The Freeman's Journal, or, The North-American Intelligencer. No. 34 (Wednesday, December 12, 1781)

Francis Bailey

F. Bailey, 1781

[Revolutionary War Newspaper]. One issue, no. 34, Wednesday, December 12, 1781. 4 pages.  Folio, 43.2 x 26.5 cm.  17.5 x 10.5 inches.  Freeman's Journal was a weekly newspaper published by Francis Bailey.  It was first printed in Apr. 25, 1781 and ceased publication in May 16, 1792.  In 1778 Bailey moved from Lancaster to Philadelphia, becoming the official printer for the new U.S. Congress and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  He started the infamous Freeman's Journal at the instigation of his friends, George Bryan and John Dicking Seargeant, both important figures in the Constitutionalist Party of the Revolution.  Bailey's paper was radically egalitarian and decidedly pro-Revolutionary.  It features an engraving of blind lady Justice on the front banner-head.  This issue features a letter from General Cornwallis describing the English surrender of the ports of York-town and Gloucester in Virginia due to the combined action of the American and French forces (letter dated Oct. 20, 1781, siege of Yorktown).  Additional articles include a letter from Lafayette.  Court notices including the sentence of death for slave Michael Ege for Ravishing a white woman; Negro Patty indicted, tried and acquitted of burning a barn; the same account for Phoebe.  A remarkable piece of early Americana.