Description:

Mifflin Thomas



Thomas Mifflin, Constitution Signer, Writes to his Uncle from Europe, Twice Signed


A young Founding Father writes to his uncle from Paris, where he is learning French and horseback riding and living frugally, while awaiting mercantile opportunities in Great Britain. Despite his Quaker heritage, Mifflin joined the Continental Army during the American Revolution and signed both the Continental Association (1774) and the U.S. Constitution (1787).

 

THOMAS MIFFLIN, Autograph Letter Signed, to Jacob Lewis, May 26, 1764, Paris, France. 3 pp., 6.25" x 7.875". Expected folds; wax seal removed and re-attached below postscript, signed "TM" with flourish.

 

Complete Transcript

                                                                        Paris May 26, 1764.

Honoured Unkle

            We have been in London about 4 weeks when J. G. & I sett off for Paris. After spending 3 Weeks here I formed a Resolution of entering an academy to learn the French Language & Riding. Goods were so high in England that D. Barclay advised me not to meddle with them till a Change should happen which was then & is still very uncertain. Having such a bad Prospect before me, I was greatly at a Loss how to manage but at last determined to wait here two or three months where I could live much cheaper & to more advantage than in England. We are boarded & instructed for £90 pr an. I have a French master to teach me the Language, & ride 4 mornings in the Week with Gentlemen of the best Families in France who come here to be instructed in Riding. This keeps me in good health & I find myself more strong & more alert than I have been for 2 years before. We dine & sup at a publick Table, have each our Chamber, & seldom see one another except at meals & Hours of riding. There is a son of Lord Murray upon the same Floor who I am very well acquainted with, a young Gentleman of good Sense & good Morals. His Governour makes me read to him in French & always attends me when I ride, & in Fact seems as fond of advising & instructing me as he is of his Pupil. I shall be advised by D. Barclay as soon as anything can be done in the Way of Trade. I take no Amusements out of the Academy having Employment enough in Riding & Reading French to my Tutor, who is often, two, three & sometimes four Hours with me. I hope the Step I have taken will be approved of by all my Friends; indeed it is the most frugal & as such I chose it.

            Please to give my Duty to Grandmother & Aunt my love to Charles who I hope still continues in Health & remember me to Jos. Saunders.

            I must not forget my old Friends in Market Street neighbour Claypoole & Richardson. There are many others who I cannot particularly mention but I hope Unkle will please to give my Respects to such of my Friends as he shall think proper.

                                                                        I am thy very affectionate & dutifull nephew

                                                                        Thomas Mifflin

 

PS: If I had any Time I should not have failed writing to Grandmother; indeed it gives me a good Deal of Concern that I cannot, but I need make no apology to one who has always had so much affection for me as to pass by many things much more culpable.

                                                                        TM

If Unkle should see my old Master WC please to make my Respects to him & his Wife.

 

Thomas Mifflin (1744-1800) was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the College of Philadelphia (now University of Pennsylvania) in 1760. He joined the mercantile business of William Biddle but then traveled to Europe. After returning in 1765, he entered a commercial partnership with his brother George Mifflin. He married Sarah Morris in 1767, but they had no children. He served in the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly from 1772 to 1776, and twice in the Continental Congress (1774-1775; 1782-1784). During the Revolutionary War, Mifflin served as the army’s first quartermaster general from August 1775 to May 1776 and again from October 1776 to November 1777. Although his family had been Quakers for generations, Mifflin was expelled from the Society when he joined the Continental Army. As presiding officer of Congress from November 1783 to June 1784, he accepted the resignation of General George Washington in December 1783 and presided over the ratification of the Treaty of Paris in January 1784. Mifflin served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and signed both the Continental Association and the Constitution. In 1788, he was elected President of the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, succeeding Benjamin Franklin. He served as President of Pennsylvania from 1788 to 1790, then as Pennsylvania’s first governor from 1790 to 1799.

 

Jacob Lewis (1713-1774) was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Philadelphia in 1741. There, he became a master builder and was a member of the Carpenters’ Company of Philadelphia, the oldest craft guild in the United States still in existence. By 1753, he was a city assessor, and in 1758, he became a Regulator of Streets and Water Courses in Philadelphia, an eminent civic position for the leading architects of the Carpenters’ Company.

 

 



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