George Washington’s Original Letter On God and the Constitution Up For Sale at Raab
This letter has been in a private collection for decades and is valued at $140,000
Raab is not aware of any other letter of Washington casting divine influence on the passage of the Constitution having reached the market
PHILADELPHIA, PA – February 12, 2019 – The Raab Collection, the nation’s leading dealer in important historical documents, announced today that it is unveiling and offering for sale a remarkable original letter signed by George Washington praising the providence of God for the ratification of the Constitution, the founding moment in American democracy. The letter, perhaps the only to reach the market signed by Washington praising divine influence for these events, has been in a private collection for decades and will be offered for sale by Raab for $140,000.
“Washington, who was the General in Chief of the Continental Army during the war and President of the Constitutional Convention makes a remarkable statement in this powerful letter: his victory in battle and his stewardship over the Convention that led to our Constitution came with the guiding influence of a higher power,” said Nathan Raab, President of the Raab Collection.
The letter, written and signed September 7, 1788, a week after he informed Alexander Hamilton that he would likely accept calls to assume the Presidency, comes at a time of renewed attacks against the newly ratified Constitution from states that were aiming to hold a second convention that might undermine the Constitution and doom the new government. It reads, in part,
“It would seem from the public Gazettes that the Minority in your State are preparing for another attack of the – now – adopted Government; how formidable it may be; I know not. But that Providence which has hitherto smiled on the honest endeavors of the well meaning part of the People of this Country will not, I trust, withdraw its support from them at this crisis.”
Washington’s home, Mount Vernon, writes, “It is clear that he [Washington] believed in a Creator God of some manner, and seemingly one that was also active in the universe. This God had three main traits; he was wise, inscrutable, and irresistible. Washington referred to this God by many names, but most often by the name of ‘Providence.’”
About The Raab Collection: The Raab Collection has handled many of the most important historical documents to reach the market and worked with the families of famous Americans in the sale and preservation of their family treasures, among them Neil Armstrong, Thomas Jefferson, Ulysses S. Grant, William Henry Harrison, and Ronald Reagan. Nathan Raab, a member of the Board of Directors of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, is also a contributor to Forbes.com.
