American Revolution
1784 PAUL REVERE Engraved Masthead "Massachusetts Spy" Newspaper with "Liberty Defended From Tyranny" and Extensive Report on the October 1784 TREATY of FORT STANWIX & the revered Mohawk Indian Chief Joseph Brant Identified to "Stephen R Bradley Esqr" Who is Credited with Writing the Twelfth Amendment United States Constitution
June 17, 1784-Dated Newspaper, "Thomas's Massachusetts Spy" (Boston, MA.), with a rarely encountered PAUL REVERE Engraved Masthead and extensive historic TREATY of FORT STANWIX content, Identified to "Stephen R Bradley Esqr"4 pages, Complete, Very Fine.
A highly important rare final year use of Paul Revere's Copper-Plate Engraved Masthead as printed in "Thomas's Massachusetts Spy" (Boston, MA) dated June 17, 1784, with fantastic and immediate contemporary history. This historic newspaper features the rare Paul Revere Engraved Masthead incorporating Two Revere Engraved Medallions each bookend of this newspaper's title. The left side medallion contains the Patriotic slogan: "Liberty Defended From Tyranny". The right side Revere engraved medallion features Two Hands warmly Embracing, seen above the word "Union". These Paul Revere engraved designs ended use in December 1784. This newspaper is clean and well printed with a trivial split tear affecting the words "Thomas's" and "Massachusetts" reinforced with a small piece of archival conservation tape to the verso as shown.
The front-page reports detailed coverage of the TREATY of FORT STANWIX, of October 1784, between the fledgling U.S. Government and the Iroquois Indian Confederacy, which forced the Iroquois to cede much of their land to the U.S., including land along the Ohio River Valley, land which the Iroquois were not legally able to cede. The front page features speeches by the MARQUIS De LAFAYETTE, representing the U.S., and the revered Mohawk Indian chief Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea).
Page 2 features additional coverage, including Lafayette's parting speech. The Council at Fort Stanwix was the Americans' attempt at concluding a final piece with the Iroquois, many of whom had sided with the British during the American Revolutionary War. In the end, despite ceding much of their land at this Treaty session, the Iroquois council at Buffalo Creek (present day Buffalo, NY) refused to ratify the treaty and bloody violence along the Ohio would continue for another decade.
Further adding to the importance and value of this newspaper is the Owner's Name written in rich brown at the top left margin selvage, "Stephen R Bradley Esqr" likely when in the greater Boston area. Stephen Row Bradley (February 20, 1754 " December 9, 1830) was an American lawyer, judge and politician. He served as a United States Senator from the State of Vermont and as the President pro Tempore of the United States Senate during the early 1800s. Bradley is credited with writing the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was passed by Congress in 1803 and ratified in 1804.
A nice clean whole and complete newspaper, with exceptional content and pleasing for display.
Paul Revere (1734 - 1818) was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, Sons of Liberty member and Patriot in the American Revolution. He is best known for his midnight ride to alert the colonial militia in April 1775 to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1861 poem, "Paul Revere's Ride".
At age 41, Revere was a prosperous, established and prominent Boston silversmith. He had helped organize an intelligence and alarm system to keep watch on the British military. Revere later served as a Massachusetts militia officer, though his service ended after the Penobscot Expedition, one of the most disastrous campaigns of the American Revolutionary War, for which he was absolved of blame.
Following the war, Revere returned to his silversmith trade. He used the profits from his expanding business to finance his work in iron casting, bronze bell and cannon casting, and the forging of copper bolts and spikes. In 1800, he became the first American to successfully roll copper into sheets for use as sheathing on naval vessels.
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was a treaty finalized on October 22, 1784, between the United States and Native Americans from the six nations of the Iroquois League. It was signed at Fort Stanwix, in present-day Rome, New York, and was the first of several treaties between Native Americans and the United States after the American victory in the Revolutionary War.
