Original issue of The Massachusetts Gazette, Boston, Tuesday, January 23, 1787, Vol. VI, No. 298, printed and published by Samuel Hall in State Street, Boston.
An exceptional pre-Constitution newspaper documenting the political, financial, and governmental crisis that helped produce the United States Constitution only months later.
Published January 23, 1787 — four months before the Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia — this issue contains remarkable contemporary discussion of the weaknesses of the government under the Articles of Confederation, the inability of Congress to solve the national debt crisis, doubts about American credit and political stability, and the domestic unrest represented by Shays’ Rebellion.
Among the most striking contents is an “Extract of a letter from Holland” discussing European perceptions of the United States.
The writer declares:
“The credit of America, in general, is deemed here to be very doubtful and precarious”
and argues that America lacks a sound political and financial foundation. Congress is described as having been reduced to such weakness that its resolutions are rejected by the states, while the national finances are characterized as extremely gloomy.
Most remarkably, the writer concludes:
“We are here of an opinion, that the Thirteen States of America are in such a state of confusion and inconsistency, that it will require a new revolution to bring them into a political stability.”
This extraordinary assessment was printed just months before delegates met at Philadelphia to replace the existing federal system with the Constitution.
The issue also contains an extensive Pennsylvania General Assembly report concerning the debt of the United States, congressional requisitions, public creditors, and Pennsylvania’s relationship to the financial obligations of the Confederation. The debate vividly illustrates one of the central structural problems facing the United States under the Articles of Confederation: Congress's dependence upon the individual states for revenue.
These discussions appear alongside extensive coverage of the growing Massachusetts crisis that became Shays’ Rebellion.
A lengthy Address from the Convention at Hatfield declares Massachusetts to be in “a most alarming situation,” describes deep divisions over government, notes that some citizens had resorted to arms, and warns that the Commonwealth stood in danger of “a civil war.”
The convention urges armed citizens to lay down their weapons and seek constitutional redress through the legislature.
Additional Boston reporting describes the mobilization against the insurgency. Approximately 250 insurgents under Luke Day are reported at West Springfield, while General William Shepard had approximately 1,000–1,200 men positioned near the Federal Arsenal at Springfield. General Benjamin Lincoln and his forces were beginning their march westward, and troops were being supplied for the protection of the courts and suppression of rebellious activity in the western counties.
The juxtaposition is historically powerful: within a single contemporary newspaper, the reader encounters the weakness of Congress, the national debt and credit crisis, foreign doubts about the viability of the United States, warnings that the country required a fundamental political transformation, and armed domestic unrest threatening civil war.
Together these articles provide an unusually vivid snapshot of the crisis of the Confederation immediately before the drafting of the United States Constitution.
Other contents include a substantial essay titled “Thoughts on Education,” news concerning Joseph Brant and the Six Nations, American and European news, maritime intelligence, advertisements, deaths, and other contemporary material.
Four pages, complete.
Good overall for an original 1787 newspaper. General age toning, scattered foxing and staining, edge wear, and binding/disbinding wear along the left margin. Several marginal tears and small losses, particularly along the edges, as shown. The important political and Shays’ Rebellion material remains strongly legible. Please examine photographs for exact condition.
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