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America at 250

Fri, Jul 10, 2026 09:00AM EDT
  2026-07-10 09:00:00 2026-07-10 09:00:00 America/New_York Fleischer's Auctions Fleischer's Auctions : America at 250 https://bid.fleischersauctions.com/auctions/fleischers-auctions/america-at-250-22027
A historic assortment of lots carefully curated to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, bringing together significant artifacts, documents, and objects that illuminate the people, events, and ideals that shaped the nation’s founding and early development.
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Lot 27

[BENJAMIN FRANKLIN] The Pennsylvania Chronicle, June 1767, w/ Full Page Franklin Essay

Estimate: $250 - $500
Starting Bid
$100

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $10
$100 $25
$300 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$50,000 $5,000

The Pennsylvania Chronicle, And Universal Advertiser. Vol. I, Numb. 19. Philadelphia: Printed by William Goddard, 1 June 1767. 4pp, 11 1/2 x 18 1/2 in. With "Postscript to the Pennsylvania Chronicle, And Universal Advertiser." Vol. 1, Numb. 19. 2pp, approx. 9 3/4 x 15 1/2 in. Colonial American newspaper featuring a front-page printing of "Remarks on the Report published in our last Chronicle. By B.F. [Benjamin Franklin] Esq." Also with additional news from London and around the Colonies, and an extensive amount of advertising.

 

The Pennsylvania Chronicle was founded in 1767 by William Goddard and several silent partners, including Benjamin Franklin, to challenge the power of the Penn family in Pennsylvania as well as the Crown authorities who were increasingly placing laws and taxes on the American colonists without fair representation. The paper gained political notoriety leading up to the American Revolution by publishing John Dickinson's famous "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania" as well as for featuring Benjamin Franklin's essays.

 

This issue features Franklin's "Remarks on the Report published in our last Chronicle," his response to an "Extract of a letter from a Merchant in London, dated March 14, 1767" concerning "Remarks and Facts Relative to the American Paper Money."  Franklin's "Remarks" span the entire front page and a small portion of page 2. He writes from London, in small part: "Thus, if carrying out all the Gold and Silver ruins a Country, every Colony was ruined before it made Paper Money. But, far from being ruined by it, the Colonies, that have made use of Paper Money, have been and are all in a  thriving Condition...It seems hard therefore to draw all their [the colonies] real Money from them, and then refuse them the poor Privilege of using Paper instead of it. Bank Bills and Bankers Notes are daily used here as a Medium of Trade, and in large Dealings perhaps the greatest Part is transacted by their Means; and yet they have no intrinsic Value...It is therefore hoped, that fearing the full charge of British Debts, which are payable here, and in all Justice and Reason ought to be fully discharged here in Sterling Money, the Restraint on the legal Tender within the Colonies will be taken off, at least for the Colonies that desire it, and where the Merchants trading to them make no Objection to it."

 

Writing in the wake of the implementation of the Stamp Act (1765) and its repeal (1766), this essay was a public attempt by Franklin as a colonial agent in London to help smooth over strained relations between British merchants and American colonists. Franklin used his essay here to defend American merchants, subtly warned against British imperial overreach, and laid out meaningful arguments for public debate. The detente was not to be achieved, however, as later this same month the Townshend Acts were going to be passed by British Parliament, further igniting tensions within the American Colonies.

 

[Broadsides, Ephemera, Printing, Posters, Handbills, Documents, Newspapers] [Colonial America, 13 Colonies, Thirteen Colonies] [American Revolutionary War, American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, Colonial America]

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