Posted on 01/01/2014 8:13:35 PM PST by Theoria
It was lying in a drawer in the attic, a 12-page document that was not just forgotten but misfiled. Somehow it had made its way into a folder with colonial-era doctor’s bills that someone in the 1970s decreed was worthless and should be thrown away.
Luckily, no one did. For when Emilie Gruchow opened the folder last summer and separated it from the doctor’s bills, she recognized it as a one-of-a-kind document.
Ms. Gruchow, an archivist at the Morris-Jumel Mansion, was an intern at the museum in Upper Manhattan when she made her discovery. The mansion served as George Washington’s headquarters during the Revolutionary War. She realized the document was the draft of an urgent plea for reconciliation from the Continental Congress. It was addressed to the people of Britain, not King George III and his government, and began by mentioning “the tender ties which bind us to each other” and “the glorious achievements of our common ancestors.”
That was followed by a long list of complaints about the infringement of colonists’ rights, the restrictions on trade and the “rigorous acts of oppression which are daily exercised in the Town of Boston.”
“That once populous, flourishing, commercial Town is now Garrisoned by an army sent not to protect, but to enslave its inhabitants,” the document said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Some things never change. Rev ping.
Morris-Jumel Mansion
Very cool! thanks for sharing this.
It’s hard for me to imagine Madison “raving” about anything, but I wasn’t there to see it.
Regarding the old doctor’s bills (from the same time) found along with this document: I don’t think those are worthless; they are valuable in another way and should also be preserved.
Were the doctor bills covered by Obamacare as preexisting financial obligations?
What was the co-pay?
Read about the mansion here.
Washington watched NYC burn from that second floor balcony.
The RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list
Very cool! I didn’t even know such a place existed. If I ever make it to NYC again, I may try to find it.
Oh, also about the documents.... :D
Agreed. I’m a bit of a nut but every little old thing to me is insight into the way things were!
bttt
Interesting article. The NYT’s non-political reporting is often excellent, quite unlike the shoddy propaganda they print as political reporting.
Count me there too. It burns me to no end that the academic historians and museum folks are always hot to keep “the commoners” from acquiring the slightest piece of history, and then they turn around and toss piles of it.
A buddy of mine was able to participate in digging at a site that was being developed in a city out west here. The town archaeological people allowed him to keep ONE bottle from amongst hundreds recovered. Couple years later he’s walking by the dumpster near the society place and there are the boxes of recovered bottles, in the dumpster. Bottles people would pay literally hundreds of dollars apiece for...
Each one of those doctor bills would be a precious connection to the past for some purchaser. Digitize them, catalog them and SELL them...
Another nugget, another gem of American colonial history...I so look forward to this forum. It transports me back in time and I just love taking the trip! Thank you for making that possible.
From the linked NY Times article...
“Until Ms. Gruchow found it, only the final, printed version from July 1775 had been known to exist. She consulted with Michael D. Hattem, a teaching fellow and research assistant on The Papers of Benjamin Franklin at Yale. He analyzed the handwriting on the yellowed pages of the manuscript and did textual analysis that led to an unexpected conclusion: The document was written by Robert R. Livingston, a prominent New York jurist who had been on the fence about whether to support independence for the colonies.”
From some other website I just now found...
“On Sunday, January 26 [2014] Leigh Keno will hold a single-lot sale at his gallery at 127 East 69th Street. At 1 p.m., he will sell a newly discovered document written by Robert Livingston. It is the manuscript for the 12 colonies’ last attempt at reconciliation through redress with Britain, written a year before Livingston was appointed as one of five members of the committee formed to draft the Declaration of Independence. It was known only in printed versions that were circulated in the colonies, and it was not known that Robert Livingston wrote it until this manuscript was discovered by Emilie Gruchow, archivist at the Morris-Jumel Mansion.
She found the eight-page “letter” in a folder with various 18th-century doctors’ bills. Handwriting experts have verified that it is indeed in the hand of Robert Livingston. It is a first draft, heavily edited, of what was published as “Letter of the Twelve United Colonies to the inhabitants of Great Britain.”
There were only 12 colonies in 1775 because Delaware was still part of Pennsylvania.
Keno estimates it at $100,000 to $400,000.”
http://www.maineantiquedigest.com/stories/americana-week-in-new-york-city-january-2014/4178,000/400,000. There were only 12 colonies in 1775
Oops! Just now saw that the Times piece did mention the auction.
Give me a break, will ya...it’s 4:45 in the morning here in NYC! Lol. :)
I was told by someone who claimed to know that tons of old stuff was dumped into Lake Michigan by the Milwaukee Museum because they didn't have room for it. People would donate their grandparents' belongings, the museum would accept them and then find out that they were not vital to their collection. Then they would dump the unwanted goods into the Lake in the middle of the night, rather than put them up for sale. They didn't want the folks who made the donations to find out.
That was followed by a long list of complaints about the infringement of colonists’ rights, the restrictions on trade and the “rigorous acts of oppression which are daily exercised in the Town of Boston.”
There are similar writings taking place today that someday may also be important and significant insights to history.
Terrific story. Thanks for posting and pinging. The Keno twins are my favorites on Antique Roadshow.
Why throw out ANY 200 year old hand written documents?
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