UNITED STATES TELEGRAPH, Washington D.C., Sept. 13, 1831

• Post Nat Turner's slave rebellion
• Freed slaves proof of identification

On the front page under "A Proclamation" issued by the Mayor of Washington is: "An Act Concerning free Negroes, Mulattoes and Slaves..." The act, which is quite detailed, states that any of those mentioned "...who may reside in the city of Washington, to exhibit satisfactory evidence of their title to freedom, to the Register of this Corporation..." and much more, signed in type by the mayor, John P. Van Ness.
Curiously, the same Proclamation appears on page 3 as well.
Page 2 has a letter signed in type: Andrew Jackson, concerning the retirement notice of a general officer. Several ads for runaway slaves.
Four pages, nice condition.

Background: This September 13, 1831 issue of the United States' Telegraph is a historically significant and rare artifact that captures the immediate, panic-driven legal response in the nation's capital following Nat Turner’s violent slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, just three weeks earlier. Mayor John P. Van Ness’s prominent front-page and page-3 proclamation—a strict ordinance forcing free Black and Mulatto residents to present documentary proof of their freedom to the city register or face severe penalties—reflects the sudden nationwide wave of draconian "Black Codes" and freedom-verification laws enacted by anxious white authorities fearing widespread insurrection. The unusual dual publication of the decree, likely appearing on the front page as urgent breaking news and on page three to satisfy a multi-day legal advertising contract, enhances the paper's historical value; while 1830s political newspapers were heavily circulated, surviving original issues containing front-page municipal slavery restrictions directly tied to the immediate aftermath of Nat Turner's revolt are exceptionally scarce and sought after by antebellum print collectors and historians.