Description:

Revolutionary War
Boston, MA, ca. 1791-1795
Democratic-Republican Party Viewpoints as Published in 21+ Issues of the Independent Chronicle with Sentiments Championing Thomas Paine and the French, Criticizing Federalist Foreign Policy, and Including Publications of Newly Passed State and Federal Laws
Newspapers

Twenty-one issues of the Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser dated July 7, 1791 through March 19, 1795. Published in Boston by Thomas Adams and later Thomas & Larkin. Each issue is 4 pages and measures 12.5" x 20.75". Disbound with stab marks in all margins, a few instances of complete separation along the integral folds, and occasional dampstaining. A few tears, and instances of paper loss.

The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser (later called the Independent Chronicle and the Universal Gazette) was a Boston newspaper founded in 1776 by Powars & Willis as a strong Patriot voice during the American Revolution. By the 1790s, under the publishing firm of Adams & Larkin, it had become one of the leading Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican papers in Massachusetts, fiercely opposing Federalist policies and promoting republican equality, sympathy with revolutionary France, and distrust of centralized financial and diplomatic power. Although Massachusetts politics were dominated by Federalists during this period, the Independent Chronicle provided a prominent platform for the Republican minority.

Issues of note include:

December 26, 1793 includes a notice clarifying statements made by Alexander J. Dallas (Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth and a Jeffersonian ally), concerning correspondence between Governor Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania, Mr. Genet (the French ambassador), and members of Congress (including Rufus King and John Jay). The article attempts to highlight how Genet's communications with American officials had been misunderstood or misrepresented, and that Dallas was not siding with Genet's more radical threats.

November 27, 1794 issue reports on the arrival of James Monroe in France to serve as Minister and reprints an opinion authored by Benjamin Franklin on May 12, 1784 in favor of the French lauding the importance of the friendship between the United States and France. This issue has a long diagonal tear across the fist column of both sheets and is heavily creased, with no loss of text.

December 4, 1794 reprints on page, column 3, the Senate's address to President George Washington on November 22 expressing appreciation for the President's handling of the Whiskey Rebellion, praising both his wise restraint and the federal response once force became necessary. The address also celebrated General Anthony Wayne's victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers (August 1794). Washington's response immediately follows.

December 18, 1794 issue reprints a notice from the Philadelphia Aurora criticizing Jay's treaty stating that no such commerce treaty "ever take place with the court of Great Britain, or with any other court unless it can be obtained upon such terms as have been offered us by the French Republic."

January 22, 1795 issue reprints George Washington's proclamation calling for a "day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer" on "Thursday, the Nineteenth day of February next" on the front page.

March 5, 1795 issue prints the act signed by Governor Sam Adams "introducing the Dollar and its Parts as the Money of Account" in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on the front page. Although the U.S. Coinage Act of 1792 created the U.S. dollar as the standard unit of account, tied to a bimetallic (gold & silver) standard, many states continued to use state-issued paper currency and Spanish milled dollars. Page 2 of this issue reprints the Naturalization Act of 1795, which repealed the 1790 Act. The 1795 Act increased the required period of residency in the United States from two years to five years and required an oath to support the U.S. Constitution and renunciation of titles of nobility. These changes reflected growing Federalist caution about foreigners during a time of unrest in Europe.

With three additional incomplete issues. More good content throughout with interesting notices of runaway servants and exhibits of African lions, with two issues showing woodcuts of a Lion, a fife player, ships and the seals of the United States.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 12" x 20.25"
  • Medium: Newspapers

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