Seth Kaller, Inc.

“The Legislature of Great Britain...desperate of success in any mode of contest where regard should be had to the truth, law, or right, have at length, deserting those, attempted to effect their cruel and impolitic purpose of enslaving these Colonies by violence, and have thereby rendered it necessary for us to close with their last appeal from reason to arms.” [“Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms”]

The Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia following the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Huntington must have used this book to familiarize himself with the actions of the First Session after he was selected as a delegate to the Second Session, which convened just a month after the First Session adjourned.

SAMUEL HUNTINGTON. Signed Copy of Journal of the Proceedings of the Congress, Held at Philadelphia, May 10, 1775. Philadelphia: William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, 1775. 4, iv, 239 pp., 5 x 7¾ in.

Inventory #27202.99       Price: $88,000

Historical Background
The Second Continental Congress convened on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, with representatives from twelve colonies; Georgia’s delegates arrived in mid-July. The Congress functioned as the de facto national government at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, raising and organizing armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and writing petitions to Great Britain and to other British colonies that might join the confederation.

In July 1775, the Second Continental Congress again attempted to reach out to their fellow British subjects with an address to the inhabitants of Great Britain. Even after preparing a declaration describing why they had to take up arms, the delegates sent one last petition to the King, who refused to read this final “olive branch” petition and declared in August 1775 that the colonies were in rebellion.

This volume, covering the period of May 10 to August 1, 1775, includes the texts of several key documents:

Letter

·      Address “To the Inhabitants of Great Britain” (April 26, p43-46)

·      Address “To the oppressed Inhabitants of Canada” (May 29, p67-70)

·      Resolutions establishing the Continental Army (June 14, p89-90)

·      Appointment of George Washington as Commander in Chief of “all the Continental Forces, raised or to be raised for the defence of American liberty” (June 15, p92)

·      Washington’s Speech accepting the appointment and declining pay (June 16, p93)

·      Commission to George Washington (June 17, p97-98)

·      Rules and regulations for government of Continental Army (June 30, p112-132)

·      Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms (July 6, p140-150)

·      Olive Branch Petition (July 8, p151-157)

·      Address “To the Inhabitants of Great Britain” (July 8, p157-171)

·      Speech to the Six Nations (Mohawks, Oneidas, Tuscaroras, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas) (July 13, 179-188)

·      Address to the Assembly of Jamaica (July 25, p201-205)

·      Establishment of postal service with Benjamin Franklin as first postmaster general (July 26, p208-209)

·      Address to the People of Ireland: “they have nothing more to expect from the same common enemy, than the humble favour of being last devoured” (July 28, p213-222)

Samuel Huntington (1731-1796) was born into a large Connecticut farming family, left home at age 22, taught himself enough law to pass the bar, and was appointed King’s attorney for Connecticut in 1765. He resigned to join the Revolutionary cause, and in 1775, represented his state as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. Huntington signed the Declaration of Independence, and in 1779, members elected him as the 7^th president of the Continental Congress. Under Huntington’s presidency (1779-1781), the states ratified the Articles of Confederation as America’s first constitution, and the Congress of the Confederation replaced the Continental Congress. Afterward, Huntington briefly retired from public life, hoping to revive his law practice and fortune. In 1784, voters elected him as lieutenant governor, a post that also made him Chief Judge of the Connecticut Superior Court. Elected governor in 1786, Huntington served until 1796. Although Huntington favored strengthening the powers of the national government and ratifying the Constitution, he also jealously guarded the rights of Connecticut to its western lands based on its colonial charter. During his administration, Connecticut gave up its claim to the northern third of Pennsylvania and most of the Northwest Territory but achieved recognition of its preemptive land rights in the “Western Reserve” (now northeastern Ohio). Connecticut’s ability to sell western lands strengthened its fiscal status, and Huntington, while governor, ensured that his state was well-represented at treaty councils with Native Americans of the Ohio territory.

William Bradford (1719-1791) and his son Thomas Bradford (1745-1838) were printers and published The Pennsylvania Journal, or, Weekly Advertiser in Philadelphia under slightly varying titles from 1742 to 1801. In 1754, Bradford opened the London Coffee House in Philadelphia. He frequently attacked the policies of the British government and was a vocal critic of the Stamp Act. On October 31, 1765, William Bradford published a skull and crossbones on the masthead to announce that he would stop publication rather than submit to the Stamp Act, which required newspapers to be printed on stamped and taxed paper. Like many other colonial newspapers, Bradford continued weekly publication in defiance of the Stamp Act. From mid-1774 to late 1775, each issue of the newspaper included a snake chopped into segments with the motto “Unite or Die” on the masthead. When the Revolutionary War began, William Bradford joined the Pennsylvania militia, rising to the rank of colonel. Thomas Bradford continued to publish the newspaper alone until a wound William Bradford received at the Battle of Princeton in 1777 forced him to resign from the militia and return to Philadelphia to continue publishing The Pennsylvania Journal in partnership with his son. Thomas Bradford continued the journal after his father’s death, eventually changing its name to the True American in 1801.

Condition: First several pages have some foxing and minor light dampstains; minor wear at fore-edge at beginning and end, small marginal chip to Ff1; stabbed and sewn as issued (with a small remnant of front wrapper); custom Morocco-backed slipcase

Evans 14569, the second state naming John Hancock and Charles Thomson in the certification on page 239; Hildeburn, C.R. Pennsylvania, 3229; Howes J-264; Revolutionary Hundred, 20 (part).

Rare. Copies of any contemporary editions of the Journals associated with Signers of the Declaration of Independence seldom appear. RBH and ABPC record only ten other association copies appearing at auction since 1900.

Provenance:
Samuel Huntington (ownership signature)
Christie’s, May 24, 2022, lot 48.