Arthur Middleton autograph manuscript (unsigned). One page, 8.5" x 13.25", no place, [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania?]; no date, [circa 1782]. Arthur Middleton, a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, drafts a resolution for Congress to establish a court to settle the land grant claims of Connecticut and Pennsylvania. A manuscript legal draft in the hand of Middleton that proposes that the Continental Congress establish a court to settle a land grant dispute between Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The document reads, in full: "That the agents be called in & informed that Congress is of Opinion that their Power is not competent to the Determination of the Question arising upon the Objection made by the Agents of Connecticut; And as it appears that the Powers lodged with Congress by the respective agents are full, sufficient, & conformable to the Articles of Confederation, the said Agents are directed to proceed to the Nomination of Persons for erecting a Court to decide the Matter in dispute, agreeably to the Rules provided for the purpose of the Confederation." A dispute arising from the conflicting grants by Charles II resulted in residents of Connecticut taking over the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War, enforcing their claims with arms, establishing a county, sending representatives to the Connecticut Legislature, and organizing the Connecticut militia units. Failing to recover this sizable part of its land by force, Pennsylvania approached the Continental Congress to address the matter. Congress directed an interstate commission to resolve the issue, with the commission ruling in Pennsylvania's favor at the end of 1782. Middleton's draft is almost certainly the resolution to establish a court or commission in question. The draft is accompanied by an engraving of Middleton by J. B. Longacre. Arthur Middleton (1742-1787) was the son of Henry Middleton, president of the second Continental Congress. Considerably more radical than his father, Arthur served on the Committee of Safety and the provincial congress of South Carolina. He was subsequently elected a delegate to the Continental Congress following his father's resignation and signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. During the Revolutionary War, he was captured at Charleston when the British captured the city in 1780. He was sent to St. Augustine in Florida, where he remained until he was exchanged the following year. He served in the Senate in 1781 and 1782 and in the state's House of Representatives in 1785 and 1786. He died in 1787 at the age of forty-four. Middleton autograph material is exceptionally scarce. Kenneth Rendell ranked Middleton as the third scarcest in his article, "Degree of Rarity of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence." Condition: Light edgewear with splitting starting at folds, but not approaching any text. Minute scattered toning. HID03101062020 © 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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