Apr 15, 2021 - Sale 2564

Sale 2564 - Lot 276

Unsold
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
ACT AUTHORIZING MILITARY FORCE TO PUT DOWN THE WHISKEY REBELLION (PENNSYLVANIA.) An Act Directing a Detachment from the Militia of the United States. 2 printed pages on one sheet, 13 1/4 x 8 inches, signed in type by George Washington and John Adams; stitch holes, light toning, manuscript "199" in upper margin; uncut. [Philadelphia: Childs and Swaine], 9 May 1794

Additional Details

By early 1794, much of western Pennsylvania was in open rebellion over high taxes on whiskey producers, the first serious challenge to the United States under its new Constitution. The Third Congress here authorizes President Washington "to organize, arm and equip, according to law, and hold in readiness to march at a
moment's warning . . . eighty thousand effective militia," with quotas set for each state. Washington would lead the militia west in September to quell the rebellion.

This final authorized act appeared in both broadside and this broadsheet format, priority undetermined. ESTC lists only 6 institutions holding either printing; none traced at auction since 1907. Evans 27852.