Who Endorsed the Helper Book!
Place Made
Probably New York City New York United States of America
Date Made
1861
Medium
ink –paper
Accession Number
5831.2
Description
A broadside denouncing those who endorsed the 1857 book “The Impending Crises of the South: How to Meet It” by Hinton Rowan Helper (1829-1909). Born into a slave owning family in North Carolina, Helper argued for the abolition of slavery on economic grounds. He believed that slavery was preventing the Southern economy from prospering in a way that would benefit the large population of non-slave owning whites. If non-violent means of economic progress failed, he argued for the violent overthrow of the slave economy. In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected President on a Republican platform that included Helper’s book. A polarizing document – particular after John Brown’s failed raid at Harper’s Ferry – it is considered by many to be the most important non-fiction abolitionist book published.
Though this broadside is not signed, it is cataloged by the Library of Conrgress as probably published in New York City in 1861.
Credit Line
Gift to the Thomas A. Gray Rare Book and Manuscript Collection
