Letters of Washington, Franklin, and Lafayette, 1744-1830 [bulk 1777-1799]
Collection Number: 4600 Bd. Ms. 548++
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University
Library
Title:
Letters of Washington, Franklin, and Lafayette 1744-1830 [bulk 1777-1799]
Collection Number:
4600 Bd. Ms. 548++
Quantity:
30 items
Forms of Material:
Original documents, mostly autograph signed letters
or ALS
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell
University Library
Abstract:
Manuscript documents and correspondence about the American
and French Revolutions, covering the period 1744-1830
Language:
Collection material in English and French
Jared Sparks (1789-1866) was a prominent American historian, educator, and Unitarian
minister who served as President of Harvard University from 1849 to 1853.
Sparks is mostly remembered today as a historian of the America Revolutionary War.
After extensive researches at home and in London and Paris, he wrote his most
important work, "The Life and Writings of George Washington" (12 volumes,
1834-1837), and separately, "The Life of George Washington" (2 volumes, 1839-42.)
His Herculean achievements also include "The Writings of Gouverneur Morris" (3
volumes, 1832), "The Writings of Benjamin Franklin" (10 volumes, 1840), and a "Life
of Benjamin Franklin" (1857.) Additionally, Sparks compiled "The Diplomatic
Correspondence of the American Revolution : Being the Letters of Benjamin Franklin,
Silas Deane, John Adams, John Jay, [...], M. de Lafayette, M. Dumas, and Others,
Concerning the Foreign Relations of the United States During the Whole Revolution"
(4 volumes, 1829-30.)
His interest in France is less known, though not surprising, considering that the
history of the two countries in the second-half of the 18th-century is intrinsically
linked. Sparks had a regular correspondence with General Lafayette from 1827 to 1834
(see The Arthur H. and Mary Marden Dean Lafayette Collection at Cornell #4611, box
83.) He also met with Alexis de Tocqueville during his 1831–32 visit to the United
States. Their extensive conversations and subsequent correspondence informed
Tocqueville's book "Democracy in America," and in return they impacted Sparks's
views about the American and French Revolutions.
In the course of his editorial and historical work, Sparks copied and collected
thousands of documents; the focus of his collection was the American Revolution.
Most original documents now constitute the Jared Sparks Collection of documents
concerning the American Revolution at the Houghton Library in Harvard University
:http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hou00303
Containing spectacular autographs of Washington, Franklin, and Lafayette, the Cornell volume was
prepared by Sparks himself ; each item is verified by his hand (directly on the documents!),
reserved for private sale, and purchased by Cornell University in January 1872 [*].
The catalogue of the Library of Jared Sparks, written by Harvard librarians and
edited by Charles Ammi Cutter (1837-1903), then the Librarian of the Boston
Atheneum, provided us with basic information for this online finding aide. However,
a couple of manuscript documents listed here were not in the 1871 catalogue, and we
know with certainty that some of them were acquired later and added to this
collection(for example, the Washington letter to Lafayette in folder 6.)
The autographs were part of a much larger acquisition by Cornell President Andrew D.
White and Cornell trustee Henry W. Sage: Cornell also bought Sparks's superb
collection of books, which was intended "to be the nucleus of Cornell's collection
in the history of the United States." As usual with White, this major acquisition
for the Library was consistent with his educational plans for Cornell as a whole.
Acquiring the library and best manuscripts of Jared Sparks was part of a strategy of
promoting the teaching of American history, at a time when it was something of an
innovation. When he was appointed in 1881, Prof. Moses Coit Tyler observed with
delight that "Cornell is the pioneer in recognizing American history as worthy of a
separate chair." [**] Though many letters are now published in digital collections
of the papers of the Founding Fathers -- for example, http://resolver.library.cornell.edu/misc/6701841 -- retaining original
documents is essential.
The first series "WASHINGTON" contains: 1/documents related to Washington's early
career as public land surveyor and mapmaker in Virginia. After considering the
prospect of a career in the British Royal Navy, George Washington began studying
geometry and surveying, using a set of surveyor's instruments from the storehouse at
Ferry Farm, taking many notes and making many drawings. Though his political and military involvement put an end to
his career as a public land surveyor in Virginia, he made maps during his entire life,
from his first survey exercise in 1747 to his
last survey of the Mount Vernon lands [folders 1-3]; 2/ documents related to the
Revolutionary War, with the order of battle and chain of command for light infantry
set up by Washington for the Virginia campaign in 1781 [folders 4-6]; 3/ documents
related to his tenure as President of the United States, including one important
document about the Whiskey Rebellion, a popular uprising that had its beginnings in
1791 and culminated in an insurrection in 1794 in the
Monongahela Valley in Western Pennsylvania [folders 7-8]; 4/ documents related to
the management of his plantation at Mount Vernon, including the issue of slavery
[folders 9-11]; 5/ signatures of Washington [folder 12.]
The second series "FRANKLIN" contains: 1/documents related to
his personal and
family life before the Declaration of Independence, especially "the religious
Franklin," but also his relation with his wife who passed away in 1774 [folders
13-17]; 2/ the French-American alliance and Franklin's ambassadorship to Paris
(1776-1785), including a witty "bagatelle" sent to his neighbour in Passy, composer
and society hostess Anne Louise Brillon, whose salon Franklin frequented on a
regular basis; instructions sent concerning a secret mission involving Franklin's
18-year-old grandson William Temple Franklin, who worked as secretary to the
American diplomatic mission in Paris; and a 1780 letter from Franklin's daughter,
Sarah "Sally" Franklin Bache, to George Washington, documenting the active role of
women: both letters confirm that the whole family took part in the war [folders
18-24]; 3/Franklin's draft of his last speech in the Convention for forming the
Constitution of the United States: Franklin stated his pragmatic support of the
Constitution: "There are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at
present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them... I doubt too whether
any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution... It
therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection
as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies." The result of many
corrections, Franklin's speech "is perhaps the best ever written by anyone about the
magic of the American system and the spirit of compromise that created it." [***] At
some point (?) this final draft was addressed and passed to Daniel Carroll, an
active member of the Constitutional Convention and one of only five men to sign both
the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States [folder
25.]
The third and last series "LAFAYETTE" contains: 1/ major documents related to
Lafayette's captivity and exile during the French Revolution (1792-1799), including
the famous letter of March 15, 1793 written with a tooth-pick (!), a painful sketch of the
suffering and exhaustion of the General and his companions, illegally detained in a
dreary state prison in the fortified city of Magdeburg, Prussia, before their transfer to another
citadel in Olmütz, Austria. The Princess d'Henin confided the letter to John Barker Church,
a well-connected businessman and former English Member of Parliament who had befriended
the cause of the American Revolution and married the daughter of Philip Schuyler, a General and U.S. Senator,
with the request that Church convey it to President George Washington -- which he did; she gave him
the precious letter with the request that Church would convey it to President George
Washington -- which he did. As Church wrote, "The Marquis' friends have no hope of
procuring his liberation... I heartily wish it may be in your power to effect it"
[folders 26-28]; 2/ a 1830 letter to Jared Sparks which accompanied copies of
Lafayette's correspondence with Washington during the 1781 Campaign, and contains an
account of recent revolutionary events in Paris [folder 29.]
[*] Catalogue of the Library of Jared Sparks, with a List of the Historical
Manuscripts Collected by Him and Now Deposited in the Library of Harvard University,
Cambridge: University Press, 1871, p. 211-2; Robert Morris Ogden (ed.), "The Diaries
of Andrew Dickson White," Cornell University Library, 1959, p. 169. In a "job offer"
to Tyler dated June 17, 1871, Andrew D. White already named the library and its
growing collections as one of the great advantages of being at Cornell (Tyler
Correspondence, Bd. Ms. 52++, vol. III.)
[**] Michael Kammen, "Moses Coit Tyler: The First Professor of American History in
the United States," in "The History Teacher," Vol. 17, Nov. 1983, pp. 61-87.
[***] Walter Isaacson, "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life," New York: Simon and
Schuster, 2003, p. 457.
Names:
Adams, John, 1735-1826.
Anderson, John, 1745-1807.
Bache, Sarah, b. Franklin,1744-1808.
Barnes, Richard, of Richmond County,
Virginia.
Brillon de Jouy, Anne Louise Boyvin
d'Hardancourt, 1744-1824.
Carroll, Daniel, 1730-1796.
Church, John Barker, 1746-1818.
Fleury, François Louis Teissèdre de,
1749-1794.
Damas d'Antigny,
Joseph-François-Louis-Charles-César de, 1758-1829.
Estaing, Charles Henri, comte d',
1729-1794.
Fleury, François Louis Teissèdre de,
1749-1794.
Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790.
Franklin, Deborah, 1708-1774.
Franklin, William Temple, 1760-1823.
Heath, William, 1737-1814.
Hénin, Eiennette de Montconseil, princesse
d'.
Howe, William, 1729-1814.
Knox, Henry, 1750-1806.
Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert
Du Motier, marquis de, 1757-1834.
Lafayette, Adrienne de Noailles, marquise de,
1759-1807
Lafayette, George Washington,
1779-1849.
Lally-Tollendal, Trophime-Gérard, marquis de,
1751-1830.
Lameth, Alexandre de, 1760-1829.
La Tour Maubourg, Charles de,
1757-1831.
Louis XVI, King of France, 1754-1793.
Madison, James, 1751-1836.
Parkinson, Richard, 1748-1815.
Pinkney, Thomas, 1750-1828.
Platt, Zephaniah, 1735-1807.
Plessis, Thomas-Antoine, chevalier de Mauduit
du, 1753-1791.
Pulaski, Casimir, 1747-1779.
Randolph, Edmund, 1753-1813.
Sparks, Jared, 1789-1866.
Washington, George, 1732-1799.
Wayne, Anthony, 1745-1796.
Whitefield, Rev. George, 1714-1770.
Whiting, Anthony.
Subjects:
United States --History --1783-1815.
United States --History --Revolution, 1775-1783
--Personal narratives.
United States. Constitution.
French Revolution, France,1789-1799.
Mount Vernon (Va. : Estate).
Salons--France.
Brandywine, Battle of, Pa., 1777.
Yorktown (Va.)--History--Siege, 1781.
Pennsylvania--History--1775-1865.
Constitutional history --United States.
United States. Army --Supplies and
stores.
United States--Foreignaffairs--France.
Slavery--United States.
Form and Genre Terms:
Drawings.
Correspondence.
Diaries.
Figures.
Seals.
Cite As:
Letters of Washington, Franklin, and Lafayette,
1744-1830, 4600 Bd. Ms. 548++
Access Restrictions:
By appointment only.
Related archival collections at Cornell include the Susan H. Douglas Collection of
Political Americana #2214 (esp. boxes 86, 89, and 171); the Carpenter Wharton
Collection #4656 (for the history of supplies to the American Army during the
Revolutionary War); the Collection of Historical Manuscripts #4600 (which contains
two original letters from Washington about French and American officers, 1778 and
1798); the Trumbull Papers Bd. Ms. 61++; the Lafayette Collection #4611 (esp. box
16); and the Pamphlets and Manuscripts components of the French Revolution
Collection.
Series I: Washington
Washington before the Revolutionary War
The Revolutionary War
Washington's Presidency
Gentleman Farmer at Mount Vernon
Signatures of George Washington
Washington before the Revolutionary War
The Revolutionary War
Washington's Presidency
Gentleman Farmer at Mount Vernon
Signatures of George Washington
Series II: Franklin
Before the Declaration of Independence
The French-American Alliance
The U.S. Constitution
Before the Declaration of Independence
The French-American Alliance
The U.S. Constitution
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
Folder 1 |
"Chain and Poles"
|
1746 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
Original drawing, from one of George Washington's "schoolbooks,"
dated "Aet. 14."
|
|||
Folder 2 |
Title Page of a Book of Surveys
|
1749-1750 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
Title page of a book of surveys for the period 1749-1750, dated
"Aet.17." With a hand-drawn map and Washington's annotations: "Then
surveyed for Mr. Richard Barnes of Richmond County a certain tract
of waste and ungranted land situate[d] in Culpeper County"
|
|||
Folder 3 |
Mathematical and Geological Drawings and Figures
|
c. 1750 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
Page from a book of surveys for the period 1749-1750, dated
"Aet.18".
|
|||
Folder 4 |
Washington, George, to William Heath
|
10 November 1780 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
ALS in English, plus a modern transcription (tapuscript).Washington
asks General William Heath, commander of the Highland Department of
the Continental Army, to "send forward the articles most essential
to the convenience and comfort of the men. [...] the articles most
wanted will be Blankets, Waistcoats, Woolen Overhalls, and
Stockings... to rub thro' the Severity of Winter."
|
|||
Folder 5 |
[Orde]r of Battle for 1781 -- Light Infantry
|
1781 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
Order of battle and chain of command for the Virginia Campaign.
