Books and Manuscripts

Philadelphia, August 29, 1787. One oblong sheet, 11 3/4 x 14 1/2 in. (298 x 368 mm). Partially-printed land grant on vellum, signed by Benjamin Franklin as President of Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council, granting George Tudor, "Administrator of the Goods and Chattels Rights and Credits" of the late Captain James Wilson Esquire, five hundred acres of land in Westmoreland County; counter-signed at bottom by James Trimble, for Secretary John Armstrong; docketed on verso; large paper seal affixed top left, creased. Creasing from old folds.

A handsome land grant signed by Benjamin Franklin while President of Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council, a position analogous with today's office of Governor. During this time Franklin was also serving as a Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention, then being held in another room at the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall). Franklin would go on to sign the new Federal Constitution only three weeks following this document, on September 17, 1787.