Hancock handwrote, dated and put his "John Hancock" on this letter to the "Gentlemen of the Senate & Gentlemen of the House of Representatives" in 1783, while he was Governor of Massachusetts. He wrote this letter to inform the recipients that he had received an "Application for Sundry Articles for the use of the Tribe" from the Penobscot, which offered their services to the colonies during the American Revolutionary War. This letter was written less than eight months before the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war between the colonies and England. Draft autograph letter signed "J.H." as Governor of Massachusetts. 1 page, 7¾x6¼. Council Chamber, Boston, Massachusetts, Feb. 7, 1783. Addressed to the "Gentlemen of the Senate & Gentlemen of the House of Representatives". In full: "I have this moment Rec'd a Letter from Colonel Lithgow, by Two Indians of the Penobscot Tribe, these Indians are come to make Application for Sundry Articles for the use of the Tribe. The Letter with the Commissions given one of these Indians by Brigr. Genl. Lovell, I have directed the Secretary [to] lay before you.…"

Stock certificate signed by Robert Morris and James Marshall sign a stock certificate for 10 shares. Partly Printed Stock Certificate signed: "Robt Morris" as President and "James Marshall" as Secretary of the North American Land Company, 1p, 12x9¼. Philadelphia, 1795 April 4. Certificate No. 888 certifying "that Bourdieu, Chollet & Bourdieu of London are entitled to ten shares in the entire Property of the NORTH AMERICAN LAND COMPANY: the dividend whereof shall not be less that Six Dollars on each Share Annually...." The ten shares represented by this certificate were numbered 13,623-13,632. In February 1795, two months before this certificate was issued, Robert Morris (who had completed his term as U.S. Senator in March 1795), John Nicholson and James Greenleaf had organized the North American Land Company to develop and sell six million acres of land (valued at 50 cents per acre) in Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Kentucky. To pay taxes on the land and to finance land development, the partners offered 30,000 shares at $100.00 per share; they guaranteed that investors would receive at least a six-percent annual dividend.

JOHN ENDECOTT This exceedingly rare document is from the very earliest history of the American colonies and Massachusetts!  It's a five-line complaint signed by John Endecott, colonial governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in Marblehead, Massachusetts in 1649. Documents from this early in American history are rarely seen outside of private collections and are highly desirable! Framed to 10x6½ in a gold-colored frame with cream-colored matte. Document signed "Jo: Endecott Gov.". Brown ink and lead pencil notations in top left corner and at left edge. 1 page, 5-5/8x2. Framed to 10x6½ in a gold-colored frame with cream-colored matte. Marblehead, Massachusetts, April 24, 1649. Five-line complaint. Endecott (c. 1588-1665), also spelled "Endicott", was a colonial governor (1629-1630, 1644-1645, 1649-1650, 1651-1654 and 1655-1664) and deputy governor (1641-1644, 1650-1651 and 1654-1655) of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the New World. Endecott arrived with 60 other settlers in the Naumkeag, future site of Salem, Massachusetts and already settled by seceders from the Plymouth colony, led by Roger Conant.

Telegram, unsigned, 1 page, 8½x11. 1866 December 6. Telegram partly printed in Portuguese, received from Gideon Welles in Washington, D.C., for transmittal to Admiral Goldsborough, American Squadron at Lisbon, Portugal. Manuscript text of Welles' message (unknown hand): "Send steamer to Alexandria, Egypt to receive Surautt [sic] from Consul Hale and bring him to Washington." [Welles' name has also been misspelled by the telegraph office.] Docketed on verso: "Hon. G. Welles/Secy of the Navy/6th Dec. 1866/Send steamer to/Alexandria, Egypt". Gideon Welles (1812-1878), a Jacksonian Democrat who joined the new Republican Party in 1854 because he detested slavery, was Secretary of the Navy throughout the Presidencies of Abraham Lincoln (who called him "Neptune") and Andrew Johnson (1861-1869). John Suratt (1844-1916) was the son of Mary Suratt, convicted of conspiracy in the assassination of President Lincoln and the first woman executed (hanged) by the US government. John Suratt was accused of involvement in the conspiracy, but remained at large for a year and a half, fleeing first to Canada and then through Europe, escaping after first having been captured in Italy.

