GENERAL JEDIDIAH HUNTINGTON - DOCUMENT SIGNED 02/20/1790 - HFSID 1948

JEDEDIAH HUNTINGTON
The Revolutionary War Brigadier general signs a document as the State Treasurer of Connecticut.
Document signed: "J Huntington" as Connecticut State Treasurer, 1 page, 6¼x7½. Treasury-Office (likely Hartford, Connecticut), 1790 February 20. No. 2282. Details written in another hand. Countersigned with unrecognizable signature. Certification that Deacon Benjamin Chaplin has lodged in this office Army Notes valued at £145.166.6 and is entitled to receive Certificates in pursuance of an Act of the Connecticut General Assembly of May, 1789. Docketed on verso. Many states, like Connecticut, issued promissory notes to finance their participation in the Revolutionary War, and, as here, paid off the debt with new paper, still denominated in pounds. Not until 1791 did the U.S. establish a uniform national currency and, at the urging of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, assume the state debts. Jedediah Huntington (1743-1818), a Harvard graduate with a Masters from Yale, joined the Continental Army outside Boston one week after the Battle of Lexington (1775). He commanded a Connecticut brigade throughout the Revolutionary War, being promoted to Brigadier at George Washington's personal request. After the war, he engaged in private business and served in local offices before being appointed Collector of Customs for New London, Connecticut - then the gateway for Connecticut River commerce - by President Washington (1789), holding that post through four administrations until shortly before his death. He was a delegate to the state convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution and a founding member of the Society of Cincinnatus, an association of Revolutionary War officers. Irregularly cut left edge. Slightly creased. Vertical fold crosses signature. Overall, fine condition.