George Washington Entertains Catherine Macaulay at Mount Vernon after Revolutionary War Start Price USD 24,000.00 Current Price USD 24,000.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price USD 28,000.00 Reserve Price - Start Time Tuesday, July 22, 2008 End Time Friday, August 01, 2008 Location White Plains, New York See more about 'George Washington Entertains Catherine Macaulay ' Description   George Washington Entertains Catherine Macaulay at Mount Vernon   “The celebrated Mrs. Macauly Graham, & Mr. Graham are here on a Visit . . .”   George Washington. Autograph Letter Signed to David Stuart. Mount Vernon, June 5, 1785. 1 page. With autograph address leaf.   Summary:  Washington, in retirement after completing his military service in the Revolutionary War, entertains a famous foreign personage and welcomes neighbors to enjoy dinner with his guest.   Complete Transcript:                       Mount Vernon 5th June 85   Dear Sir                         The celebrated Mrs. Macauly Graham, & Mr. Graham her Husband, are here on a Visit. As I wish to show them all the respect I can, I should be glad if you, Mrs. Stuart & your Sister, would come tomorrow or next day, and dine with us.                                                             I am – Dr Sir                                                                         Yr. obed. & affecte Hble                         Go: Washington Come tomorrow If convenient     Historical Background:    In the spring of 1785, Washington welcomed the famed English historian, Catherine Macaulay, to Mount Vernon for a ten-day visit. This letter was written to a friend and neighbor, Dr. David Stuart, inviting him, his wife and sister, to dine with the distinguished guests during their visit. Mount Vernon had become a featured American attraction for foreign visitors.   George Washington retired from military service and public life in December, 1783, welcoming the opportunity to rest and to personally restore his plantation, Mount Vernon. He would enjoy less than four years of tranquil retirement, as threats to the young nation, both internal and external, convinced him to participate in a movement to reform the Articles of Confederation. His emergence as president of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 was not such a sharp break, however. During retirement, he corresponded with political allies, former comrades, and well-wishers, and welcomed a stream of visitors to Mount Vernon, including artists and sculptors who came to produce likenesses of the great general. Washington contributed to several public endeavors in 1785, most significantly the hosting of a conference at Mount Vernon where Maryland and Virginia agreed to a uniform currency and to apportion expenses and share jurisdiction of an improved shipping channel in Chesapeake Bay. Out of this project sprang the Potomac Company, which sought to fulfill the expansionist dream of Washington, connecting his native Virginia to the fertile bottomlands of the Ohio River Valley by way of canals and improvements to the Potomac River.   As can be seen in the correspondence between Washington and fellow Virginian Richard Henry Lee, the only reason Macaulay traveled into the South was to visit Mount Vernon. After her visit, Washington thanked Lee for his letter of introduction to the Englishwoman, “whose principles are so much, & so justly admired by the friends of liberty and of Mankind.” “It gives me great pleasure,” he added, “that her sentiments respecting the inadequacy of the powers of Congress … coincide with my own.” Her visit was propitious – on June 8, as Washington records in his diary, he allowed Macaulay to view “my Military records … for her perusal & amusem[en]t.” Washington and Macaulay continued to discuss political issues in a friendly correspondence until her death in 1791.   Catherine Macaulay (1731-1791) was an English writer, historian, and early feminist from a politically active family. She was among the first English thinkers to view American independence as inevitable and auspicious. Macaulay did not shy away from controversy – she supported the radical Wilkite movement in England, criticized British policy toward the colonies, and married a man, William Graham, twenty-six years her junior. Her first husband, George Macaulay, had died in 1766. She is most famous for her eight-volume History of England. Her republican sympathies attracted attention in the colonies, and after the publication of the eighth and final volume of her History in 1783, she set off for a celebratory tour to America. The highlight was a ten-day visit to George Washington at Mount Vernon. She maintained a friendship with Washington, and also corresponded with Benjamin Rush, John Adams, Mercy Warren, and Benjamin Franklin.   Dr. David Stuart (1753-1814) was a longtime friend and neighbor of Washington. He studied medicine at Paris and Edinburgh and practiced in the Alexandria area, and later served on the commission establishing the boundaries of Washington, D.C.  Mrs. Stuart, Eleanor Calvert Custis, was the granddaughter of Charles, Fifth Lord Baltimore, and the widow of Martha Washington’s son (John Parke Custis). Incredibly she bore a total of twenty children, eleven of whom survived early childhood. Her daughter, Eleanor Parke Custis, was Martha Washington’s only granddaughter, and George Washington adopted her as his own daughter.   References:    Fitzpatrick, John C., ed. The Writings of George Washington. Vol. XXVIII [letter of `       Washington to Catherine Macaulay Graham, Jan. 10, 1786, pp. 370-317]. Jackson, Donald, and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington, vol. IV, pp. 148-149 [letters of R.H. Lee to Washington, May 3, 1785, and Washington to R.H. Lee, June 22, 1785, cited and quoted at p. 148].   To see more great Revolutionary War letters, or to browse through other Presidental manuscripts, please visit us at http://www.sethkaller.net/catalogs/boston-catalog and http://www.sethkaller.net/catalogs/presidential. ABOUT THE SELLER For over 20 years, Seth Kaller has been the largest buyer of important and authentic historic documents. More than ten thousand rare manuscripts, documents, maps, and books handled by Kaller are now in museum collections, including working drafts of the United States Constitution that were acquired for the Gilder Lehrman Collection at the New-York Historical Society, and a signed copy of the 13th Amendment that was acquired for the Lincoln Museum of Fort Wayne, Indiana.   Kaller is a member of the Manuscript Society and the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America.  References are available upon request.   For more information about us, see www.sethkaller.net/about/   TERMS This document comes with my absolute guarantee that it is original and authentic.  If this is ever proven not to be authentic, it may be returned for a full refund.   I accept personal checks and money orders.  If paying by personal check, the item will not ship until the check has cleared.  Credit card payments are accepted through paypal.  We are also happy to use www.escrow.com.  All bids are considered purchases and payment must be received within 7 days. Please inquire for international shipping rates.   We are always willing to have 10% of the purchase price paid to a mutually agreeable charity.  Among the organizations we already support: Seeds of Peace, Monticello, Mount Vernon, The Lincoln Museum, The University of Virginia, The National Constitution Center, The New-York Historical Society, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, American Red Cross, American Friends of Magen David Adom, and Armed Forces Relief Trust.  Contact us for details.   Start Your Own Collection As a collector of history, you can enjoy a unique and personal connection with your favorite historic event, figure, or idea. 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