A DEFENCE AGAINST CALUMNY; OR, HAMAN, IN THE SHAPE OF CHRISTOPHER ELLERY, ESQ. HUNG UPON HIS OWN GALLOWS. BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF CERTAIN PUBLICATIONS, DURING THE LAST AUTUMN, IN THE NEWPORT MERCURY, REFUTING THE ACCUSATION AGAINST JOHN RUTLEDGE, OF WRITING TWO LETTERS TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, URGING THE "DISPLACEMENT" OF ALL THE FEDERALISTS IN RHODE-ISLAND, AND THE APPOINTMENT TO OFFICE OF SUCH PERSONS AS SHOULD BE RECOMMENDED BY CHRISTOPHER ELLERY, ESQUIRE. TOGETHER WITH A PREFACE AND APPENDIX

John Rutledge

Verlag: Printed for the Purchasers, Newport, Rhode Island, 1803

Beschreibung

64 pp. Modern 1/4 calf over marbled boards. Title with early ink and some marginal chipping, contents with age-toning and some light foxing, 2 leaves shaved at foot just touching some text, one leaf with some small early ink corrections, overall Good+ or better. First Edition. Ellery and the pamphleteer William Duane, a "gallows scape," had falsely accused Rutledge with forging Ellery's name to letters urging President Jefferson to remove Rhode Island Federalists from office and to replace them with Ellery's cronies. Rutledge says this false accusation against him was hatched by a conspiracy of Jefferson, Duane, and Ellery: Rutledge "was an intimate friend of Gen. Pinckney, who would probably be a competitor for the next presidency." The false charge, a plot to embarrass Pinckney, was intended to divert attention from Jefferson's own troubles: "When the Story of black Sally, and especially the damning one of Mrs. Walker, began to alarm the President, this was resorted to as a screen for him." "Black Sally," of course, was Sally Hemings, Jefferson's slave, rumored to be involved in a sexual relationship with him. Mrs. Walker, the wife of Jefferson's close friend, had for years been a long-suffering victim of Jefferson's unwanted and unreciprocated amorous advances. This pamphlet illustrates the enmity between Jeffersonian Republicans and Federalists. The former, says Rutledge, are cowards of "low dissipation," malignity, and stupidity. Rhode Island Senator Ellery avoided a duel with him but "received a severe cudgeling, which was slight when compared with his deserts," when they met by chance in a Piscataway inn. [I Turnbull 399; Gaines 03-08; Sabin 74487; AI 5008 (4)] Not in Bartlett, Sheidley, Eberstadt, Decker. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 100814

Bibliografische Details

Titel: A DEFENCE AGAINST CALUMNY; OR, HAMAN, IN THE...

Verlag: Printed for the Purchasers, Newport, Rhode Island

Erscheinungsdatum: 1803

Einband: Hardcover

Auflage: 1. Auflage