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Newspaper, “Unless Stamp Act is repealed”, John Hancock and Other Boston Merchants Boycott British Goods, 1765
Newspaper, “Unless Stamp Act is repealed”, John Hancock and Other Boston Merchants Boycott British Goods, 1765
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Newspaper, “Unless Stamp Act is repealed”, John Hancock and Other Boston Merchants Boycott British Goods, 1765

STAMP ACT. Original Newspaper, “The New-York Gazette, &c. Extraordinary / Printed by John Holt, near the Exchange”, 4pp, 8.25” x 13.5”, New York, December 27, 1765. Expected wear at edges; previous tape repair reinforcing separation at hinge and minor areas of loss; dampstaining; else, very good condition.

Two columns on each page, amounting to a total of eight columns. The first four columns, and most of the fifth, contain a letter to John Holt dated December 19, 1765, and signed “PHILOLUTHERUS”. The letter begins, “Mr. Holt, Your inserting the following will much oblige on of your constant Readers. The Stamp Act has been so fully, and so frequently proved to be inconsistent with the first principles of the English constitution, that little more is necessary to be said on that head…”

John Holt (1721-1784) was an editor and publisher who served as Mayor of Williamsburg, Virginia, from 1753-1754. He moved to New York City in 1754, then to New Haven, Connecticut, where he served as Postmaster and co-edited the colony’s first newspaper, “The Connecticut Gazette”. Holt returned to New York City in 1760.

In March 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act to take effect in the American colonies on November 1, 1765. It placed a tax on paper, including newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, broadsides, legal documents, insurance policies, ship’s papers, licenses, and even playing cards. Americans protested that they could not be taxed because they were not represented in Parliament. In the debate, speaking against the passage, Isaac Barré described the Americans as “Sons of Liberty” who would resist any assault on their liberties. They were also called “Liberty Boys.” In “Reluctant Revolutionaries: New York City and the Road to Independence, 1763-1776” (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1997), Joseph S. Tiedemann wrote, “A ‘Philolutherus’ would take up the pen again in December 1765 to support the Liberty Boy agenda…”

The letter of Philolutherus is followed by the publishing of Resolutions adopted by the Colony of South-Carolina on November 29, 1765, protesting the “Act of Parliament , intituled, ‘an Act for granting and applying certain Stamp Duties, and other Duties, on the British Colonies and Plantations in America,’ &c. by imposing Taxes on the Inhabitants of this Province…That the Duties imposed, by several late Acts of Parliament, on the People of this Province, will be extremely burthensome and grievous, and from the Scarcity of Gold and Silver, the Payment of them absolutely impracticable…” The South Carolina Resolutions fill the remainder of the fifth, sixth, and most of the seventh columns of the newspaper.

The text of a Resolution passed “At a Meeting of the Merchants and Traders at the British Coffee-House in Boston, on Monday the Ninth Day of December 1765” completes the seventh column and extends into the eighth column on page four. In part, “We the Subscribers, Merchants and Traders in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay, taking into Consideration the many Difficulties and Distresses we now labour under as a Trading People, owing to the late Restrictions and Prohibitions made by several late Acts of the Parliament of Great-Britain to regulate the Colonies; which Difficulties are further increased by the Stamp Act, so called…DO voluntarily come into the following Resolutions and Agreements, viz. First, Resolved and Agreed, That in all Orders we may send to Great Britain for Goods, we will direct our Correspondents not to ship them unless the Stamp Act is repealed, excepting Hemp, Canvas, Salt, Coals, Grindstones, Pipes, empty Bottles, Wool-Cards, Brimstone, Copperas, Dying Stuffs, and Utensils for carrying on Manufactures, and such Articles may be absolutely necessary for carrying on the Fishery. Secondly, Resolved and agreed, That we will without Delay countermand any Orders we may have already sent to Great Britain for Goods, unless the Stamp Act be repealed, excepting the Articles mentioned above…” It is noted that “upwards of 250 have already subscribed” to the agreement.

John Hancock had worked for his uncle Thomas Hancock since 1754, becoming a full partner in his shipping business in 1763. When Thomas Hancock died in August 1764, John inherited the business and his uncle’s estate, becoming one of the wealthiest men in the colonies. After he subscribed to the Resolutions, Hancock sent letters to British firms with outstanding orders. Being a businessman, he continued ordering but, as evidenced in the following letters to British firms, he put his country first and strictly adhered to the Resolutions of December 9th: “You have my Invoice for my Spring supply of goods under the following limitations, which I insist that you strictly comply with, viz. – In case there is a repeal of the Stamp Act, you will please to send me by Marshall the several articles in the inclosed Invoice. Let them be well chosen, well packed, & charged at the lowest prices, & send every article, if the Stamp Act be repealed, but in case the Stamp Act is not repealed, my orders are that you will not upon any consideration ship me one article. I have wrote for this in consideration of the United Resolves of not only the Principal Merchants & Traders of this Town but of those of the other trading towns of this Province, & which I am determined to abide by. I will not import one single manufacture of Great Britain unless this grievous Burthen be removed, and I have further to pray the favor that if this act be not repealed, you make out and send me all my account & what ever Balance may be due to you I will endeavor to remit as soon as possible…”

After the passage of the Stamp Act, John Hancock believed, as loyal British subjects, the colonists should submit to the act, even though he thought Parliament was misguided. His popularity increased when Hancock, the richest man in New England, joined the other merchants in the boycott of British goods. After Bostonians learned of the impending repeal of the Stamp Act, in May 1766, 29-year-old John Hancock was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. 

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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