May 07, 2020 - Sale 2534

Sale 2534 - Lot 53

Price Realized: $ 3,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) Jay, William. For the Emancipator & Republican: Mr. Clay on Slave Breeding, Autograph Manuscript, signed only as "A.B." 4 pages, 12 1/2 x 8 inches, on 4 sheets; mount remnants on left edge, minor wear, horizontal folds. Bedford, NY, August 1850

Additional Details

A rebuttal of presidential candidate Henry Clay's claim that "the charge upon the slaveholding states of breeding slaves for market is utterly false & groundless." It was published by Boston's Emancipator & Republican in their 15 August 1850 issue, noting the author only as "A.B." From there it was published in numerous newspapers across the nation, such as the Liberator, Anti-Slavery Bugle, National Era, Boston Republican, and New York Evening Post. Here, the author is given as "A B, or Hon. Wm. Jay of Bedford, NY, son of John Jay." William Jay (1789-1858) was a significant antislavery activist and jurist in his own right. Provenance: offered by the autograph dealer Walter Benjamin in 1894 for $3.00.