Amazing one-of-a-kind partly-printed DS signed by the entirety of America’s federal government, one page, 32 x 54, October 21, 1892. A proclamation signed by the leaders of all branches of government to honor the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. The printed heading reads “The Administration of the United States Government at the Beginning of the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Discovery of America. Washington, D. C., October 21, 1892,“ and is signed below by President Benjamin Harrison, Vice President Levi Morton, and the entire presidential cabinet. The following section is signed by the nine justices of Melville Fuller’s Supreme Court, with the portions below signed by all members of the Senate and House of Representatives. Particularly notable signers from the Congress are Edward Douglass White, John Sherman, Joseph McKenna, and Henry Cabot Lodge. The manuscript statement at the conclusion of the document reads, in part: “I certify the above official State Paper exhibits the true condition of membership of the administration of the United States Government as it exists this date and also that I have here to attached the great seal of the United States by Authority of a Joint resolution of Congress as approved July 22, 1892.” It is supremely important to emphasize the presence of the large embossed white paper Great Seal of the United States affixed to the upper left, as well as the seals of the Supreme Court, Senate, and House of Representatives affixed at the appropriate sections of the document. Beautifully matted and framed to an overall size of 45 x 65. Scattered creases, a few edge tears, and a bit of spreading and fading to various signatures, otherwise fine condition.
The circumstances surrounding the creation of this document are as unusual as the document itself. It was privately prepared for the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival by General James D. McBride, who petitioned Congress to affix the Great Seal of the United States to the document; he had been successful in such a venture once before, in 1876, when he made a similar document to celebrate America's centenary. According to the official 1976 Department of State publication The Eagle and the Shield (which accompanies this lot), these are the only two occasions in US history that Congress has enacted legislation authorizing and directing the secretary of state to affix the Great Seal to documents prepared under private auspices. This book goes on to state that these two 'McBride Memorials' are unlike any others known to have passed under the Great Seal in three respects: in both cases the affixing of the seal was directed by a special act of Congress; they were not generated in the course of official business; and they were impressed not only with the Great Seal of the United States but also those of the Supreme Court, the Senate, and the House of Representatives.
In July 1892, President Harrison issued a proclamation that appointed 'Friday, October 21, 1892, the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus, as a general holiday for the people of the United States,' and offered high praise of Christopher Columbus: 'Columbus stood in his age as the pioneer of progress and enlightenment. The system of universal education is in our age the most prominent and salutary feature of the spirit of enlightenment, and it is peculiarly appropriate that the schools be made by the people the center of the day's demonstration. Let the national flag float over every schoolhouse in the country and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship.' This proclamation represented the first nationwide celebration of Columbus Day. This is an absolutely remarkable, extraordinarily large document that celebrates an immensely important moment in American history, and is excessively rare—it is unique in itself, and one of few known documents in private hands to bear the signatures of all leaders of the three branches of government.
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