William Reese Company

Early Chicago Anti-Slavery Pamphlet by Adams

LETTER FROM THE HON. JOHN Q. ADAMS, TO THE BANGOR COMMITTEE, ON THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE WEST INDIES.

[Adams, John Quincy]:

[Chicago. ca. 1846]. pp.[89]-96. Dbd. Light soiling and wear. Good. Item #WRCAM47625

A scarce printed letter from John Quincy Adams to the anti-slavery committee in Bangor, dated July 4, 1843, followed by a report from the Monroe, New York DEMOCRAT about Adams' recent journey through the state. In his letter to the Bangor committee Adams declines an invitation to speak, citing poor health, but contributes a "strong blast at the institution of slavery" (Byrd). "The extinction of SLAVERY from the face of the earth," Adams writes, "is a problem, moral, political, religious, which at this moment rocks the foundations of human society throughout the regions of civilized man. It is, indeed, nothing more nor less than the consummation of the Christian religion" (p.[89]). The letter first appeared in a regular issue of THE LIBERTY TREE (probably the December 1843 issue, according to Byrd) and was most likely printed separately (but retaining original pagination) along with other important documents from the first volume of that publication approximately three years later. THE LIBERTY TREE was a monthly anti-slavery periodical edited and published in Chicago by Zebina Eastman from 1843 to circa 1846. OCLC lists five copies: University of Chicago, Libraries of the Claremont Colleges, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Brown University, and Princeton. BYRD 1009.

Price: $1,750.00