Washington, Franklin, and King George III Lead 'Spirit of '76: America's 250th Anniversary' Auction

RR Auction's Spirit of '76: America's 250th Anniversary Auction celebrates the 250th anniversary of the United States featuring 76 lots of original manuscripts and artifacts associated with George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, the Marquis de Lafayette, Benedict Arnold, and King George III.

Heading the sale is a George Washington letter written four days before the Battle of Germantown, on September 30, 1777, signed by Washington and penned by his aide-de-camp, the 22-year-old Alexander Hamilton (estimate: $750,000). Addressed to Major General William Heath, Washington discusses Continental military supplies, British movements, captured enemy prizes at sea, and reports that General Burgoyne had been “obliged to retreat, under circumstances that threaten his ruin”.

Also featured is a signed 1782 Benjamin Franklin promissory note entirely in Franklin's hand and signed twice as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States (estimate: $250,000). Produced at Franklin's Passy press outside Paris, it commits the young republic to repay the Royal Treasury of King Louis XVI 1,500,000 silver livres with annual interest at five per cent. 

Other highlights include:

• a signed John Hancock letter to Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll, announcing George Washington's arrival at Philadelphia in 1776 and the exhaustion of the Congressional Treasury, dated May 24, 1776 (estimate: $300,000)
• a 1776 King George III signed Royal Military Commission appointing Sir Henry Clinton “General in America only” less than three months before the Declaration of Independence (estimate: $35,000)
• a signed John Adams letter written on November 20, 1819, to Boston journalist William Tudor, forcefully opposing the extension of slavery into the Missouri Territory, and describing slavery as “an evil of Colossal magnitude” (estimate: $200,000)

Spirit of '76: America's 250th Anniversary Auction ends on July 8.