Thomas McKean autograph letter signed ("Tho M:Kean"). Two pages of a bifolium, 6.25" x 8", Philadelphia, [Pennsylvania]; October 15, 1796. With integral address sheet. Thomas McKean, as Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, gives his informal opinion to the Secretary of State of Pennsylvania concerning a question raised by the governor of that state. Letter by McKean to Alexander Dallas (1759-1817), Secretary of State of Pennsylvania, in which McKean reluctantly renders an opinion on a question posed by Thomas Mifflin (1744-1800), Governor of Pennsylvania, concerning whether a person can hold two offices in the state at one time. The letter reads, in full: "Dear Sir, I have considered the question proposed by the governor yesterday, and on which he requests my opinion, as the Attorney General is out of town, viz. ‘Whether the office of Mayor of this city can be held, together with the office of Commissioner to settle etc. under the Spanish treaty, by the same person? It is with reluctance I give opinions of this kind, especially as my brother Judges decline it.—however I shall comply with the governor's wish on this occasion, willing to render his administration all the assistance I can. In the 8th section of the 2nd Article of the Constitution of Pennsylvania it is declared, "that no person holding or exercising any office of trust or profit under the United States shall at the same time hold or exercise (among others) any office in this State, to which a salary is annexed by law. The office of commissioner to settle etc. is an office of trust and profit under the United States, tho' temporary, the office of Mayor of Philadelphia is at present and has been an office to which a salary is by law annexed; therefore I am of opinion, that the two offices are incompatible in the same person by the Constitution." Signed, "Tho M:Kean". Thomas McKean (1734-1817) served as a delegate from Delaware to the Continental Congress from 1777 to 1783 who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. He was elected president of the Continental Congress, a position he held for only four months in 1781, and also served as the chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from 1777 to 1799. He served as the interim president of Delaware and later, the second governor of Pennsylvania. The letter is accompanied by an engraving of McKean by T. B. Welch. Alexander J. Dallas (1759-1817) served as a Supreme Court reporter and Secretary of the Commonwealth before becoming Secretary of the Treasury under President James Madison. Dallas inherited control of the Treasury when the federal government was nearly bankrupted after the War of 1812. Dallas put the nation back on the silver and gold standard and saved the United States from bankruptcy. Condition: Small area of paper loss to blank portion of address leaf from seal removal upon opening. 1" closed tear at right edge of first sheet affecting some text; likewise caused upon opening. Like toning and soiling, chiefly to address leaf. HID03101062020 © 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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