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Manuscript DS, signed “John Hancock Spk'r,” one page both sides, 7.25 x 9.25, September 10–13, 1779. Significant document in which the Massachusetts legislature passes an ordinance providing tax relief to a community burdened by the demands of military support for the Revolutionary War. In part: "On the application of the selectmen of Falmouth in the County of Cumberland & In consideration of the present distressed circumstances of that town. Resolved That the Ballance of their account for Supplying Soldiers Families to the first day of April last, being Two Thousand eight hundred on said Town in the Tax Act passed the last Session—And the Treasurer is hereby directed to give them Credit for the same accordingly." Below, Samuel Adams signs an endorsement referring the matter to a committee. Hancock signs again, certifying that the foregoing has been "Read & concurred" in the House of Representatives.
On the reverse, the committee returns and recommends in favor of the Falmouth selectmen, finding that the account "is not made out agreeable to the Resolves of the General Court." Hancock again endorses below, on September 11th, noting the matter as "sent up for Concurrence." Also endorsed at the conclusion by John Avery, on September 13th, as Deputy Secretary of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. In fine condition. All three Hancock signatures are large, clean, and bold. An extraordinary and historically significant document, boasting the autographs of two of the Massachusetts Bay's premier politicians of the Revolutionary War, both of whom had signed the Declaration of Independence three years earlier.
Notably, the "Falmouth" in the present document refers to the site of the modern city of Portland, Maine, which was then part of the state of Massachusetts Bay. In October 1775, the British Royal Navy burnt much of the city to the ground in retaliation against ports that supported burgeoning patriot activities at the outset of the revolution. More than 1,000 people were left homeless by the raid, including at least 160 families out of an estimated population of 2,500. The New-England Chronicle argued that 'the savage and brutal barbarity of our enemies' proved that Britain was 'fully determined with fire and sword, to butcher and destroy, beggar and enslave the whole American people.' News of the cruel attack spread throughout the colonies, galvanizing support for the cause of liberty and leading to the rejection of British authority as states began to establish independent governments.
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