George Washington letter on God and the Constitution surfaces
A very rare letter written by George Washington in which he praises God for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution is up for auction.
A letter on God and the Constitution written by George Washington is up for sale after spending decades in a private collection.
The letter to Richard Peters, speaker of the Pennsylvania House, is signed Sept. 7, 1788, and praises God for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
Written a week after Washington told Alexander Hamilton that he would likely accept calls to assume the presidency, the letter came at a time when the Constitution was under attack. Some states wanted to hold a second Convention that may have undermined the Constitution.
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“It would seem from the public Gazettes that the Minority in your State are preparing for another attack of the – now – adopted Government; how formidable it may be; I know not,” Washington wrote. “But that Providence which has hitherto smiled on the honest endeavors of the well meaning part of the People of this Country will not, I trust, withdraw its support from them at this crisis.”
The letter praises God for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution (The Raab Collection)
The letter, which is priced at $140,000, is up for sale at Ardmore, Pa.-based historical document dealer The Raab Collection.
“Washington, who was the General in Chief of the Continental Army during the war and President of the Constitutional Convention makes a remarkable statement in this powerful letter: his victory in battle and his stewardship over the Convention that led to our Constitution came with the guiding influence of a higher power,” said Nathan Raab, President of the Raab Collection, in a statement.
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The letter was written to Richard Peters, speaker of the Pennsylvania Constitution. (The Raab Collection)
Washington artifacts have attracted plenty of attention in recent memory. A lock of the founding father’s hair, for example, was recently sold at auction for $35,000.
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Dubbed “the first Oval Office,” Washington’s Revolutionary War tent is a key exhibit at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. Used as a mobile field headquarters, the canvas tent was used during many of the Revolutionary War’s key moments, such as the Siege of Yorktown, the war’s last major battle.
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