A Very Rare Signed Check of George Washington as President, Depositing Money in the Bank of the United States

The text is accomplished in Treasury Secretary Oliver Wolcott, Jr.’s, hand, a remarkable association between President and Treasury Secretary

 

This is one of only two checks as President we can find having ever reached the market

George Washington was a large land owner, gaining some by inheritance, and some by purchase. The latter included portions of land located in what was then the western United States – western Pennsylvania. In the wake of the Revolution, it was considered important to develop the west, and Washington was among those patriotically supporting the effort and investing in land there.

In 1788, Col. Israel Shreve led his wife and six of his children, along with twenty one other settlers, to south-western Pennsylvania. In 1795, Shreve contracted to buy 1,744 acres of land from Washington from his Pennsylvania holdings. In this land transaction, Washington acted through his agent, James Ross.

In 1795, Washington recorded a check on the Bank of Pennsylvania from Israel Shreve to Ross for $2,693.33 and “by the latter transmitted to me—It being the first payment with interest thereon from the 1st of June until the 1st of Augt for the land I sold the said Shreve in Fayette County.” Washington noted that he had given the money to Secretary of the Treasury Oliver Wolcott, Jr. “to be transferred for my use to the Bank of the U. States”.

The President, Directors and Company of the Bank of the United States, commonly known as the First Bank of the United States, was a national bank, chartered for a term of twenty years, by the United States Congress on February 25, 1791. It followed the Bank of North America, the nation’s first de facto national bank. However, neither served the functions of a modern central bank: They did not set monetary policy, regulate private banks, hold their excess reserves, or act as a lender of last resort. They were national insofar as they were allowed to have branches in multiple states and lend money to the U.S. government. Other banks in the US were each chartered by, and only allowed to have branches in, a single state.

Establishment of the Bank of the United States was part of a three-part expansion of federal fiscal and monetary power, along with a federal mint and excise taxes, championed by Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton believed a national bank was necessary to stabilize and improve the nation’s credit, and to improve handling of the financial business of the United States government under the newly enacted Constitution. Hamilton’s successor was Oliver Wolcott, who took over for him in February 1795.

Partly Printed Check Signed “G:o Washington” and accomplished in Wolcott’s hand, a remarkable association between President and Treasury Secretary, written on the Bank of the United States, to Wolcott, for $2,693 33/100, and dated Sept 1795.  Affixed only at the top to a thin board.

This is our first ever Washington check, and being as President makes it all the more exceptional.