TO THE ELECTORS OF THE WESTERN DISTRICT.
[Providence? c. 1849]. Folio broadside, 11" x 17 3/4". Lengthy text printed in three columns beneath title. Two light creases. Two small tape remnants at head of verso from prior mounting. Signed in type, 'John W. Richmond.' Near Fine.
The broadside is an attack on Sylvester G. Shearman, a candidate for Congress from the Western District of Rhode Island in 1849. Richmond, its author, was Agent for the Creditors of the State for Revolutionary Claims; those Claims were a major issue during the election. Shearman, he says, is a "trading politician" of "uncontrollable vanity," "a lawyer, whose talents can be only calculated by one familiar with fractional arithmetic." As an opponent of creditors' just Claims, Shearman is "totally incompetent" and "totally wanting in courtesy of behavior and gentlemanly address." Shearman lost the election.
Sylvester G. Shearman [1802-1868], a native of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, was a lawyer, judge and politician. He had a long career in the State Legislature, and was the Whig candidate for Congress in 1849. Later he was Rhode Island's Attorney General and Associate Justice of its Supreme Court. [Fuller: THE GREEN BAG, VOLUME 2, 1890, p.536; Richmond, John W.: RHODE ISLAND REPUDIATION: OR THE HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY DEBT OF RHODE ISLAND, 1855, pp. 120-127].
Richmond [1775-1857] was a physician. A tribute in "The Medical World" notes his longstanding battle with Rhode Island for its repudiation of her Revolutionary War debt. Richmond purchased his burial plot in Stonington, Connecticut, so that his remains might "rest in soil uncontaminated by forgetfulness of the services of the men of the Revolution." [THE MEDICAL WORLD, Volume I, Number 25, March 18, 1857, p.664.]
OCLC 58788128 [3- NYHS, AAS, MA Hist. Soc.] as of February 2022. Item #34836
Price: $650.00