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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Gentlemen, Baltimore Feb. 15 1777 I am honoured by a letter from the Revd. Mr President Langdon by Mr Hall, of December 16 which I received Feb. 7 [. . .] Inclosing several resolutions of the Hon. Board of Overseers, with the subsequent votes of the Corporation of Harvard College, of which I was once respected as a member.(1) I am much obliged to the President for the compliment in the latter part of his letter, as to my publick conduct unconnected with the college, but in justice to my own reputation, as interested and concerned in the government of that society, and being intrusted with their funds by their unsolicited and unexpected appointment, I am constrained to say that the other parts of the President's letter as also of his letter of April 30th, 1776,(2) with the votes of the Board of Overseers and the votes of the corporation consequent thereupon, carry such a severe and unmerited censure on me, that I think I am justified in requesting an explanation. I am in the first place called upon by the President for an immediate compliance with the resolves of the overseers. The overseers require a delivery of all papers, obligations, etc, to such person as the corporation shall appoint for that purpose, and adjourn till the first Wednesday in Jany. for the purpose of receiving and examining my accounts, with a dependence that by that time those accounts would be laid before them. The corporation in consequence appoint Mr. Hall to proceed wherever Mr. Hancock may be and receive the bonds, etc. Have I ever, Gentlemen, refused to comply with the requisitions of the overseers or have I not ever paid an implicit obedience to all their requests? The time to which the overseers adjourned for the liquidation of my accounts was elapsed before I received the summons by Mr. Hall, and next, the direction to Mr. Hall to proceed wherever Mr Hancock may be, these circumstances carry an implication, highly disreputable to me. Surely I did not run away with the Property of the College, No Gentlemen, I served it. I could have wished that the particular situation of my affairs & my own constant attention to the business of my Department had prevent so sudden an application at least that I should not have been so suddenly dismissed without even the privilege of resigning, If I had been disposed to resign. I received a letter in October from Mr. Bowdoin on this subject, and wrote him an answer, inclosed to Mr Bant, acquainting him that I would send the papers as soon as possible,(3) the different turn to our affairs after that, and the danger of travelling, with the additional business in Congress in consequence of the retreat of our Army, prevented my attention to that business: since that letter I have heard nothing, till Mr. Hall's arrivall, and altho' I have been obliged to improve nights for the purpose, I have complied with the requisition and have sent down the bonds to my regular attorney Mr William Bant in Boston, a gentleman for whose integrity, capacity and honour, I will be answerable. I have
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sent him also a list of the bonds as examined by Mr. Hall, my secretary & myself. Mr. Bant will wait on you at such time & place as you shall please to appoint for the examination and reception of the bonds, if found right you will please to give him duplicate receipts for each bond with the sum and amount of the svhole, unless you should choose to continue them in his hands to follow your direction, he acting under me in the appointment you made of me for the office, but if you see fit to dismiss me, for I cannot resign under the present circumstances, you will of course receive the bonds, and give him a receipt, in which case I shall employ some more nights in completing my accounts & forwarding it to Mr Bant, that he may make a final settlement. I think it proper now to mention to you, that I have no demand upon you, neither shall I make any for the salary as Treasurer, or any expense I have been at, & further to inform you that I have given directions to Mr. Bant to pay every Iota of expense that shall arise in consequence of Mr. Halls journey; I have paid him here, his whole expense from his leaving you to this day, & Mr. Bant has my orders to pay the remainder, and I have asked Mr. Hall to exhibit his accounts to Mr. Bant for payment, as I cannot suffer it to be said that the College lost one farthing by me, tho' it gain nothing by me. I have been happy in the company of Mr. Hall, my situation and the obligation I am under to be very assiduous in my attention to the business & calls of my department, must apologize to him that I have not been more attentive to him, and must apologize to you that I have not more early dispatched him. I have ever had a most sincere regard for the seminary in which you preside, I will never prejudice it, but unless permitted by an explanation, I shall never trouble it.
I have the honour to be with sentiments of esteem, Gentlemen, Your ( injured ) most obed. & hum Set. J.H.
[P.S.] I am apt to think there are a few more Bonds in another package of papers which I will not now detain Mr Hall for, as I shall send them to Mr Bant, by a careful hand who goes in a few days. I have never unpacked any of the papers until since Mr. Halls arrival.
Tr (MH-Ar) . Addressed: "Revd. the President & Hon. Gentlemen of the Corporation of Harvard College."
