LETTERS TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF HILLSBOROUGH ON THE PRESENT SITUATION OF AFFAIRS IN AMERICA BOUND WITH AN APPENDIX IN ANSWER TO A PAMPHLET INTITULED THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OF GREAT-BRITAIN TO TAX THE COLONIES

Boston, Massachusetts & London, England: Edes and Gill, 1769. Reprint. Pamphlet. Good Plus. Octavo, 8" x 5." This first English edition was a reprint of the American edition, printed in Boston by Edes and Gill, Printers to the Honourable House of Representatives, 1769. LACKS TITLE PAGE (here supplied in manuscript facsimile). Else complete. The first leaf shows ragged-edges, spotting and toning; remainder shows light toning throughout. (Evans 11310; Sabin 31912). An important letter addressing economic oppressions levied upon the American colonists by Great Britain. In order to extract itself from debts incurred from the Seven Years War, the British Parliament imposed a direct tax upon American colonists. The Stamp Act, set to begin in the fall of 1765, stated that all legal documents and printed materials must bear a tax stamp provided by commissioned distributors who would collect the tax in exchange for the stamp. This law applied not only to official documents such as wills and deeds, but extended to newspapers, pamphlets and even playing cards and dice..." Further, a provision of the act stated that violators would not be eligible for a trial by jury. ..After vocal and at times violent colonial resistance to the Act, it was repealed in 1766. However, the Stamp Act was supplanted by The Declaratory Act, which essentially reaffirmed presumptions that the British Parliament wielded the power to pass any laws regarding the colonists, which they so desired. The issues evinced by these acts simmered for ten years and had much to do with the events comprising the American Revolution. (in part, from History Dot Calm 11/09/09) A Letter to The Right Honourable The Earl of Hillsborough on the Present Situation of Affairs in America ALSO An Appendix in Answer to a Pamphlet Intituled The Constitutional Right of Great-Britain to Tax the Colonies. This letter has commonly been attributed to Samuel Adams but Hutchinson (History of Massachusetts) believes it was James Bowdoin. The Appendix is sometimes attributed to George Canning, Sr.