Superb LS as president signed “Go. Washington,” one page, 7.75 x 11, July 9, 1789. Washington writes to Virginia Governor Beverley Randolph. In full: “Agreeably to a Resolution of Congress which I had the honor to transmit to your Excellency on the 8th of June, I now forward an Act for laying a duty on Goods, Wares, and Merchandizes [sic] imported into the United States, and have the Honor to be, With due consideration, Your Excellency’s Most Obedient & Most Humble Servant.” When the first Congress assembled under the new Constitution in March 1798 to begin the business of running the new nation, it had one overriding concern: money. Without its own reliable source of funds, the United States government would be weak and ineffectual. Thus, the first essential matter taken up by Congress was a plan formulated by James Madison to eventually make the nation solvent: the imposition of a duty on imports and the creation of a well-managed agency to ensure its collection. Responding to the desperate need for revenue, Congress quickly passed, and Washington signed, three laws which together constituted the customs program: the Tariff Act, the Duties on Tonnage Act, and the Regulation of the Collection of Duties Act. All were passed and signed in July 1789. Together with a law passed in early June governing procedures, they accounted for three of the first acts passed by the U.S. Congress. These laws establishing a revenue-generating mechanism were considered so important that the press of the day proclaimed them as a “second Declaration of Independence.” The Tariff Act (Hamilton Tariff) of 1789, together with the Collection Act, operated as a device both to protect trade and to raise revenues for the federal government. The constitutional authority for the act is found in the powers given to Congress “to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imports and Excises” and “to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations.” Among other things, the act established the first schedule of import duties and created an additional duty of ten percent on imports carried on vessels “not of the United States.” As Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton was anxious to establish the tariff as a regular source of revenue for the government and as a protection of domestic manufacture. The former was of immediate necessity; the latter was not. Instead, it established the principle of protectionism that would become a persistent hot-button political issue throughout the next century. The present letter relates to a procedure put in place to keep the states abreast of legislative actions at a time when the means of “official” communication were limited mainly to publication in newspapers and broadsides, and the still-fledgling postal service. At the start of Washington’s administration, one of the president’s duties was to notify the states of statutes passed by Congress (a task later assumed by the secretary of state and discontinued during the Adams administration.) The original recipient of the letter, Beverley Randolph (1755–1797) was then governor of Washington’s home state of Virginia. A former member of the Virginia House of Delegates and onetime President of the Governor’s Council, Randolph was the state’s first governor when it joined the Union in 1788, an office he held for three one-year terms. In addition to his considerable stature as a member of the distinguished Virginia Randolphs, the governor was also the nephew of Declaration of Independence signer Benjamin Harrison, first cousin of president William Henry Harrison, and first cousin twice removed of president Benjamin Harrison. The letter is attractively suede matted and framed with a commemorative bronze portrait medallion, an antique engraving of Washington’s inauguration, and descriptive text to an overall size of 26.5 x 18.5. In fine, fresh condition, with small tear to left edge (affecting nothing), light intersecting folds and a crack to the mat. The stunningly fresh appearance, the high historical significance, the exceptional boldness of the signature, and the beautiful state of preservation add up to a Washington letter of the highest caliber. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA. Oversized.
