Presidential Signed Documents
Created after the American Revolution, the Society of the Cincinnati was a hereditary organization composed of members of the Continental Army. The name referred to Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus, a Roman dictator who defended the city from invaders and resigned after the war. As the first president of the Society, George Washington signed the 1784 membership certificate below.
John Quincy Adams signed a land deed in 1826 granting Blake Jackson almost eighty acres in Montgomery County, Mississippi, and Andrew Jackson did the same in 1830 for Joseph Slocum of Madison County. Presidents signed all land patents prior to 1833 when a land boom ended this requirement. Jackson would have had to sign upwards of 100 documents a day to address increased public land sales.
In 1865, Andrew Johnson officially pardoned G.L. Sharkey, a Mississippi citizen who had served in the Confederate Army. In an effort to reunite the country after the Civil War, Johnson issued a general pardon for Confederates but required former government officials, military leaders, and men of wealth to seek individual presidential pardons. Republicans resented Johnson’s leniency, which led to the more radical Congressional Reconstruction.
Society of Cincinnati membership certificate for William Hulton signed by George Washington
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Land deed dated March 1826 and signed by John Quincy Adams
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Land deed dated 1 September 1865 and 1 December 1830 and signed by Andrew Jackson
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Presidential pardon dated 1 September 1865 and signed by Andrew Johnson
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