American explorer and territorial governor (1770-1838). Printed document signed. St. Louis, MO. Oblong 4to (310 x 190 mm). 2 pp. Laid paper without visible watermark; pro-forma document printed on recto, with manuscript additions and amendments. Signed and inscribed by William Clark on the reverse. With seals of the St. Louis court of common pleas, .
$ 17,313 / 15.000 €
(106037/BN67984)
Legal document granting power of authority over the estate of the deceased John H. Walsh of St. Louis County, Missouri, to Thomas Hampstead (also of St. Louis County), signed and inscribed by William Clark on the reverse. Mary Philip Leduc, clerk of the court of common pleas, prepared and signed the present grant on 29 March 1814; Clark countersigned it on 31 March, testifying to the legitimacy of Leduc's signature in a 15-line statement bearing the rarely encountered territorial seal of Missouri.
- The Louisiana Territory, which had been in existence since 1804, was renamed as the Missouri Territory by Congress on 4 June 1812, so as to avoid confusion with the new state of Louisiana, admitted to the Union on 30 April 1812. William Clark, soldier, Indian agent, explorer and co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-06, served as Governor of the Territory from 1813 until 1821. Early in his administration, Clark organised the five districts of the former Louisiana Territory into the first five counties the new Missouri Territory, with St. Louis as the capital. In 1819, the Territory of Arkansas was created from part of the southern region of Missouri Territory; and in August 1821, after another portion became the new State of Missouri, the Missouri Territory ceased to exist. Instead, for a number of years, a huge area encompassing the present states of Iowa, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, most of Kansas, Wyoming, Montana, and parts of Colorado, Minnesota and New Mexico, reverted to the status of unorganised territory. - The document is headed "Territory of Louisiana", with "Louisiana" struck through and amended to "Missouri" by hand. Includes another official's countersignature to the left of Clark's signature, as well as the ms. note "Letter of administration on Jno H. Walsh" by an official or collector. A desirable document from the short-lived Territory of Missouri, inscribed and signed by one of America's great explorers..