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.
Just in time for Presidents Day, letters from George Washington and Abraham Lincoln showcasing power during wartime with acts of mercy and clemency are up for sale.
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George Washington’s letter, valued at $55,000, was written in 1783 to one of his first spy chiefs in the Revolutionary War. (Raab Collection)
Washington’s letter, valued at $55,000, was written in 1783 to one of his first spy chiefs in the Revolutionary War, ordering the release of one of the war’s last and most consequential POWs.
Washington wrote: "Sir: I have the pleasure to congratulate you on your late Promotion to the rank of Brigadier General which took place in Congress the 7th Instant. Your Commission arrived here yesterday and I shall keep it till I can have the pleasure to deliver it to you in person, which I must request may be as soon as possible, and that you come prepared to remain with your Brigade the remainder of the Winter. If Captain Schaack is not yet gone to New York, I must desire you to take measures to oblige him to go in."
Washington ordered Elias Dayton on Jan. 15, 1783, to release Schaack into New York, then occupied by the British.
Abraham Lincoln’s war-date letter, valued at $72,500, insists on his singular authority to pardon senior Confederates. (Raab Collection)
Lincoln’s war-date letter, valued at $72,500, insists on his singular authority to pardon senior Confederates.
Lincoln wrote: "It is with regret that I learned that your brother, whom I had ordered to be discharged on taking the oath, under the impression that he was a private, is a captain. By an understanding, the Commissary of Prisoners detains such cases until further hearing from me. I now distinctly say that if your Father shall come within our lines and take the oath of Dec. 8, 1863, I will give him a full pardon, and will, at the same time, discharge your brother on his taking the oath, notwithstanding he is a captain."
Lincoln’s letter is dated Jan. 9, 1865, just months before his death on April 15. Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., by John Wilkes Booth.
With the end of the Civil War, Lincoln had high hopes of pulling a divided nation back together again.
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The historical documents were discovered and acquired by The Raab Collection, which will offer the sale.
"These original documents remind us of their vision and moral strength of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, a vision which helped shape and mold our country in ways neither could have foreseen. They testify to the power of original history to inspire and remind us of the great figures of the past," said Nathan Raab, president of The Raab Collection, to Fox News.
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