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Prelude to the Boston Tea Party.

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:225.00 USD Estimated At:450.00 - 650.00 USD
Prelude to the Boston Tea Party.
Historic manuscript warrant to attend a New England town meeting, Reading, Mass., Sept. 17, 1768, 6 1/4 x 10 1/2, signed by Brown Emerson, Town Clerk. To Constable Samuel Damon. "You are hereby Required In his Majestie's Name to warn the freeholders and other Inhabitants In your District...to meet at the South meeting house in s(ai)d Reading on the 21 Day of Sept...at 1 of ye Clock...To see if the Town will Concur with the Request of the Town of Boston in cho(o)sing...Men to meet with a Committee of Sd. Boston at Funnil 'Faneuil] Hall...to Consider of the Important affairs of this Province...Fail not & make Return of this Warrant with your Doings...By order of the Select Men." Constable's endorsement on verso, "...I have warned the Inhabitance sic]...to meet...." A fateful year, in June, John Hancock's sloop Liberty had been seized in Boston, setting off a riot; three weeks later, the Massachusetts House of Representatives refused to rescind Sam Adams' open letter promoting opposition to the King. The meeting referred to here was an historic one, with delegates from 26 towns drawing up a statement of grievances. A week later, two regiments of British soldiers landed in Boston to enforce customs laws - and the die was cast. Agitation by the colonists was inflamed, culminating in the Boston Massacre, and ultimately tea parties not only in Boston, but in other Massachusetts towns (see preceding lot). Small red wax wafer seal. Some toning, else very good, and splendid for display. The town meeting continues today, an American institution much older than the Revolution, albeit sans the warnings!