Organizing the new government under the Constitution - photo 1
Organizing the new government under the Constitution - photo 2

Organizing the new government under the Constitution

Lot 653
24.01.2025 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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CHRISTIE'S
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
ID 1362398
Lot 653 | Organizing the new government under the Constitution
Estimate value
$ 50 000 – 80 000
Organizing the new government under the Constitution
George Washington, 8 October 1789
WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799). Letter signed ("Go: Washington") to George Walton, Governor of Georgia, "United States," [New York,] 8 October 1789.

Two pages, 318 x 204 mm (weak folds repaired on verso, lain into to a larger sheet). Professionally encapsulated.

Organizing the new government under the Constitution. A significant, and very scarce, letter of transmittal, given the fundamental nature of some of the enactments of the first Congress here specified, which include acts setting the compensation for President and Vice-President, Supreme Court justices, Attorney General and members of Congress, the act establishing a Federal postal service, and others. Most notable, perhaps, is the act establishing the Federal Court system, "the last grand constitutional task of the First Congress" (Forrest MacDonald, The Presidency of George Washington, 1974,.42). "I have the honor to transmit to your Excellency an act to establish the Judicial Courts of the United States, an act to regulate process in the Courts of the United States. An act to explain and amend an act entitled 'an act for registering and clearing Vessels, regulating the coasting trade, and for other purposes.' An act to recognize and adapt to the Constitution of the United States the establishment of troops raised under the resolves of the United States in Congress assembled, and for other purposes therein mentioned. An act providing for the payment of the Invalid Pensioners of the United States. An act making appropriations for the present year. An act to allow the Baron de Glaubeck the pay of Captain in the Army ... An act to alter the time for the next meeting of Congress. A resolution for continuing John White, John Wright and Joshua Dawson in office…."

A scarce survival. The system for informing the several states under the new constitution was still in its embryonic stages in 1789, and based on the few other examples of Washington undertaking this task, it was a haphazard process. Five days earlier, on 3 October 1789, Washington signed a similar letter to Governor Samuel Huntington of Connecticut, which included a summary of all of the laws mentioned in the present 8 October letter to Walton, but also adding additional legislation not mentioned (Christie's, New York, 9 December 1993, lot 225). Although the responsibility for receiving an disseminating federal legislation was formally assigned to the Department of State as per an act of Congress passed on 15 September 1789, it appears that Washington continued in this practice until early 1790 when Thomas Jefferson formally assumed the office of Secretary of State. From thenceforth, the majority of congressional legislation was forwarded to the states by the Department of State. Provenance: Henry Whitney Cleveland (sale, Merwin-Clayton Sales Company, New York, 21 March 1911, lot 309.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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United Kingdom
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