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108
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(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION—RECONSTRUCTION.) BLAIR, LEWIS H.
The Prosperity of the South Dependent upon the Elevation of the Negro.
148
pages. Small 8vo, original printed gray wrappers; a couple of small chips, one to the spine
and the other to the cover, a very clean copy of a fragile book.
Richmond: Everett Waddey, 1883
[300/400]
FIRST EDITION OF THIS PRAGMATIC
,
BUT SURPRISINGLY LIBERAL SUGGESTION
of how to pull
both races up out of the physical and economical destruction following the end of the Civil War. Blair,
a Richmond businessman and economist, urged sensible Southerners to treat Negroes with respect and
bring them into the economic “fold.” It is clear from history, that his advice was not altogether heeded.
109
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(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION—RECONSTRUCTION.) HARNESS, A.C.
The Genius of Democracy or the Fall of Babylon.
[v], 6-73, [iii] pages. Tall, narrow
12mo, original printed purple wrappers; unopened.
Philadelphia: Barclay & Co, 1875
[400/600]
The author of this pamphlet declares the Civil War was simply a dispute between “King Cotton and
King Monopoly.” He is both anti-Wall Street [“the bondautocrat”] and racist, suggesting that
Reconstruction might somehow bring on miscegenation and marriage between the “pretty daughters of
the bondautocrat [and] big buck negro[es].” Harness was the author of two other works, the “Great
Trial, the Genius of Civilization Brought to Judgment,” and “Flowers of Fancy, a Series of Rustic
Poems.” In all of his work, Harness blames Wall Street monopolists for the nation’s problems. While
there are numerous holdings for this title, we could find no record of sales for it anywhere.
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