George Washington signed this partial ledger documentnt, and initialed it 3 times on both the front and back. At the time, this working document was used to keep a running record of Building Supplies and inventory. An extremely rare piece of American History. George Washington was born February 22nd, 1732 and died December 14th, 1799. Washington was the first President of the United States, from 1789 until 1797. George Washington is best known for a variety of roles in the shaping of our country, from being the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, to being the first President of the United States. However, one of his proudest personal achievements was being regarded as an accomplished farmer by his peers and colleagues. While he is most commonly referred to as “The Father of our Country,” he could also be called the “Father of American Agriculture.” Those closest to him believed Washington was at his happiest working his lands and conducting agricultural experiments. George Washington owned approximately 8,000 acres at Mount Vernon and many more acres to the west, primarily in the Ohio Valley. George Washington created a list of all of his land six months before his death. In total, he owned more than 50,000 acres. In 1752 Washington made his first land purchase, 1,459 acres along Bullskin Creek in Frederick County, Virginia. This act inaugurated the second and more profitable phase of his cartographic career, in which he assumed the role of land speculator. Over the next half century Washington would continue to seek out, purchase, patent, and eventually settle numerous properties. His will, executed in 1800, lists 52,194 acres to be sold or distributed in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Kentucky, and the Ohio Valley. In addition to these properties, Washington also held title to lots in the Virginia cities of Winchester, Bath (now Berkeley Springs, West Virginia), and Alexandria, and in the newly formed City of Washington. In regard to Mount Vernon, the maintaining of the mansion house and its grounds, which required constant attention from carpenters and gardeners, was in part a diversion; farming, on the other hand, was a profession in which he took immense pride. Washington once wrote "I shall begrudge no reasonable expense that will contribute to the improvement & neatness of my Farms," he wrote manager William Pearce on 6 Oct. 1793, "for nothing pleases me better than to see them in good order, and everything trim, handsome, & thriving about them; nor nothing hurts me more than to find them otherwise" Washington’s attention to the detail required to accomplish this feat is evident in his writings. A few days before his death in Dec. 1799, Washington was hard at work on a plan for his future farming operations. He drew up a scheme for each of the farms at Mount Vernon, setting forth in minute detail such matters as crop rotation, the handling of pasture lands and meadows, and use of manures (including the systematic penning of cattle and sheep on regularly shifted temporary enclosures to fertilize the land). His instructions for the River Farm, written 10 Dec. 1799, closed with a characteristic statement: "There is one thing however I cannot forbear to add, and in strong terms; it is, that whenever I order a thing to be done, it must be done; or a reason given at the time, or as soon as the impracticability is discovered, why it cannot; which will produce a countermand, or change." Any other course of action was disagreeable to him, he said, "having been accustomed all my life to more regularity, and punctuality, and know that nothing but system and method is required to accomplish all reasonable requests" (George Washington Papers, Library of Congress). Fortunately for us, Washington kept detailed notes on virtually every aspect of his life, including those of his successes (and failures) in his agriculture. His diaries, essays, and letters of correspondence have not only shown his importance and influence on American military and political history, but arguably just as important, the young nation’s agricultural advancement. Although it would be another 60 years before Abraham Lincoln would create the United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, and those who worked with him, should be credited with the beginning of successful American farming. Comes with a Letter of Authentication from Autograph Certification Experts.Comes with a Letter of Authentication from Autograph Certification Experts.

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