How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

New Haven, Connecticut, July 4, 1820. 18-page manuscript of an anti-slavery oration. 12mo. Contemporary stiff blue wrappers; old vertical crease.

A fine manuscript of an engaging July 4, 1820 anti-slavery oration, delivered only a few months following the passage of the Missouri Compromise. The orator, Elias Stillwell Townsend (1796-1820), opens by praising "the patriots who secured our independence", but then asks, "What were the expectations of the founders of our republic, and how far those expectations have been or will be realised"? He answers by bringing attention to the slavery question that had thus roiled the nation, "The incidents of the past year shew but little to flatter us. A horrid vision has disturbed our halcyon dreams of happiness. Slavery rising from the South like the cloud of Elijah gradually expands itself and portentously threatens us." He goes on to ask, "Let it be supposed that they who proclaimed all men created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness--is it to be supposed they fancied that our country should become a vast prison, a receptacle for slaves? Or that the independence they established at a vast expenditure of blood and treasure should ever be jeopardised from such a source?"

Townsend notes that the rising number of enslaved will one day outnumber their oppressors, and will rightly seek revenge, and "attempt their forcible emancipation." Calling to mind the example of the successful slave uprising and revolution in Haiti, the author praises its leaders "Touissant [Louverture], [Alexandre] Petion, and [Henri] Christophe" for their accomplishments in bringing an end to bondage. He then refers to Missouri, a new slave state following the passage of the Missouri Compromise that previous March, "opening a new market for slaves, in vain are all exertions to prevent that abominable traffic, that slave trade." The remainder of his long speech touches on numerous topics, including the economic conditions of the enslaver, the larger economic prosperity of the nation, and Connecticut's larger role within the republic that allows slavery to continue.