October Legends Closing October 29
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/30/2016
Since being the principal architect of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Thomas Jefferson worked tirelessly to establish and then fine tune the government of the United States. As a congressman he headed many influential committees that established the western border of the nation and then was sent to France as America’s ambassador.
In 1789 George Washington tapped Jefferson to be his Secretary of State. It was in this post that Jefferson composed this letter of the Governor of Georgia. The pages measure 8 x 10 inch folded with the inside folio blank. The first page is a hand written by Jefferson and dated “New York June 25th, 1790”. The contents of the letter refers to two copies of “an “Act to establish the judicial courts of the United States”. This was enacted by the very first United States Congress the previous year, 1789 and was a model used by individual states for establishing their own courts. Although the lower left corner has been torn, the remaining line indicates that the recipient was Edward Telfair, governor of Georgia. The letter is signed “Th. Jefferson”. The ink has browned with age and there is bleeding of the ink with age. Despite the bleeding, the crispness of the lettering makes the content easily readable.
The letter has been professionally restored and stabilized on the reverse. There are two horizontal folds on the sheet and the edges exhibit toning and wear from age. The reverse has the pencil notations “MGTTE 121.” and “Letter from This Jefferson”. Please refer to our website goldinauctions.com for detailed photos. This document comes with a letter of authenticity from PSA/DNA.