...at the South Part of the Town [Boston], the Trees for which many have so great a Veneration, were decorated with the Ensigns of Loyalty, and the Colours embroidered with several Mottos (which we have not been able to obtain---) on the Body of the largest Tree was fixed wth large deck Nails, that it might last (as a Poet said, like oaken Bench to Perpetuity) a Copper-Plate, with these Words stamped thereon, in Golden Letters, THE TREE OF LIBERTY, August 14, 1765....

The Pennsylvania Gazette. Containing the Freshest Advices Foreign and Domestick. Numb. 1918. Philadelphia, PA: Printed by B. Franklin, Post-Master, and D. Hall, at the New Printing-Office, near the Market, 26 September 1765. 4pp, approx. 10 1/2 x 16 in., bifolium. Woodcut masthead featuring in part the Penn family coat of arms, a shield crossed horizontally by a fess or band and the motto "Mercy / Justice." An extraordinary issue with extensive coverage of unfolding reactions throughout the Colonies to the passage of the Stamp Act by British Parliament on 22 March 1765.

First acquired by Benjamin Franklin from printer Samuel Keimer in 1729, under Franklin's direction The Pennsylvania Gazette soon became one of Colonial America's most successful newspapers. This issue begins with an announcement to the public of the founding of the Medical School of the College of Philadelphia, the first medical school in America. The announcement is featured prominently at the top of the first column of page 1: "As the necessity of cultivating medical knowledge in America is allowed by all, it is with pleasure we inform the public that a Course of Lectures on two of the most important branches of that useful science, viz., Anatomy and Materia Medica, will be delivered this winter in Philadelphia...together with an attendance on the practice of the physicians and surgeons of the Pennsylvania Hospital, the students will be able to prosecute their studies with such advantage as will qualify them to practise hereafter...." Signed in type by William Shippen, Jr., M.D., "Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the College of Philadelphia," and John Morgan, M.D., F.R.S., "Professor of Medicine in the College of Philadelphia." This was followed by advertisements from the professors containing course content and the terms on which pupils were to be admitted. The Medical School of the College of Philadelphia evolved into the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.

Pages 2 and 3 carry news excerpts from London and multiple cities throughout the Colonies, with widespread reporting on responses to the Stamp Act which was had been passed by Parliament in March 1765 and was due to commence implementation in a matter of weeks on 1 November 1765. From Boston, reports describe the commemorative plaque hung on the Tree of Liberty in honor of the August 14, 1765, street protests where Andrew Oliver was hanged in effigy. "Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston, are to meet at Faneuil-Hall...to confer upon such Measures as shall appear to them necessary to be taken in Consequence of the Stamp-Act, and other Matters of Grievance, and to determine whether Instructions shall be given their Representatives in General Assembly, for their Conduct at this very alarming Crisis." 

From Annapolis,  a report that "Effigies of ---------, a Native of that Colony, lately arrived there from England, with the --- honourable Commission of STAMP DISTRIBUTOR, was exposed through the Streets of the Town, accompanied by Hundreds of all Ranks: It was on Horseback, with its Face towards the Horse's Tail; and a ---- Act tied round its Neck...."

From Newport, the General Assembly is "taking into their most serious Consideration an Act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, at their Sessions, for levying Stamp Duties" and do resolve that "His Majesty's liege People of this Colony have enjoyed the Right of being governed by their own Affinity in the Article of Taxes and internal Police; and that the same have never been forfeited, or any other Way yielded up,..the Inhabitants of this Colony, are not bound to yield Obedience to any Law or Ordinance, designed to impose any internal Taxation whatsoever upon them...."

From Philadelphia, reporting on that state's General Assembly and a series of resolutions, including: "That the Taxation of the People of this Province by any other Persons whatsoever, than such their Representatives in Assembly, is UNCONSTITUTIONAL, and subversive of their most valuable Rights."

As news of fierce colonial opposition and mob violence reached Britain, conflicting sentiments on the Stamp Act were taking hold there as well. While some wanted to strictly enforce the act and condemn colonial resistance, London merchants and others began building support to repeal the Stamp Act. Ultimately, the Stamp Act was repealed in March 1766, but the staunch resistance as documented here paved the way for similar acts of resistance in the years leading up the opening shots at Lexington and Concord. 

A storied American Colonial newspaper with coverage demonstrating the heightening tensions which served as prelude to the American Revolution.

[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]

Disbound, light toning, light creasing, light chipping at edges.