Beschreibung:

THOMSON, CHARLES, Secretary of the Continental Congress . Autograph free frank ("ChasThomson"), New York, 17 July, on an address panel addressed in Thomson's hand to "Doctr James McHenry Baltimore," clear black "N-York July 17." postmark and "FREE" handstamp, [docketed 1788]. 1 page, 4to, folding to 90 x 143mm. (3 1/2 x 5 3/4 in.), recipient's docket, small seal holes , PARTIAL RED WAX SEAL (a cameo head, looking left). Illustrated in Phillips, American Stampless Cover Catalog , vol. 2, p. 203. ONLY RECORDED FREE FRANK OF CHARLES THOMSON SECRETARY FOR THE DURATION OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS An attractive free frank of the Irish-born Thomson (1729-1824), most famous Secretary of the Continental Congress, who arrived in America at age 10 as an orphan to became a prosperous merchant and master of what became Philadelphia's William Penn Latin School. One of the most radical among the Philadelphia patriots during the Revolution, he was dubbed by John Adams the "Sam Adams of Philadelphia." He served diligently and energetically as Congress's Secretary from 1774 to 1788: "delegates came and delegates went, but Charles Thomson the 'perpetual secretary' remained. The great drama of the American Revolution as enacted on the stage of the Continental Congress he beheld from its beginning to its consummation as did no other man..." He was considered "the chief surviving link between the old government [under the Articles of Confederation] and the new [under the Constitution]..." (DAB). A very rare frank; the Stern Collection did not include an example, nor did the Grunin or "Hessel" Collections.