Description:

Hancock Drafts Legal Letter Re: Last Will of Political Rival J. Bowdoin. "...may introduce a dangerous and unconstitutional precedent in the Commonwealth..."

1p, measuring 7.75" x 11.375", Council Chamber [Philadelphia], dated March 11, 1791. Signed with scrawly but genuine  "JH" and addressed to members of the Senate and House of Representatives. Hancock's letter is a draft message to the General Courts regarding the Last Will and Testament of James Bowdoin Esq. The document has been neatly repaired on verso, with additional flattened folds. Faint toning and soiling in places. Boldly signed by Hancock, overall very good. Reading in full:

"At 4 Oclock yesterday afternoon the Secretary laid before me a Resolution of the Genl Court on the Petition of Elizabeth Bowdoin & James Bowdoin Esq regarding an additional power to be given, or an explanation from the Legislature as to the intention of the late Honr Testator James Bowdoin Esq. in a particular part of his Will. I find myself embarass'd in this instance, & cannot without further conviction approve of it, for I cannot see the necessity of the aid of the Legislature, because all the powers given by the Will or by the Letter of Attorney of Sir John Temple ought to arise from a fair construction of their Instruments and not from any Act of Legislature upon them and that an attempt to extend the powers granted in the one or the other may introduce a dangerous and unconstitutional precedent in the Commonwealth. I have therefore returned the papers for considerations."

James Bowdoin (1726-1790) was born in Boston and graduated from Harvard College in 1745. Bowdoin served as the first president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Bowdoin College is named in his honor. Although ill at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Bowdoin served as president of the 1779 Massachusetts Constitutional Convention. After Governor John Hancock resigned as Massachusetts governor in 1785, the ensuing election gave no candidate a majority, and the General Court chose Bowdoin as the second governor of Massachusetts. Bowdoin held this position from 1785 to 1787, but his term was marred by the violence of Shays’ Rebellion in 1786, which occurred as a result of his attempts to collect taxes. The controversy made Bowdoin politically unpopular, and he lost his following reelection bid in 1787 to Hancock. Bowdoin devoted the remainder of his life to scientific and literary pursuits and died in 1790 following an illness.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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