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Washington signs an Act of Congress concerning the Whiskey Rebellion...
Washington signs an Act of Congress concerning the Whiskey Rebellion...
Item # 688472
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June 23, 1796
FEDERAL GAZETTE & BALTIMORE DAILY ADVERTISER, Maryland, June 23, 1796
AI notes: The June 23, 1796, issue of the Federal Gazette serves as a grimly poetic snapshot of the early American Republic, juxtaposing the "rule of law" with the reality of human bondage. On one page, the federal government—under George Washington—is seen formalizing the aftermath of the Whiskey Rebellion, using taxpayer funds to balance the books on a domestic insurrection that tested the very limits of the Constitution. On another, the commodification of human life is laid bare through "runaway" advertisements for Negro Tom and others, where minute details of clothing and height were published as a bounty-hunter’s guide. This document captures the United States at a crossroads: a nation successfully asserting its federal authority over white frontier rebels while simultaneously relying on a legal and economic framework that institutionalized the hunt for those seeking basic liberty.
Page 2 has an: "ACT Making an Appropriation to Satisfy Certain demands attending the late Insurrection...", which provided money: "...to the discharge of certain incidental demands, occasioned by the trial of persons for crimes and offences during the late insurrection...", referring to the Whiskey Rebellion.
The back page has an ad for: "Negro Tom" describing: "A Black Man, about 5 feet 6 inches high...ran off from Fell's Point on Sunday..." then describing his clothing, etc. And elsewhere are two additional slave-related advertisements.
Four pages, two stab slits in the first column cause minor loss, otherwise very nice condition.
Category: The 1600's and 1700's
No Longer Available
