BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Franklin signed this document - granting a piece of Philadelphia land to Jacob Long for £2/12/6 - in 1787, less than four months before he signed the Constitution. This fascinating document shows that it was still business as usual, in many respects, for the Constitutional delegates, even during one of the most important moments in American history.
Manuscript DS: "B Franklin" as President of the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1p, 15½x13¼. On vellum. [Philadelphia], 1787 May 24. Countersigned: "James Trimble/for John Armstrong Jun Secry". Begins: "Know Ye that in Consideration of the Sum of Two pounds twelve Shillings and Six Pence lawful Money paid by Jacob Long into the Receiver Generals Office of his Commonwealth there is granted by the said Commonwealth unto the said Jacob Long A Certain Tract of Land called 'Kingsale' Situate on Brushy Run a Branch of Chartiers Creek in Washington County Beginning at an Elm thence by land of William Fife South twenty four degrees East eighty one perches to a White Oak South eighty eight degrees East eighty three perches to a Black Oak...." A "Hickory" and a "Spanish Oak" are also mentioned as landmarks. JACOB LONG is listed in the "Negro Slave Registry of Washington County, Pennsylvania" as owning "Jack Jordian a male Slave aged 28 years" in an entry dated five years earlier, December 26th 1782. JAMES TRIMBLE was deputy secretary of the Supreme Executive Council. He was deputy secretary through all the administrations from 1777 until 1837. Trimble aided in packing and removing the state papers when the British occupied Philadelphia in the Revolutionary War. A member of the Continental Congress from 1775-1776, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790) signed the Declaration of Independence and was President of the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of 1776. He was sent as a diplomatic commissioner to France by the Continental Congress and, later, served as Minister to France (1776-1785). Franklin was one of the negotiators of the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain ending the Revolutionary War. He was President of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania 1785-1788 and a delegate to the Federal Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. Franklin signed this land grant on May 24, 1787. The next day, Friday, May 25, 1787, with a quorum finally present, the Federal Convention convened in the State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia. From James Madison's writings (his spelling): "Mr. Robert Morris informed the members assembled that by the instruction & in behalf, of the deputation of Pena. he proposed George Washington Esqr. late Commander in chief for president of the Convention. Mr. Jno. Rutlidge seconded the motion; expressing his confidence that the choice would be unanimous, and observing that the presence of Genl. Washington forbade any observations on the occasion which might otherwise be proper. General Washington was accordingly unanimously elected by ballot, and conducted to the Chair by Mr. R. Morris and Mr. Rutlidge; from which in a very emphatic manner he thanked the Convention for the honor they had conferred on him, reminded them of the novelty of the scene of business in which he was to act, lamented his want of better qualifications, and claimed the indulgence of the House towards the involuntary errors which his inexperience might occasion. [The nomination came with particular grace from Penna. as Docr. Granklin alone could have been thought of as a competitor. The Docr. was himself to have made the nomination of general Washington, but the state of the weather and of his health confined him to his house.] From "The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 reported by James Madison, The Avalon Project at Yale Law School". It wasn't until the next session, Monday, May 28th, that Benjamin Franklin took his seat at the Convention. Almost four months later, on September 17, 1787, after addressing the delegates ("I confess that there are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve....") Benjamin Franklin and the other delegates signed the new Constitution. A handsome document signed at a critical moment in American history as Benjamin Franklin prepares to embark on the final adventure of his magnificent career. Full, fine paper seal. Related filing notes on verso. Horizontal and vertical folds. Lightly soiled and stained touching Franklin's signature. Folds, vertical fold between "John" and "Trimble". Lightly rippled. Heavily soiled and shaded on verso.

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