[Constitutional Ratification]. Samuel Huntington. ALS, during his time as Governor of Connecticut. Reads, “Norwich Novem: 5th: 788/ Sir/ I am in want of thirteen setts or Copies of all the statutes of this state which have been made & passd since the adjournd Assembly in 1784 January session, that is since the laws were revised, those late statutes are wanted for the use of the United State agreably to an Act of Congress, I wish to be Informed as soon as may be whether you have them in print, not bound, & can supply me with thirteen sets of them/ I am sir your humble ser[vant] Sam: Huntington.” (In Samuel Huntington’s usual mode of signing, with a small “el” as superscript above the colon he used to abbreviate his first name.) Spelling and punctuation are as Huntington used in his letter. Sheet: 9 ¼” x 7 ¾”. Letter’s closing has a loss to the word “servant,” tears to the closing, and a dampstain. Foxed, toned. Upper margin uneven. Pencil notation in margin at upper right and lower left. Mounted to backing. Under glass, not examined out of frame. Accompanied by a portrait of Huntington (possibly a a photograph of a portrait), also mounted to backing and under glass. Samuel Huntington (1731-1796) was a member of the Continental Congress from 1776-1783, during which time he signed the Declaration of Independence and served as the Congress’s President (1779-1781). He was a delegate at his state’s ratifying convention (1788), Governor of Connecticut (1786-1796), Lt. Governor (1785), and Justice of the state’s Supreme Court (1774-84, Chief Justice in 1784). He had begun his political career as a Connecticut legislator (1764 in the General Assembly, and the upper house in 1775). He also had a brief stint as a crown attorney (1765). (Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol III, 1888 ed., p326). Of particular interest, he was a delegate to the Connecticut Constitutional ratification convention in 1788 (See: The Debates in the Several State Conventions, On Adoption of the Federal Constitution, Vol I, Phila: Lippincott, 1861, pp321-322).