Hancock, John. Historic 1776-dated manuscript document signed....

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Hancock, John. Historic 1776-dated manuscript document signed. Historic 1776-dated manuscript document signed ("John Hancock") as President of the Continental Congress, 2 pages (8 x 12.5 in.; 203 x 318 mm.), "In Congress" [Philadelphia], 19 & 21 November 1776. Minor stains and silked on the recto bearing the 19th November resolution with some separation at folds. Following Washington's costly defeat at the Battle of Long Island in August of 1776 and just four months after signing the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock urgently calls for military ordnance and troops to combat the enemy. "Congress deem it necessary upon every principle of propriety to remind the several States how indispensible it is to the Common Safety that they pursue the most immediate & vigorous measures to furnish their respective quotas of troops for the new Army..." The document reads in full: In Congress Nov. 19, 1776 Resolved, That Letters be immediately sent to the Councils of Safety, Conventions or Legislatures of Pennsylvania, & the States to the Southward thereof, desiring them forthwith to lay up Magazines of military Stores, ammunition & Salt provisions in the safest & most convenient places in the said States respectively, for the use of such Continental Troops & Militia as it may be necessary to bring into the Field in the ensuing winter for the defence of these States. Congress deem it necessary upon every principle of propriety to remind the several States how indispensible it is to the Common Safety that they pursue the most immediate & vigorous measures to furnish their respective quotas of troops for the new Army, as the time of Service for which the present Army was enlisted is so near expiring that the Country may be left in a Condition in a great measure defenceless, unless quickly supplied by new levies. By order of Congress - In Congress Nov. 21, 1776 As the Necessity of obtaining an Army immediately to oppose the Designs of the Enemy is so evident & pressing as to render it proper to give all possible Facility to that Business. Resolved, that each State be at Liberty to direct the recruiting Officers to enlist their Men either for the War, or three years, upon the respective Bounties offered by Congress, without presenting enlisting Rolls for both Terms according to a former Resolution, keeping it always in View that in the opinion of Congress, the public Service will be best promoted by Inlistments for the War, if the recruiting Business is not retarded thereby. By Order of Congress John Hancock Presdt. One year into the Revolutionary War, recruiting officers found men becoming reluctant to commit themselves to the regular army and leave their farms and businesses for the uncertain duration of the war. State militias were somewhat more attractive because they set their own enlistment periods and also partly because Congress had ordered them to meet quotas and competed with each other and the Continental Army by raising their bounties well over the authorized amount. General Washington was one of the few in Congress who approved higher bounties for recruits, though not the habit of some new soldiers who skipped their regiments when they heard of another which paid better. An excellent Hancock directive, penned as President of the Continental Congress in 1776, documenting one of the crucial efforts of the Revolution.