Beschreibung:

MASSACHUSETTS - REVOLUTION] Group of printed Acts and Laws for the Revolutionary period, 1775-1780 . Watertown and Boston: Benjamin Edes, 1775-80. Numerous imprints bound in ten volumes. 20th century cloth. Sizes vary, tallest 14 x 8 inches (36 x 21.5 cm); paginated consecutively 1-329, with caption titles. A few, including the earliest, uncut and with some wear to extremities, others trimmed, some stains, foxing and short tears, various ownership stamps, signatures and other markings, at least one leaf lined and other small repairs, many quite clean. A fascinating assembly of laws necessitated and enacted in Revolutionary Massachusetts. The earliest imprints are dated from the July, September and November 1775 sessions held in Watertown (Acts and Laws, Passed by the Great and General Court or Assembly of the Colony of the Massachusetts-Bay. Watertown: Edes, 1775-76). The preamble here begins with the provocative revolutionary language "Whereas this oppressed Colony has, for many months past, been deprived of the free exercise of its usual powers of government ... many matters of great Importance for the Recovery and Preservation of that Liberty ... have been Resolved, Done and Transacted by Provincial Congress." The first acts are quite stirring and establish the authority of the Provincial Congress, remove formerly appointed officers, form an oath of allegiance, encourage the arming of vessels, and, most importantly, form a militia "constituted of all able bodied male persons" within the Colony. The designation of colony is shortly replaced by the newly formed designation of Massachusetts as a state and imprints continue complete in pagination through p. 329 with further acts regarding treason, desertion, prisoners, forgery, restraining dangerous persons, prohibiting Tories to return, public credit, etc. A group of laws very evocative of the period, enacted in the birthplace of the Revolution. Evans 14202-3, 14845-6, 15400-01, 15883-4, 15885, 16343-6, 16837. C The New York City Bar Association