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George Washington and Sam Adams...
George Washington and Sam Adams...
Item # 701342
March 28, 1795
COLUMBIAN CENTINEL, Boston, March 28, 1795
* President George Washington
* Acts of United States Congress
The front page features two Acts of Congress, each signed in script type by the President: Go. Washington.
Also an Act of the Mass. Legislature signed in script type by the Governor: Samuel Adams.
Four pages, wear & some irregularity at the margins, archivally strengthened arty the spine, a few other mends elsewhere.
background: The March 28, 1795, issue of the Columbian Centinel serves as a remarkable legal snapshot of the Early Republic, capturing a moment when the nation was transitioning from revolutionary chaos to a standardized "government of laws." The front page is particularly significant for featuring the rare "script-type" signatures of both George Washington and Samuel Adams, a printing technique used by Benjamin Russell—the "Printer to the United States" for the Northern States—to signify the official authentication of the text. During this specific week in 1795, Washington was preoccupied with the implementation of the Naturalization Act of 1795 (passed in late January), which tightened the requirements for U.S. citizenship, while the Massachusetts legislature under Governor Samuel Adams was focused on stabilizing state finances and local governance. This four-page artifact exemplifies the Federalist era’s obsession with public transparency, as the Centinel functioned as a primary vehicle for ensuring that every citizen, from the merchant in Boston Harbor to the farmer in the Berkshires, knew exactly which new federal and state mandates had received the executive "stamp of approval."
Category: The 1600's and 1700's
Available Now
$65.00
