AN ORATION, DELIVERED JULY 4, 1789, AT THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, IN ARCH STREET, PHILADELPHIA, BY THE REV. WILLIAM ROGERS, A.M. PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH AND ORATORY, IN THE COLLEGE AND ACADEMY OF PHILADELPHIA. TO WHICH IS ADDED, A PRAYER, DELIVERED ON THE SAME OCCASION, BY THE REV. ASHBEL GREEN, A.M. JUNIOR PASTOR OF THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI.
Philadelphia: Printed for T. Dobson, 1789. 32pp. Bound in modern plain wrappers. Lightly foxed. Inscription on top margin of title page. Very Good.
Rogers dedicates his Oration to the President [Thomas Mifflin], Vice President [Thomas M'Kean], and members of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati. He calls July 4 "The Sabbath of our Freedom! The animating rays of our new Constellation have been felt on the exhausted soil of Europe, and have penetrated the barbarous shades of Africa!"
Rogers, an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, rejects criticism of the Society as an anti-democratic organization. He lauds the Society, "an institution founded upon a basis the most honorable, with views the most friendly, humane, and patriotic!" Unlike European "orders of military merit," the Society of the Cincinnati stands for "the rights of mankind." It expresses "the grace of simplicity with the dignity of virtue," as opposed to European "pomp of pride."
The 1919 Huntington Auction called this "An important piece, upholding the Society of the Cincinnati, at whose request it was published."
Evans 22120. Sabin 72741. ESTC W5774. Item #38751
Price: $750.00