Nov 25, 2014 - Sale 2368

Sale 2368 - Lot 20

Price Realized: $ 1,875
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(AMERICAN REVOLUTION.) Issue of the New-England Chronicle featuring "Twelve United Colonies . . . to the Inhabitants of Great Britain." 4 pages, 14 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches, on one folding sheet; disbound with some loss to inner margin; name of subscriber Robert Wetmore inscribed in top left margin. Cambridge, MA, 3 August 1775

Additional Details

The well-known plea for peace, "The Twelve United Colonies, by their Delegates in Congress, to the Inhabitants of Great Britain" fills most of the first and fourth pages. Though signed in type by John Hancock on 3 July 1775 as President of the Continental Congress, it is generally attributed to Richard Henry Lee. The original manuscript was recently acquired by Seth Kaller, Inc. in a well-publicized sale, and the handwriting has been linked to Robert R. Livingston of New York.
Other highlights in this issue include General Burgoyne's letter in response to General Lee; an order by General Horatio Gates to the Massachusetts regiments, ordering them not to recruit "any Stroller, Negro or Vagabond, or Person suspected of being an Enemy"; and plentiful other war news.