Description:

Jefferson Thomas

Jefferson Signed Congressional Act Authorizing Hamilton to Complete Portland, Maine Lighthouse

 

“...that the Secretary of the Treasury...cause the said light-house to be finished and completed accordingly.”

 

1p printed DS signed by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) as "Th:Jefferson" at bottom, handsomely matted and framed behind glass. Signed in type by George Washington as President, John Adams as Vice President and President of the Senate, and Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Dated August 10, 1790, [New York, N.Y.; Francis Childs and John Swaine]. This signed copy of a Congressional Act authorized Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton to finish construction of the Portland, Maine lighthouse. Variant of Evans 22955. In near fine condition, with expected paper folds and isolated foxing. Measures 9.75" x 15.25”. Not examined out of frame.

 

Excerpt:

 

“…That there be appropriated and paid out of the monies arising from the duties on imports and tonnage, a sum not exceeding fifteen hundred dollars, for the purpose of finishing the light-house on Portland-head, in the District of Maine; and that the Secretary of the Treasury, under the directions of the President of the United States, be authorized to cause the said light-house to be finished and completed accordingly.”

 

On August 7, 1789, the 1st U.S. Congress authorized the transfer of ownership to federal control of 12 American lighthouses previously maintained by cities (Act 9). George Washington's new federal government agreed to pay for the maintenance and repairs of lighthouses, piers, and buoys, provided the states in which they were located ceded them to the federal government within 1 year. Lighthouses, as well as all matters pertaining to navigation, fell under the jurisdiction of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (ca. 1755-1804). The Secretary of the Treasury supervised the local Customs Collector, who in turn supervised the lighthouse keeper. On a day to day basis, lighthouse upkeep was financed through the collection of "light-dues," or taxes collected from passing ships based on tonnage. This measure drew states closer to federal oversight.

 

Construction of the Portland Head Light had begun in 1787 with a $750 appropriation from the Massachusetts legislature. On June 10, 1790, Massachusetts agreed to cede its lighthouses to the federal government. Two weeks later, on June 24, 1790, Hamilton wrote to Benjamin Lincoln, then Collector of Customs for the port of Boston, and asked him to procure “an Account of the Cost of the Light House, so far as it is built—the height to which it is carried—the height to which it is proposed to be carried, and an estimate of the expence [sic] that will attend the Completion of it.” Lincoln replied on July 3, 1790 that the 58-ft-high would cost $700 to complete. On July 30, 1790, Hamilton wrote that he was holding off requesting appropriation until the state’s notice of cession had been received.

 

Passage of this Congressional Act gave Hamilton the money needed. On October 4, 1790, he instructed Lincoln “that no time may be lost”; the 72-ft-high lighthouse was complete before the end of the year. On January 10, 1791, newly-appointed keeper Joseph Greenleaf lit the 16 whale oil lamps powering the lantern for the first time.

 

The Portland Head Light is the oldest lighthouse in Maine, and was the first lighthous to be constructed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. government. It has been memorialized in countless photographs and paintings, most notably a series of 1920s watercolors by Edward Hopper. Now a museum, it is considered the most photographed lighthouse in the United States.

 

Jefferson signed 2 copies of each Act of Congress for distribution to the executive of every state. Rhode Island had ratified the Constitution and become the 13th state in May of 1790. Thus, 26 copies were signed by Jefferson in total. Few of any of the Jefferson signed Acts survive.

 

1 of 2 known Jefferson signed copies of this Act are found in private hands, with only 3 known institutional copies kept at the Library of Congress, New York Public Library, and North Carolina State Archives respectively.

 

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