Following the Revolutionary War, the British ceded their claims in North America to the American government, against the desire of their Native American allies. As a result, the status of Indian lands was ignored in the Treaty of Paris, which was the peace and land settlement between the British and the American colonies. Iroquois League fled to Canada after the Revolution in order to continue receiving British support. Later, some of the Iroquois returned to their home in the Ohio region. Those that returned often got into violent conflict with colonists trying to settle the area. The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was intended to serve as a peace treaty between the Americans and the Iroquois, as well as secure other Indian lands farther west, which the Iroquois had gained by conquest during the Beaver Wars in the last century. Joseph Brant was the leading Indian at the start of negotiations. He said, "But we must observe to you, that we are sent in order to make peace, and that we are not authorized, to stipulate any particular cession of lands." Brant had to leave early for a planned trip to England. The leading Indian representatives who signed the treaty were Cornplanter and Captain Aaron Hill. In this treaty, the Iroquois Confederacy ceded all claims to the Ohio territory, a strip of land along the Niagara river and all land west of mouth of Buffalo creek. In Pennsylvania, the land acquired in this treaty is known as the "Last Purchase".
The Six Nations council at Buffalo Creek refused to ratify the treaty, denying that their delegates had the power to give away such large tracts of land and asked the Americans for return of the deeds and promised to indemnify them for any presents they had given. The general Indian confederacy also disavowed the treaty because most of the Six Nations did not live in the Ohio territory. The Ohio Country natives, including the Shawnee Indians, the Seneca-Cayuga, the Lenape (Delaware) and several other tribes, rejected the treaty. A series of treaties and land sales with these tribes soon followed.
Stephen Row Bradley (February 20, 1754 " December 9, 1830) was an American lawyer, judge and politician. He served as a United States Senator from the state of Vermont and as the President pro tempore of the United States Senate during the early 1800s.
Bradley was born on February 20, 1754, in the part of Wallingford, Connecticut that is now Cheshire. He was the son of Moses and Mary (Row) Bradley. He was the grandson of Stephen Bradley, a New Haven silversmith who was one of six brothers who served in Cromwell's Ironsides before emigrating to America. Bradley graduated from Yale College in 1775.
After his graduation, Bradley was commissioned as Captain in the Connecticut Militia and rose to the rank of major. He commanded the Cheshire Volunteers and in December 1776, he served as adjutant. He was promoted to vendue master (auctioneer of seized enemy and Loyalist property) and Quartermaster, and then served as Aide-de-Camp to General Wooster during the British attack on Danbury on April 27, 1777 when Wooster was fatally wounded. Bradley resigned his commission after the battle.
He received a Master of Arts degree from Yale in 1778. In 1779, he moved to Westminster, Vermont and studied law, directed by Tapping Reeve, founder of the Litchfield Law School. Bradley was admitted to the bar in 1779 and began the practice of law in Westminster, becoming an important citizen of the town.
In October 1779, the Legislature selected him as one of five agents to the U.S. Congress from Vermont; in early 1780, he wrote a tract entitled Vermont's Appeal to a Candid and Impartial World, which defended Vermont's right to independence against competing claims by New York, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.
In June 1780, Bradley was appointed state's attorney for Cumberland County, Vermont. He held the positions of register of probate and town clerk, and in 1783 he served as county judge. He also served for seven years in the Vermont House of Representatives in the 1780s. He was speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives during 1785.
Bradley continued to be given additional responsibility in the militia. Appointed a first lieutenant in August 1780, he was promoted to colonel as commander of the 1st Regiment in October. He was later promoted to brigadier general as commander of the 8th Brigade, and served until 1791.
He served as judge of the Vermont Superior Court during the 1780s, and of the Vermont Supreme Court in 1788. Bradley was instrumental in settling Vermont's boundary disputes with New Hampshire. Vermont became part of the United States on March 4, 1791. Bradley and Moses Robinson were elected by the state legislature to be the first to fill Vermont's two senate seats.
In 1791, he entered the United States Senate and supported the anti-administration faction. Defeated for reelection in 1794, he returned to Westminster and was active in law and local politics, serving on the town council.
Reelected as a Jeffersonian candidate to the United States Senate in 1800, he served as President pro tempore of the Senate from the end of 1801 to near the end of 1802. After he was reelected in 1807, he served as the presiding officer again for a couple of weeks in the 1808-1809 period.
Bradley is credited with writing the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was passed by Congress in 1803 and ratified in 1804. Although a Democratic-Republican, he was opposed to the War of 1812.
After retiring from the Senate in 1813, he retired from politics and returned to Westminster. He lived there for five years, and in 1818 he moved to Walpole, New Hampshire where he lived for the rest of his life. His Walpole house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.