Signer of the Declaration of Independence from North Carolina (1741–1788) who also practiced law and served in the Continental Congress. Manuscript DS, one page both sides, 7 x 11.75, no date [circa 1776–1787]. A petition to Richard Caswell, Governor of North Carolina. In part: “Your petitioners have been informed, that Benjamin McCulloch, Esqr. has lately been convicted ... of certain misdemeanors in his office as Commissioner of Army Accounts, and has been sentenced to pay a fine of four thousand pounds, to be imprisoned till the fine is paid, and from thence for twelve months ... and until he gives security in a certain sum for his good behavior six or seven years. Your petitioners not having been present at the trial cannot presume to say the nature of the proof that there appeared against him, but from common report very strong circumstances appeared in his favour ... [and] they beg leave to assure your Excellency that if the evidence on the trial made it in ay manner doubtful, the long knowledge they have had of his former character and uniform warm personal regard they have entertained for him would ... put the most favorable construction on his conduct....” The petition on McCulloch’s behalf goes on to describe the difficulties that imprisonment would impose upon his family. Penn has signed at the bottom of the first page; the reverse is signed by approximately fifty others. The document has been expertly inlaid into a slightly larger sheet. In good to very good condition, with a few ink erosion holes to text, light intersecting folds, mild soiling and staining, and light show-through (including behind Penn’s signature). The signature is otherwise clear and dark. In his 1995 reference History Comes to Life, Kenneth Rendell places Penn’s autograph material into the “very rare” category among the Signers—an echelon second only to that occupied by the virtually unobtainable Gwinnett and Lynch. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
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