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Lot 143
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Signer Robert Treat Paine twice signed Important war document
Signer Robert Treat Paine twice signed Important war document
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Description:

Paine Robert 1731 - 1814 SignerRobert Treat Paine twice signed Important war document involving a Tory Surgeon who escaped during the Battle of Lexington Concord to "‰Û_ obtain the Protection of the said Thomas Gage" - involves John Hancock too!
Manuscript and partially printed DS, on laid paper, 16.75" x 11". Boldly and fully written with about 220 words in the signers hand in the hand of Robert Treat Paine and signed twice by him. Signed once at the bottom of the document with a strong flourish as "Rob Treat Paine", and in addition signed within the top paragraph as "Robert Treat Paine". Dated the "second" Tuesday of March, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty" Expected folds with expert repairs to small separations at folds. Sporadic locations of small paper loss, professionally filled in, occasionally affecting text. Two 1/2" lines of backing support paper located on verso along the top of the document, and along verso of the center fold. Overall toned and lightly stained, yet quite readable with bold contrast, additionally scripted on verso.


A spectacular document drafted in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Bay, during the period that the government was confiscating land owned by the Tories. Noted specifically within the body of the document as follows "the said Charley Russel" since the nineteenth Day of April‰Û_. Levied was and conspired to levy War against the Government of People of this Province‰Û_ and then and there did give to them Aid and Comfort ‰Û_and did withdraw from "Lincoln" his usual place of Habitation within this State‰Û_ with an intention to feek and obtain the Protection of the said Thomas Gage‰Û_ and the said "Charles Russel" hath not since returned ‰Û_ hath freely renounced all Civil and Political relationships to each and every of the said United States, and hath become an Alien‰Û_ and the said Attorney General further alleges that by force of the premises, and the law of this State, intituled "An Act for confiscating the Estates of certain Persons commonly called Absentees" Whereby the document continues (in the hand of Robert Treat Paine), to detail out Charley Russel's estate, his mansion and the Land owned by him. Russells life was fascinating in that he escaped the action during the opening of the Revolutionary War at the Battle of Lexington Concord . He then made his way to Antigua where he distinguished himself as the head of the hospital there that treated prisoners of war. This document seeks to seize his mansion and properties. There is manuscript writing on the verso that indicates his father James interceded in the attempts to seize by noting a pre-existing mortgage to none other than wealthy Businessman and patriot John Hancock.

A fascinating period of history beginning with the persecution of Loyalists who first were oppressed by treatment of lawless mobs and abuses; and later were persecuted by unjust and cruel laws authorized by the Thirteen Colonies. The Declaration of Independence was followed by the Test Laws which required all colonists to swear allegiance to the state in which they lived. A record was kept of those who took the oath and they were issued a certificate for safety from arrest. Failure to take the oath meant possible imprisonment, confiscation of property, banishment and even death.

The Test oath was to enforce a declaration of principle from those who were indifferent to or were secret enemies of the Revolution, state legislators enacted "test" laws. The oath demanded by these laws varied in different colonies that adopted them, but in general they prescribed loyalty to the patriot cause, disloyalty to the British government, and promise not to aid and abet the enemy. In the Test Acts passed before the Declaration of Independence "the oath of abjuration and allegiance was omitted." The Tory who refused to take the oath of allegiance became an outlaw. He did not even have the right of a foreigner in the courts of law. If his neighbours owned him money, he had no legal redress. No relative or friend could leave an orphan child to his guardianship. He could not be the administrator or executor of a person's estate. If he was a lawyer, doctor or someone with some other profession, he was often denied the right to practice his profession.

On 27 November 1777, just 2 years before the writing of this document, Congress recommended to the states that they appropriate the property of residents who had forfeited "the right to protection" of the revolutionary government. The treasury of the Continental Congress was empty so the confiscation of properties owned by Tories provided an excellent means for filling the congressional coffers. In a resolution passed by the Continental Congress, it was recommended that the states invest the proceeds of the land sales in continental loan certificates. As Loyalists began leaving the Thirteen Colonies during the Revolutionary War, large sums of money from the sales of confiscated Tory properties began to find their way into state treasuries.

The seizure of Tory properties continued after the Revolutionary War and those acts of confiscation were not punished by American courts. The estate of Oliver de Lancey, Andrew Lambert, John Leonard, Philip Kearney, Cortlandt Skinner and Benjamin Thompson of New Jersey were sold to the highest bidder after 1783. The estates of John Graham and Sir James Wright of Georgia were sold after the signing of the Treaty of Paris peace treaty. Very few loyalist properties were restored and legal impediments were placed before Loyalists who wanted to collect debts owed to them, despite the fact that Article 4 of the treaty stated that British merchants were to meet no lawful obstacles in collecting their debts.

A spectacular and revealing document entrenched in Revolutionary War history. Boldly manuscripted and twice signed by Declaration of Independence Signer Robert Treat Paine.

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