277

Samuel Stanhope Smith.

An Essay on the Causes of the Variety of Complexion and Figure in the Human Species.

New Brunswick, NJ, 1810
411 pages. 8vo, contemporary mottled gilt calf, worn, front board detached, rear board nearly so;  moderate foxing; bookplate and ownership inscriptions on endpapers and title page. 

  • Notes: Owned by the congressman who cast the swing vote on the 13th Amendment.

    Second American edition of a 1787 scientific study of race: "Its object is to establish the unity of the human species, by tracing its varieties to their natural causes" (page 4). The author was president of what became Princeton University. 

    The book was popular and influential in abolitionist circles. This particular copy may have played an even greater role in American history, as it was the property of James Sidney Rollins (1812-1888), whose wavering support of slavery led him to cast the key vote in support of the Thirteenth Amendment. 

    Rollins helped establish the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1839, and served in the United States House of Representatives for Missouri from 1861 to 1865. He was a slave owner. When the Thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery came up for consideration by Congress in 1864, Rollins helped vote it down twice. However, soon after Missouri abolished slavery in its own new state constitution, Rollins was successfully persuaded by Abraham Lincoln to switch sides when it was presented a third time, and made an influential speech in its support. The amendment passed with only two votes to spare. 

    This volume has a Rollins bookplate from Columbia, Missouri on the front pastedown; his signature on the title page; and "Jefferson City, Nov. 28th 1866" inscribed on the front free endpaper. Rollins was serving in the Missouri legislature in Jefferson City at this time. 

    Afro-Americana 9547; Sabin 84106.
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