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Lot 14
Signer of the United States Constitution Gunning Bedford mint signed check
Description:

Bedford Gunning 1747 - 1812 Signer of the United States Constitution, Gunning Bedford mint signed check.

Single page signed note, 7.75" x 3", inlaid to another sheet to a size of 10.75" x 7", dated by Bedford as "Jany 12th, 1804" , and boldly signed by him as "Gunn Bedford". Small professional repair to an intact tear. Strong contrasting ink, near fine. Accompanied by documented provenance as noted below.


A note for payment shown below :

"Jany 12th, 1804

Cashier of Bank of the United States

Pay to ... or bearer

Three Hundred dollars

$300 Gunn Bedford"

A lovely example of Bedford's signature. His most significant contribution was his staunch advocacy of the small states seeking equal power for them in the federal government. He served in the Delaware General Assembly, as a Continental Congressman from Delaware and as a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787.

Bedford was the most vocal supporter of giving small states equal power in the federal government to large states. His experience in local politics, along with his service in the Continental Congress, taught him much about the political and economic vulnerabilities of states like Delaware. Unlike some other small-state representatives who looked to the creation of a strong central government to protect their interests against more powerful neighbors, Bedford sought to limit the powers of the new government. But when the conflict over representation threatened to wreck the Constitutional Convention, he laid regional interests aside and, for the good of the country, sought to compromise.

Concerned primarily with the fate of the small states in a federal union potentially dominated by powerful, populous neighbors, the fiery Bedford warned the delegates at Philadelphia that the small states might have to seek foreign alliances for their own protection. Bedford's threat, "the small ones would find some foreign ally of more honor and good faith, who will take them by the hand and do them justice" was shouted down as treasonous by the other delegates. [8] At first he joined with those who sought merely to amend the Articles of Confederation, believing, as one delegate contended, "there is no middle way between a perfect consolidation of the states into one nation and a mere confederacy of the states. The first is out of the question, and in the latter they must continue if not perfectly yet equally sovereign".

But when the idea of drafting a new Constitution was accepted, he supported the New Jersey Plan, a scheme that provided equal representation for the states in the national legislature, a point on which the Delaware legislature had instructed its delegates not to compromise. He called for strong limitations on the powers of the executive branch and recommended measures by which the states could maintain close control over the national legislature and judiciary, including the appointment of federal judges by the state legislatures. Bedford's speeches in support of these ideas led Georgia delegate William Pierce to describe him as a "bold" speaker, with "a very commanding and striking manner;" but "warm and impetuous in his temper and precipitate in his judgement".

Realizing as the Convention sessions went on that unyielding adherence to his position would endanger the union, Bedford adopted a more flexible stance. He agreed to sit on the committee that drafted the Great Compromise, which settled the thorny question of representation and made possible the Convention's acceptance of the new plan of government.

Provenance: This item was recently discovered in an extra illustrated volume of "History of the City of New York" by Mary L. Booth, New York W. R. C. Clark, 1867. Originally two volumes, the monumental task of expanding the work to 21 volumes by none other than Emery E. Childs esquire of New York City. In volume 1 of this work exists a lovely india ink Drawing of Mary L. Booth along with a notation "presented by her to E E C" in pencil. Next to the title page we find an original letter of Booth to Childs dated April 4, 1872 " I am in receipt of your favor of the 4th inst., and am grateful to hear that you are taking the trouble to illustrate my History of the City of New York in the manner you describe. I shall be happy to see you, should you favor me with a callas I am usually in my office during business hours and should be pleased to facilitate your Enterprise by any means in my power"

It is assumed that the book took several years to assemble at which point, assumedly through Childs, it made its way to Senator Charles B. Farwell of Chicago who took the seat of John A. Logan in 1887. Farwell had an extensive library that fortunately survived the great Chicago fire in 1871 having been housed in his Lakeside home. In the American Bibliopolist of November 1871 there is an article about the devastation to libraries caused by the tragedy . "Mr C. B. Farwell's library is also fortunately far out from the city, at his country house, and is safe, The same remark will also apply to the extensive collection of books and curiosities belonging to Mr. E. E. Childs." This establishes the Chicago connection between Childs and Farwell.

That these letters were preserved for over 140 years and have never been on the market for that period is remarkable on many levels. It is the state of being wedged in these volumes that also accounts for what is mostly the pristine state of preservation.

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