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Final two "Letters From a Farmer in Pennsylvania"...
Final two "Letters From a Farmer in Pennsylvania"...
Item # 592320
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March 07, 1768
THE BOSTON CHRONICLE, March 7, 1768 This issue is highlighted by "Letter XI" and "Letter XII" by the famed John Dickinson, being the last of his eleven famous "Letters From a Farmer In Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies". This series furnished a constitutional basis for the widespread colonial opposition to the English trade acts. While Dickinson agreed that England had the legal power to regulate colonial trade, he denied the parliamentary authority to impose taxes to raise revenues from colonial sources. These essays proved immensely influential in shaping colonial opinion.
The eleventh Letter takes all of page 1, all of page 2, and nearly half of page 3 where it is signed in type: A Farmer. And it is immediately followed by "Letter XII" which takes the balance of pg. 3, all of page 4, and over half of pg. 5. The latter concludes with: "...How little soever one is able to write, yet when the liberties of one's country are threatened, it is still more difficult to be silent."
Elsewhere is nice content which concerning: "...the great difficulties that must accrue by the operation of diverse acts of parliament for levying duties & taxes on the colonies for the sole & express purpose of raising a revenue..." (see), which has a response by the Governor of Massachusetts, & followed by: "Order that Mr. Hancock, Major Frye...be a Committee to wait upon his Excellency the Governor & present to him the following answer..." which takes over half a page. Other good content as well.
Twelve pages, 8 1/2 by 10 1/2 inches, very nice condition.
This newspaper published only briefly from December 21, 1767 until 1770. The publishers, John Mein and John Fleeming, were both from Scotland. The Chronicle was a Loyalist paper in the time before the American Revolution. In its second year, Mein printed names in the paper that accused some colonial merchants of breaking a British non-importation agreement. In response, Mein's name appeared on a list of merchants who violated the trade agreement. Mein retaliated by accusing the Merchants' Committee of using the non-importation agreement for illegal profiteering. The irritated readership ransacked the offices of the Chronicle, and ultimately, it ceased operations in 1770. (credit Wikipedia)
Category: The 1600's and 1700's
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