Beschreibung:

WASHINGTON, GEORGE, President . Autograph manuscript leaf from the first draft of the FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS, consisting of pages 49 and 50, comprising about 340 words in Washington's hand, n.p., n.d. [1789]. 2 pages, 4to, 228 x 184 mm. (9 x 7 1/4 in.), written on the recto and verso of a single leaf, paginated "49" and "50" by Washington in upper left-hand corner of each page, a tiny, nearly invisible tear at one fold intersection, three minute punctures in left margin (where once sewn in a binding?), otherwise in very good condition, the ink very clear and dark, the left-hand margin of page 49 with ink inscription by Jared Sparks: "Washington's handwriting, but not his composition. J.S." [ with ] SPARKS, JARED. Autograph letter signed to Gilbert Hawkes, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 11 May 1844, 1 page, 4to, integral address leaf with postmarks : "I am sorry that I cannot furnish you with an autograph of Washington's signature. I enclose a specimen of his hand-writing, which is the best that I can do...." (2) WASHINGTON ON THE ISSUES OF TAXATION AND THE NATIONAL DEBT: ONE OF A HANDFUL OF SURVIVING LEAVES FROM THE FIRST DRAFT OF WASHINGTON'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS, A PREVIOUSLY UNRECORDED LEAF, ASSERTING THAT "TAXES MUST BE LIGHTER IN THIS COUNTRY, THAN IN ANY OTHER CIVILIZED COUNTRY OF THE WORLD" In preparation for his inauguration as President, scheduled for April 30 in New York, Washington meticulously drafted a lengthy address, giving detailed consideration to a host of crucial issues facing the new nation: the implementation of the new Constitution, the organization of the judiciary, the nature of the office of President, problems of national defense, international trade and commerce, and other matters, and specifying the legislation in each area which he felt should be enacted by Congress. As the inauguration drew nearer, Washington decided the speech was too long and perhaps too radical for the momentous occasion. Assisted by James Madison he drafted a new, very brief address (see Papers, Presidential Series, ed. D. Twohig, 2:173-177 for that text). Nevertheless what little survives of the unused address contains many striking passages which are of great interest because they disclose Washington's thoughts and planned policies on the threshold of his inauguration as President. To our great loss, only a handful of leaves and a sheaf of small fragments of the text survive today. A comparison of the text of the surviving fragments with the rewritten version reveals "an underlying similiarity of thoughts rather than words, although numerous recommendations to Congress appear in the unused draft. It is quite logical to assume...that the replacement was used for two strong reasons: the original speech with its multiple recommendations to Congress was too radical and far too long" (Nathaniel E. Stein "The Discarded Inaugural Address of George Washington," in Manuscripts; The First Twenty Years, pp.239-254). In the present, previously unstudied leaf, Washington considers consideration of the worrying problem of the national debt, which had swelled during the Revolution to prodigious size (Alexander Hamilton calculated the nation's foreign, domestic and state debt at this period at 75 million dollars). Washington discourses on the dangers of protective tariffs, which beget smuggling, stresses the importance of all public funds being wisely spent in order to ensure cooperation with reasonable taxation, and assures the Quakers that their taxes will be applied only to civil expenditures. A sentence, begun on page 48, is continued here. Washington had written [p.48:] " A general, moderate Impost [tax] upon imports; together with a higher tax upon certain enumerated articles, will, undoubtedly, occur to you in the course [p.49, the present leaf:] of your deliberations. I shall readily give my assent to any prudent measures. But my individual opinion would not be in favour of making frequent & rash experiments. I will only observe that i