Original Signed Date Customs Receipt

District of the City of New York, 1795. Original Document . Paper. This is a small original customs document (receipt) that is in ink and dated 1795 and is signed by John Lamb who was Collector of the Port of New York. The paper has light wear chips but considering the age it is in vg. conditon. The receipt measures approx. 8 1/2" x 4 1/2". The bio info. is taken from Wikipedia. He was born January 1, 1735 in New York City. He was the son of Anthony Lamb. His father was a convicted burglar who was transported to the colonies in the 1720s. John was initially trained as an optician and instrument maker in New York City and became a prosperous wine merchant. Prior to the Revolutionary War, Lamb was a leading member of the Sons of Liberty.[1] He wrote articles in the and published anonymous handbills. When the news of the Battle of Lexington was received he and his men seized the military stores at Turtle Bay. He was commissioned a captain of an artillery company and served under Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold in the attack on Quebec. He was wounded and captured at the assault on Quebec city and was released on parole a few months later. He was appointed major of artillery on January 9, 1776. In January 1777 he was appointed colonel of the 2nd Continental Artillery. He commanded the artillery at West Point in 1779 and 1780. He was breveted a brigadier general in 1783. In 1784 he was appointed Collector of the Port of New York by the Congress of the Confederation, and retained the post during the Washington administration. He was dismissed by President John Adams in 1797 after his deputy was accused of defrauding the government of tax revenues. [edit] Anti-Federalism During the 1787-1788 debates over the ratification of the proposed United States Constitution, Lamb was a prominent Anti-Federalist. He served as chairman of the Federal Republican Committee of New York, which operated to distribute Anti-Federalist writing and coordinate opposition to the Constitution with Anti-Federalists in other states. Between the fall of 1787 and June 1788 Lamb spread Anti-Federalist pamphlets through New York and New England and as far away as South Carolina; his correspondents included Aedanus Burke, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and other prominent Anti-Federalists. He died in poverty May 31, 1800.