THIRD CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, AT THE SECOND SESSION...AN ACT TO AMEND THE ACT, ENTITLED, "AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE POST- OFFICE AND POST-ROADS WITHIN THE UNITED STATES" [caption title]

[Philadelphi: Francis Childs, 1795. Broadsheet, 13 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches. Old fold lines, with one small separation. Minor foxing. Very good. Untrimmed. An act passed by the Third Congress creating many new official post roads, and the alteration of several others. These new roads were to run through most of the country, but were concentrated in New England, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, with several also connecting the Carolinas. Of note is the establishment of a frontier post road to run from Bardstown, Kentucky to Nashville in the Southwest Territory, incorporated into the Union in 1796 as Tennessee.

"Approved, February the twenty fifth, 1795," and signed in print by Speaker of the House Augustus Muhlenberg, President of the Senate Pro Tempore Henry Tazewell, and President George Washington. Two states of this imprint are noted. One, Evans 29701, includes a statement of deposition, "Deposited among the rolls in the Office of the Secretary of State. Secretary of State," and is signed by Secretary of State Edmund Randolph. The other, Bristol B9377, is without this statement. This is the former, signed by Secretary of State Edmund Randolph. ESTC notes copies at only four American institutions, and Evans adds another at Library of Congress. Scarce in either format, and particularly rare with the signature of the Secretary of State.

Edmund Randolph became the second Secretary of State on Jan. 2, 1794, succeeding Thomas Jefferson, who resigned at the end of 1793. He continued the practice begun in the First Congress of the Secretary of State signing a small number of "official" copies of Congressional acts for distribution to the States and important government officials. After the Third Congress, official acts were no longer signed in manuscript by the Secretary of State. EVANS 29701. ESTC W14572