The American Anti-Slavery Almanac for 1840, being bissextile or leap-year, and the 64th of American Independence, calculated for Boston…

15 Monday Jan 2018

≈ Comments Off on The American Anti-Slavery Almanac for 1840, being bissextile or leap-year, and the 64th of American Independence, calculated for Boston…

Tags

almanac, America, American Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, branding, burning, charts, Congress, constitutions, dogs, eclipses, freedom, governments, guns, high tides, hunting, laws, liberty, lynching, New York, population, postage rates, republics, selling, slaves, statistics, tables, United States

“He is a traitor to his race, who does not feel that all within the circle of humanity are his brothers and sisters — that their wrongs are his wrongs, and that his cup is dashed with the bitterness which overflows from theirs. While a single human being, round the wide world, drags the chain or drops the tear of a slave, every other human being, whose heart has not turned to stone, will cry out against the wretch who riveted the one or wrings out the other.”

…

“This language of Congress is memorable, as it shows that the dignified and enlightened body, under whose auspices the liberties of America were achieved, still retained an undiminished respect for the great and eternal principles of FREEDOM….’For extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which form the basis on which these republics, their laws, and the constitutions are erected, to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions, and governments…'”

The American Anti-Slavery Almanac for 1840…
New York, NY & Boston, MA, 1839

This almanac presents the expected charts and tables, including lists of eclipses, high tides, population statistics of the United States, and postage rates. This practical matter is interspersed with texts detailing accounts of branding, hunting escaped slaves with dogs and and guns, selling a mother from her child, women being whipped in fields, lynching, burning alive and other atrocities perpetuated against the enslaved. The stories are illustrated with strikingly graphic images, one for each month plus one for the cover. Almanacs were read and used by a majority of literate American adults. The American Anti-Slavery Society began publishing these almanacs, in 1835, as a way of publicizing the horrors of slavery.

A Donation Highlights Jewish Contributions to Commerce in Early America

20 Monday Nov 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Donations

≈ Comments Off on A Donation Highlights Jewish Contributions to Commerce in Early America

Tags

abolitionism, advertisement, America, American, army, Bank of the United States, broker, Charleston, commerce, Congregation Mikveh Israel, Congress, Cornwallis, delegates, donation, Dr. Ronald Rubin, Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser, duty, England, financier, Frankfurt, George Washington, Germany, Haym Salomon, Isaac Franks, Jewish, levy, Levy Department Store, newspapers, Nones and Cohen, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, Solomon Lyons, South Carolina, Southern Union, stock brokers, The Charleston Mercury, The Independent Gazetteer, The Pennyslvania Packet

Dr. Ronald Rubin has donated four issues of early American newspapers highlighting Jewish contributions to commerce.

The Pennsylvania Packet, Philadelphia, October 9, 1781, features an advertisement by Haym Salomon, broker, considered the Financier of the American Revolution.

In the news that day, a report on the war from September 28:

“Gen. Washington sent in a flag to lord Cornwallis directing him not to destroy his shipping or warlike stores, as he would answer it at his peril. The early capture of the out-posts will greatly accelerate the future operations of our army.”

The Independent Gazetteer, or the Chronicle of Freedom, Philadelphia, February 4, 1783, contains an advertisement by Philadelphia stock brokers Isaac Franks, and Nones and Cohen.

In the news that day, a letter from the editor regarding vesting “power to Congress to levy, for the use of the United States, a duty of 5 per cent…on all goods, wares, and merchandise, of foreign growth and manufacture, etc….” to which the author against Rhode Island’s demurs: “If the Congress of America was a body of individual permanency, there might just cause of jealousy; but, when it is considered, that every member is annually nominated by assemblies, who are themselves also annually chosen by the people, I cannot perceive the least ground of danger; nay, I believe in most of the states, the delegates to Congress are revocable at pleasure: so that evil of misapplied power may be check as soon as it appears.”

Dunlap’s American Daily Advertiser, Philadelphia, May 9, 1791, features an advertisement by Solomon Lyons, a prominent Colonial-era broker and financier. Lyons was born in 1760 in Frankfurt, Germany and died in 1812 in Philadelphia, having raised a family of six children and being an active participant with Congregation Mikveh Israel.

In the news that day, an observation from a correspondent:

“The Bank of the United States may justly be considered as a proposition made to the monied interest, foreign and domestic — & in fact, appears to both in a very favourable point of light – the latter, from every information, are making great preparations to subscribe, and the terms are so advantages that no equal object of speculation is perhaps presented in any quarter of the globe to the former.

The Charleston Mercury, Charleston, South Carolina, February 13, 1856, contains a front page illustration of Levy Department Store.

In the news that day, a piece on abolitionism:

“…the Southern States shall become strong. Then, like the barons of England in similar circumstances, that they be able to demand their rights under the magna charta of the land, or, failing to secure these, to dissolve their connection with a hostile and lawless section. Glorious, indeed, according to our view, would be the result of Southern Union…”

Thank you, Dr. Rubin, for years of your wonderful gifts!

