THE APPARENT INTERFERENCE OF THE EXECUTIVE

[JOHN HANCOCK]. Manuscript Document. 2 pages.9 ½" x 15 ¼". The House of Representatives. February 6, 1783. Both sides of a single sheet. Written to John Hancock while serving as Governor. The House of Representatives orders a message to be delivered by "Mr. Dwight, Mr. Sedwick, Mr. Otis and Genl. Ward" requesting that Governor Hancock answer an apparent disagreement between the House and the Governor pertaining to orders given to "the Captain of the Sloop Winthrop. The order continues, "You cannot be surprised when you compare these orders with a Resolve of the General Court passed November 11, 1782 approved by yourself, that the House feel anxious to be informed upon what principles you Excellency has thought yourself authorized to give such orders…Some late informations from the eastern shore make us apprehensive that the measure taken by you Excellency may prove very injurious to the safety of that part of the state, but the apparent interference of the Executive in this instance with the the rights of the Legislature gives us much more serious concern, and we are satisfied you Excellency must concur in sentiment that when such interference appears, it is the duty of every branch of Government to pay immediate attention to it; and we are also satisfied that your Excellency will feel the propriety of entering into an explanation of the matter, that undue jealousies may not arise between the Legislative & Executive , or subsist in the minds of the good people of this State, as to the supposed encroachments of either of them." Signed at the conclusion by the Speaker of the House of Massachusetts, Tristram Dalton. This document clearly displays a concern amongst early government leaders that the powers of the Legislative branch were being usurped by that of the Executive branch. As such, it displays the early awareness of the separations of the branches and the necessity of such as the bedrock of the American governmental system. A superb document displaying a conflict between governmental branches, ironically written to one of America's most well-known advocates of the newly formed governmental system. There is a ¾" hole at the left center fold intersection.