A Funeral Oration in Honor of the Memory of George Washington. Late General of the Armies of the United States.

[WASHINGTON, George].

$15,000.00

Item Number: 126803

Philadelphia: Hall & Sellers, January 15, 1800.

Exceedingly rare first appearance in print of Washington’s Funeral Oration, featured on the front page of the Wednesday, January 15 1800 issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette. Folio, four pages, the headline reads, “A Funeral Oration in Honor of the Memory of George Washington. Late General of the Armies of the United States. Prepared and Delivered at the Request of Congress, at the German Lutheran Church, on Thursday, the 26th of December, By Major-General Henry Lee, One of the Representatives from the State of Virginia.” Washington’s eulogy was delivered by Major-General Henry Lee to both Houses of Congress and a crowd of 4,000 at the first President’s funeral on December 26, 1799. This printing of the eulogy in the Pennsylvania Gazette precedes the first official Congressional printing (Evans 37797, Sabin 39744). In very good condition. Exceedingly rare, being one of two copies to have appeared in existing auction records, the other in 1889.

"The father of his country" and the first president of the United States, General George Washington died on December 14th, 1799 and was buried at Mount Vernon in Virginia. In his Last Will and Testament, written only months before his death, Washington left explicit directions for the emancipation of each of his 123 slaves, to be carried out after the death of his wife Martha. Legislature was passed in Virginia toward the end of the American Revolution in 1782 making it legal for slave holders to emancipate their slaves without an special action by the government. In his will, Washington left a detailed slave census as well as stipulations regarding the treatment of the emancipated slaves who were sick and elderly, orphaned children, and the binding of children to masters and mistresses who would provide them with an education. Upon his death, memorial processions were held in every major city and thousands wore mourning clothes for months; Martha Washington was known to have worn a mourning cloak for over a year.