Rare Two 1776 Signed documents by Oliver Ellsworth

Matted together with an engraving is a Group of 2 Autograph Documents, signed by Oliver Ellsworth

Hartford, Connecticut, June 6, 1776. 1 p. The autograph document, signed by Oliver Ellsworth, authorizing Secretary-Treasurer of the Colony of Connecticut, John Lawrence, to pay 55 pounds 5 shillings to Mr. Moses Kimball, for the purchase of 149 3/4 lbs of saltpeter. Creasing from original folds. Corner-mounted.

Revolutionary War document, signed. The 1776 document was written and signed on June 6, 1776, one day before Richard Henry Lee's resolution urging the Continental Congress to declare independence and a little less than a month before Congress adopts the Declaration drafted by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and the rest of the  Declaration drafting.  Saltpeter (potassium nitrate) was a crucial component in making gunpowder, thus indispensable in the war effort.

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Autograph Document, signed

Hartford, Connecticut, October 10, 1776. 1 p. The autograph document, signed by Oliver Ellsworth, authorizing Secretary-Treasurer of the State of Connecticut, John Lawrence, to pay 31 pounds 6 shillings 10 pence to Mr. Benjamin Hen, for sundry services in service of the state. Creasing from original folds. Corner-mounted and matted, with the above, as well as an engraved portrait of Ellsworth.

Two Revolutionary War documents, signed by future third Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Oliver Ellsworth. The two documents reflect the change in how the United States named itself, as the first document refers to Connecticut as a colony, and the second as a state. On September 9, 1776 (a month before the second document was penned), the Continental Congress formally declared that the new nation would be referred to as the "United States". Up until that point the term "United Colonies" had been in general use

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