Description:

Colonial Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA, April 8, 1789
Pennsylvania Vice-President Signs Pay Order for Fellow Member of Supreme Executive Council
Partially printed DS
[PENNSYLVANIA.] George Ross, Partially Printed Document Signed, Pay Order to David Rittenhouse for George Woods, April 8, 1789, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1 p., 8.25" x 6.25". Separations on folds and one tear repaired on verso with tape; some loss of paper at top center, affecting file note on verso; general toning.

This pay order, signed by Pennsylvania's last vice-president George Ross, authorized state treasurer David Rittenhouse to pay Christopher Kucher for his service on the Supreme Executive Council.

Complete Transcript
For £44..15..0
In COUNCIL.
Philadelphia, April 8th 1789.
Sir,
Pay to The Honorable George Woods Esquire or Order, the Sum of Forty four pounds fifteen shillings being a Balance due upon his account for his attendance as Councillor until this day inclusive, and mileage coming to Philada. and returning home at this time.
George Ross / Vice Presdt
To David Rittenhouse, Esq. / Treasurer.

Historical Background
The 1776 Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vested the executive power of the state in a president and council. The Supreme Executive Council consisted of twelve persons drawn from the city of Philadelphia and the eleven counties existing at the time. Counsellors served three-year terms, staggered so that one-third would be contested each year. The Council and the General Assembly selected the president and vice president for one-year terms from among the twelve members of the council. Although the 1776 constitution stipulated that the Council would meet at the same time and location as the General Assembly, in practice the Council met year-round.

It formally convened on March 4, 1777, and continued until replaced by a single governor on December 21, 1790, as part of the provisions of the 1790 constitution. Benjamin Franklin served as president of the Council from 1785 to 1788 and was succeeded by Thomas Mifflin (1744-1800), who served as the last president of the Council and the first governor of Pennsylvania under the 1790 constitution.

George Ross (1746-1801) represented Lancaster County in the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from October 1787 to December 1790. He was elected as Vice-President of Pennsylvania (equivalent of lieutenant governor) in November 1788. He served in that role until December 1790, when the position was dissolved by the 1790 Pennsylvania state constitution, which established the office of governor. The position of lieutenant governor was added by the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1873. He should not be confused with George Ross (1730-1779), one of Pennsylvania's delegates to the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

David Rittenhouse (1732-1796) was born near Philadelphia and was self-taught from his family's books. He showed great ability in science and mathematics and became an inventor. He constructed two orreries for the College of New Jersey (Princeton University) and the College of Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania). He worked as a surveyor for Great Britain and later served as treasurer of Pennsylvania from 1777 to 1789. In 1784, he and another surveyor completed the survey of the Pennsylvania-Maryland border begun by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in 1763 and interrupted in 1767. President George Washington appointed Rittenhouse as the first director of the United States Mint, which opened in 1792.

George Woods (1731-1796) was born in Ireland and emigrated to Philadelphia in the 1730s with his family. He became a surveyor and moved progressively westward in Pennsylvania, eventually settling in the area of Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in 1759, before it became a county in 1771. That year, he was appointed one of the justices of the peace for Bedford County. Because Fort Bedford was in ruins, Woods built a stockade fort around his house, to which settlers fled when threatened by attack from Native Americans. In 1774, Woods represented Bedford County at a convention in Philadelphia assembled to discuss how to respond to oppressive British legislation. He served as a colonel in the 2nd Battalion, Bedford County Militia, during the Revolutionary War. From 1777 to 1779, he represented Bedford County in the General Assembly. In 1784, he created a survey and laid out the town of Pittsburgh. He represented Bedford County in the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania from November 1787 to November 1789. In 1791, Governor Thomas Mifflin appointed Woods as the first associate judge of the Fourth Judicial District.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 8.25" x 6.25"
  • Medium: Partially printed DS

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