CHIEF JUSTICE OLIVER ELLSWORTH - MANUSCRIPT DOCUMENT SIGNED 11/23/1775 CO-SIGNED BY: MAYOR THOMAS SEYMOUR, SAMUEL HURLBURT - HFSID 168344

OLIVER ELLSWORTH and THOMAS SEYMOUR
Oliver Ellsworth and Thomas Seymour, members of Connecticut's Committee of the Pay Table during the American Revolutionary War, signed this document in 1775 to give the paymaster of the 5th Company of the 7th Connecticut Regiment 4 pounds.
Manuscript Document signed: "T.Seymour"and "O.Ellsworth" as "Comtee". 1 page, 7¾x4½, docketed on verso. Nov. 23, 1775. Ellsworth and Williams signed this document to give 4 pounds to Captain Nathaniel Tuthill, paymaster of the 5th Company of the 7th Connecticut Regiment. They appear to have given the money to an Ensign Samuel Hurlburt first, who was to deliver the money to Tuthill. The military finances for the colony of Connecticut were handled by the Pay-Table, also known as the Committee of Four, during the American Revolution (1775-1783). Pay-Table members rotated during the lengthy confrontation with England, and included such notables as jurist OLIVER ELLSWORTH, attorney Oliver Wolcott, Jr. (a future U.S. Secretary of the Treasury), Hezekiah Rogers (an aide de camp to General Jedidiah Huntington, who was also a member), William Moseley, Fenn Wadsworth, Eleazer Wales and General Samuel Wyllys, son of Governor George Wyllys. Financing the Revolution laid a heavy burden upon each colony, especially those which balked at levying taxes. In order to meet immediate needs, such as wages, the colonies relied upon wealthy revolutionists, foreign loans, and taxes and gifts from abroad. Connecticut issued promissory notes such as this. Issuing paper money was only a temporary solution, and worthless without specie or gold and silver backing. The U. S. would establish its standard monetary system in 1791. ELLSWORTH (1745-1807, born in Windsor, Connecticut) represented Connecticut in the Continental Congress from 1777 to 1784 and was a Judge of the Connecticut Superior Court from 1785 to 1789. A delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, he helped broker the "Connecticut Compromise", which broke the impasse between large and small states over representation in Congress. He was one of Connecticut's first two U. S. Senators, serving from 1789 to March 8, 1796, when he resigned, having been appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by President George Washington. While in Congress, he drafted the Judiciary Act of 1789, which organized the federal judiciary system. He retired from the Court in 1799. SEYMOUR (1735-1829, born in Hartford, Connecticut) was a colonel with the Volunteer Connecticut Light Horse during the Revolutionary War and was the first mayor of Hartford, Connecticut (1774-1812). Lightly toned, creased and bowed. Show-through from verso, which touches signatures. Both signatures touch manuscript writing. Manuscript writing is smeared in places but legible. Light tear at right edge. Irregular edges. Random ink stains. Folded in half and unfolded. Otherwise in fine condition.