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Patrick Henry, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington...
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Patrick Henry, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington...

Item # 716250 ·
COLUMBIAN CENTINEL, Boston, Nov. 5, 1800  

* John Adams & Thomas Jefferson
* re. the death of Patrick Henry

The front page has two Acts of Congress each signed in script type by the President: John Adams, and in block type by the Vice President: Th. Jefferson (hole in front leaf affects the first Adams signature). 
But more interesting is: "The Legacy of Another Dead Patriot of Virginia" which begins on the ftpg. & concludes on pg. 2 with a letter "To Archibald Blair" dated Jan. 8, 1799 and signed in type: P. Henry. Patrick Henry died just 5 months prior. Also a nice prefacing paragraph concerning Patrick Henry and George Washington.
Page 2 also has a lengthy letter from the President to Hon. Thomas Pinkney signed: John Adams
Four pages, various foxing, a dime-size hole near the bottom of the front leaf.

Background: This November 5, 1800 issue of the Columbian Centinel serves as an extraordinary, real-time capsule of the United States’ first true constitutional crisis—the deeply bitter and transformative presidential election of 1800. Published right as voters were deciding between the incumbent Federalist John Adams and his Democratic-Republican Vice President Thomas Jefferson, the newspaper weaves together a narrative of a nation teetering on the edge of political fracturing. By printing Patrick Henry’s final political "legacy" letter alongside a prefacing paragraph invoking George Washington, the pro-Federalist Boston paper weaponized the memory of these recently deceased Virginia patriots to discredit Jefferson's radical states' rights agenda, warning that it would lead to the dissolution of the Union. Simultaneously, the inclusion of official Acts of Congress co-signed by both Adams and Jefferson highlights the unprecedented awkwardness of an executive branch split between fierce ideological rivals, while Adams's correspondence with Thomas Pinckney underscores the frantic internal scheming of a fracturing Federalist Party trying to retain control. Ultimately, the immense historical significance of this specific publication lies in its preservation of a fragile American democracy at its most volatile turning point, frozen in print just weeks before the historic "Revolution of 1800" shifted executive power between opposing political factions for the very first time.

Item from last month's catalog - #366 - released for May, 2026

Category: Pre-Civil War
Price
$33
100% Authentic: Original printing, never a reproduction.