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Colonial Massachusetts

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:12,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
Colonial Massachusetts

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Auction Date:2014 Mar 12 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Extremely rare pair of circa 1722 colonial broadsides offering a series of oaths pledging loyalty to King George I. First is entitled “Oaths Appointed to be taken instead of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy: And Declaration,” one page, 6 x 16.75, pledged and signed at the conclusion by four British subjects in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Josiah Wolcott, Theophilus Burrill, William Gedney, and John Williams, March–August, 1722. In part: “I…Do sincerely Promise and Swear, That I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to His Majesty King George…I…Do Swear, That I do from my Heart abhor, detest and abjure as Impious and Heretical, that damnable Doctrine and Position, that Princes Excommunicated, or deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome, may be Deposed or Murthered by their Subjects, or any other whatsoever…I do believe that in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, there is not any Transubstantiation of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.” Second is untitled, one page, 8 x 11.75, pledged and signed at the conclusion by the same four officials, March–August, 1722. In part: “I do solemnly and sincerely Declare, That I do not believe in my Conscience, that the Person pretended to be Prince of Wales during the Life of the late King James, and since his Decease pretending to be, and taking upon himself the Stile and Title of King of England, by the Name of James the Third, hath not any Right or Title whatsoever to the Crown of the Realm of Great Britain.” Intersecting folds and moderate overall foxing, otherwise overall fine condition.

In 1721, a conspiratorial plot to depose George I and return James III from exile was uncovered, thwarting James’s final attempt to take the English throne. In response, these oaths were instituted, requiring public officials—Wolcott a selectman, Burrill a court officer, and Gedney a sheriff—to affirm their allegiance to King George as England’s legitimate king, to the Church of England as its national faith, and to reject anything that hinted of Catholicism. In the following year, 1723, Parliament would extend this oath-taking requirement to all British subjects—at home and in the colonies—rather than just officeholders. These historic documents are the only loyalty oaths to George I we have been able to locate at auction or in public institutions, making them highly desirable.