1796 SEA LETTER SIGNED BY GEORGE WASHINGTON

issued to the schooner Fair Lady, out of Kingston/Duxbury, Massachusetts, sailing to St. Croix dated 17th Day of December 1796
signed by President George Washington, Secretary of State Timothy Pickering and Joshua Delano, Master of the Ship; it lists contents of cargo incl. hoops, 'scantily' slaves, shingles, and corn. As customary, the document is in three columns/languages French, English and Dutch.
The document measures 16 by 13"; archival mount, framed under plexi 21 by 18 in.
Prov.: Descended through the family of the captain of this ship Joshua Delano (1769-1800) from it's inception until the 1970's when the home on Main Street in Kingston, MA was purchased with most of its contents from the Delano heirs.
In 1796 by an act of Congress, American vessels were required to carry sea letters, signed by the Secretary of State and approved by the President, meant to identify the ship, to document its nationality, and to serve as evidence of treaty privileges, or of neutrality when the ship arrived in foreign ports or when it was boarded by naval officers of nations at war.
Joshua Delano was given command of the Fair Lady, a ship owned by merchants Benjamin Homer and Benjamin Cobb of Boston who were traders of enslaved people. Capt. J. Delano brought 98 captives from Sierra Leone to Havana in 1797 as captain of a different ship. Delano, buried in Kingston, MA died in Havana in 1800.
The Massachusetts legislature banned the transport of enslaved people in 1788 yet ships still left its ports engaging in such trade. In 1800, the United States Congress made it unlawful to engage in the slave trade between nations, and in 1808 it enacted legislation to prohibit the importation of enslaved persons into the country. However, widespread domestic trade in enslaved people continued until after the Civil War.
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