BIB_ID
116823
Accession number
MA 157.74
Creator
Swan, James, 1754-1830.
Display Date
1785 Oct. 17.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1907.
Description
1 item (3 p.) ; 22.8 cm
Notes
Endorsed on verso.
James Swan spent his private funds to provide the Continental Army with arms, equipment and clothing. He also privately assumed the entire U.S. debt to France from the War.
Part of a collection of autograph letters signed of Elbridge Gerry and others relating to the French Commission and the XYZ Affair. Items in the collection have been described individually in separate catalog records; see collection-level record for more information.
James Swan spent his private funds to provide the Continental Army with arms, equipment and clothing. He also privately assumed the entire U.S. debt to France from the War.
Part of a collection of autograph letters signed of Elbridge Gerry and others relating to the French Commission and the XYZ Affair. Items in the collection have been described individually in separate catalog records; see collection-level record for more information.
Provenance
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan from J.F. Sabin in 1907.
Summary
Concerning the repayment of Revolutionary War debt; referring to a communication by Mr. [Rufus] King to the General Court suggesting non-compliance with a requisition to make payments on the debt "whilst other States were so backward in complying with former demands which we had granted and paid. - Whether the principle is good, that if all is not just no one ought to be - requires as little time to determine as it does that the opinion which some hold - if ample relief cannot be had to the public Creditors, no relief ought to be made - is as dishonorable to the reputation of Government, as it is destructive to the individual;" continuing "That I am materially interested in the late Requisitions being complied with by our assembly is very true, and that when I clothed part of the army with my monie, for which I now have Certificates in 1777, I ought at least to have the Interest paid me, is equally so."
Catalog link
Department