Lot 50
1776 Massachusetts Handbill Establishing A Committee of Safety For Each Town. Resolution Issued by the Massachusetts House of Representatives, February 13, 1776, and signed in print by J[ohn] Warren, as Speaker and Perez Morton, Deputy Secretary. One page, printed, 11½ x 6¼ in. In part: "Whereas As it appears to this Court, that it will be greatly conducive to the Safety and Welfare of this and the other Colonies, at a Time of common Danger, that a Committee be chosen in each Town, and one only for the especial Business of attending to the political and general Interest of the Colonies….Resolved, That the several Towns in this Colony, be…impowered, at their annual Town-Meeting in March, to choose by written Votes…such a Number of the Freeholders…as they shall think proper, whose Principles are known to be friendly to the Rights and Liberties of America, to serve as a Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety…to inspect whether there are any Inhabitants of, or Residents in their respective Towns, who violate the Association of the Continental Congress…respecting the present Struggle with Great Britain…." Captain Brown of Watertown is instructed to "cause this resolve to be printed in hand-bills [of which this is one] immediately, and sent to the several Towns in this Colony." John Warren, the speaker, was active in the Boston Tea Party and founder of Harvard Medical School; he was also the brother of patriot Joseph Warren, killed at Bunker Hill. The handbill is signed in print by other patriots, including Benjamin Lincoln, Caleb and Thomas Cushing, and others. Docketing on the verso indicates that this particular handbill was sent to the town of North Hampton.
On the verso is a very dark Autograph Document Signed by Levi Shepherd, "Clerk to Sd. Comittee," dated April 12, 1776, the very day that the first Continental Congress delegates were empowered to vote for independence (by North Carolina). The documents reads, in part: "At a full meeting of the Comittee, Voted that the Prisoners Viz the Officers that are sent to the care of this Comittee shall be at their Lodging every Night at sun sett….Voted that should the Officers disobey the preceed.g order of Comittee that they be Commited to confinement." The document is presently covered by the frame (color photocopy included), but could be reframed to show both the handbill and the document. Just six days earlier, the Continental Congress authorized each of the Thirteen Colonies to form local governments, and on June 7, a formal resolution called for America to declare its independence from Britain. The road to independence lay ahead!
Estimated Value $6,000 - 8,000.
|
| |
| Realized $8,625 |
