CHAUNCY, Charles (1705-1787). A Discourse On “the good News from a far Country.” Deliver’d July 24th. A Day of Thanks-giving to Almighty God, throughout the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England, on Occasion of the Repeal of the Stamp-Act… Boston: Kneeland and Adams for Thomas Leverett, 1766. 8vo (222 x 152 mm). Half-title. Sewn pamphlet, uncut (spotting, some marginal browning, D3 corner clipped, small marginal scorch mark on half-title and title at foot). Provenance: E. Ward (contemporary ownership signature on half-title). FIRST EDITION of this famous sermon on the repeal of the Stamp Act.
“There were rumors of the approaching repeal of the Stamp Act, in Boston, as early as the 1st of April; but the confirmation did not come until May 16th, when public rejoicings soon followed. The Governor, somewhat tardily, appointed July 24th as a day of thanksgiving, upon which occasion the Rev. Charles Chauncy, pastor of the First Church in Boston, delivered this Discourse. John Adams afterwards referred to this sermon, among others, as a proof of what would have transpired had England attempted to enforce the Stamp Act instead of wisely repealing it“ (Church).
The Stamp Act 1765 imposed a direct tax on the British Colonies in America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper in London which included an embossed revenue stamp. The purpose of the tax was to pay for British military troops in the colonies after the French and Indian War, but the colonists contended that they had already paid their share of the war expenses. Adams, American Pamphlets 24; British Pamphlets 66-16a; Church 1056; Evans 10255; Sabin 12315.