Signatures of 18 Senators, 6 Representatives, and 4 territorial delegates on a manuscript document ordering copies of a Senate speech delivered one month before the House voted to impeach President Andrew Johnson. Many of these signers, including Benjamin Wade, Benjamin Butler and Oliver Morton, were of great importance in the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. Manuscript DS by 28 members of the 40th Congress of the United States, 1 page, 8x12½. Washington, circa 1868 January 16. Order form for copies of the "Speech of Hon. William M. Stewart/of Nevada on the Bill To establish a/National School of Mines/Delivered in the Senate Jan. 16th 1868/To be printed McGill & Wetherow's Globe Office at $2 per 100". Each Senator or Representative has added the number of copies ordered next to his signature: "Wm M. Stewart 3000", "C. Cole 500", "O.P. Morton 200", "H.W. Corbett 200", "J.M. Thayer 200", "W.H. Hooper 100", "J.K. Moorhead 200", "Benj F. Butler 100", "G.M. Chilcott 200", "B.F. Wade 300" in pencil, "W. Higby 100", "Coles Bashford 200", "J. Fran Chaves 200", "Lewis Selye 200", "N.P. Banks 100", "Alex G. Cattell 200", "J M Howard 200", "F.T. Frelinghuysen 200", "J.W.…"

9x11 black and white publicity photograph of Clarence Darrow wearing a suit and tie. Photograph inscribed and signed: "Clarence Darrow/Warmest wishes to/Gifford Ernest/Chicago Feb'y 2, 1936". B/w, 9x11 overall, image 7½x9¼ (one surface). Attorney Clarence Darrow (1857-1938), who specialized in corporate law, shot to fame in 1894, when he defended American Socialist leader Eugene V. Debs, President of the American Railroad Union, arrested on a federal contempt of court charge arising from a strike at the Chicago Pullman Palace Car Company. Although Darrow lost the case, he won a national reputation as a champion of radical causes. A brilliant orator and a master of reforming the law, framing pleas and eliciting evidence, he became one of America's most renowned defense lawyers, and he used his position to campaign against capital punishment. In his sixties, Darrow successfully defended Leopold and Loeb (1924) in getting life imprisonment instead of death for kidnapping and killing a 13-year-old boy. In 1925, he defended John T. Scopes, accused of violating a Tennessee law by teaching evolution, in the "Scopes Monkey Trial". Darrow's autobiography, The Story of My Life, was published in 1932. Blank areas are lightly soiled. Lightly creased.

Signed carte-de-visite, shown as major general, matted and framed to 8x9½ Photograph Mount signed: "Geo McClellan/Maj. Genl.". Sepia, 2½x4. Matted and framed to an overall size of 8x9½. McClellan (1826-1885) was named General in Chief by President Lincoln in November 1861. He directed the Peninsular Campaign and won at Antietam, but was removed by President Lincoln for failure to continue the pressure on Lee's army. No match for Confederate General Robert E. Lee as a field commander, but skilled at logistics and organization, McClellan made a great contribution to eventual Union victory by building the Army of the Potomac into a well trained and disciplined fighting force. In 1864, he was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for President, losing to Lincoln 233 electoral votes to 21. From 1878-1881, he was Governor of New Jersey. Fine condition. Framed, not by HistoryForSale.

