PAINE, Thomas (1737-1809). Manuscript document inscribed and signed ("Recd the above Thomas Paine"), countersigned by John Bayard, Speaker of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 27 November 1779. 1 page, oblong, 105 x 255 mm. (41/8 x 10 in.) . THE AUTHOR OF "COMMON SENSE" RECEIVES HIS SALARY AS CLERK OF THE PENNSYLVANIA ASSEMBLY A document addressed to David Rittenhouse State Treasurer, authorizing payment to "Mr Thomas Paine," the sum of £450 "for his service as Clerk of the General Assembly." Beneath this order, Paine writes the date and "Recd the above Thomas Paine." The author of Common Sense , which had played a crucial role in the agitation which led to the Declaration of Independence, had been appointed Secretary to the Congressional Committee on Foreign Affairs in April 1777, but was forced to resign after revealing, in a published attack on Silas Deane, the secret of France's clandestine support for the American cause. After an interval, he was named clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly in November 1779. The present warrant is likely to represent Paine's first emolument from the new post. The printed warrant of June 1780, which paid some arrears of this same salary, was sold here recently (10 December 1999, lot 21, $9,000). A portion of that sum Paine set aside for the use of the American Army; by the end of the year, swelled by contributions from other patriots, the sum, raised some £300,000, became the seed capital of the later Bank of America (see A.J. Dyer, Thomas Paine , London, 1988, pp.46-47).
PAINE, Thomas (1737-1809). Manuscript document inscribed and signed ("Recd the above Thomas Paine"), countersigned by John Bayard, Speaker of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 27 November 1779. 1 page, oblong, 105 x 255 mm. (41/8 x 10 in.) . THE AUTHOR OF "COMMON SENSE" RECEIVES HIS SALARY AS CLERK OF THE PENNSYLVANIA ASSEMBLY A document addressed to David Rittenhouse State Treasurer, authorizing payment to "Mr Thomas Paine," the sum of £450 "for his service as Clerk of the General Assembly." Beneath this order, Paine writes the date and "Recd the above Thomas Paine." The author of Common Sense , which had played a crucial role in the agitation which led to the Declaration of Independence, had been appointed Secretary to the Congressional Committee on Foreign Affairs in April 1777, but was forced to resign after revealing, in a published attack on Silas Deane, the secret of France's clandestine support for the American cause. After an interval, he was named clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly in November 1779. The present warrant is likely to represent Paine's first emolument from the new post. The printed warrant of June 1780, which paid some arrears of this same salary, was sold here recently (10 December 1999, lot 21, $9,000). A portion of that sum Paine set aside for the use of the American Army; by the end of the year, swelled by contributions from other patriots, the sum, raised some £300,000, became the seed capital of the later Bank of America (see A.J. Dyer, Thomas Paine , London, 1988, pp.46-47).
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