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State Buys Washington's Handwritten Military Resignation
The Capital, February 21, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
George Washington's handwritten resignation from the Continental Army will be acquired by the state of Maryland, where the Revolutionary War hero resigned his commission in 1783.
State archivists said yesterday that the state will pay $600,000 to an anonymous private owner for the two-page speech, in which the general resigned his military commission to the Continental Congress meeting in Annapolis. The speech, where Washington said he was "happy in the confirmation of our Independence and Sovereignty," is seen as a turning point in America's formation because it established that the military should be subservient to civil authority.
Washington also said, "Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire >from the great theatre of Action."
"This speech is the fundamental basis of civilian government," said Edward Papenfuse, Maryland's state archivist.
Washington's resignation from the army is perhaps the most important event to occur in Maryland's State House, alongside the ratification of the Treaty of Paris and the formal end of the Revolutionary War.
A mural depicting Washington's resignation hangs above a marble staircase in the State House, but the state does not currently own any documents original to the event.
Mimi Calver, director of exhibits and artistic property for the Maryland State Archives, said that Washington handed a copy of his speech to a committee and that the document has been in private hands ever since. She said the owners live in Maryland and did not wish to be identified.
Two Baltimore philanthropists -- Willard Hackerman and Henry A. Rosenberg -- will donate $200,000 each to help acquire the document, which has been valued at $1.2 million. As part of the purchase, the state will also receive a handwritten letter sent by eyewitness James McHenry to his wife, in which he described Washington's resignation.
Copies of the address are held by the Library of Congress and other collections, but there's only one copy in Washington's own handwriting.
The acquisition, which will be complete within a year, was announced last night at a Presidents' Day ceremony held by the Maryland Senate each year in the old chamber. The chamber is kept as it looked in the 1780s, and a mannequin dressed as George Washington stands before wooden desks that would have held the members of the Continental Congress, which met in Annapolis from November, 1783, to August of 1784.
Ms. Calver said she hasn't seen the document but that it's been appraised and found to be in good condition. She said it will eventually be displayed in the State House.
"It's an amazing acquisition for the state," she said.
Published February 21, 2006, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Copyright © 2006 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
