HENRY GARDNER, Esq: (1731-1782). Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, Boston, Appointed the first Receiver General and Treasurer in 1774 by the Provisional Congress of Massachusetts, and in 1780 upon adoption of the new State Constitution, serving in that post until his death on October 7, 1782.
April 25th, 1778-Dated Revolutionary War Partially-Printed State of Massachusetts-Bay Broadside, Boston, 1 page, measuring 16.25” x 13.25” (by sight), fully executed and completed in deep brown ink manuscript on laid period paper boldly Signed, “H Gardner” as Treasurer and Receiver General at the conclusion measuring 2.5” long with his flourish below, Framed in a simple modern black wood to fully 17” x 14.5”, Very Fine. This scarce Tax Warrant Collection Document has some expected transmittal folds on an untrimmed full paper sheet with its fully wide original margins having slight age tone and trivial spotting. It is complete together with its Embossed Paper and Wax Official Seal at upper left. This is the only Tax warrant form example we have located dated 1778. Here, being issued to “Amos Dole Constable or Collector of (the town) Newbury, expecting 729 Pounds 7 Shillings and 6 pence from the town. by Henry Gardner as treasurer of Massachusetts.

Note: The year “1778” was a most difficult year in the financial history of the American Revolution, especially in the Boston area. In May 1778 two Connecticut regiments mutinied over lack of pay, while in October the value of Continental Currency paper money sank to 1/177th of its face value due to inflation and non-acceptance by the population. Growing desperate for additional funds and supplies, the several states did what all governments do in similar straits: they raised taxes. This historic Broadside style warrant grants sweeping authority to local Massachusetts governments and Constables to tax and collect a variety of real estate transactions and property. Bereft of reliable demographic data, the Act also calls for an accurate list of inhabitants and their "rateable estates." The original Act of May 1777 typically requiring to assess all Male Polls above the Age of Sixteen Years ... including Negroes and Molattoes ... at five shillings..." (not stated so in this tax warrent). References See: Only One similar copy at the Library of Congress; BRISTOL 5128; ESTC W18365; Ford 2260-2263 (ref); APPLETON'S CYCLOPPROBLEM: ÆDIA II, page 598; Cassedy, Demography in Early America, page 198; Greene & Pole, Blackwell’s Encyclopedia of the American Revolution, pages 818-819.
The effort was mostly a failure as the tremendous population fluxes during the American Revolution due to war deaths and British Loyalist desertion that made the statistical enumeration of inhabitants nearly impossible. Over time, at least four similar warrants were issued by Henry Gardner. Of historic fiancial note, Henry Gardner was one of the first State officials of the new government to draw his salary entirely from the public revenue.
[American Revolution, Revolutionary War, Massachusetts] [War Finance, Taxation, Continental Currency] [Broadsides, Manuscripts, Documents, Autographs]