American statesman (1722–1803) and signer of the Declaration of Independence from Massachusetts who was one of the organizers of the Boston Tea Party and one of his state’s most ardent supporters of the patriotic cause. Revolutionary War–dated partly printed DS, signed “Samuel Adams, Secry.,” one page, 11 x 18, November 19, 1776. An appointment for “Henry Broomfield, Esquire to be one of our Justices to keep Our Peace in our County of Suffolk.... We have caused the public Seal of our Province of the Massachusetts-Bay aforesaid, to be hereunto affixed.” The document is also signed along the left edge by a roster of 16 others, all of whom appear to be members of the Massachusetts Bay Council, the temporary standing-committee-style government set up on the advice of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Among the signers is council president James Bowdoin (co-writer, with Samuel Adams and John Adams, of the Massachusetts Constitution; namesake of Bowdoin College), Jer. Powell, W. T. Evans, B. Greenleaf, W. Spooner, Caleb Cushing, John Winthrop (author, scientist, and Harvard president), M. Chadbourn, John Whitcomb, Elias Taylor, J. Holten, Moses Gilly, B. Austin, Dan’l Hopkins, D. Sewall, and William Phillips. Affirming the document’s chronological proximity to the Declaration of Independence is the handwritten heading, “The Government & the People of Massachusetts Bay in New England,” which appears above a section of barely discernable, crossed-out text reading, “George the Third, By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King Defender of the Earth.” (No official printed forms reflecting Massachusetts’ new-found freedom were evidently available.) Matted and framed to an overall size of 18 x 25. In fine condition, with intersecting folds (vertical fold just touching first letter of signature) and faint scattered foxing with a few light stains (water stain at left edge touching a few of the countersignatures). The signature is dark and bold. A scarce and desirable association of this prominent Signer and statesman with a most pivotal year in American history! Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
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