COLUMBIAN CENTINEL, Boston, Feb. 15, 1797  

* 1796 presidential election certification
* President John Adams & Thomas Jefferson

A page 2 report has a very historic report: "Wednesday last his Excellency JOHN ADAMS, Esq., as President of the United States; and the Hon. THOMAS JEFFERSON, Esq., as V. President of the same, were declared in the presence of the Legislature of the Union, and a large concourse of citizens in...Philadelphia." This is the first report in this paper that we've seen that official acknowledges them as having won the presidential election.
Four pages, never-trimmed margins, very nice condition.

Background: The certification of the Election of 1796, officially announced in February 1797, represents a watershed moment in the American experiment because it marked the first peaceful transfer of power between heads of state in the young republic's history. Following George Washington’s voluntary retirement, the election tested whether the Constitution could facilitate a transition of leadership amidst the rise of bitter partisan factionalism. The result was a historical anomaly created by the original Electoral College system: John Adams, a staunch Federalist, was elected President, while his political rival and former friend Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, became Vice President. This forced partnership between two men with diametrically opposed visions for the federal government highlighted the systemic tensions of the early U.S. government and eventually led to the ratification of the 12th Amendment. By formally declaring these results before a "large concourse of citizens" in Philadelphia, the government signaled to a skeptical world that the United States could survive a change in administration without descending into the monarchical succession or revolutionary violence common in Europe at the time.