Rare American Revolution-dated issue of The New-York Gazette, &c. Extraordinary from Friday, December 27, 1765, "Printed by John Holt, near the Exchange," 8.5 x 13.5, four pages on two adjoining sheets, featuring two columns on each page, amounting to a total of eight columns; the first four of which, and most of the fifth, contain a letter to John Holt, dated December 19, 1765, signed in print at the conclusion, "Philolutherus." The letter begins: "The Stamp Act has been so fully, and so frequently proved to be inconsistent with the first principles of the English constitution, that little more is necessary to be said on that head." The letter is followed by the publishing of Resolutions adopted by the Colony of South-Carolina on November 29, 1765, protesting the "Act of Parliament, intituled, 'an Act for granting and applying certain Stamp duties, and other Duties, on the British Colonies and Plantations in America,' &c. By imposing Taxes on the Inhabitants of this Province…That the duties imposed, by several late Acts of Parliament, on the People of this Province, will be extremely burdensome and grievous, and from the Scarcity of Gold and Silver, the Payment of then absolutely impracticable." Completing the seventh column and extending into the eighth, is text of a Resolution passed "At a Meeting of the Merchants and Traders at the British Coffee-House in Boston, on Monday the Ninth Day of December 1765," which reads, in part: "We the Subscribers, Merchants and Traders in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay, taking into Consideration the many Difficulties and Distresses we now labour under as a Trading People, owing to the late Restrictions and Prohibitions made by several late Acts of the Parliament of Great-Britain to regulate the Colonies; which Difficulties are further increased by the Stamp Act, so called…DO voluntarily come into the following Resolutions and Agreements, viz. First, Resolved and Agreed, That in all Orders we may send to Great Britain for Goods, we will direct our Correspondents not to ship them unless the Stamp Act is repealed, excepting Hemp, Canvas, Salt, Coals, Grindstones, Pipes, empty Bottlers, Wool-Cards, Brimstone, Copperas, Dying Stuffs, and Utensils for carrying on Manufactures, and such Articles as may be absolutely necessary for carrying on the Fishery, Secondly…that we will without Delay countermand any Orders we may have already sent to Great Britain for Goods, unless the Stamp Act be repealed." In very good to fine condition, with light dampstaining, short edge tears, two small repairs, and old interior tape reinforcing partial separation along the hinge.
After the passage of the Stamp Act, John Hancock believed, as loyal British subjects, the colonists should submit to the act, even though he thought Parliament was misguided. His popularity increased when Hancock, the richest man in New England, joined other merchants in the boycott of British goods. After Bostonians learned of the impending repeal of the Stamp Act, in May 1766, 29-year-old John Hancock was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
