Author: [Hamilton, Thomas]
Title: Men and Manners in America. By the Author of Cyril Thornton, Etc
Description: Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1833. 1833. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1833. 1833. Fair. - Octavo, three-quarter brown calf & marbled boards. The covers are quite scuffed & rubbed, with some wear to corners. 410 pages. The hinges are cracked and the front endpaper has partially adhered to the pastedown. A previous owner's name is boldly penned on the front blank and 3 lines of notes in ink are penned at the top of the title page. Scattered foxing throughout and some staining to the inner edge of the last few leaves. Some marginal pencil lines. A complete copy.

First American edition. [Howes H-138].

The author, who embarked from Liverpool, England and arrived in New York on board the ship of the same name, recounts his impressions of his travels in America. Commenting on all aspects of American culture, industry and government, he frequently expresses fascinating insight into the mores of this country. Nowhere is this most apparent than in his observations of the supposedly free blacks in the Northern States of the Union: "Of the whole, I cannot help considering it a mistake to suppose, that slavery has been abolished in the Northern States of the Union. It is true, indeed, that in these States the power of compulsory labour no longer exists; and that one human being within their limits, can no longer claim property in the thews and sinews of another. But is this all that is implied in the boon of freedom? If the word mean any thing, it must mean the enjoyment of equal rights, and the unfettered exercise in each individual of such powers and faculties as God has given him. In this true meaning of the word, it may be safely asserted, that this poor degraded caste are still slaves. They are subjected to the most grinding and humiliating of all slaveries, that of universal and unconquerable prejudice..Citizens! there is, indeed, something ludicrous in the application of the word to these miserable Pariahs. What privileges do they enjoy as such? Are they admissible upon a jury? Can they enrol themselves in the militia? Will a white man eat with them, or extend to them the hand of fellowship? Alas! if these men, so irresistibly manacled to degradation, are to be called free, tell us, at least, what stuff are slaves made of!" . Fair .

Keywords: AMERICANA; AMERICAN HISTORY; FIRST AMERICAN EDITION; THOMAS HAMILTON; MEN AND MANNERS IN AMERICA; VOYAGE TO NEW YORK; SCENERY; THEATRES AND ACTORS; ANTI-SLAVERY; CIVIL RIGHTS; OPINIONS; ESSAYS; SERVANTS; CHARLESTON PRISON; CONSTITUTION OF NEW ENGLAND STAT

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