Vote Tally recording 1791
Creator: Joseph Bryant
Date: April 4, 1791
Description: Two letters and one envelope addressed to John Avery, Jnr. , Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Votes for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Senator from the Town of Marshfield, MA.. The envelope has the original wax seal and is watermarked with a crown and seated knight within a circle. Letter begins: In a Legal Town meeting Held at the South meeting Hose IN Marshfield, April ye 4th 1791...For the purpose of choosing Governor & Leiut. Governor & Senator for the year ensuing the Vote were brought in and Sorted & Counted in presence of the Selectmen.
For Governor His Excellency John Hancock Esq. had 25 votes
For Leuit. Governor His Honor Samuel Adams had 8 votes, The Honorable Nathl. Goreham, Esq. had 10 votes
Attested true Coppey(sic) pr me Elisha Foord, Town Clerk of Marshfield. Signed Joseph Bryant, WIlliam Lewis, Judah Thomas, Selectmen.
Then similar to above and
For Senator The Honble. Daniel? Howard Esq. had 16 votes
The Honble. Joshua Homes? Esq. Had 15 votes
The Honble. Isaac Tomson Esq. had 8 votes
Cap. Joseph Bryant had 8 votes
Thomas Davis Esq. had 1 vote and then all signed again.
Provenance: NY estate
Framed Size: N/A
Work Size: 5 x 7.4" each letter, 11.5 x 7.25" env.
Weight: 1 ounce
Condition: Excellent though there are fold marks and tiny losses.
History: Samuel Adams (1789–1794; Acting Governor from 1793)
John Hancock was elected Governor. Both Adams and Hancock by a landslide.
That year George Cabot (December 3, 1752 – April 18, 1823) was elected Senator.
Samuel Adams (September 27 [O.S. September 16] 1722 – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and was one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped the political culture of the United States. He was a second cousin to President John Adams.Born in Boston, Adams was brought up in a religious and politically active family. A graduate of Harvard College, he was an unsuccessful businessman and tax collector before concentrating on politics. As an influential official of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Boston Town Meeting in the 1760s, Adams was a part of a movement opposed to the British Parliament's efforts to tax the British American colonies without their consent. His 1768 circular letter calling for colonial non-cooperation prompted the occupation of Boston by British soldiers, eventually resulting in the Boston Massacre of 1770. To help coordinate resistance to what he saw as the British government's attempts to violate the British Constitution at the expense of the colonies, in 1772 Adams and his colleagues devised a committee of correspondence system, which linked like-minded Patriots throughout the Thirteen Colonies. Continued resistance to British policy resulted in the 1773 Boston Tea Party and the coming of the American Revolution.After Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774, Adams attended the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, which was convened to coordinate a colonial response. He helped guide Congress towards issuing the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and helped draft the Articles of Confederation and the Massachusetts Constitution. Adams returned to Massachusetts after the American Revolution, where he served in the state senate and was eventually elected governor.Samuel Adams is a controversial figure in American history. Accounts written in the 19th century praised him as someone who had been steering his fellow colonists towards independence long before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. This view gave way to negative assessments of Adams in the first half of the 20th century, in which he was portrayed as a master of propaganda who provoked mob violence to achieve his goals. Both of these interpretations have been challenged by some modern scholars, who argue that these traditional depictions of Adams are myths contradicted by the historical record.
John Hancock (January 23, 1737 [O.S. January 12, 1736] – October 8, 1793) was a merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He is remembered for his large and stylish signature on the United States Declaration of Independence, so much so that the term "John Hancock" has become, in the United States, a synonym for signature.Before the American Revolution, Hancock was one of the wealthiest men in the Thirteen Colonies, having inherited a profitable mercantile business from his uncle. Hancock began his political career in Boston as a protégé of Samuel Adams, an influential local politician, though the two men later became estranged. As tensions between colonists and Great Britain increased in the 1760s, Hancock used his wealth to support the colonial cause. He became very popular in Massachusetts, especially after British officials seized his sloop Liberty in 1768 and charged him with smuggling. Although the charges against Hancock were eventually dropped, he has often been described as a smuggler in historical accounts, but the accuracy of this characterization has been questioned.Hancock was one of Boston's leaders during the crisis that led to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1775. He served more than two years in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, and as president of Congress, was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence. Hancock returned to Massachusetts and was elected governor of the Commonwealth, serving in that role for most of his remaining years. He used his influence to ensure that Massachusetts ratified the United States Constitution in 1788.