"OUR CONDITION AS A NATION IS, TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, UNPRECEDENTED": 1864 FIRST EDITION OF ROBERT DALE OWEN'S THE WRONG OF SLAVERY, THE RIGHT OF EMANCIPATION

OWEN, Robert Dale. The Wrong of Slavery, the Right of Emancipation and the Future of the African Race in the United States. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1864. Small octavo, original brown cloth. $1100.

First edition of the congressman's stirring condemnation of slavery, "credited with influencing the establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau" (ANB)—a very nice copy in the original cloth.

Robert Dale Owen (1801-77), a leading advocate of emancipation, believed in education to resolve social, economic, and gender inequalities. He partnered with Frances Wright who founded a community to emancipate slaves. Owen became a congressman whose political career enabled him to enact social reforms. "In 1861 Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton appointed Owen ordnance commissioner, and in 1863 he was named chair of the American Freedmen’s Inquiry Commission. Owen’s final report for the commission, The Wrong of Slavery, the Right of Emancipation, and the Future of the African Race in the United States (1864), was credited with influencing the establishment of the Freedmen’s Bureau" (ANB). Afro-Americana 7355. Blockson 10235.

Near-fine in the original cloth.