Lot 940
Washington, George. DS ("G:o Washington") as a director of the Potomac Company, 4" x 8¾", n.p. (Washington), 1787.Oct. 18. Countersigned by fellow directors John Fitzgerald and George Gilpin, approving the payment of 21 pounds, 17 shillings and 2 pence to John McKim for "10 Qua[rte]r Casks Gun powder--52/6 £26.5" bought in Baltimore on 21 May ("5 mo. 21st" written in Quaker style) 1787. The transaction was made for the Potomac Company by William Hartshorn, a prominent Quaker merchant and friend of Washington's.
Hartshorn paid McKim in May but the expense was not "Pass'd" until October, probably because Washington was in Philadelphia from May to September of 1787, presiding over the Constitutional Convention. After the Convention adopted the Constitution on 17 September, Washington went back to Virginia to work on the ratification of the Constitution.
George Washington founded and served as the first President of the Potomac Company, whose purpose was to build canals from what is present-day Georgetown into the Ohio Valley. This was one of the earliest ventures at commercial development of roads and waterways. The use of public money for such "internal improvement" would later generate bitter political debate as some sections opposed their tax money being spent to benefit merchants and settlements beginning to push west. The most famous of the internal improvements was the Erie Canal. The Potomac Company was not a commercial success and was eventually bought out by the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal company.
The document is remarkably fresh and Washington's signature is nice and bold; light, normal folds pass just below and to the left of his signature. The document has been professionally tipped between two archival mats and then displayed in Lucite for easy viewing of both sides; the document can be easily removed if desired. A similar document, not in as good condition, sold at auction recently for $14,000.
Estimated Value $10,000 - 15,000.
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