COLUMBIAN CENTINEL, Boston, March 23, 1796

• President George Washington

Fully half of the front page, the two middle columns, are taken up with a lengthy treaty of peace and amity between the United States and Algeria, relating to the problems with the Algerian pirates capturing American ships.
At the top is: "Treaty with the Dey of Algiers" with the George Washington script signature, and at its conclusion is a document noting its ratification, also with a George Washington script signature.
A significant document in international relations from the early years of the new American republic.
Four pages, light damp staining near the margins, good condition.

Background: This March 23, 1796 issue of the Columbian Centinel stands out as a remarkable primary source from the early American Republic, dominating half of its front page with the complete text of the historic 1795 Treaty of Peace and Amity with the Dey of Algiers. Historically significant for addressing the widespread capture of U.S. merchant ships and the enslavement of American crews by Barbary corsairs, this document represents the newly formed nation's first major international diplomatic effort in the Mediterranean, a crisis that directly prompted the creation of the U.S. Navy. What makes this specific four-page imprint exceptionally rare and desirable to collectors is the presence of two distinct printed George Washington script signatures—one introducing the treaty at the top of the front page and a second concluding the formal ratification document at its end. 18th-century newspapers featuring double presidential script signatures are exceedingly uncommon, and because early American period papers were routinely broken up or lost to time, surviving intact four-page issues that capture such pivotal foreign policy milestones are prized artifacts of Federalist-era history.