![Item #369662 The Pennsylvania Evening Post ... Saturday, March 2, 1776 ... [with the first printing of radical James Cannon's letter advocating for independence, written under the pseudonym Cassandra]. American Revolution.](https://jamescumminsbookseller.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/369662.jpg?auto=webp&v=1777305718)
The Pennsylvania Evening Post ... Saturday, March 2, 1776 ... [with the first printing of radical James Cannon's letter advocating for independence, written under the pseudonym Cassandra].
Philadelphia: Benjamin Towne, March 2, 1776.
Price:
$3,500.00
Vol. II, Num. 174. 4pp. 4to. Unbound. Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, vol.2, pp. 931-933.
Item #369662
In December 1775, Great Britain passed the Prohibitory Act, removing the colonies from the protection of the crown, banning trade with them, and allowing seizure of American ships at sea. John Adams, writing to Horatio Gates on March 23, left no doubt as to the direct effects of the legislation: "... King Lords and Commons have united in Sundering this Country and that I think forever. It is a compleat Dismemberment of the British Empire. It throws thirteen Colonies out of the Royal Protection, levels all Distinctions and makes us independent in Spight of all our supplications and Entreaties..."
News of the Prohibitory Act had reached America in late February 1776. Radical James Cannon, writing under the pseudonym Cassandra, published three letters in Philadelphia newspapers advocating for independence, the present March 2 letter in the Pennsylvania Evening Post being the first and most important. The letter, which quotes Thomas Paine's caution against inactivity ("Common Sense says this winter is worth an age") warns that the promise to send commissioners to treat with the Americans was nothing but a farce, a "wooden horse which is to take those by strategm whom twelve years of hostility could not reduce." He goes farther, however, by advocating that should commissioners be sent to America by the King that they should be immediately arrested and asked whether they had the authority to order home of the British fleet and that no negotiation should occur while under military threat. He writes: "O foolish Americans! Who has bewitched you, that you should put any confidence in men who spill your blood with as little ceremony and reluctance, as a butcher would that of an ox."
In reply to Cannon, William Smith would take up pen, writing anonymously unders the pseudonym Cato in several letters published in Philadelphia newspapers; these letters in turn would prompt Thomas Paine to return to Philadelphia in the beginning of April and reply to Cato in defense of his friend Cannon under the pseudonym The Forester.
This issue of the Pennsylvania Evening Post also includes a notice signed in print by Robert Treat Paine concerning the making of muskets and bayonets, as well as news that a provincial convention will be held in Philadelphia in April to consider "the present state of the province", i.e. whether Pennsylvania would instruct their representatives in Congress to move for independence.
Printer Benjamin Towne came to America from Great Britain in 1769, working initially for the weekly newspaper the Pennsylvania Chronicle. On January 24, 1775 he established and printed the first issue of his own newspaper, the Pennsylvania Evening Post. The Post was the city's first evening paper as well as its first tri-weekly, with only weekly newspapers issued in Philadelphia to that point. Given its evening publication, frequency and location in Philadelphia in the formative years leading to independence and the American Revolution, the Evening Post would hold the distinction of being the first to print many important resolves of the Continental Congress – most notably being a first-page printing of the Declaration of Independence on July 6, 1776 – as well as other important works such as Thomas Paine's American Crisis, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Pennsylvania Constitution and more. Towne would continue to publish his newspaper during the Revolution, staying in Philadelphia during the British occupation and being branded as a traitor as a result, although returning to the patriot cause after the British left the city. On May 30, 1783, Towne would turn the Pennsylvania Evening Post into the first daily newspaper in the United States, though it would be short-lived, with the final issue published on October 26 1784.
Item #369662
In December 1775, Great Britain passed the Prohibitory Act, removing the colonies from the protection of the crown, banning trade with them, and allowing seizure of American ships at sea. John Adams, writing to Horatio Gates on March 23, left no doubt as to the direct effects of the legislation: "... King Lords and Commons have united in Sundering this Country and that I think forever. It is a compleat Dismemberment of the British Empire. It throws thirteen Colonies out of the Royal Protection, levels all Distinctions and makes us independent in Spight of all our supplications and Entreaties..."
News of the Prohibitory Act had reached America in late February 1776. Radical James Cannon, writing under the pseudonym Cassandra, published three letters in Philadelphia newspapers advocating for independence, the present March 2 letter in the Pennsylvania Evening Post being the first and most important. The letter, which quotes Thomas Paine's caution against inactivity ("Common Sense says this winter is worth an age") warns that the promise to send commissioners to treat with the Americans was nothing but a farce, a "wooden horse which is to take those by strategm whom twelve years of hostility could not reduce." He goes farther, however, by advocating that should commissioners be sent to America by the King that they should be immediately arrested and asked whether they had the authority to order home of the British fleet and that no negotiation should occur while under military threat. He writes: "O foolish Americans! Who has bewitched you, that you should put any confidence in men who spill your blood with as little ceremony and reluctance, as a butcher would that of an ox."
In reply to Cannon, William Smith would take up pen, writing anonymously unders the pseudonym Cato in several letters published in Philadelphia newspapers; these letters in turn would prompt Thomas Paine to return to Philadelphia in the beginning of April and reply to Cato in defense of his friend Cannon under the pseudonym The Forester.
This issue of the Pennsylvania Evening Post also includes a notice signed in print by Robert Treat Paine concerning the making of muskets and bayonets, as well as news that a provincial convention will be held in Philadelphia in April to consider "the present state of the province", i.e. whether Pennsylvania would instruct their representatives in Congress to move for independence.
Printer Benjamin Towne came to America from Great Britain in 1769, working initially for the weekly newspaper the Pennsylvania Chronicle. On January 24, 1775 he established and printed the first issue of his own newspaper, the Pennsylvania Evening Post. The Post was the city's first evening paper as well as its first tri-weekly, with only weekly newspapers issued in Philadelphia to that point. Given its evening publication, frequency and location in Philadelphia in the formative years leading to independence and the American Revolution, the Evening Post would hold the distinction of being the first to print many important resolves of the Continental Congress – most notably being a first-page printing of the Declaration of Independence on July 6, 1776 – as well as other important works such as Thomas Paine's American Crisis, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Pennsylvania Constitution and more. Towne would continue to publish his newspaper during the Revolution, staying in Philadelphia during the British occupation and being branded as a traitor as a result, although returning to the patriot cause after the British left the city. On May 30, 1783, Towne would turn the Pennsylvania Evening Post into the first daily newspaper in the United States, though it would be short-lived, with the final issue published on October 26 1784.
