(Boston: John Gill, December 15, 1777). Bifolium leaf, 13 3/4 x 8 1/2 in. Printed broadsheet. Signed in type at the conclusion by clerk Samuel Freeman. Paper worn and creased around margins; pin-holes to left side; scattered stains and foxing; with some expert restoration. ESTC W8602; Evans 15439; Ford, Broadsides 2099

Scarce Revolutionary-era printed broadsheet, refuting criticisms of an Act passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives to raise funds for the Continental Army.

While the Continental Army was established in 1775, it was at this time a loosely coordinated band of citizen-soldiers, under the control of their respective states. There were no established protocols for centralized authority, supplying and feeding troops, transportation, or the payment of wages. Individual state assemblies were often required to raise their own funds for the payment of soldiers, and usually did so through the passage of legislation, as seen here.

Rare. Evans only locates six institutional copies at the Library of Congress, Boston Public Library, Harvard Law School Library, Massachusetts Historical Society, New York Public Library, and the John Carter Brown Library.