Federal Period
c. 1808 Engraving of “His Excellency James Sullivan”
c. 1808, Engraving of “His Excellency James Sullivan,” Governor of Massachusetts, Engraved by Gilbert Fox, from the Painting by Wm. MS Doyle, and Printed by F. Harrison, Very Fine.
This very rare, original Engraved Print measures 8.5” x 6.25” and has evenly tone, trimmed close at top and having his facimile signature, “James Sullivan Esq.” below. This deeply embossed print still shows most of its outer copperplate border lines in the thick wove paper, being a fine impression. Sullivan served as the seventh Governor of Massachusetts, between 1807 and 1808.
James Sullivan (April 22, 1744, Berwick, Maine – December 10, 1808) was a U.S. political figure.

For his services as a lawyer defending land claims in York County, Maine, in 1773 Sullivan was offered a portion within the tract. He accepted, and the property was organized as Limerick Plantation, named after County Limerick, Ireland, the birthplace of his father. In 1775, he helped settle the town, which on March 6, 1787 would be incorporated as Limerick, Maine.

In 1776, Sullivan was a judge in Massachusetts. Although he was elected to represent Massachusetts at the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1783 he did not attend. From 1790 to 1807, he was the Republican attorney general of Massachusetts and in 1801 prosecuted the Dedham murderer Jason Fairbanks. He also served as the seventh Governor of Massachusetts between 1807 and 1808. He was the brother of John Sullivan.

He died in office on December 10, 1808, aged 64, and was interred in the Boston Common Cemetery, Boston, Massachusetts.