General Lafayette is the commander of the U.S. light infantry.
|
|||
Folder 6 |
Washington, George to Lafayette
|
28 November 1783 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
ALS in English, not listed in the 1871 catalogue. Washington sends a
letter of recommendation for Mr. [Zephaniah] Platt, a member of the
New York State Senate, and his wife, who are going to England "and
probably to France."
|
|||
Folder 7 |
Washington, George, to Edmund Randolph
|
6 October 1794 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
ALS in English. This is the draft of the letter to the former U.S.
Attorney General and current Secretary of State, reproduced in John
C. Fitzpatrick (ed.), "The Complete Writings of George Washington
From the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745-1799," 1932-1940, vol.
33, p. 521-2. Washington evokes the departure of the First Lady from
the federal city of Washington because of the epidemic of yellow
fever; the existence of " a faction in the Army of the United States
[that] is attempting the ruin of General Wayne"; and his intention
to move his troops to Fort Cumberland, Maryland, before their march
to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in Western Pennsylvania.
|
|||
Folder 8 |
Washington, George, to James Madison
|
6 March 1796 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
ALS in English. This is the draft of the letter reproduced in John C.
Fitzpatrick (ed.), "The Complete Writings of George Washington...,"
vol. 34, p. 485-6; it concerns the situation in the United States of
"Mr. Fayette" [sic], that is, of George Washington Lafayette "and
his family." While her husband was held in foreign captivity, and
she herself was in the prisons of the Terror, the Marquise de
Lafayette entrusted the safety of their 17-year-old son to the
Washingtons.
|
|||
Folder 9 |
Washington, George, to Anthony Whiting
|
26 March 1793 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
Envelope addressed to Whiting, of of the farm manager at Mount
Vernon. Letter is missing. Authenticated by Sparks: "Washington's
Handwriting."
|
|||
Folder 10 |
"Terms on Which the Farmers at Mount Vernon May be
Obtained"
|
February 1796 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
Autograph with a table of rotation of crops. Washington also
stipulates gis conditions with respect to slaves: "lthough the
admission of Slaves with the Tenants will not be absolutely
prohibited; It would, nevertheless, be a pleasing circumstance to
exclude them; If not entirely, at least in a great degree: To do
which, is not among the least inducements for dividing the farms
into small lots."
|
|||
Folder 11 |
Washington, George, to James Anderson
|
9 November 1798 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
ALS in English. In this letter to his new farm manager and business
partner, Washington discusses the sojourn in America of agriculture
expert Richard Parkinson, who came to America to rent one of the
farms of Washington, and published a detailed account of his
experience in his "Travel in America" [complete title: "Tour In
America In 1798, 1799, And 1800: Exhibiting Sketches of Society and
Manners, and a Particular Account of The America System of
Agriculture, With Its Recent Improvements," London: 1805. Cornell
Rare Books E164 .P24 1805]
|
|||
Folder 12 |
Five signatures
|
1744-1799 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
Marked by Jared Sparks: "[The last signature was applied] four days
before his death."
|
|||
Folder 13 |
Fragment on the Parable of the Good Samaritan and Articles of
Faith
|
1751 (?) and n.d. | |
2 leaves
|
|||
Autograph, authenticated and dated by Jared Sparks. The document
described as "Articles of Faith" in the 1871 catalogue contains the
statement "God governs the world." .
|
|||
Folder 14 |
Franklin, Benjamin, to Rev. George Whitefield
|
2 July 1756 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
Facsimile of a letter, on religion and ethics.
|
|||
Folder 15 |
"The Mother Country"
|
n.d. [circa 1765] | |
1 leaf
|
|||
Lyrics of a patriotic song, perhaps written by Benjamin Franklin.
Annotation by Sparks: "Franklin's hand-writing. J.S."
|
|||
Folder 16 |
Franklin, Benjamin, to Mrs. Franklin
|
5 October 1768 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
ALS in English. From London, sends his love to his wife, his daughter
and son-in-law, "cousin [Timothy] Folger," "and all Friends."
|
|||
Folder 17 |
Franklin, Benjamin, to Mrs. Franklin
|
n.d. [before 1774] | |
1 leaf
|
|||
Envelope of a letter to "Mrs. Franklin, Philadelphia."
|
|||
Folder 18 |
News from "The Boston Gazette"
|
October 1777 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
Autograph authenticated by Jared Sparks: "Dr. Franklin's
Handwriting." The article contained an account of the Battle of
Branywine, and praised the military accomplishments of foreign
officers, especially Lafayette, Pulaski, and Fleury.
