The American War of Independence America – Massachusetts 1775 A Journal of the Honorable House of Representatives of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in New-England begun and held at the Meeting-House in Watertown in the County of Middlesex on Wednesday the Nineteenth Day of July. Anno Domini, 1775. Printed by Benjam, in Edes 1776. Printed Journal, folio, disbound 80pp plus a further four pages out of sequence .Some fraying at the edges and overall light browning, torn out section to pp29/40 with loss of some text, not a complete document but generally in good condition. An important historical document chronicling the events in Massachusetts in the months leading up to the Declaration of Independence. Although only pp1-80 of the complete journal (plus pp 101-104) it provides considerable information on the progress of what was to become the War of Independence and with considerable references to the major participants on the American side. Listed are John Hancock, Samuel Adams, both signers of the Declaration of Independence as well as a long list of other representatives. There are many references to George Washington (first President) as well as reports on letters received from him. There is also mention of John Adams (Second President), and other figures who were to play a leading role in the events of the following year. There is also considerable mention of a small pox epidemic in Boston requiring mass evacuation, and references to the imprisonment of the two loyalists Josiah Jones and Jonathan Hicks. There is further mention of a trade embargo against Britain ‘...as this Colony in Union with the Sister Colonies on this Continent are unhappily engaged in an unnatural War with the Parent State...’ As the journal continues there is increasing evidence of the growing unease and outbreak of war, with a long declaration concerning the affair of Captain Thomas Cowden and his confession, and the gradual equipping of the Colonial Armies. A particularly interesting section deals with an interview with Indians of the St Francois Tribe who had travelled from Canada to join the Revolutionary War on the side of the Colonists. A remarkable primary source for the foundation of the United States of America.