Manuscript DS, signed “B. Franklin,” one page on vellum, 15.75 x 13.25, October 15, 1787. Franklin, as President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, grants a parcel of land called “Plumb Bottom” in Wharton Township, Fayette County, to John McClean. Franklin has signed in the left margin beneath the large embossed paper seal. Another wax and paper seal to the reverse shows through lightly to the blank margin at upper right. A few months earlier, on May 25, the Constitutional Convention convened at Philadelphia, and the fifty-five delegates, including Franklin, spent a heated summer hammering out the core issues and fine points of what would emerge as the Constitution of the United States. The proceedings were marked throughout by much disagreement and even divisiveness, which was largely alleviated by Franklin’s dramatic speech on September 17, the final day of the Convention. Franklin, too weak to address the assembly himself, entrusted his words to fellow Pennsylvanian James Wilson: “I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered.... I doubt ... whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution.... Thus I consent ... to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best.” Matted and framed with a color image and engraved plaque to an overall size of 24 x 32.75. In very good condition, with the slightest hint of scattered soiling, heavy folds (a touch of toning along folds and pinholes at intersections), trimmed edges (affecting a few “rays” of seal), and slightly irregular adhesion to signature. The signature is large, clean, and otherwise unaffected. Oversized. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
