James Cummins Bookseller

[Washington City: 1817].

Price: $300.00

About the item

First Edition. 5 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Disbound. Some foxing. S&S 42738 (2 copies).

Item #9350

First edition of the government’s reply to the request of a group of Virginia planters for a “colony” to essentially rid them of the problem of “free coloured people.” In December of 1816, a group of Virginia planters approached the government with a request asking for a location where freed blacks might be sent. In January this “memorial” was presented and in February it was answered with this “Report.” This reply discusses location, etc. In the end, the government officially refused to have anything to do with the plan - thus the American Colonization Society was born. For a detailed account of these events see Dumond, Anti-Slavery, pp. 126-127.