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Contract -George III 1778 DS Re: "delivering Provisions…for Our Forces in North America"...this is a document re: the most influential Jewish Tory Family o f the revolutionary War. Signed by Moses Franks. 12/4/1778. The Contractual document signed by King George is 14" x 19" sheet folded in 1/2. The 1st inside folded sheet has the signatures of Moses Franks, Arnold Nesbitt and an attorney for Adam Drummond. The 3rd page is simply "Entered 16th December 1778 in the office of the Comptroller of the Accounts office of the Army...D. Crow". The last page is the Docket...Kings' Warrant...Arnold Nesbitt...636 Pds 2.9 for provisions delivered into Storehouse at Corke...Of important note...tipped in the large document is a single page (13 x 8.5") are the details for the entire Contract with Nesbit/Arnold/Moses...totally 104,650 pounds (equivalent to over 19 million $'s in 2022.)...it details the quantity of products and prices. It reconciles the contract and shows that 24,111 Pound Sterling remains. This is an historically important document. Documents signed by King George III financing the American Revolution, or dealing directly with it in any way, are very uncommon. A search of public sale records indicates it has been over twenty years since a 2nd document such as this reached that marketplace. The first was sold by Raab Collection for $20,000 +. It was dated 6/28/1778....a single page signed by Moses Franks on the docket page. By 1770, Britons Arnold Nesbitt, a member of Parliament, and Adam Drummond, were in partnership holding contracts for victualing British troops in North America and Canada. After the outbreak of the American War, the size of the contracts was doubled. A branch of the Franks family in America were merchants, and they were the most prominent Jewish Loyalists in the American Revolution. The father, Jacob Franks, was from New York. There were two brothers. Moses Franks was living in London as representative there, and David Franks was based in Philadelphia, until he fled to England during the war. Their firm had supplied the British troops as a co-contractor with, and fulfilled contractual requirements passed on from, the firm of Arnold Nesbitt and Adam Drummond. This business arrangement had been in force since the conclusion of the French and Indian War, and continued through the American Revolution. Another branch of the Franks family were strong patriots in the Revolution. One, also named David, was an aide to George Washington, and Rachel, daughter of another Moses Franks, married Haym Salomon who helped facilitate the finaning of the War.

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Physical Location

Arc.MS.56, Box 20, Folder 13