Young and his wife Mary Ann Young sign a document agreeing to sell land in Salt Lake City (1873). Partly Printed Document signed: "Brigham Young" [added in another hand: "Sen"], 4 pages, 8½x14. Salt Lake City, Utah, 1873 July 29. Also signed "Mary A Young"; witnessed "R.R. Anderson" and "Jas. A. Young". An indenture in which Young agrees to sell a 6,600 square foot tract of land in Salt Lake City to David McKenzie for $20,000. Signed on front. Notary's seal on inside cover. BRIGHAM YOUNG (1801-1877) succeeded the murdered Joseph Smith as head of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1844. He guided the mass migration of the LDS faithful ("Mormons") to the Great Salt Lake Valley in Utah and served as the first Governor of the Territory of Utah (1849-1857). "Sen" distinguishes Young from Brigham Young, Jr. (1836-1903), a son by Mary who held important posts in the Church. MARY ANN YOUNG (1834-1882) was Young's second (and likely, favorite) wife, agreeable to his wedding additional wives. Lightly creased and soiled. Overall, fine condition.

Henry Clay wrote this letter from his Ashland estate in Kentucky in 1829, about nine months after he stepped down as President John Quincy Adams' Secretary of State. In it, he talks about President Andrew Jackson - "the Military despot" - as well as the election and a friend who had published a letter of his without his permission. Autograph letter signed "H. Clay". 4 pages, 7¾x9¾, 1 sheet folded, front and verso. Written at Clay's Ashland estate in Kentucky, Nov. 21, 1829. Addressed to P. R. Fendale, Esq. In full: "I recd. you favor both of the 30th. Oct. and the 7th. instant. I believe Mr. Wonley has made the permanent arrangement to supply the place of his late Co-partner; and I think it probable that he will make none before the fate of the Journal is finally decided. However much gratified I should be, in some respects, to see you a resident of Kentucky, I should regret it extremely if it were to be the consequence of the failure of the Journal. That paper has been edited with very great ability, generally, since the commencement of the present administration; and is considered in this quarter as standing unquestionably at the head of the papers which are arrayed against the Military despot.…"

As US Army Chief of Staff, he writes to his newly appointed French counterpart, General Gamelin, whose military career would prove rather less successful than MacArthur's. Accompanied by a manuscript translation of MacArthur's letter, and by a typed transcript of Gamelin's reply Typed Letter signed: "Douglas MacArthur" as US Army Chief of Staff, 1 page, 7x8¾. Washington, D.C., 1935 January 18. To "My dear General [Maurice]Gamelin, Chief of Staff, French Army, Paris. In full: "I deeply appreciate your splendid note of comradeship and felicitation, which has just reached me. I think you know without my saying how entirely the American Army and I, myself, personally reciprocate. It is a peculiar pleasure to me to be able at this time to extend my most cordial congratulations on your advancement to head of the French Army. Your friends of the American Army rejoice with you in this signal recognition of your outstanding professional attainments. With renewed expressions of greetings and friendship, very cordially". Accompanied by two items: 1) Manuscript, 2-page copy of MacArthur's letter, translated into French; 2) Typed copy, unsigned of Gamelin's reply, originally dated 1935 February 11.…"

Pierre G. T. Beauregard signs a war dated manuscript letter of thanks for forwarding the letter from his wife. War-dated Manuscript Letter Signed: "G.T. Beauregard", 1p, 8x7¼ lined sheet. Charleston, South Carolina, 1863 September 16. On letterhead of Headquarters, Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida to "Dear Sir". In full: "I have received the letter from Mrs. B[eauregard] you have been kind enough to send me; please return my sincere thanks to the parties connected with it's (sic) transmission. Hoping that before very long our troubles will be at an end, & that I shall be able to acknowledge personally this favor. I remain Yours very truly & resply". At the time of this letter, Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard (1818-1893) was Commander of the Confederacy's Military Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida (1862-1864) and was defending Charleston from attacks by the Union Army and Navy. Beauregard, who had shortened his name to G.T. Beauregard while a student at West Point, had been named a Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army on March 1, 1861 and just a month later, on April 12, 1861, gave the order for Confederate troops to fire on Ft.