News  Exhibit Collection Spotlight: Establishing an Oath of Allegiance

An Act for Prescribing and Establishing an Oath of Fidelity and Allegiance, 1778

(Broadside 81) 

As a complement to our new exhibit, Raising the Alarm: Revolutionary Broadsides at the State Library, each month a broadside from that exhibit will be on display in our Collection Spotlight case. We are beginning with this Act, which was enacted in February 1778 by the Council and the House of Representatives in the General Court. As the new country was establishing its independence, oaths of allegiance were commonly administered by the colonies to confirm loyalty from its citizens while affirming separation from Great Britain.  The Act includes instructions on how an oath should be administered, under what circumstances, and by whom, as well as what to do if an individual refuses to sign.  Read more in this week’s blog post and visit us through August 4 to see it in person.