Description:

Jackson Andrew 1767 - 1845
Framed Andrew Jackson as President 1830 signed land patent in Bourbon County, Kentucky

Enormous framed presentation piece, consisting of a Land Patent, 15" x 9.5" (by site), signed by President Jackson as "Andrew Jackson", and dated "the tenth day of November in the Year of our Lord, One Thousand eight hundred, and thirty", framed with a lovely portrait of Jackson, 2.5" x 3", within an oval wood and gilt filet including a neat metal plaque below engraved with "Andrew Jackson / Seventh United States President". Land Patent with overall fading to the ink, expected folds, with open separation along one fold. Small stain to top margin outside of text. The affixed saw tooth seal is present and is in great condition. Portrait is in near fine condition. Presented double matted, with ornate filets and a linen frame and mat to an overall size of 35" x 19". Linen very slightly soiled. Overall stunning large presentation. Not examined outside of frame.


A beautifully presented land patent signed by Andrew Jackson as President, for a parcel of "Eighty Acres" in "Bourbon County, Kentucky". Of which payment for same has been made by "William Hutchinson", and that this document "by those presents do give and grant unto said William Hutchinson and to his heirs the said tract above described to have and to hold the same together with all the right privileges, immunities, and appurtenances ...." Bourbon County Kentucky is the birthplace of Bourbon Whiskey. Although it is unclear precisely what inspired the whiskey's name it has been distilled since the 18th century. The use of the term "bourbon" for the whiskey has been traced to the 1820s, and the term began to be used consistently in Kentucky in the 1870s.

In the early days of the American republic, the President was a relatively accessible figure. Any citizen could shake the President's hand if he were willing to stand in line long enough at the presidential "levees" that were held weekly by the first three presidents, and thereafter on special occasions such as New Year's Day. Presidents also held office hours, often daily, when citizens low and high might sit in a waiting room, send in their card or a note stating their business, and hope for a few minutes with the Chief Executive. This tradition continued well after the Civil War, until the nation grew too large and the President's schedule too complicated.

One of the President's more mundane duties in those early days was to sign certain routine documents himself, in order to make them legal. Of course this continues for important documents such as Congressional bills and foreign treaties. But early Presidents signed everything from military commissions to ships' papers to patents for land grants. And the latter, in those days when the federal government was selling the entire frontier in small parcels to individual settlers, became a monumental chore. The flood of western migration, drawn by vast stretches of open land at reasonable prices, meant thousands of individual patents, as the federal deeds were called, every year.

By the early 1830s, the chore had finally gotten out of hand. In June 1832, the commissioner of the general land office wrote to Congress that there were more than 10,500 completed land patents waiting the signature of President Andrew Jackson. Congress passed a law in March 1833 to relieve this burden, authorizing the President to appoint a special secretary to sign land patents-in essence to legally forge the President's signature. Jackson therefore became the last president to personally sign land grants.

A handsome example which presents extremely well.

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June 14, 2017 10:30 AM EDT
Wilton, CT, US

University Archives

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