Description:

Lee Arthur

Arthur Lee and Samuel Osgood Signed Manuscript

 

In this circular, two members of the Board of Treasury, Samuel Osgood and Arthur Lee, instruct Nathaniel Gilman of New Hampshire not to forward funds to the Treasurer of the United States, Michael Hillegas.

 

BOARD OF TREASURY (SAMUEL OSGOOD and ARTHUR LEE), Manuscript Circular Signed by Samuel Osgood and Arthur Lee, to Nathaniel Gilman, August 30, 1788, New York. 1 p., 7.75" x 9.25"  Expected folds; very good. Also included is the "photocopy" of the free frank postal cover addressed to Nathaniel Gilman. 

 

Complete Transcript

(Circular)

Board of Treasury August 30th 1788.

Sir:

            The United States in Congress having on the 20th of August Instant past a Requisition for one years Interest on the Domestic Debt (Copy of which together with any Instructions we may judge necessary shall be transmitted to you in the Course of next Week.), we desire you will not forward to the Treasurer, any further Sums, which you may receive in Indents. on account of former Requisitions; as we shall necessarily be obliged to direct their being reissued.

            We are, Sir, your most Obedt Humble Servants

                                                                        Samuel Osgood

                                                                        Arthur Lee

To / Nathl Gilman Esqr

Commissioner of the Loan-Office for the State of Newhamsphire

 

Historical Background

After Robert Morris resigned as Superintendent of Finance in 1784, the Continental Congress created a Board of Treasury to fulfill the functions. Samuel Osgood, Walter Livingston, and Arthur Lee served as Commissioners of the Board of Treasury from 1785 to 1789, each with an annual salary of $2,500. William Duer served as secretary of the board.

 

The Board’s duties included overseeing the public debt, public expenditures, and public revenue; establishing  order and economy in the expenditure of public money; executing the directives of Congress regarding revenue and expenditure; obtaining accounts for all supplies furnished by the states; and compelling payment of money due to the United States. Funds for paying the bills of the United States government came from foreign loans, the requisitions of Congress upon the States, and debts due to the public.

 

In 1784, loan officers started issuing “indents” or certificates of interest due on loan office certificates, and the states began to accept these “indents” in partial payment of taxes, thus to an extent assuming a part of the federal debt. Robert Morris strongly opposed this practice, but a committee of Congress led by Thomas Jefferson recognized and legitimatized the practice by permitting each state to pay one-fourth of its requisition with such certificates.

 

 

Samuel Osgood (1747-1813) was born in Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard College in 1770. He became a merchant in Andover, represented the town in the colonial assembly, and was elected to the provincial congress in 1775. He served on the Massachusetts Board of War from 1776 to 1780, in the Massachusetts Senate from 1780 to 1781, and in the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1784. In 1785, the Continental Congress appointed him a commissioner of the Treasury, and he moved to New York City, where he held the office until 1789. President George Washington appointed Osgood as his first Postmaster General, a position he held from 1789 to 1791. Osgood also offered his home to President Washington and his wife as the first executive mansion. He served in the New York Assembly in 1800-01 and in 1802. President Thomas Jefferson appointed him as Naval Officer of the Port of New York in 1803, and he held that position until his death.

 

Arthur Lee (1740-1792) was born in Virginia, the youngest son of Thomas Lee (1690-1750), and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, from which he graduated in 1764. He studied law in London, gained admission to the bar, and practiced there from 1770 to 1776. He served as an envoy of the Continental Congress to Spain and Prussia in the early part of the American Revolution but was then recalled. In 1782, Virginia sent him as a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he served with Samuel Osgood and Walter Livingston as commissioners of the Treasury.

 

Nathaniel Gilman (1759-1847) was born in Exeter, New Hampshire. He served as a lieutenant in the 3rd New Hampshire regiment from 1776 to 1778. Gilman served as Continental loan officer for New Hampshire in the 1780s. In August 1790, he was appointed commissioner of loans for New Hampshire but declined the appointment. He served as a member of the New Hampshire Senate in 1792-93, 1795-96, and 1802-03. He also served as New Hampshire treasurer from 1804 to 1814.

 

 

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