As America celebrates its 249th birthday on July 4th, a unique piece of American history from one of the founding fathers will hit the auction block.
A letter written by Thomas Jefferson that asserts the rights of democratic citizens to “exercise in arms for defense of their country” will go up for bids in an auction from The Raab Collection. Estimators value the letter at $90,000.
This is the first time the letter has been made available for purchase since 1982.
Written on Dec. 31, 1783, and addressed to Benjamin Harrison, then the governor of Virginia and a fellow signer of the Declaration of Independence, the letter addresses a number of topics. Jefferson muses on the spread of democracy across the world and the political fate of the Treaty of Paris, which formally ended the war between the U.S. and Great Britain.
The letter could be of particular interest to Second Amendment enthusiasts, which would be somewhat ironic since the Second Amendment would not be written until six years after it was penned. Despite that, Jefferson makes a passionate case for the right to bear arms in his note to Harrison, writing Democratic citizens want “to exercise in arms for the defense of their country: of 80000 men able to bear arms among them it is believed scarcely any will refuse to sign this demand.”
Jefferson also expresses concerns that the Treaty of Paris might not be ratified by Congress in time for it to be sent back to Britain and made official.
“We have yet but seven states, and no more certain prospects of nine than at any time heretofore. We hope that the letters sent to the absent states will bring them forward,” he writes.
(Harrison, in a follow-up note that is not part of the auction, would write back to calm his fears that the Treaty would pass.)
“This letter speaks to us today on many levels,” said Nathan Raab, president of The Raab Collection and author of The Hunt for History. “We can see the power and inspiration of Jefferson’s pen, as he can begin to reflect on the success of his work and the American Revolution and witness democratic ideals spreading worldwide.”
