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Signer of the US Constitution from Pennsylvania (1744–1800) and the first governor of that state. Partly-printed vellum DS, signed “Tho. Mifflin,” one page, 20.75 x 11.5, June 27, 1794. As governor of Pennsylvania, Mifflin grants unto George Meade "a certain tract of land called 'Aldea’ situate on the waters of Sinnemahoning Creek.” Signed in the upper left corner by Mifflin. The upper left corner retains the original white paper seal. In fine condition.
This Pennsylvania land grant carries greater historical interest than a typical early American patent due both to its recipient and its timing. The George Meade named in the document was likely the prominent Philadelphia merchant and land speculator who later became the grandfather of Civil War General George G. Meade of Gettysburg fame. During the Revolution, Meade’s firm invested in the Bank of Pennsylvania to help finance the Continental Army, even as it continued profiting from British trade, a record later softened by descendants into a more uniformly patriotic legacy. By the 1790s, Meade was deeply involved in the acquisition and development of lands in western and north-central Pennsylvania as settlement pushed into the state’s interior.
The tract described here, “Aldea,” situated along Sinnemahoning Creek, lay within a remote and sparsely settled region undergoing early surveying and development in the decades following the Revolution. Pennsylvania aggressively patented western lands during this period, making such grants important instruments of postwar expansion and speculation.
The date is equally notable. Issued on June 27, 1794, the grant predates by only weeks the violent outbreak of the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania. The crisis erupted in mid-July, when rebels attacked the home of tax collector John Neville near Pittsburgh and burned the property after an armed standoff. Governor Thomas Mifflin, whose signature appears here, would soon play a central role in organizing Pennsylvania’s response to the insurrection. Though the document bears no direct connection to the rebellion itself, it was issued on the eve of one of the early republic’s defining confrontations over federal authority.
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