"The snippet carries the phrase "Fathers of the Senate!" which is nowhere found in surviving Washington documents. The expression is borrowed from ancient Roman Senate-specifically the Latin patres conscripti , or "Conscript Fathers"-and quite possibly wasn't the patrician tone Washington intended to set for a young republic. It is unknown why or how it was used in this case as the manuscript from which the fragment was cut is long lost."
"The little excerpt was clipped in the early- to mid-19th century and sent to a private collector by Jared Sparks, a Washington biographer who was known to slice up the president's papers to satisfy autograph hunters. Famously, Sparks cut up and dispersed the manuscript of Washington's undelivered first address; recovered pieces of that document are today in institutional archives including the Massachusetts Historical Society or in private hands."
A small manuscript fragment bearing the phrase 'Fathers of the Senate!' is offered at the Raab Collection for $10,000. The phrase does not appear in surviving Washington documents and appears borrowed from the Roman 'patres conscripti' (Conscript Fathers), a tone perhaps unsuited to the young republic. The source manuscript is lost, leaving the phrase's original context unknown. The fragment was clipped in the early- to mid-19th century and came from Jared Sparks, who notoriously cut Washington's papers to satisfy autograph hunters; other pieces from Washington's undelivered first address survive in institutional and private collections. The sale coincides with the 250th independence anniversary and heightened market interest in rare American documents.
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