DS, signed “Th: Jefferson,” one page, 9.75 x 15.5, May 8, 1792. An Act of the Second Congress regarding an invention to convert salt water to fresh water. The document reads, in full: “Second Congress of the United States: At the First Session, begun and held at the City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, on Monday, the twenty-fourth of October, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one. Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury cause to be provided, for the use of several collectors in the United States, printed clearances, on the back whereof shall be printed an account of the methods, which have been found to answer for obtaining fresh, from salt water, and of constructing extempore stills, of such implements, as are generally on board of every vessel, with a recommendation, in all cases, where they shall have occasion to resort to this expedient for obtaining water, to publish the result of their trial in some gazette, on their return to the United States, or to communicate it for publication, to the office of the Secretary of State, in order that others may, by their success, be encouraged to make similar trials, and be benefitted by any improvements or new ideas, which may occur to them in practice.”
Signed at the conclusion by Jefferson, and also signed in type by House Speaker Jonathan Trumbull, Senate President Richard Henry Lee, and President George Washington. Document is housed in a custom quarter leather case. In very good condition, with professional repairs and reinforcement to horizontal folds on reverse, several small repaired areas of paper loss, scattered light toning and staining, and professional cleaning resulting in a slightly fuzzy appearance to Jefferson’s signature. Accompanied by several supporting pieces of documentation, including a newspaper article on this very document from the Phoenix Gazette dated March 28, 1956, and a detailed letter from the Department of Interior dated February 10, 1954, which details the history of this Act and conversion invention.
This amazing document relates to Rhode Island resident Jacob Isaacs’ efforts to interest Congress in a formula he had developed to obtain fresh water from salt water in a way that was practical, simple, and apparently inexpensive. At the time, Jefferson was promoting a bill for a national patent law, and because of his interest in the legislation and his scientific knowledge, Congress asked him to supervise tests based on this proposal. His subsequent ‘Report on Desalination of Sea Water’ mirrors the text of this resolution, most notably in the virtually identical to the concluding sentences. About a month after Jefferson affixed his signature to this Act of Congress, research shows that Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton wrote to ask him for a copy of his full report. Strangely, although this resolution was passed by the Second Congress and signed into law by President Washington, the aforementioned 1954 Interior Department correspondence notes that it ‘appears that the 1792 congressional resolution reported in your article was not acted upon.’ This rare document bears a superb signature with historically and scientifically significant material! Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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