On November 9th, 1787 the first president of the United States, George Washington, wrote a letter to his nephew, Bushrod Washington. In the letter Washington laid out a series of arguments in support of adoption of the newly framed Constitution of the United States of America. Two hundred twenty-two years later, the letter was auctioned at Christie's New York on December 4th, 2009. The sale set a record at $3,200,000 for Washington pieces. This was also one of the highest prices for an American autograph.
George Washington served as commander-in-chief of the American Revolutionary forces from 1775 to the end of the war in 1783. During the war, he struggled constantly to keep his army fed, clothed and armed and was able to succeed. The Articles of Confederation required Congress to regulate military and monetary affairs, but they were not able to force the states into complying with requests for troops or revenue. Because of this, Washington's army nearly starved to death several winters of the war.
After the Constitution was drafted in September 1787 a nationwide debate began in effort for the document to be ratified by the states. Washington understood it would be a difficult campaign for the Constitution to be ratified. This understanding and desire to gain the countries acceptance of the Constitution, led Washington to send a personal letter to his nephew Bushrod, a delegate to the Virginia State ratifying convention.
In the letter Washington made a strong case for the ratification of the Constitution. He outlined the false parts of the opposition and gave his nephew arguments to bolster support for the Constitution. He informed Bushrod that the argument boiled down to one simple proposition, "is it best for the States to unite, or not to unite?".
Admitting that the document had imperfections, Washington still explained to his nephew that it helps no one for the states not to be united and if problems arise from the Constitution they can be dealt with as a nation at a later date. In advocating for the Constitution, Washington reminded his nephew that the power must rest with the people but in order to do this the country needed a united government.
Ironically, the stationary that this letter is written on paper with a pro patria design watermark. This means the paper was English-made. The watermark is an oval with a seated woman holding a lance and then a countermark, which goes on the other have of the sheet. The countermark has the initials GR, for Georgius Rex. Washington spent seven years fighting King George III to achieve independence for the United States, then used paper carrying a watermark of the Royal Crown to advocate for the ratification of the Constitution.
The day of the auction, the auctioneer opened the bidding at $950,000. The room flew into action and bidding took the letter up to $1.5 million. As it continued to climb, competition continued between two potential buyers. The auctioneer gave the bidders a break to contemplate how high they were willing to go when the piece reached $2.8 million. The day ended at $3.2 million and a dramatic bang of the auctioneer's gavel.
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