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Lot 213
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George Washington superb LS as a real estate mogul!
George Washington superb LS as a real estate mogul!
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Description:

Washington George 1732 - 1799

George Washington superb LS as real estate mogul: "Bushrod Washington informed me that he ... could have disposed of a million of acres at that rate".

Two page bi-fold LS on laid paper, 7.25" x 9". Dated "Mount Vernon Nov 8th, 1787", and signed by George Washington as "G Washington". Extensively penned on recto of first page, with remaining pages blank, docketed to last page. Expected folds with a few small areas of haloing to the ink, else near fine.

A lovely LS with a large stunning George Washington signature. His letter discusses one of the loves and obsessions of his life, the acquisition of land. To fully understand Washington's land acquisitions as a life pursuit, one needs to first understand the premise of the mindset of the immigrants from Europe, and the early colonialists. The vast amount of available land in America created a society different from that from which many had emigrated. "Ownership of property gave not only economic independence but also political independence to the average American. The colonists lived in exceptional circumstances and shared a peculiar outlook. Unlike the inhabitants of the British Isles, they were not located at the center of their culture looking outward toward exotic margins. Their experience was the opposite. They lived on the far periphery looking inward toward a distant and superior metropolitan core from which standards and the sanctioned forms of organized life emanated. They lived in the outback, on the far marshlands, where constraints were loosened and where one had to struggle to maintain the forms of civilized existence."

Before and after the Revolutionary War, land was the investment of choice for Americans once they arrived from Europe - a choice that signified their faith and optimism in America's future. It was the plentitude of land that drew many early settlers. Historian Forrest McDonald wrote that "when the Republic was young, all Americans knew what to do when they got real money: If you gave an American a dollar, he would buy something costing ten. This was only good sense, the American knew, because soon the ten would, by the sheer magic of America, became a hundred. The instrument of this magic, the touchstone, was land... In Europe land was scarce in relation to people and therefore was expensive. Hence, unable to afford their own land to farm, Europeans were compelled to work for others, either by becoming laborers for landowners in the countryside or, more often, by migrating to the cities to engage in manufacturing goods in factories.

George Washington clearly foresaw that the situation would change as colonists sought cheap land to plant and develop. That, in turn, would challenge the unity of the country's disparate settlements and the leadership of the new government of an independent America. Like his contemporaries, Washington pursued land - productive agricultural land. "Washington and many of his fellow Virginia aristocrats had a more functional regard for land. Land was, first of all, a constant," wrote Washington scholar Glenn A. Phelps. "It was not subject to the changing fortunes of paper money inflation, royal mercantile policies, the loss of political favor, or the decline of one's skills through age or poor health." For leading Virginians, land was virtually a religion. Patrick Henry biographer Henry Mayer wrote: "For Henry, as for the vast majority of his countrymen, land held the key to happiness and prosperity. Nine out of every ten Americans lived - and made their livings - on farms, and very few doubted the moral superiority of the agrarian way of life.

Land speculation was a natural and common preoccupation among the Founders. For some it became an economic affliction. "Hardly a prominent man of the period failed to secure large tracts of real estate, which could be had at absurdly low prices, and to hold the lands for the natural advance which increased population would bring. Residents of no colony or state exemplified the pursuit of land more than did Virginians. And no Virginian exemplified that pursuit more than George Washington. His education in the accumulation of land began early. As a sixteen-year-old, Washington learned not just the extent of the American interior, but how to judge the quality and exploitability of the land therein.

Washington's military ambitions during the period of French and Indian conflict had eventually transformed into an economic ambition to extend the land holdings he already made by inheritance, investment, and marriage. Land grants to Washington and others as a result of his military exploits became the basis for further acquisitions, and Washington "was obsessed with the idea of amassing land in the West, tremendous amounts of it, putting it all under cultivation and bringing commerce and people there. Washington's avid pursuit of acreage...was rather typical of Virginia's planter class. He was simply more diligent in his quest than most. Washington was governed by three principles: buy (or claim as a bounty for public service) as much good land as possible, trade poor land for better land whenever possible, and never sell land for cash. Washington was different from most speculators of the time. First he operated in many areas of the new nation. Second, he could usually afford to acquire, hold and wait to sell - not dependent on a quick sale at a lower price. He invested in such land ventures as the Walpole Grant, the Mississippi Company, and the Dismal Swamp Company. Nonetheless, he denied being a land speculator. This was a sensitive point, for in his mind a speculator was a wheeler-dealer, a huckster, someone who snapped up land and sold it on a whim. He was not such a man. He had a gentlemanly relationship with his property and his tenants. He tended not to sell his land, but rather bought and held, and hoped to find tenants who would lease the property and make improvements, such as clearing fields and erecting fences.

This spectacular letter showcases this significant part of Washington's life. As shown in full below, Washington clearly addresses his desire to have quality tenants both rent his land and make improvements:

"Sir,

Your letter of yesterday was handed me by your servant. I shall agreeable to your advice, send to Mr. Wales on Friday evening for the thirty pounds.-

I do not wish to have Lemart & Shover so far destresed [sic] as to break them up, but I should think they might find some method of paying a part at least of what they owe, or securing the debt to me.

If the tenants do not comply with the covenants of their leases they cannot expect that I shall sit quietly under it, for the sole motive of leasing the land at the low rents which they give, was in expectation of having such improvements made thereon as are mentioned in their leases, if that is not done a great end for which they were leased is defeated.

I send agreeable to your desire, six leases signed, I hope you will be cautious in filling them up.

I am ... to find that there is any difficulty in procuring tenants for any of my lots - W. Bushrod Washington informed me that he had leased out his land at £17 per hundred, + could have disposed of a million of acres at that rate if he had them.

I am sir

Yr Obed H. Sev

G Washington"

A phenomenally scarce and lengthy letter showing Washington conducting business. He also took a similar stance with his home in Mount Vernon. Over a 30 year period, Washington meticulously and methodically developed his Mount Vernon estate with many individual land acquisitions having added over 5000 acres to his original inheritance over a 30 year period.

His dream for Mount Vernon was complete when Washington finally owned all of the land between Dogue Run and Little Hunting Creek, resulting in this estate growing to over 7600 acres of land. The four working farms - River, Dogue Run, Union, and Muddy Hole - contained around 3300 acres of cultivated ground while the rest remained in woodlands. Mansion House Farm encompassed another 500 acres including Washington's home, his gardens, lawns and vistas. His home was a labor of love.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $299 $20
$300 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $2,999 $200
$3,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 + $5,000