In September of 1787, on the very day the constitutional convention came to an end, Thomas Jefferson was in Paris-– writing a letter to another founding father, David Rittenhouse. He was an astronomer and inventor, and Jefferson wrote to him about a wide range of subjects including the future of the new nation.
“Peace should be our plan and the repayments of our debts and enhancement of our constitution and extension of agriculture our principal objects," Jefferson wrote.
Nathan Raab runs a business buying and selling historic documents, and he thinks this one will be of interest to collectors, museums and libraries around the world.
“The value of any historical document lies primarily in its rarity and what the person says," Raab explains. "He so succinctly and matter-of-factly, at such an important time, stretches before the reader his vision of what really America should be focused on.”
Jeffersonian documents remain popular with collectors, and even modest letters have sold for $10,000 and up.
In 1986, a Jefferson letter went for $396,000 at auction. In it, the former president condemned prejudice towards Jews and all religious intolerance. Fourteen people bid on it. The buyer, a wealthy collector of Judaica, presented it to Yeshiva University in New York on its centennial.
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