THE MASSACHUSETTS GAZETTE
Boston, Friday, February 2, 1787
Vol. VI, No. 301
Printed and published by Samuel Hall, State Street, Boston.
Original 1787 newspaper with extensive contemporary reporting on Shays' Rebellion, including Daniel Shays and General Benjamin Lincoln — published while the rebellion was still unfolding.
This February 2, 1787 issue contains unusually substantial reporting concerning the final phase of Shays' Rebellion in western Massachusetts. The issue appeared only days after the confrontation at the Springfield Armory and contains reports and correspondence concerning the movements of Shays and the Massachusetts government forces.
Among the important material:
- A Boston report describing General Benjamin Lincoln's army marching from West Springfield toward Amherst and the insurgents withdrawing toward Pelham.
- Contemporary reporting that Shays had left his position at Chicopee and that his forces were “breaking to pieces.”
- A letter from General Benjamin Lincoln to Captain Daniel Shays, dated Hadley, January 30, 1787, calling upon Shays and his men to lay down their arms.
- The newspaper prints Daniel Shays' name prominently in type in connection with the correspondence.
- A report/order signed in type D. SHAYS, along with J. Powers, R. Dickinson, J. Bordwell, and J. Billings, directing armed men to assemble with provisions and march to Pelham.
- Additional contemporary discussion of the political grievances and government response surrounding the rebellion.
This is particularly desirable because it is not a later retrospective account: it is a contemporary Massachusetts newspaper reporting the rebellion essentially in real time. Historical records independently document the Benjamin Lincoln–Daniel Shays correspondence of January 30, 1787. American Constitution Center
The Massachusetts Gazette was published in Boston by Samuel Hall during this period and had become a twice-weekly newspaper in August 1786. American Antiquarian Society
Four pages.
Condition: Complete issue with substantial age toning, foxing and staining, edge wear, small edge losses and tears, and wear/separation along the spine/fold. There is also a small dark hole/loss affecting a few letters in one Shays-related passage, as clearly photographed. Owner's early ink inscription “Dr John Wright” at the top of the front page. Despite the faults, the newspaper remains substantially intact and the important Shays' Rebellion material is readily readable. Please examine photographs carefully for condition.
An excellent primary-source newspaper from one of the most important domestic crises of the Confederation period, occurring during the months immediately preceding the Constitutional Convention.
Shays Rebellion, Shays' Rebellion, Daniel Shays, Benjamin Lincoln, Massachusetts Gazette, 1787 newspaper, original newspaper, American history, Confederation period, Massachusetts history, Springfield Armory, Pelham Massachusetts, Samuel Hall, early American newspaper, Constitutional Convention, 18th century newspaper, Americana
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