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Terrific letter praising Common Sense... So much more...
Terrific letter praising Common Sense... So much more...
Item # 704677
April 09, 1776
THE PENNSYLVANIA EVENING POST, Philadelphia, April 9, 1776 This issue has some very significant front page content, as the entire first of two columns is taken up with Resolves from Congress dated April 6.
They include allowing exports from the colonies to any part of the world not under British rule. They also vote to allow the importation of any goods except those grown, produced, or shipped from any country under the King's rule. Another resolve reads: "Resolved, That no slaves be imported into any of the Thirteen United Colonies." Other items as well as seen in the photos.
The balance of the front page & half of page 2 are taken up with: "The Substance of Lord Mansfield's Speech in the House of Lords on the third reading of the bill 'prohibiting all trade & intercourse with the Twelve United Colonies during the present rebellion in America, & for impowering his Majesty to issue commissions to certain persons to grant pardons in the cases & for the purposes therein mentioned."
A page 2 report from Williamsburg begins: "This day his Excellency Charles Lee, Esq., Major General in the Continental army, arrived at hqts. in this city to take the command of the Virginia troops..." and further on is: "...certain intelligence...that...the American fleet...put into the island of Providence & took possession of 280 pieces of cannon..." with more.
A page 2 report from Watertown notes the attendance of George Washington for a sermon at the Old Brick Meeting House. Almost a full column on page 3 is taken up with a very nice address: "To his Excellency George Washington, Esq., General & Commander in Chief of the forces of the United American Colonies" which begins: "When the liberties of America were attacked by the violent hand of oppression; when troops hostile to the rights of humanity invaded this colony, seized our capital & spread havock & destruction around it...inhabitants of this & the other American colonies, impelled by self preservation & the love of freedom, forgetting their domestic concerns, determined resolutely & unitedly to oppose the sons of tyranny..." with much more concerning Washington being selected as commander in chief.
This is followed by Washington's appreciative response, signed by him in type at the bottom of column 2: George Washington (slightly compromised by a corner loss; see photo).
But the truly stellar bit of content is the back page letter: "...from a gentleman in Virginia to his friend in this city [Phila.], dated March 31, 1776" which begins: "I have read COMMON SENSE with much pleasure..." and goes on to praise the arguments expressed therein. Common Sense was just published Jan. 9, 1776 and almost all historians credit it for turning the tide of colonial sentiment from reconciliation to independence. This letter is a terrific first-hand account of that very sentiment, and such letters are rarely found in period newspapers. A terrific item proving the value of Common Sense had on the citizens of the colonies & the revolutionary cause.
Four pages, 8 1/4 by 10 1/2 inches, in somewhat 2nd rate condition as there are archival mends at most folds and at the spine with chipping loss to the lower right corners, other minor margin chipping and various small margin tears. The price is reflective of the condition.
Category: Revolutionary War
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$525.00
