04-017
Oliver Wolcott, Jr.
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Oliver Wolcott, Jr., 1760-1833. Revolutionary soldier; Secretary of the Treasury; Governor of Connecticut. Document Signed, one page, approximately 5” x 7”, March 20, 1789.
Just over a month before George Washington was inaugurated President of the United States, Wolcott, as Connecticut comptroller, signs a treasury warrant to pay “Messrs. Hudson & Goodwin” £3.12s.1p. “out of the Taxes appropriated for the Payment of the Civil List.”
Wolcott, a good friend of Alexander Hamilton, was the son and namesake of Oliver Wolcott, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. With his considerable knowledge of finance, Wolcott, more than anyone else, organized the treasuries of both Connecticut and the United States.
Wolcott served in the Revolutionary War. He was named to the Pay Table in 1782, overseeing Connecticut’s war expenditures. He attracted attention as a specialist in public finance for his work in settling the financial dispute between Connecticut and the federal government in 1784. He served as Connecticut’s comptroller of public accounts (1788-1789); auditor of the United States Treasury (1789-1791); and comptroller of the United States Treasury (1791-1795). On February 3, 1795, he became the nation’s second Secretary of the Treasury, succeeding Hamilton in President Washington’s cabinet. He remained as Secretary under President John Adams until he resigned effective December 31, 1800, to accept appointment as a federal district judge in Connecticut. Wolcott later served as the first President of the Bank of North America (1812-1814) and Governor of Connecticut (1817-1827).
The document has a magnificent 2½” signature by Wolcott. It is secretarially countersigned by Jedediah Huntington and endorsed on the reverse by “Hudson & Goodwin” and Charles Webster. The document has irregular edges and one horizontal fold, which has an approximately 1” separation on the left end. There is also a quarter-size cancellation hole. Neither the separation nor the hole affects the signature. Overall the document is in fine condition.
Unframed.
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