TO THE HONORABLE THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES-- THE MEMORIAL OF THE SUBSCRIBERS, CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES, AND RESIDENT IN ---.
[Harrisburg PA? Pottsville? 1835?]. Folio broadside, 16-3/4" x 20." Printed in three columns, about eight inches at the bottom are left blank. Addressed, with postal cancel [Pottsville PA], "To his Excellency the Governor of Rhode Island, Providence." Folded for mailing. Several contemporary ink corrections. Several chips at blank margins. Very Good.
We suggest 1835 as the date of publication: the Memorialists issued the broadside from "a deep and active sympathy with their fellow-citizens, on the occasion of the sudden destruction of a vast amount of property, by the recent conflagration in New York." The 1835 fire qualifies as one of the great disasters in 19th century America. The only date referenced in the broadside's text is a Schuylkill County 1834 resolution pertaining to the proposal. The postmark, and the text reference to that resolution, suggest Pennsylvania as the place of publication.
The Memorialists urge Congress to create a $200,000,000 fund of five per cent stock, to be apportioned among the States. "And that the receipts from the sales of the National Lands, be pledged for the gradual redemption of the same." The proposition would enlarge the funds available for relieving public disasters, like the New York Fire, and would maintain the Nation as a "band of brotherhood, binding the Union together by mutual and common rights." Already the growing dispute over Slavery and South Carolina's recent Nullification efforts were causing concern that those bonds were loosening.
Not in Sabin, American Imprints. Not located on OCLC as of April 2020, or at the online sites of AAS, U Penn, NYPL. Item #36769
Price: $1,250.00