In 1827, when historian Jared Sparks was at Mount Vernon collecting manuscripts for his edition of Washington’s writings, he came across the January 1789 letter in which Washington asked James Madison to review a draft of his proposed inaugural address, along with the draft manuscript in Washington’s own hand. Madison, concerned that Washington’s speech was both too wide-ranging and too specific, re-wrote it entirely. Washington delivered Madison’s shorter and less impassioned version. Over time, Sparks distributed leaves from Washington’s “discarded draft” as souvenirs. As he received more and more requests “for something written by Washington,” Sparks began to cut it up further, giving away small fragments of pages.
Seven of the thirteen full leaves known to survive are already in institutions, and three are separately in private collections.
Our three unique leaves, along with two additional fragments (with text on each side, six plus pages), comprise the largest known collection