FRANKLIN, Benjamin (1706-1790). Manuscript document signed ("B. Franklin"), as President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 9 May 1787, countersigned by James Trimble for John Armstrong, secretary.  

1 page, oblong folio, 345 x 397 mm, on vellum, with paper seal, docketed and additionally sealed verso, creased from folding, some offsetting and staining, portion of paper seal lacking.

A land grant issuing 377 1/4 acres of land in Bedford County to Ranney Breathed, signed by Franklin as President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, a position analogous to governor.   Acknowledging payment and granting a tract of land known as "Ranney's Fancy," situated on both sides of to the south branch of Brush Creek in Providence Township, Bedford County, adjacent to lands owned by Peter Smith and George Breathed; recorded in the Rolls Office.

Less than a week after signing this land grant, Franklin would attend the Constitutional Convention as delegate, where his closing speech would become "the most effective propaganda for [the Constitution's] ratification. Franklin's presence and argument contributed more than any other element to harmonize the delegates and to persuade thirty-nine of the forty-two members present to sign the formal document" (ANB).