|
|||
Folder 19 |
Draft for the Declaration Annuling the Eleventh and Twelth
Articles of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce Between the United
States of America and France
|
1778 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
Autograph authenticated by Jared Sparks: "Dr. Franklin's
Handwriting."
|
|||
Folder 20 | n.d. [August 1778] | ||
1 leaf
|
|||
Autographed document, not listed in the 1871 catalogue. List of
questions regarding the war, and especially the role played by the
French Navy under Vice-Admiral d'Estaing.
|
|||
Folder 21 |
Franklin, Benjamin, to Mme Brillon
|
20 September 1778 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
Autograph with the title "Ephemera." According to the 1871 auction
catalogue, "this is perhaps the most graceful of the author's jeux
d'esprit."
|
|||
Folder 22 |
Adams, John, and Franklin, Benjamin, to William Temple
Franklin
|
n.d.[1778] | |
1 leaf
|
|||
ALS in English, containing instructions to young Franklin regarding a
diplomatic mission.
|
|||
Folder 23 |
Adams, John, and Franklin, Benjamin, to William Temple
Franklin
|
26 November 1778 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
ALS in English, containing instructions to young Franklin regarding a
diplomatic mission.
|
|||
Folder 24 |
Bache, Sarah, to George Washington
|
26 December 1780 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
ALS in English, authenticated by Jared Sparks, regarding military
supplies made and sent by the wives and daughters of revolutionary
fighters, and the general conduct of the war by Washington: "we
packed the shirts in three boxes... they are two thousand and five
in number.. we wish them to be worn with as much pleasure as they
were made [...] My father says... that all the old generals amuse
themselves in studying the accounts of [your] operations, and
approve highly of [your] conduct."
|
|||
Folder 25 |
Franklin, Benjamin, to Daniel Carroll
|
n.d. [September 1787] | |
1 leaf
|
|||
Franklin's final draft of his last speech in the Federal Convention
for forming the Constitution of the United States of America,
addressed to "D. Carrol [sic], Esq." This spelling of Carroll's name
appears frequently through the records of the Federal Convention.
Authenticated by Jared Sparks. The same text appears in the digital
edition of "The Papers of Benjamin Franklin" (Packard Humanities
Institute) as follows: "From Benjamin Franklin: Speech in the
Convention on the Constitution [...] Addressed: D. Carrol Esqr. /
Endorsed: D Carrol Draft of Franklin’s last Speech in the Convention
for forming the Constitution of the United States, September,
1787."
|
|||
Folder 26 |
Lafayette, Marquis de, to the Princesse d'Hénin [and to his
wife]
|
15 March 1793 | |
1 leaves
|
|||
Autograph in French, authenticated by Jared Sparks-- marked "Written
by Lafayette in Prison." The letter begins: ""Je vis encore, ma
chère princesse, et je puis vous le mander ; mais ce sont les deux
seules choses satisfaisantes que vous devez attendre de mon
journal..." (Louis Gottschalk [ed.], "Lafayette: A Guide to Letters,
Documents and Manuscripts in the United States," 1975, p. 105.)
|
|||
Folder 27 |
Church, John Barker, to George Washington
|
16 August 1793 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
ALS in English, marked by Jared Sparks: "with a letter from
Lafayette to the Princess d'Henin."
|
|||
Folder 28 |
Lafayette, Marquis de, to George Washington
|
20 August 1798 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
ALS in English, marked by Jared Sparks: "(Duplicate) (Letter to
Washington.)" This letter was written during the sojourn in
Holstein, after Lafayette's liberation. "However uncertain of the
fate of my letters, I am happy to let you hear from me, and altho'
the filial and grateful sentiments which from my youth have animated
my heart need not being remembered to you, it is to me, while so
unwilllingly separated from you, a great and necessary consolation
to express them." (Gottschalk, p. 112.)
|
|||
Folder 29 |
Lafayette, Marquis de, to Jared Sparks
|
28 March 1830 | |
1 leaf
|
|||
ALS in English ALS in English, marked by Jared Sparks: "From General
Lafayette. Rec[eive]d June 3, 1830. Jared Sparks." "La Grange. My
dear friend/This letter will be transmitted by our fiend Mr. Low..."
(Gottschalk, p. 235.)
|