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Revolutionary War–dated LS, signed "John Hancock, Presid't," one page both sides, 7.75 x 12.5, May 24, 1776. Letter addressed to future Declaration signers Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll, in full: "By the enclosed Resolve of Congress, which I do myself the Honour of transmitting, you will perceive that every step has been taken to procure hard Money, that could be devised. I have forwarded to General Schuyler by this Conveyance the Sum of Sixteen Hundred & sixty two Pounds one shilling and three Pence, in Hard Money, which was all that was in the Treasury. General Washington arrived here yesterday afternoon in good Health, the Congress having requested his attendance, in order to consult him on the operations of the approaching Campaign, as such other Matters as should be necessary." In very good to fine condition, with light staining, unobtrusive repairs to folds, and a couple small edge tears.
At the time of this letter, Hancock was serving as president of the Continental Congress during one of the most consequential—and precarious—moments of the American Revolution. Written less than three weeks before Congress appointed the Committee of Five to draft the Declaration of Independence, the letter places Hancock at the intersection of wartime finance, military strategy, and the failing American effort in Canada. The addressees—Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton—were then serving as congressional commissioners to Canada, charged with persuading Canadians to support the American cause; accompanying them was Carroll’s cousin, Rev. John Carroll, a Jesuit priest later to become the first Catholic bishop in the United States, whose presence reflected Congress’s hope of appealing to Catholic French Canadians.
Hancock’s statement that he forwarded “all that was in the Treasury” to General Philip Schuyler was not rhetorical flourish, but literal fact. The Franklin Papers note that on May 18 and 22, 1776, Congress ordered sent to Canada 'all that remained in the treasury,' together with whatever additional hard money could be procured; the precise sum Hancock records—£1,662, 1 shilling, and 3 pence—represented the specie then available for the northern campaign.[1] The result is an extraordinary written admission from the president of Congress: at a critical moment in the war, the Continental treasury had been scraped bare and dispatched northward in an urgent attempt to sustain operations around Canada.
The drama was heightened by the fact that the Canada mission was already collapsing as Hancock wrote. In their own May 10th letter, Franklin, Chase, and Carroll reported to Hancock that British warships had reached Quebec on May 6th; American forces, unable to resist, fled in 'the utmost precipitation and confusion,' losing all their cannon, about 500 muskets, and approximately 200 sick men left behind.[2] Franklin himself, seventy years old and ill, had undertaken the arduous mission with grave doubts, writing earlier that the journey 'at my Time of Life may prove too much for me.'[3] By the time Hancock’s letter was sent, the last hard money in Congress’s treasury was being forwarded toward a campaign that was already unraveling, addressed to commissioners who had firsthand knowledge of the disaster.
Hancock’s reference to Washington’s arrival in Philadelphia adds another layer of importance. Washington had arrived on May 23, 1776—“yesterday afternoon,” as Hancock reports—at Congress’s request to consult on “the operations of the approaching Campaign.” This was Washington’s first consultation with Congress since receiving command of the Continental Army in June 1775, and the ensuing discussions helped shape a series of congressional resolutions on which Washington would base many decisions for the coming campaign.[4] Washington remained in Philadelphia until June 4, when he wrote that he was preparing to return to New York after coming 'at the request of Congress to settle some matters relative to the operations of the ensuing Campaign.'[5]
A remarkable, historically significant Hancock letter, published in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin [6], uniting the president of Congress, George Washington, three future signers of the Declaration of Independence, the empty Continental treasury, and the collapse of the Canadian campaign at a pivotal moment in America’s fight for independence.
Sources:
[1] Founders Online, “John Hancock to the Commissioners to Canada, 24 May 1776,” including Franklin Papers note citing JCC, IV, 365–6, 375–8.
[2] Founders Online, “The Commissioners to Canada to John Hancock, 10 May 1776.”
[3] Franklin to Josiah Quincy quotation, as cited in Journal of the American Revolution.
[4] The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, Vol. 4, editorial introduction; the May 23 arrival is supported by Hancock’s May 24 wording in the letter itself.
[5] Founders Online, “George Washington to Burwell Bassett, 4 June 1776.”
[6] Founders Online, The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. 22, ed. William B. Willcox, Yale University Press, 1982, pp. 438–439.
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