Nov 03, 2011 - Sale 2259

Sale 2259 - Lot 16

Price Realized: $ 1,080
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
ON CHARTER FOR BANK OF NORTH AMERICA STEPHEN, ADAM. Autograph Letter Signed, "A Stephen," to General Horatio Gates ("My Dear General"), remarking on the rainy weather, reporting receipt of a letter from Major Richmond, conveying that Weedon had left a letter for Gates, wishing that he might visit Gates in better weather, and expressing his view that [Thomas] Paine fails to adequately answer objections [in the controversy concerning the charter for the Bank of North America]. 1 page, small 4to, two seal tears with minor loss to text expertly repaired with paper, inlaid, folds, docketing on verso in Gates's hand. Np, 2 June 1786
Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

". . . I think there is no hope of the Charters being returned to the Bank. I have seen both Sides, and in my Opinion, Payne [sic] is worsted. He endeavours to turn to Ridicule what objections he can't Answer. There is a pamphlet wrote by an American, By Franklin I suppose, or one under his Eye, very worthy of him, Clear and demonstrable, the Author, Master of the Subject."
The Continental Congress granted a charter in 1781 for the establishment of the nation's first bank, the Bank of North America. In 1785, after the bank refused to issue paper money to ease the post-Revolution scarcity of money, the Pennsylvania Assembly repealed the charter. In February of 1786, Thomas Paine published his pamphlet Dissertations on Government, in which he argued that the Assembly's repeal was unconstitutional. Benjamin Franklin wrote repeatedly on the subject of paper money, including his tract, "Of the Paper Money of America," 1781.
Stephen (1730-1791) served with distinction in the French and Indian War, and during the Revolution, he commanded first a regiment, later a division as major general. At Germantown, confused by fog, his division mistakenly fought the troops of General Anthony Wayne, after which Stephen was accused of intoxication and dismissed in 1777.