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Signer of the Declaration of Independence from New Jersey (1723-1794), who served as an influential president of Princeton University and went on to sign the Articles of Confederation. ALS signed “Jno. Witherspoon,” one page, measuring 12.75 x 8 open, (“near Princeton”) October 23, 1787. Handwritten financial letter to Pennsylvania merchant, Congressman, and Constitutional Convention delegate Thomas FitzSimons, written only one month after the signing of the United States Constitution in Philadelphia. Writing concerning a disputed financial draft, hard-money shortages, and funds needed before the College reconvened, Witherspoon explains the difficulties of obtaining specie and requests payment through his longtime commercial associates, in full: “I was obliged to draw on you for another sum to all my gentlemen whose credit is in New York, as I wrote you formerly. He has staid too long in Philadelphia, and it is impossible for me to find hard money here to send. He writes me that you had refused to pay it probably because it was at sight – I have therefore drawn on you at 20 Days in favour of Ross & Vaughan with whom I have long had dealings for the precise Balance of the £150 you wrote me at my order for the Fergusons the far greater part of the sum is already expended & the remainder will be completely exhausted in a few days, when the College meets & the whole Advance for the 6 months ensuing must be made.” Professionally matted and framed to an overall size of 20.75 x 16.5. In fine condition, with a small area of seal-related paper loss to the integral address leaf.
John Witherspoon, Presbyterian minister, educator, and signer of the Declaration of Independence, served as president of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, beginning in 1768 and remained closely associated with the institution until his death in 1794. During his presidency, he strengthened the college's finances, library, and curriculum, helping shape its role in Revolutionary-era public life. Thomas FitzSimons, a prominent Philadelphia merchant and former delegate to the Confederation Congress, represented Pennsylvania at the Constitutional Convention and signed the Constitution on September 17, 1787; he later served in the First Congress beginning in 1789.
Written during the uncertain weeks immediately following the Constitutional Convention, the letter vividly reflects the unstable credit conditions and specie shortages that plagued the Confederation period before the establishment of a stronger national financial system under the new federal government. Witherspoon's references to difficulties obtaining "hard money," delayed drafts, exhausted balances, and advancing funds before the reopening of the College provide a revealing glimpse into the practical financial pressures confronting American institutions and merchants in the fragile post-Revolutionary economy, the same systemic financial weaknesses that Federalist advocates were citing in October 1787 as among the strongest arguments for ratifying the new Constitution. At the moment Witherspoon wrote this letter, the Constitution's fate remained uncertain, with ratification debates erupting across the states and the Federalist Papers just beginning to appear; New Jersey, where Witherspoon resided and Princeton was located, would ratify unanimously just two months later in December 1787, with Witherspoon among its supporters. Letters connecting prominent founders in the immediate aftermath of the Constitutional Convention are highly desirable, particularly those combining financial, educational, and institutional content from the formative months of the early republic.
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