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Judge Samuel Davidson Franks (1784–1831) was born in Philadelphia, the son of the Jewish Colonel Isaac Franks, an officer of the American Revolution and aide-de-camp to George Washington. He held a succession of prominent legal and public positions, including Deputy Attorney General, of Berks County, chief clerk of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and president judge of a judicial district comprising Dauphin, Lebanon, and Schuylkill counties. His tenure on the bench was marked by sustained political opposition and repeated efforts at removal. Autograph letter signed by “Joshua Hunt”, self-covering 3pp, datelined Harrisburg,March 27, 1827, addressed to Isaac Wayne, Esq. In part, the letter reports on contemporaneous proceedings of the Pennsylvania legislature and provides first hand commentary on a politically charged judicial controversy. Hunt reports that the matter was brought before the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, which resolved to proceed by address rather than by impeachment. He records the “vote to appointing a committee—56 in favor and 25 opposed, with a notable number of members declining to vote ... the Judge by his council at the Bar of the house ... I am inclined to think he will be acquitted ...’