WASHINGTON, George. Autograph letter signed ("G o: Washington") AS PRESIDENT-ELECT, to Mrs. Annis Boudinot Stockton (widow of New Jersey Signer Richard Stockton), Mount Vernon, 21 March 1789. 1 full page, 4to, small tear at right hand edge mended, several slight areas of discoloration from old mount. Matted with a portrait, glazed and in a fine giltwood frame. THE PRESIDENT ELECT ACKNOWLEDGES PRAISE AND AN ODE IN HIS HONOR, BY THE WIDOW OF A SIGNER Washington had received an letter of congratulation and praise from Annis Boundinot Stockton (d.1801), daughter of Elias Boudinot and widow of the New Jersey Signer of the Declaration of Indpendence. Her letter termed Washington "most revered and respected of men" and noted that "nothing but the sacred privilege of serving your country, and dispensing happiness to millions, could induce you to leave the ease and comfort you have purchased a right to enjoy..." Indeed, she contends, nothing can enhance Washington's "well-earned fame," "except this one sacrifice...by becomong the head of a government that you and you only seem to be marked out by Providence as the point ." "You have an arduous task to perform," she adds. With her letter, written from Morven, the Stockton's home outside Princeton she also enclosed an original ode "Vision." Washington had been elected President on February 4, just a month before he received Annis Stockton's letter and ode, and he was certainly under no illusions about just how arduous it would be to become the nation's first President. So, not unnaturally, he found himself a bit at a loss how to respond to the Stockton's fulsome and extravagant praise: "My dear Madam," he writes, "Upon taking up my pen to express my sensibility for the flattering sentiments you are still pleased to entertain of me, I found my avocations would only permit me to blend the demonstration of that grateful feeling with an acknowledgement of the receipt of your polite letter and elegant poem. Be pleased then to accept my thanks for them. The joint good wishes of Mrs. Washington and myself for yourself and family conclude me, My Dear Madam, with great esteem and regard...." Mrs. Stockton, of Huguenot descent, was the widow of a successful New Jersey lawyer, patriot and delegate to the Continental Congress. She was well-known for a daring act during the war: when Cornwallis and his Army occupied Princeton in 1776, she carefully concealed many important state papers including the records of the Whig Society of Princeton, which honored her by electing her to membership. Richard Stockton was captured by the British and harsh treatment in captivity permanently damaged his health. In the meantime, the British had looted and burned Morven. After he was exchanged, Stockton returned to the ruined estate, where he died in 1781, aged 51. Mrs Stockton was a prolific amateur poet, well-known for composing patriotic verses. A month later, when Washington visited Trenton on the way to his inauguration, an elaborate public occasion was staged, with a choir of 13 young women who strewed petals in his path and sang a musical version of Stockton's "Another, Welcome, Mighty Chief, Once More!" Annis Stockton's letter of 13 March and her poem, "The Vision, an Ode inscribed to General Washington," are both in the Washington Papers. Published in Fitzpatrick 30:235-236.
WASHINGTON, George. Autograph letter signed ("G o: Washington") AS PRESIDENT-ELECT, to Mrs. Annis Boudinot Stockton (widow of New Jersey Signer Richard Stockton), Mount Vernon, 21 March 1789. 1 full page, 4to, small tear at right hand edge mended, several slight areas of discoloration from old mount. Matted with a portrait, glazed and in a fine giltwood frame. THE PRESIDENT ELECT ACKNOWLEDGES PRAISE AND AN ODE IN HIS HONOR, BY THE WIDOW OF A SIGNER Washington had received an letter of congratulation and praise from Annis Boundinot Stockton (d.1801), daughter of Elias Boudinot and widow of the New Jersey Signer of the Declaration of Indpendence. Her letter termed Washington "most revered and respected of men" and noted that "nothing but the sacred privilege of serving your country, and dispensing happiness to millions, could induce you to leave the ease and comfort you have purchased a right to enjoy..." Indeed, she contends, nothing can enhance Washington's "well-earned fame," "except this one sacrifice...by becomong the head of a government that you and you only seem to be marked out by Providence as the point ." "You have an arduous task to perform," she adds. With her letter, written from Morven, the Stockton's home outside Princeton she also enclosed an original ode "Vision." Washington had been elected President on February 4, just a month before he received Annis Stockton's letter and ode, and he was certainly under no illusions about just how arduous it would be to become the nation's first President. So, not unnaturally, he found himself a bit at a loss how to respond to the Stockton's fulsome and extravagant praise: "My dear Madam," he writes, "Upon taking up my pen to express my sensibility for the flattering sentiments you are still pleased to entertain of me, I found my avocations would only permit me to blend the demonstration of that grateful feeling with an acknowledgement of the receipt of your polite letter and elegant poem. Be pleased then to accept my thanks for them. The joint good wishes of Mrs. Washington and myself for yourself and family conclude me, My Dear Madam, with great esteem and regard...." Mrs. Stockton, of Huguenot descent, was the widow of a successful New Jersey lawyer, patriot and delegate to the Continental Congress. She was well-known for a daring act during the war: when Cornwallis and his Army occupied Princeton in 1776, she carefully concealed many important state papers including the records of the Whig Society of Princeton, which honored her by electing her to membership. Richard Stockton was captured by the British and harsh treatment in captivity permanently damaged his health. In the meantime, the British had looted and burned Morven. After he was exchanged, Stockton returned to the ruined estate, where he died in 1781, aged 51. Mrs Stockton was a prolific amateur poet, well-known for composing patriotic verses. A month later, when Washington visited Trenton on the way to his inauguration, an elaborate public occasion was staged, with a choir of 13 young women who strewed petals in his path and sang a musical version of Stockton's "Another, Welcome, Mighty Chief, Once More!" Annis Stockton's letter of 13 March and her poem, "The Vision, an Ode inscribed to General Washington," are both in the Washington Papers. Published in Fitzpatrick 30:235-236.
Testen Sie LotSearch und seine Premium-Features 7 Tage - ohne Kosten!
Lassen Sie sich automatisch über neue Objekte in kommenden Auktionen benachrichtigen.
Suchauftrag anlegen
