Description:

Rufus King
Philadelphia, PA, January 15, 1793
Rufus King ALS Almost Certainly Mentioning 1st U.S. Bank: "the Bank is doing well and will probably do much more business than they have done"
ALS

A 1p autograph letter signed by Rufus King (1755-1827), the former Constitution Signer then serving as a U.S. Senator from New York, as "Rufus King" at lower right. June 15, 1793. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Inscribed on laid watermarked paper. Expected wear including flattened transmittal folds, a few extra wrinkles, and a tiny closed tear along the left margin. Isolated stains and one instance of ink erosion affecting a period. Else near fine. 7.875" x 10."

Just six years earlier, King had been one of four Massachusetts delegates dispatched to the 1787 Philadelphia Convention, where he signed the U.S. Constitution. King, a zealous Federalist, endorsed Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton's national bank scheme for the First Bank of the United States, and was appointed one of 25 directors overseeing its operations. The First Bank of the United States began operating in Philadelphia in December 1791, with regional branches established in New York, Boston, Charleston, and Baltimore in 1792.

King wrote to an unidentified correspondent about banking business. In full, with unchanged spelling and punctuation:

"Philadelphia 15. Jan. 1793

Dear Sir,

Some of our friends in Boston had expressed a wish that you should be appointed in the Branch bank, but your silence both in your letter to Mr. Watson and me on the subject of a reappointment induced us to hope that it would not be disagreeable to serve in the principal direction. You have therefore been reelected - we have nothing very interesting; the Bank is doing well and will probably do much more business than they have done -
your's very Sincerely
Rufus King."

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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  • Dimensions: 7.875" x 10"
  • Medium: ALS

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