Salutatory address of Jonathan Trumbull, 1759

Three-page manuscript copy of the salutatory address composed in Latin by graduate Jonathan Trumbull for the 1759 Harvard Commencement. The item is dated June 29, 1759.

Title supplied by cataloger. There is no title on the manuscript.

Purchased in the Henry C. S. Furges sale at Anderson's on January 16, 1923.

Jonathan Trumbull Jr. (1740-1809), governor of Connecticut, was born on March 26, 1740 in Lebanon, Conn. He received an AB from Harvard in 1759 and an AM in 1762. Trumbull served in the Connecticut State legislature, before being elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1789. He was Speaker of the House in the Second Congress, and in 1795 was elected to the United States Senate. Trumbull resigned in 1796 to become Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut. Upon the death of Governor Stephen M. Mitchell in 1797, Trumbull became Governor and served until his death on August 7, 1809. Trumbull’s father, Jonathan Trumbull (Harvard AB 1727), served as governor of Connecticut from 1769 to 1784.

An oration composed by Trumbull for the 1762 Harvard Commencement ceremonies is also available in the Harvard University Archives (HUC 6759.88).