K08474 - Thomas Jefferson's second inaugural speech, which featured the Louisiana purchase ; printed on silk
kg: Thomas Jefferson’s Inaugural Speech [Presidential] [NL:]
President Jefferson’s Inaugural Speech. [Boston]: True & Parks, 1805. Broadside (550 x 300 mm). Printed on silk. Stitched at edges and laid down on textile, some fraying and losses to several words, framed.
FIRST SILK BROADSIDE OF JEFFERSON’S SECOND INAUGURAL SPEECH.
K08474 $5,000
Immediately following Jefferson’s second inaugural speech on March 4, 1805, newspapers from across the Northeast rushed to publish the text, starting with the Baltimore American the following day. Subsequent papers followed suit as the text reached outlying areas, with the first printing in Massachusetts in the Boston Democrat on March 16th. Not to be outdone, the Democrat printed the text to fill its entire front page, and was apparently the first to issue a deluxe souvenir broadside version for sale on the same day, printed on commemorative white satin. In the publisher’s words, "This document cannot be raised in the estimation of our readers, by any comments within our power to advance. To pay our small tribute of respect to its author, we have directed our attention for its display in the Democrat, in some degree correspondent with its invaluable merit. Those who wish it preserved as an ornament, to adorn the parlor, while it will afford a rich treasure of instruction for their budding offspring; are respectfully informed that we have printed a number on elegant WHITE SATIN, to answer so desirable a purpose." The exact number of subscribers is uncertain, but only a handful of copies have been located in institutional libraries (see Cunningham, The Inaugural Addresses of Thomas Jefferson, 1801 and 1805, 2001, p 90 and figure 6-3).
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). Third president of the U.S. (1801-9), born in Shadwell, Virginia. Studied at the College of William & Mary and became a lawyer (1767). Active in establishing the Virginia Committee of Correspondence and took a prominent part in the first Continental Congress (1774). Author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), U.S. minister to France (1785-93), Secretary of State (1785) Vice-President (1797-1801) President (1801-09). Jefferson’s administration is credited with the Louisiana Purchase that doubled the size of the Untied States. Other events during his tenure in office included the war with Tripoli, the prohibition of slave importation into the U.S., and the ill-fated embargo (1807-09), which Jefferson thought necessary to prevent the country from being drawn into the war between England and France. Jefferson’s Virginia statute of religious freedom, of which he was an enthusiastic advocate, became the basis of the first amendment to the constitution.
President Jefferson’s Inaugural Speech. [Boston]: True & Parks, 1805. Broadside (550 x 300 mm). Printed on silk. Stitched at edges and laid down on textile, some fraying and losses to several words, framed.
FIRST SILK BROADSIDE OF JEFFERSON’S SECOND INAUGURAL SPEECH.
K08474 $5,000
Immediately following Jefferson’s second inaugural speech on March 4, 1805, newspapers from across the Northeast rushed to publish the text, starting with the Baltimore American the following day. Subsequent papers followed suit as the text reached outlying areas, with the first printing in Massachusetts in the Boston Democrat on March 16th. Not to be outdone, the Democrat printed the text to fill its entire front page, and was apparently the first to issue a deluxe souvenir broadside version for sale on the same day, printed on commemorative white satin. In the publisher’s words, "This document cannot be raised in the estimation of our readers, by any comments within our power to advance. To pay our small tribute of respect to its author, we have directed our attention for its display in the Democrat, in some degree correspondent with its invaluable merit. Those who wish it preserved as an ornament, to adorn the parlor, while it will afford a rich treasure of instruction for their budding offspring; are respectfully informed that we have printed a number on elegant WHITE SATIN, to answer so desirable a purpose." The exact number of subscribers is uncertain, but only a handful of copies have been located in institutional libraries (see Cunningham, The Inaugural Addresses of Thomas Jefferson, 1801 and 1805, 2001, p 90 and figure 6-3).
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). Third president of the U.S. (1801-9), born in Shadwell, Virginia. Studied at the College of William & Mary and became a lawyer (1767). Active in establishing the Virginia Committee of Correspondence and took a prominent part in the first Continental Congress (1774). Author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), U.S. minister to France (1785-93), Secretary of State (1785) Vice-President (1797-1801) President (1801-09). Jefferson’s administration is credited with the Louisiana Purchase that doubled the size of the Untied States. Other events during his tenure in office included the war with Tripoli, the prohibition of slave importation into the U.S., and the ill-fated embargo (1807-09), which Jefferson thought necessary to prevent the country from being drawn into the war between England and France. Jefferson’s Virginia statute of religious freedom, of which he was an enthusiastic advocate, became the basis of the first amendment to the constitution.