“I BEG LEAVE TO REMIND YOU OF SOME OF THE FRAUDS”: RARE 1787 OFFICIAL BROADSIDE, SIGNED BY EDMUND RANDOLPH, DELEGATE TO THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA AND AUTHOR OF THE VIRGINIA PLAN, BASIS FOR THE CONSTITUTION

RANDOLPH, Edmund. Document signed (Broadside. Procedures for Revolutionary War Pension Claims). [Richmond, Virginia], January 29, 1787. Single folio leaf of laid paper (measuring 8 by 13 inches), printed, signed in manuscript on recto, uncut.

Official 1787 broadside issued by the Virginia legislature, boldly signed in ink by then Governor Edmund Randolph, who fought in the Revolution with Washington, served in the Continental Congress and led the 1787 Constitutional Convention with his Virginia Plan, a basis for the Constitution, outlining his plan to prevent the payment of false Revolutionary War pension claims.

This exceptional 1787 broadside is signed in manuscript hand by then Governor of Virginia Edmund Randolph, who co-authored the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights and was a delegate to the Continental Congress. As “Virginia’s attorney general, Randolph was elected governor by the legislature on 7 November 1786. That same year he also attended the Annapolis Convention, precursor to the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention held the following year” (ANB). Randolph opened the 1787 Convention with his powerful speech about the need for a strong government and followed with his Virginia Plan, a basis for the Constitution. Together with his close friend James Madison, Randolph was key in promoting ratification, and subsequently served as the nation’s first attorney general.

In this official document of the Virginia government, titled “In Council, January 29, 1787,” Governor Randolph speaks to a long controversy over military pensions that arose almost immediately after the Declaration of Independence. At that time a promise of half pay for life was offered to soldiers— largely “to encourage enlistment in the Revolutionary army. [But] the Continental Congress was without money or real executive power, and was hence obliged to entrust the execution of the act to the States.” At war’s end Congress additionally “requested that each State should appoint officers to examine the evidence of claimants, admit claims, and make the pension payments” (Qlasson, History of Military Pension Legislation in the U.S.). Soon, however, numerous false claims began to slip past overburdened state governments. Here Randolph reviews Virginia’s approach and outlines a precise strategy of comparing pension certificates to “the list transmitted by this opportunity from the Auditor.” Randolph further calls for increased vigilance against fraudulent pension claims by calling for proof of residency and official endorsements.

Text and signature fresh, with faint foldlines and a bit of light marginal dampstaining, tiny margin pinholes. An extremely good copy of this rare signed broadside.