Sep 15, 2011 - Sale 2253

Sale 2253 - Lot 47

Price Realized: $ 19,200
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 25,000 - $ 35,000
A DRAMATIC PROTEST ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE STAMP ACT (AMERICAN REVOLUTION--PRELUDE, 1765.) The Boston Post-Boy, &c. Extraordinary. 2 pages, 13 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches, on one sheet; minor edge wear and creasing, archival tape reinforcement along edges verso. Boston, 4 November 1765
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Additional Details

The Stamp Act went into effect on 1 November 1765. To commemorate the odious tax, the citizens of Boston held a city-wide protest. A satirical crest was displayed of Prime Minister George Grenville and John Huske, a member of Parliament who was raised in New Hampshire and had suggested that the Americans could afford the tax. Also emblazoned on the drawing was the "Tree of Liberty," perhaps the first reference under this name to the famous elm where the protests were held.
The lead story in this dramatic broadsheet extra describes the day's events in detail. After proclaiming the day to be "detested for the boldest Attempts, to invade the Rights of Britons," the article reports that a "vast Concourse of People repaired in the Forenoon, to the Royal Elm; some with Weeds in their Hatts, others with cast-down Eyes, uttering Ejaculations of Sorrow and Wonder." After a procession through town with the crest, "the justly enraged Multitude moved onwards to the Gallows, without the City Gates, and exhibiting in open view, the emblematic Object of their Wrath, rent it into a Thousand Fragments and dispersed them on the four Wings of the Air; where it is hoped no creating Power will collect them into Being again . . . while Right and Property have Name and Respect among the Sons of Men."
Also included are reports of protests in Philadelphia, New York, and Newport. New Yorkers have opened a homespun market and "have entered into a Resolution not to buy any European Manufactures till their Trade is more opened. . . . It is hoped this will animate the Country People to make plenty of Linens and Woolens, as they may be assured of quick Sale." Provenance: Christie's sale, 5 December 2005, lot 293.