Continental Paper Currency, 1776

02 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

American Congress, Benjamin Franklin, British, Chester County, colonies, colony, Congress, Continental Congress, Continental paper currency, Counterfeit, currency, Elisha Gallaudet, FUGIO, gold, Hall & Sellers, independence, Ivy Mills, pence, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, political revolution, pounds, shillings, silver, sovereignty, Spanish, sundial, war

CONTINENTAL PAPER CURRENCY, 1776
Philadelphia: Printed by Hall & Sellers, 1776

Loosely united in the midst of political revolution and war, the British colonies had no unity whatsoever in currency. Each colony began printing its own paper currency valued both in British-style pounds, shillings, and pence and in the universally familiar Spanish milled dollar. Each colony valued the Spanish dollar at wildly different rates.

In the early flush of independence, the Continental Congress decided to use currency as one indication of sovereignty by launching a standard currency for all the colonies. An emission totaling $4,000,000 payable in Spanish milled dollars, or the equivalent in gold or silver, was authorized by the congressional resolution of February 10, 1776. Of this, $1,000,000 was reserved for the first national fractional currency.

The front design on the fractional notes included the first use of the “FUGIO” (I fly) legend and sundial as well as the “Mind your Business” legend. The back showed the thirteen linked rings representing the colonies and the legends “We are one” and “American Congress.” These designs were created by Benjamin Franklin. The devices and border designs were cut by Elisha Gallaudet. On the fractional bills the dots in the corners of the front design reflected the denomination.

The first four emissions of Continental paper currency from May 10, 1775 through May 6, 1776, included a dollar bill. There was one signer, in red ink, on the fractional bills and two signers, using red and brown ink, on the dollar denominations. Counterfeit detectors for the dollar denominations were made on blue paper. The paper, made at Ivy Mills in Chester County, Pennsylvania, contained blue fibers and mica flakes.

On this bill is printed, “This bill entitles the bearer to receive three Spanish milled dollars, or the value thereof in gold or silver, according to a resolution of Congress, passed at Philadelphia, Nov. 2, 1776.”

Book of the Week/ Donation – Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser

16 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week, Donations

≈ Comments Off on Book of the Week/ Donation – Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser

Tags

"Light-Horse Harry" Lee, A. C. Hanson, Baltimore Federal Republican, Boston, Cambridge, Confederate, Congress, Continental Army, Dr. Ronald Rubin, Ebenezer Rhoades, George Washington, Henry Lee, Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser, John Adams, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Robert E. Lee, Salem, The Essex Gazette, The New-England Chronicle, Uniform Monday Holiday Act, United States, University of Utah, War of 1812, Whiskey Rebellion

Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser
Boston: Ebenezer Rhoades, 1800

“First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life: pious, just, humane, temperate and sincere; uniform, dignified and commanding, his example was as edifying to all around him, as were the effects of that example lasting.”

George Washington’s death, late in 1799, evoked hundreds of funeral orations from all over the United States. Of these, that of Henry Lee, delivered before Congress on December 26, 1799 in Philadelphia, is the most memorable. His eulogy was re-printed in newspapers throughout the nation, and in pamphlets printed on the continent and overseas. The eulogy covered nearly the entire front page of newspapers.

As in many newspapers, this issue included “A Proclamation” signed by then-President John Adams setting aside February 22, Washington’s birthday, for the public to “testify their grief for the death of General George Washington.” In 1885, February 22 was declared a federal holiday. The date was changed to the third Monday of February in 1971 following Uniform Monday Holiday Act.

“Light-Horse Harry” Lee had been summoned by Washington in 1776 to join the Continental Army. In 1778, Washington promoted Lee to the rank of major and gave him command of a small corps of irregulars. Lee’s leadership of these troops earned him his nickname. In 1794 Washington sent him to command the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania. From 1799 to 1801 he served in Congress.

Lee helped his friend A.C. Hanson, editor of the Baltimore Federal Republican which opposed the War of 1812, resist a mob attack. In the melee he received injuries from which he never recovered. Lee served a year in debtor’s prison. He was the father of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

The Independent Chronicle (1776-1840) originated in 1768 as The Essex Gazette in Salem and The New-England Chronicle in Cambridge which joined forces in Boston. In 1820 it had the distinction of being Boston’s oldest running newspaper.

University of Utah copy gift of Dr. Ronald Rubin.

OPEN BOOK

~ News from the Rare Books Department of Special Collections at the J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah

Tag Archives: Congress

The American Anti-Slavery Almanac for 1840, being bissextile or leap-year, and the 64th of American Independence, calculated for Boston…

Like this:

A Donation Highlights Jewish Contributions to Commerce in Early America

Like this:

Continental Paper Currency, 1776

Like this:

Book of the Week/ Donation – Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: