Books and Manuscripts

No place (Pennsylvania), April 3, 1772. 3 1/2 x 2 3/4 in. (88 x 70 mm) (sight). Engraved Pennsylvania colonial currency note, signed by Signer of the Declaration of Independence from Pennsylvania, John Morton, for "Eighteen Pence"; counter-signed by John Sellers and Charles Humphreys. Creasing from old folds; worn. In mat and in frame, unexamined out of frame, 10 1/4 x 9 1/2 in. (260 x 241 mm).

John Morton (1725-1777) provided the pivotal swing vote among Pennsylvania delegates at the Second Continental Congress on whether or not to vote for independence, and later served as chair of the committee tasked with writing the Articles of Confederation. Morton was the first Signer of the Declaration to die, doing so on April 1, 1777, likely from tuberculosis.