"the supremes"

[GSCole]

Although not used in a legal or musical context, MOA-Cornell has several
instances of Supremes/supremes, the earliest being from 1834.

"Principles and laws . . . come only from the Deity.  To contend that
they come from any other source, would be to assert the existence of
more Creators and Supremes than one."

>From Thoughts on Optimism, by An Optimist, p.27.  In The New-England
magazine, 7 #1, July 1834.

http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fnwen%2Fnwen0007%2F&tif=00035.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABS8100-0007-4
=======

A quoted earlier use may be noted in the following, but I have to deal
with the task of snow shoveling, and can't further verify the usage by
Sir William Berkeley (~1660), as quoted in Campbell and Stevens: History
of Virginia and Georgia, p.302.  In The North American Review, 67, Issue
141, October 1848.

http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fnora%2Fnora0067%2F&tif=00310.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABQ7578-0067-16

George Cole
Shippensburg University