NEW YORK ( CNN ) -- A letter penned by George Washington praising the new Constitution sold for $ 3.2 million at an auction , the highest price for a letter by America 's first president . The four-page letter in Washington 's slanting penmanship was written to his nephew Bushrod Washington in November 1787 , according to Christie 's , the company that auctioned it . It was in the possession of an unidentified British descendant of his family , Christie 's said . Washington led the Philadelphia Convention , at which the Constitution was drafted in 1787 . After the Constitution was produced , a nationwide debate ensued on whether to ratify it . In the letter written from Washington 's Virginia estate , Mount Vernon , he endorses the Constitution and highlights the benefits of compromise and of states merging into one nation . `` The central issues must be consolidated -- and local views as far as the general good will admit , must be attended to , '' he says in the letter , according to Christie 's . The company said the president confided in his nephew . `` Washington professed neutrality in public , but to Bushrod expressed his unequivocal conviction that the new Constitution must be ratified , in spite of opposition from many special-interest groups , '' Christie 's said . The buyer was not identified . Christie 's had earlier estimated that the letter would fetch $ 1.5 million to $ 2.5 million at Friday 's auction . Washington served from 1789 to 1797 , then died of a throat infection two years later . He died at his beloved Mount Vernon at age 67 , plunging the nation into months of mourning . Last year , a 1864 letter in which President Abraham Lincoln replies to the abolitionist pleas of youth sold for $ 3.4 million .
Highest price ever paid for a letter penned by America 's first president . Score: 7 Letter was written to his nephew Bushrod Washington in November 1787 . Last year , a 1864 letter by President Abraham Lincoln sold for $ 3.4 million .