The 30 Minute Rule begins July 8 at 7:00 PM EDT. An Initial Bid Must Be Placed By July 8 at 6:00 PM EDT To Participate After 6:00 PM EDT
LS signed “Aaron Hill, Chairman of the Selectmen of Said Town,” one page both sides, 8.25 x 13, July 13, 1787. Written in the aftermath of the 1786–1787 Shays’ Rebellion uprising in western Massachusetts, Hill and the Cambridge selectmen refuse to join an extra-governmental appeal, defending the established authority of the Governor and Council, the courts, and the legislature. In part: "After the minds of many people had been misled with respect to the Government, a circular letter was framed in the upper part of this county in the course of last summer & sent to the different Towns, & to this among others, requesting their assistance at a county convention. Alarmed at such a proceeding the Inhabitants at a Town meeting desired the selectmen to protest against such an unconstitutional Assembly. You will undoubtedly recollect that their letter was published containing at large the reasons of their dissent. How far those reasons were satisfactory, will appear by the readiness with which they were adopted by many Towns throughout the Commonwealth.
It makes us unhappy to find that the ill consequences which were then easily foreseen, soon came to pass. If then our sentiments were against joining with an Assembly, which we consider as unconstitutional when apparently justified by the form of an Election, it can hardly be expected we should concur in a similar measure where even that form has not been observed. We were then & still are of opinion, that the Constitution & The laws provide for every case. It has invested the Governor & Council with a power to pardon those criminals that may be convicted in any case where they suppose the publick good will be promoted, & we conceive that power could not be more properly lodged in any other hands.
It must be presumed, they are the best acquainted with all the circumstances both for & against the Convict; infinitely more so, than persons at a distance & without the means of information; & we think there has been no reason to distrust the Judgment on the Uprightness of those who are invested with that power. And further, we presume that if you had seen the resolve of the General Court passed on the 29 of June last, you would not have desired us to have interfered in matters of Government in the present Instance. In that Resolve, after specifying the particular exceptions from the Act of Indemnity, they declared that any further Act of Grace will not be consistent with the dignity of Government, & with the safety & protection which ought to be afforded to the peaceable & loyal citizens to give their advice in contradiction to the declared sense of two great branches of the Government, the Legislative & Judicial.
These reasons without others that might be added, we presume are sufficient to convince you of the impropriety of our joining in the proposal contained in your Letter. We have only to add that it is our sincere wish that the happy time may come & that the period may be not far distant, when that confidence in those who by the Constitution are invested with the Government, may be restored; without which we never can expect that the confidence between Individuals which is so necessary to promoted their Happiness, will be revived." In fine condition.
A compelling 1787 Massachusetts letter from the immediate aftermath of Shays’ Rebellion, boldly affirming constitutional government over popular conventions and warning against further leniency where it might undermine “the dignity of Government” and the security of “peaceable & loyal citizens.”
