To the Inhabitants of the State of Massachusetts-Bay. Friends and Fellow Countrymen! It is with concern and attention that the House of Representatives find that an act, intitled an act for drawing in the bills of credit of the several denominations, &c. passed the last Session, has given uneasiness to any of the good people of this State: A number of towns have presented their petitions stating such grievances, as they apprehend will arise from the execution of that act, and pray relief

Boston: Printed by John Gill, 1777. Half broadsheet. (13 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches). [A]2. [1]-4. 4 pp. Folded broadsheet printed on recto and verso on laid paper

Revolutionary-era pamphlet on an act raising funds to fight against the British, issued by the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

This leaflet issued by the House of Representatives of the State of Massachusetts-Bay, dated December 15, 1777, summarizes objections to an act calling in bills of credit and refutes each point of the act's critics. This act was passed to finance the Continental Army during the American Revolution: "It is well known, that the present necessary and expensive war in which we are involved, for the preservation of every thing valuable, was first enkindled in this State, and in so sudden a manner, that without magazines or finances, we were obliged instantly to raise, pay, and support a large army by our own efforts, before the American Congress could take measures to relieve us; this occasioned the emission of large and repeated quantities of bills of credit; the unsettled state of Government, and the disinclination of many of the inhabitants to call in any of the bills of credit, or prevent the emission of more by taxation, reduced the legislative body to this alternative, either to suffer our liberties to be destroyed for want of defence, or else to continue the emission of paper bills, to the depreciation of what was then current; the same situation of Government, and disinclination for taxation taking place also in other States, occasioned large and repeated emissions of bills of credit from them, which obtained a general circulation among us." On page 4 is text of the order that "Mr. [Robert Treat] Paine, Mr. Greenough, and Mr. Phillips, be a committee to correct the address, one of which to be sent to the selectmen of each town. Attest. Samuel Freeman, clerk." Evans locates copies at only the following institutions: Library of Congress, Boston Public Library, Harvard Law School Library, Massachusetts Historical Society, New York Public Library, and the John Carter Brown Library.

Cushing, Massachusetts Laws 1018. ESTC W8602. Evans 15439. Ford, Broadsides 2099. LoC 2020775013. OCLC 62814407. (Inventory #: 40904)