1 Hancock, who became Harvard treasurer in 1773, had by 1775 become embroiled in a controversy with the corporation of Harvard College. Despite Hancock's deep involvement in the political and military resistance to Britain, the Harvard Corporation called for an accounting of the treasurer's records in April 1775, but when Hancock fled Concord just ahead of the British troops, he carried the records with him to Worcester, Mass., and ultimately to Philadelphia.
In March 1776 Harvard president Samuel Langdon complained to Hancock that without the treasury records the college, then operating in Concord, could neither receive money nor pay its expenses; and receiving no reply, Langdon on April 18 renewed the request for the records. Hancock finally responded on May 13, 1776: "I duly Rec'd your two Letters, and should much sooner have Return'd an Answer, but my constant Attention to the Business of my particular
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Department which has Engag'd my whole time must Apologize for me. The Matters of the College I am sensible ought to be attended to, and should have been sooner by me, but from the Confus'd state of our Province I concluded there was no possibility of drawing the Attention of individuals to any particular Business. I have however directed young Mr Winthrop to proceed from hence, & to Return here as soon as possible, and bring with him all my Books & papers, for which purpose I this morning Sent off a light Waggon, as soon as I Receive them & can properly Arrange them, you shall hear fully from me on the Subject, and shall be Glad to know whether it would be most Eligible & agreeable to you & the Corporation, for me to Appoint Mr William Winthrop to Act for me, or for me to Resign, tho' the latter I should not be induc'd to do unless by a Signification of your pleasure, in which case you will Appoint one in my place as early as you think necessary. My attachment to the College is such that nothing but necessity would divert my Attention from it, that will not however be hastened by me. On this Subject I shall be glad to be favour'd with your Sentiments I had made a proposition to Congress for Leave of Absence in order to have proceeded to Boston, which was under Consideration, when I Rec'd by Express the melancholy News of the sudden Death of my Dear Aunt, which Suspended the Execution of my Plan, and now Business crouds so fast upon Congress that I cannot with propriety at present think of Leaving Congress." Treasurer's Papers, MH-Ar.
In his response to Hancock, Langdon explained that although the Harvard Corporation "rejoiced" that Hancock had been chosen for high government duties they still needed the treasurer's records and an active treasurer. But he went on to concede that "we have nothing to object to your proposal of appointing Mr. William Winthrop to act for you, until you can determine whether it will be consistent with your high public employment to continue in the charge of our treasury." Other duties continued to overwhelm Hancock, and at length the corporation voted in November 1776 to send Stephen Hall, a Harvard tutor, m collect the treasurer's papers. Hall finally caught up with the president of Congress in Baltimore, and Hancock wrote this February 15 letter in reaction to Hall's arrival. The Harvard Corporation subsequently voted in March 1777 "that it is highly expedient that another Treasurer, who shall constantly reside within this State, be elected in the stead and place of Mr. Hancock," and a few months later elected Ebenezer Storer to the post. Notwithstanding this attempt to clear up the treasurer's records and subsequent efforts led by the Rev. William Gordon to have the college sue Hancock, Hancock's accounts with Harvard remained unbalanced at his death in 1793.
For further discussions of this episode and the principal correspondence between Hancock and Langdon to 1777, see Shipton, Harvard Graduates, 12:211, 13:43745; Herbert S. Allan, John Hancock, Patriot in Purple (New York: Macmillan Co., 1948), pp. 266-68; Josiah Quincy, The History of Harvard University, 2 vols. (Cambridge: John Owen Publisher, 1840), 2:509-22; and Donald J. Proctor, "John Hancock: New Sounding on an Old Barrel," Journal of American History 64 (December 1977): 652-77.
2 This letter to Hancock was actually dated May 30, 1776. See Quincy, Harvard University, 2:515.
3 Hancock's letter to James Bowdoin has not been found, but according to Langdon, Bowdoin read it to the Harvard Corporation on October 29, 1776. Langdon included the following "extract" in his April 22 reply to Hancock. "That you had been prevented from making a particular reply to his favor, respecting the College accounts, by a close attention to business of a most interesting nature, which, you say, I am confident will be admitted as my apology. I shall immediately, even if I encroach upon the hours allotted for sleep, set about adjusting these accounts, and forward them as early as possible; but I fear I shall not have them with you by the
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early day you mention, though my exertions shall not be wanting to accomplish it; they shall, however. be transmitted as soon as possible " Quincy, Harvard University, 2:518.
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