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PAINE, ROBERT TREAT

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40. ROBERT TREAT PAINE (1731 - 1841) American jurist, member of the Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence and first Attorney General of Massachusetts. Fine content war-date A.D.S. "R.T. Paine" and "Robert Treat Paine" in the text, as Attorney General, 2pp. folio, [Boston], January, 1780, in which Paine orders the confiscation of the land and possessions of a Boston Tory sympathizer! This legal document reads, in small part: "...the Government and People in the Massachusetts Bay [have determined]...Peter Johonnot...levied War and conspired to Levy War...adhered to the King of Great Britain, his Fleets and Armies, enemies of the said Province, Colony and State...did give to them Aid and Comfort...did withdraw himself from this Province then under the acknowledged authority and dominion of the said King of Great Britain...[he] hath not since returned into any of the said United States and been received as a subject thereof...[he] hath freely renounced all civil and Political Relations to each and every of the said United States and hath become an Alien...", with the document then describing the location of the man's property and seizing it in the name of the state under "An act for confiscating the Estates of certain Persons Commonly called Absentees". Toned at margins and folds, chip at top three or four words of text, overall very good.

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