Description:

'AN ORATION UPON THE BEAUTIES OF LIBERTY'
Rare imprint: 'An Oration Upon The Beauties of Liberty...' by John Allen (earlier attributed to Isaac Skillman), (New London, 1777), 22pp. 8vo., lacking cover, tear to one page, toned. British-born Allen was first noticed in America when he delivered this thanksgiving sermon on December 3, 1772, in the pulpit of the Second Baptist Church in Boston. The Gaspee affair (a schooner burned in June 1772) was the political occasion. A strong admixture of political theory and theology had by then become customary for Boston congregations, but it was less usual in Baptist churches; by any standard Allen was radical for the time. An Oration—published along with another pamphlet by Allen (The American Alarm) that was also aimed at arbitrary power—urged readers to 'Engrave the motto!—May it be thus: Liberty, Life, or Death!' The content was inflammatory if not traitorous, reading in very small part: '...Be it enacted, that no freeman, shall be taken, or imprisoned, or deprived of his freehold, or liberty, or free custom...but by the law of this colony. And that no man of what state or condition soever, shall be put out of his lands or tenements, nor taken, nor imprisoned, nor disinherited, nor banished (observe this my Lord), nor any ways destroy'd, or molested, without being, for it, brought to answer, by a due course of law of this colony...My Lord, Are not the liberties of the Americans as dear to them as those of Britons?...Your Lordship's letter frequently reminds us that this destructive authority (to destroy the lives and liberties of the people), is his majesty's will and pleasure...I reverence and love my king, but I revere the rights of an Englishman before the authority of any king upon the earth. I distinguish greatly between a king and a tyrant, a king is the guardian and trustee of the rights and laws of the people, but a tyrant destroys them...' Much more.

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May 4, 2025 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

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