Item 67: A Copy by [Zebulon Butler], 1790 March 25, of a Letter from Geo[rge] Clymer to W[illia]m Rawle (Removed to Legal Box #1), 1790 March 20
Item — Box: 12, Folder: 107
Dates
- Created: 1790 March 20
Creator
- Clymer, George, 1739-1813 (Person)
Disclaimer for Name and Subject Authorities
Some of the name and subject authority tags have been assigned by educated guessing and estimation of persons and subjects by region, age, profession, and familial relationships. They have been thoroughly researched by using primary and secondary sources available digitally, and named in each description, or in some cases linked directly to the person tag.
Access:
All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.
Extent
1 items
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Type of Material:
Letter
Condition Note:
Poor. The page is separated into two halves and has some discoloration.
Measurements:
12 ¾ in. x 7 ⅞ in.
Description:
The following item depicts a copy by Zebulon Butler, dated March 25, 1790, of an original letter written by George Clymer, one of only six founders who signed both the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution, to William Rawle, dated March 20, 1790. In the original letter, Clymer is writing to Rawle in pursuit of his titles that have been reduced greatly due following the jurisdiction decisions concerning the Yankee Pennamite Wars and the subsequent “Wyoming Bill,” which we can infer is likely the Confirming Act due to the date of the letter and the language concerning the rights of title and property within. Clymer proceeds to explain the facts about his lands, noting that many of the acreage laid outside the bounds impacted by the decision and providing the name of the surveyor who is checking his grant and the lands remaining after the bill. Clymer states that the lands he received are significantly smaller than those he owned and seeks a method of resolution that enables him to be reinstated on the majority of his claim. He mentions that he has stayed behind following the conclusion of business that brought him from New York.
These conflicts are taking place during the Yankee Pennamite Wars, particularly the Third Yankee Pennamite War in 1784. The Yankee Pennamite Wars were a three part war between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, as they attempted to resolve a dispute over the land in the upper regions of what is now Pennsylvania. King Charles II granted the land twice, once to Connecticut in 1662, and again to William Penn as he founded Pennsylvania in 1681. The Third Yankee Pennamite War was a military conflict following the Decree of Trenton decision to grant Pennsylvania ownership to the lands after decades of conflict between Connecticut and Pennsylvania. While the Decree of Trenton gave Pennsylvania the right to soil, it did not however give them the right to title. Yet, under the command of the Pennsylvania Assembly and Patterson, Pennsylvania would forcibly remove “one-hundred and fifty” Connecticut families from their homes. They forced the families to “find their way through the wilderness of the Lackawaxen to the Delaware Valley, a distance of about eighty miles,” without supplies or clothing to sustain them (Gnichtel, The Trenton Decree of 1782). The violence and brutality levied by Patterson’s troops was so severe that it drew attention from neighboring states, and condemnation on the governing bodies of Pennsylvania. That critique ultimately led the Pennsylvania Assembly to remove Patterson from his position within the valley around July 1784, replacing him with colonel John Armstrong.
Following the resolution of these conflicts, there were many petitions made by the Connecticut settlers for reinstatement to their previous titles and possessions. The letter seems to be addressing the attempts made to avoid these troubles.
The handwriting of the copy has been ascertained as Zebulon Butler’s by a comparison with other manuscripts he copied in the collection, such as items (12. 103 and 12. 102)
Transcription:
Sir,
Amongst the arguments urged to a committee of your
house, of which you was the chairman, by an agent of the
Pennsylvania claimants, to induce a report for the repeal
of the Wyoming bill; one was, as I am informed, that the
members the most active in obtaining the law, were Specially
interested in it- for in surrendering one part of the
Country in which they had little or no property. they
thought more effectually (sic) [effectively] to Secure the undisturbed
possession of another in which they had a great deal.
My name being mentioned Among those, I have waited
in town Several days after the particular business which
brought me from New York was finished, in the hope of
being able to refute this miserable calumny but am obliged to
leave it without that Satisfaction from the absence of Mr. Wallace
who in a general draught of the county of
Luzerne has marked every survey in which I have
any interest but which there can as I am told by
Mr. Adlum be no access to in his absence. I must therefore
be content with Observing to the members of the Committee
that I am not a land Jobber, that all the property
of mine which could have been effected (sic) [affected] by any Decision,
respecting the Wyoming controversy was not verry (sic)
Considerable that of this property I had always Supposed a
large portion would fall within the limits of ^the ceded
Territory. But be that as it May, it is clearly in my
recollection, that once when the wyoming Subject was
before the house, Mr. Charles Stuart, Surveyor, one of the
Petitioners for the repeal, and through whose hands the
lands in question chiefly came, indeavoured (sic) [endeavoured] to convince
me, that by the part, I was taking, nearly the whole of my
Property would be lost. The notes I then made, as he ran over
the Surveys, were mislaid, or not foreseeing this future
use, as evidence perhaps destroyed. I have been accused
too, of misrepresentation having declared, it seems to a
committee of which I was the chairman, that the Pennsylvania
claimants would generally acquiesce in the
proceedings of the Assembly. I have but a faint recollection
of such declaration; but am willing, however, to confess
and Justify; for this disposition was certainly once discov–
=erable –
Back:
Discoverable in them: I do not pretend it is so now: it is possible that with the times many may have changed opinion or Sides: one Gentlemen, now a leading advocate for the repeal, was to, my knowledge, not content only with the law, but condemned the opposition to it as unreasonable & vexations. Such observations here as go to my own vindication, against injurious representations made in the presence of the committee, you will suffer me to claim as a right: the following asks for your indulgence; it is, that whatever may be the issue of any attempt to abolish the law, the integrity of the Law itself, or the honour of those who made it, can never Justly be impeached unless, what is impossible, it Should be reconsidered under all the original impressions which induced it I am, with great regard. Saturday March your most Obt [obedient] Serv[an]t. 20. 1790. Geo[rge]. Clymer W[illia]m Rawle esq[ui]r[e].
Coppy (sic) of a Letter from George Clymer a member of Congress to Wm. Rawle esq[ui]r[e]: Chairman of the Committee on the Wyoming Business March 20: 1790. read in Gen[era]l. Assembly Thursday March 25th --1790–
Back:
Discoverable in them: I do not pretend it is so now: it is possible that with the times many may have changed opinion or Sides: one Gentlemen, now a leading advocate for the repeal, was to, my knowledge, not content only with the law, but condemned the opposition to it as unreasonable & vexations. Such observations here as go to my own vindication, against injurious representations made in the presence of the committee, you will suffer me to claim as a right: the following asks for your indulgence; it is, that whatever may be the issue of any attempt to abolish the law, the integrity of the Law itself, or the honour of those who made it, can never Justly be impeached unless, what is impossible, it Should be reconsidered under all the original impressions which induced it I am, with great regard. Saturday March your most Obt [obedient] Serv[an]t. 20. 1790. Geo[rge]. Clymer W[illia]m Rawle esq[ui]r[e].
Coppy (sic) of a Letter from George Clymer a member of Congress to Wm. Rawle esq[ui]r[e]: Chairman of the Committee on the Wyoming Business March 20: 1790. read in Gen[era]l. Assembly Thursday March 25th --1790–
Creator
- Clymer, George, 1739-1813 (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu