OLIVER WOLCOTT JR. - PROMISSORY NOTE SIGNED 02/18/1782 CO-SIGNED BY: WILLIAM MOSELEY, GENERAL JEDIDIAH HUNTINGTON - HFSID 173553

OLIVER WOLCOTT, JR., CO-SIGNED BY: JEDEDIAH HUNTINGTON, WILLIAM MOSELEY
1782 Connecticut Pay-Table promissory note for five shillings to Ralph Pomeroy, Connecticut's Military Paymaster, signed by Oliver Wolcott, Jr., American Revolutionary War general Jedediah Huntington and one other member of the Pay-Table during the Revolutionary War
Promissory note signed "William Moseley" and "Oliver Wolcott Jr." as members of the Pay-Table Committee and "Huntington". 5¾x4, docketed on verso. Feb. 18, 1782. State of Connecticut Pay-Table promissory note payable to Ralph Pomeroy for five shillings "out of the tax of Two Shillings and Six Pence on the pound, granted in May, 1781, exclusive of that part payable in State Bills, and charge the state." RALPH POMEROY was Military Paymaster of Connecticut during the Revolutionary War. He was later State Comptroller of Connecticut from 1790 to 1791.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 that 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. OLIVER WOLCOTT, JR. (1760-1833, born in Litchfield, Connecticut), son and namesake of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a former attorney and militiaman, was named to the Pay-Table in 1782, overseeing Connecticut's war expenditures. In May 1784, he was commissioned to adjust the claims of the state against the U.S. government, then named Comptroller of public accounts in 1788. He was auditor of the U.S. Treasury (1789-1791), then Comptroller of that Department (1791-1795). On February 2, 1795, he succeeded Alexander Hamilton as President Washington's Secretary of the Treasury, a position he held until November 8, 1800, when he resigned from the Adams administration. Wolcott later served as the first President of the Bank of North America (1812-1814) and Governor of Connecticut (1817-1827). JEDEDIAH HUNTINGTON (1743-1818, born in Norwich, Connecticut), a Harvard graduate with a Masters from Yale, joined the Continental Army outside Boston, April 26, 1775, 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 founder of the Society of the Cincinnati, an association of Revolutionary War officers. WILLIAM MOSELEY (1755-1824)served in the Connecticut state senate (1822-1824). Lightly toned, soiled, stained and creased. Signatures cross. Ink stains have light show-through from docket (does not touch signatures). Irregular left and bottom edges. Folded once and unfolded. Light tear at right edge along fold. Otherwise in fine condition.