NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION BROADSIDE. Boston, September 14, 1768. Gentlemen, you are alr...

NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION BROADSIDE. Boston, September 14, 1768. Gentlemen, you are already too well acquainted with the melancholy & very alarming circumstances to which this Province, as well as America in general, is now reduced.... [Boston]: 1768. Printed Broadside, 320 x 195 mm. Signed secretarially at lower right in a single hand, imitating that of John Hancock, with the names Joseph Jackson, John Ruddock, John Rowe, John Hancock, and Samuel Pemberton (see Goodspeed, 1962, in rarebookhub). Fold creases, scattered browning, corners rubbed. A RARE AND IMPORTANT BROADSIDE CIRCULAR DENOUNCING TAXES 'IMPOSED ON THE PEOPLE WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT,' and calling for a convention of representatives of towns to meet in Boston on September 22, 1768. 'You are already too well acquainted with the melancholly and very alarming Circumstances to which this Province, as well as America in general, is now reduced. Taxes equally detrimental to the Commercial Interests of the Parent Country and her Colonies, are imposed upon the People, without their Consent;—Taxes designed for the Support of the Civil Government in the Colonies, in a Manner clearly unconstitutional, and contrary to that, in which 'till of late, Government has been supported, by the free Gift of the Standing Army; not for the Defence of the newly acquired Territories, but for the old Colonies, and in a Time of Peace. The decent, humble, and truly loyal Applications and Petitions from the Representatives of this Province for the Redress of these heavy and very threatning Grievances, have hitherto been ineffectual, being assured from authentick Intelligence that they have not yet reach'd the royal Ear: The only Effect of transmitting these Applications hitherto perceivable, has been a Mandate from one of his Majesty's Secretaries of State to the Governor of this Province, to Dissolve the General Assembly, merely because the late House of Representatives refused to Rescind a Resolution of a former House, which imply'd nothing more than a Right in the American Subjects to unite in humble and dutiful Petitions to their gracious Sovereign, when they found themselves aggrieved: This is a Right naturally inherent in every Man, and expressly recognized at the glorious Revolution as the Birthright of an Englishman.' The broadside was circulated throughout the province in response to the Townsend Acts, the latest in a series of British tax levies including the Stamp Act and the Quartering Act. The government's action led to widespread discontent among the American Colonists, and would provide the kindling for the forthcoming American Revolution. Fearing backlash against the dissolution of the Assembly, Governor Barnard ordered 'one or more regiments' of British soldiers be sent to Boston to quell any unrest, which the circular notes 'is one of the greatest Distresses to which a free People can be reduced.' The convention took plate September 23-28 at Faneuil Hall, and on October 1 the first British troops began arriving in Boston, setting off a string of events that would culminate in the American Revolution. A rare and significant broadside touching on many concerns which would be addressed more fully in the Declaration of Independence. Bristol B2851; Ford 1430; Shipton & Mooney 41799. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing