and Mr. [William] Bingham.

GLC02437.06736