Less than 100 days prior to the Declaration...

THE PENNSYLVANIA EVENING POST, Philadelphia, April 23, 1776  

* Pre Declaration of Independence signing
* American Revolutionary War original 
* Great year to have (776) - very rare 

Most of the first column on the front page is taken up with reports of ships trading in the Caribbean & related news. Also on the front page is: "The French appear exceedingly friendly to the American cause which they would have promoted by a much larger supply of arms & ammunition than they have hitherto imported had they not been doubtful of the American submission to the claims of Parliament...The common toast among the French, from the General down to the merchant, is the independence of America; until which is declared, they say our war with England can only be looked on as a domestic broil..." with more.
And further on is: "The Committee of Safety for this district have ordered Col. Caswell, commanding officer of the New Bern battalion of minutemen, to march immediately to Brunswick to join the other forces of this province in opposing Gen. Clinton who is arrived there with a considerable force...". And also on the ftpg. is a report datelined from Williamsburg, including: "Since the defeat of Major Grant & Commodore Barclay in Georgia they have begun to plunder the gentlemens plantations in their neighbourhood...they have carried off 65 slaves...Sir James Wright, Governor there, ...has retired on board the Scarborough thereby abdicating his government..." and "Charlestown, in South Carolina, is defended by upwards of 130 cannon...They have likewise fitted out 3 armed vessels..." with more. All of pgs. 2 & 3 are taken up with a wealth of fine war-related reports, too much to mention here but which can be seen in the photos below. And the nice content carries over to take half of pg. 4 as well, which again can be seen in the photos. Included is a list of recently elected delegates from New York for the Provincial Congress, which includes John Jay among many others. Some back page ads as well including one "Four Dollars Reward" ad for a runaway English servant lad, with details. A great amount of fine war-related reading.
Four pagers, wide never-trimmed margins, 8 1/4 by 10 1/2 inches, great condition.

Background: This April 23, 1776 issue of The Pennsylvania Evening Post captures the American colonies at a critical, volatile tipping point just over two months before the Declaration of Independence, documenting the rapid breakdown of British authority and the urgent geopolitical shifts forcing the colonies toward full separation. Visually and politically, the front page highlights the collapse of royal governance in the South through the flight of Georgia’s Royal Governor, Sir James Wright, onto a British warship, alongside reports of active military mobilization as North Carolina forces rush to confront British General Henry Clinton's arriving fleet. Simultaneously, the inclusion of newly elected delegates like John Jay to New York’s Provincial Congress illustrates the colonies frantically organizing their own independent, treasonous governments. Most significantly, however, the text lays bare the secret, high-stakes diplomacy of the era: the French public and leadership openly toasted American independence but explicitly warned that they would withhold major military and ammunition supplies as long as the conflict was viewed as a mere "domestic broil" within the British Empire. This public declaration sent a profound, unmistakable message to the Continental Congress that foreign alliance and survival depended entirely on a formal, total break from the British Crown, making this newspaper a living roadmap of the exact pressures that forced the birth of the United States.