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Jefferson's Proclamation concerning an insurrection...
Jefferson's Proclamation concerning an insurrection...
Item # 713234
May 09, 1808
SPOONER'S VERMONT JOURNAL, Windsor, May 9, 1808
* Rare 18th century American publication
* Thomas Jefferson proclamation
* re. Insurrection Act of 1807
Page 3 has: "By the President of the United States, A PROCLAMATION" concerning: "...sundry persons...confederating together on Lake Champlain...for the purposes of forming insurrections against the authority of the laws of the United States..." and more. Page 3 also has a report from Pittsburgh concerning: "...a man of the name of Dennison, traveling on foot in company with two Frenchmen, was attacked by them on the Alleghany mountains...those brutal savages, in their hurry, had not succeeded in cutting any of the arteries of Mr. Dennison's neck..." with more detail.
Four pages, never bound nor trimmed, damp stains at a lower corner, some margin wear, good condition.
AI notes: On April 10, 1808, President Thomas Jefferson issued a proclamation addressing what he characterized as an insurrection in the Lake Champlain region of New York and Vermont, where local residents were resisting enforcement of federal law, particularly the unpopular Embargo Act of 1807, which prohibited American trade with foreign nations. Jefferson declared that these groups were “combining and confederating together” to obstruct the execution of U.S. laws and that their collective resistance could not be suppressed by ordinary judicial means. The proclamation commanded all insurgents to disperse peacefully and directed civil and military authorities, as well as all other citizens, to assist in suppressing the disturbance and arresting those who refused to comply. This action represented one of the earliest presidential invocations of authority under the Insurrection Act of 1807, asserting federal power over local resistance and emphasizing that defiance of national law, even in remote regions, could prompt direct intervention by the executive branch. The proclamation reflected both the challenges of enforcing controversial policies like the embargo and Jefferson’s determination to uphold federal authority in the face of widespread civil disobedience.
Category: Pre-Civil War
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