An excessively rare work by James Henley Thornwell, Presbyterian minister at Charleston, South Caroline, slave capital of the South. In it, he attempts to lay out a defense of slavery against the "fanatical" claims of the abolitionists, and argues that slavery exists on many plantations in good, dignified order.
Thornwell's legacy has been the subject of significant debate, some seeing him as a standard pro-slavery Southerner, but with enough scruples to try to make it at least less than the cruelty it often was. Others see him as a sort of subtle or soft abolitionist. He did argue for the legality of slave marriages, education, for criminalizing cruelty to slaves, and for self-regulated "negro" churches. By Confederate standards, a bit progressive.
No copies offered at auction since 1900 that we can trace.
Thornwell, J. H. Report on the Subject of Slavery, Presented to the Synod of South Carolina, at Their Sessions in Winnsborough, November 6, 1851, Adopted by Them, and Published by Their Order. Columbia, S. C. Steam Powered Press of A. S. Johnston. 1852. 16pp.
A good copy, bound in wraps, shaken with the last leaf detached, with light to moderate foxing, and a few tears. From a larger sammelband with associated flotsam to spine. Complete as issued.
