Washington visits his Masonic lodge, with his reply to an address...
Item # 703615
April 29, 1797
COLUMBIAN CENTINEL, Boston, April 29, 1797
* President George Washington acts
* Alexandra-Washington Masonic Lodge
On the front page under "Laws of the United States" are three "Acts" of Congress, each signed in script type: Go. Washington.
Also, on the front page under "Masonic" is an address from Lodge, No. 22, of the Ancient York Masons at Alexandria to the President, delivered during a meeting attended by Washington, and signed in type by James Gillis, the lodge Master. The President's gracious reply follows, signed in type: Go. Washington.
According to two sources, Washington was a member of this lodge in addition to being a member of a Fredericksburg, Va., lodge that he joined in 1753.
Four pages, irregular at the spine margin, generally in good condition.
Background: The July 5, 1794, issue of the Columbian Centinel serves as a profound primary source documenting a "stress test" for the young United States, capturing the federal government’s aggressive efforts to establish financial sovereignty and frontier security. The front-page "Act Laying Certain Duties Upon Snuff and Refined Sugar," signed by George Washington, represents Alexander Hamilton’s controversial "Whiskey Tax" era, where the federal government’s right to levy internal taxes sparked the Whiskey Rebellion that very same year. The presence of Samuel Adams as Governor of Massachusetts highlights the era’s shift from revolutionary fervor to the bureaucratic reality of state governance, while the correspondence between Captain Joseph Brant and Cornplanter provides a window into the high-stakes diplomacy of the Northwest Indian War. This specific moment in 1794 was a pivot point: the U.S. was simultaneously proving it could collect taxes to pay off war debts and asserting its military presence in the West, all while the "founding generation" navigated the transition from being rebels against a crown to being the enforcers of their own new laws.
* President George Washington acts
* Alexandra-Washington Masonic Lodge
On the front page under "Laws of the United States" are three "Acts" of Congress, each signed in script type: Go. Washington.
Also, on the front page under "Masonic" is an address from Lodge, No. 22, of the Ancient York Masons at Alexandria to the President, delivered during a meeting attended by Washington, and signed in type by James Gillis, the lodge Master. The President's gracious reply follows, signed in type: Go. Washington.
According to two sources, Washington was a member of this lodge in addition to being a member of a Fredericksburg, Va., lodge that he joined in 1753.
Four pages, irregular at the spine margin, generally in good condition.
Background: The July 5, 1794, issue of the Columbian Centinel serves as a profound primary source documenting a "stress test" for the young United States, capturing the federal government’s aggressive efforts to establish financial sovereignty and frontier security. The front-page "Act Laying Certain Duties Upon Snuff and Refined Sugar," signed by George Washington, represents Alexander Hamilton’s controversial "Whiskey Tax" era, where the federal government’s right to levy internal taxes sparked the Whiskey Rebellion that very same year. The presence of Samuel Adams as Governor of Massachusetts highlights the era’s shift from revolutionary fervor to the bureaucratic reality of state governance, while the correspondence between Captain Joseph Brant and Cornplanter provides a window into the high-stakes diplomacy of the Northwest Indian War. This specific moment in 1794 was a pivot point: the U.S. was simultaneously proving it could collect taxes to pay off war debts and asserting its military presence in the West, all while the "founding generation" navigated the transition from being rebels against a crown to being the enforcers of their own new laws.
Category: The 1600's and 1700's
