Alexander Purdie published a series of three insightful essays/letters  
about independence over the initials "AB" on April 12, 1776, "CD" on May 3,  
and "EF" on May 17.

Internal evidence clearly demonstrates that the author was a Virginian, and  
a search for distinctive phrases in the Early America Newspaper database  
(no hits) suggests that the essays appeared ONLY in Purdie's Gazette.  
Several distinctive phrases that score any hits in Early America  
Newspapers, Early American Imprints (Evans), or Googlebooks shed no light  
on these essays. The phrase "execration and abhorrence" for example goes  
back to the Book of Job....

The VanSchreeven, Scribner, Tarter edition Revolutionary Virginia mentions  
the AB and CD essays in volume 6. I've not found any mention of the EF  
essay in volume 7. None of the paired initials appear in the Rev. Va. index  
- nor have I found them in the Duff-Cappon index to the Virginia Gazettes.

Some political actors can be ruled out by the arguments criticized : Edmund  
Pendleton, Robert Carter Nicholas, etc on the moderate side; Common Sense  
on the assertive side......

Any chance that anyone has identified the author of AB, CD, and EF in  
Purdie's Gazette ?

Jon Kukla

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