RARE DOCUMENT SIGNED BY SAMUEL ADAMS, 1796

ADAMS, Samuel. Document signed. Massachusetts, November 28, 1796. Single sheet (15-1/2 by 9-1/2 inches), printed document engrossed by hand. Matted and framed with portrait, displaying verso with Adams signature, and a copy of the rect; entire piece measures 23 by 23 inches. $9500.

Document signed by founding father and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Samuel Adams, in 1796 as Governor and Commander in Chief of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, affirming that William Donnison has taken "the oaths and the declarations prescribed by the Constitution of this Commonwealth" and appointing him to the Court of Common Pleas in the county of Suffolk.

"In 1788 Adams ran for Congress, but lost to the 31-year-old Fisher Ames. The following year he was elected Massachusetts's lieutenant governor, then reelected annually until he became governor on the death of John Hancock in 1793. Voters then chose him as governor in his own right each year thereafter until January 1797, when he retired from office… The inconspicuous character of Adams's political activities was in keeping with a more general tendency toward self-effacement. Adams had no exaggerated sense of his own talents, which he supplemented by recruiting into politics gifted younger men, including John Adams. He was inclined to yield to the views of his constituents, even when the people elected another in his place. No man, he explained, had any claims on the public; and what the people did was usually right. Nor did he long for rank and possessions: Adams disdained claims of distinction based on genealogy and took pride in his poverty. Even Loyalist Thomas Hutchinson testified to his incorruptibility… The remainder of his papers—invaluable documents that Adams described as mere 'trifles'—were dissipated, often from simple neglect, both during and after his lifetime. The only objective he deemed worthy was the rectitude that came from having devoted his 'utmost Exertions' to the public cause" (ANB). Countersigned by John Avery, Junior Secretary.

Early tape and paper repairs to folds, not affecting bold and clear Samuel Adams signature.