Beschreibung:

HART, John, (1711-1779), Signer (New Jersey). Autograph document signed ("John Hart"), n.p., 1 January 1778. 1 page, an oblong (4 x 8 in. approximately) , verso with a autograph document signed by Col. Jacob Drake, who furnished the funds. COUNCIL OF SAFETY EXPENDITURES. Hart acknowledges receipt from Drake of reimbursement for funds spent by himself on behalf of the Council of Safety: "Received of Col. Jacob Drake the sum of £147. 17s. 11p. the Balance due to me on account of sundry Disbursements. By order of the Councils of Safety as pr Vouchers from November 1 to 15 by me." Before the Revolution, Hart, a New Jersey farmer, served in the New Jersey Provincial Assembly (1761-1771). In 1775 he became a member of the state's Committee of Safety and Committee of Correspondence, and was chosen a delegate to the second Continental Congress. He and his fellow delegates arrived just a few days before the historic votes for independence on July 2. Chosen speaker of the state's General Assembly in 1777, during a particularly difficult period, a British raiding party destroyed Hart's mill, farm and home, forcing him to take refuge in Somerset County's Sourland Mountains. He joined the Council of Safety in 1778 and was named Commissioner of the New Jersey Loan office, in which capacity his signature is often found on New Jersey's Revolutionary War paper currency. But his health began to fail and he died in May 1779. His untimely death has made his handwritten letters and documents noticeably rare. Provenance: Philip D. Sang (sale, Sotheby's, 26 April 1978, part lot 5).