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JOEL CADBURY : 1815 - 1820 ORIGINAL, FASCINATING, MANUSCRIPT JOURNAL HANDWRITTEN BY A YOUNG POLITICALLY ENGAGED, VIRULENTLY ANTI SLAVERY ENGLISHMAN TRAVELING IN POST WAR OF 1812 AMERICA SEEING SLAVERY FIRST-HAND, MEETING THE VICE PRESIDENT AND WITNESSING CONGRESS

8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. On offer is a fascinating, historically significant journal handwriten by Joel Cadbury, on his journey to post War of 1812 America. The journal sees Cadbury travel from England to the United States, travel south to Washington D.C. discussing many of the prescient questions of the early 1800s in America, including seeing the U.S. Senate debate the 'Missouri Question'. He travels to Virginia, where he sees and is disgusted with the state of slavery and African-Americans on plantations. He visits Mount Vernon and George Washington's tomb, and meets, by chance, the Vice President of the United States, Daniel D. Tompkins. While the cover of the journal says "Joel Cadbury's Account of his Voyages to and From American and from its shore from 1815 to 1820," the years of 1815 appear to have been cut out of the book. 4 pages are missing from the very beginning, and the journal's first entry is in 1816. The journal begins with Cadbury's journey on the "Ship Mexico" that sailed from England to the United States. "2nd day 8 Mo. 1816. Being the second time we come on board, there was a fair freeze but very little of it, we got down as far as the Rock this day, but the wind dying entirely away we were obliged to drop anchor to keep us from being run on the sands." Cadbury keeps details on what happened on the ship and the many other ships and people interacted with on the journey across the Atlantic. These ships include one heading from Liverpool to Savannah, called "the Recovery from New Orleans Captain Barnard bound to Bordeaux she had on board the crew of a Spanish ship bound to Holland which they had taken off a wreck in distress." The ship lands in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, 'certainly well named for there is nothing but sand on which there are a few evergreens grown." Cadbury heads, on horseback, to Philadelphia, where he meets with family. '…reached my uncle about 2 oclock found my cousins at dinner, was exceeding kindly received by them.' The first long entry in the book ends with Cadbury speaking reflexively on his life and journey so far. The next entry, 18 pages in length is entitled by Cadbury, "A short account of an agreeable excursion taken to Muncy for 3 weeks from 15th of 7th Mo. to [ ] of the 8th Mo. 1817 to our Dear Fr'd Mercy Ellis's.' The longest section of the journal is next, entitled 'An account of an excursion to the South from 1. Mo. 10 1820 to 2 Mo.' First, he goes to Washington D.C. and requests his driver to take him "immediately to where congress was sitting in the finished wings of the Capitol." He then remarks that "the center building tis supposed will be finished and will be one of the most splendid buildings in America." He is referring to the Capitol building, which was burned down in the War of 1812, and for which was being reconstructed had started in 1815, and which was continuing when Cadbury sees it in 1820. He writes, "you will find us in the Gallery of the Senate been very desirous to hear everything we can on the Missouri Questions…not only of great importance but also on account of the results which may issue from any decision on the subject." The Missouri Question he speaks of is the furious debate going on the congress, as to whether the state of Missouri should be admitted to the United States as a slave owning state or one in which slavery was abolished. The "Missouri Compromise," ratified in early May 1820, provided for the admission of the District of Maine as a 'free state' and Missouri as a 'slave state,' so as not to disturb the power balance between free and slave states. He writes, "The Missouri demand on admission into the Union is justified in doing it by the laws of the US the question this is shall she be admitted while her state laws admit for slavery." Though England still had slavery by the time Cadbury was writing, he is obviously a virulent abolitionist, writing, "The inhuman traffic in negroes one party contended tis not constitutions to cripple her in any point while the other say admit her not to join a free congress with slavery in her bosom. She herself demands a curse a yoke which will one day grind her to the dust how blind then are men to their own real interested… Strange infatuation murdering their own feelings and intending to murder those of generations unborn for ages to com." Cadbury predicts the a U.S. Civil War, writing, "Some day if she is not admitted it may cause a division of the States woe to this happy land when this does not take place." He spends much of the time in his journey to the South commenting on the sugar, rice, and cotton plantations that he sees, and the misery that he witnesses in the slaves who work the plantations. "Permit me to copy the following advertisement which was the first thing that struck my eye in turning over a paper in the tavern we are now in: Negroes for Sale The Subscriber offers for sale a bargain 1 Colored Women 28 years 1 colored girl 8 years 1 Colored boy child 7." After this page, 3 pages from this section have been cut out. Cadbury, "accompanied by James on horse or rather on ponyback and J on horseback," travels to Mount Vernon, "Once the residence and now the resting place of the Bones of the General Washington", near Alexandria, Virginia. He describes the home and gardens in great detail, and visits Washington's tomb. From there, Cadbury travels back to Washington D.C., visits the Patent Office "which is really a great curiosity." He visits the House of Representatives and "there with wonder I surveyed the objects which surrounded me with an astonishment called forth by the grandeur which appeared in the inside decorations." The section ends with Cadbury meeting the Vice President of the United States, "at the first place I stopped." At the time in 1820, the V.P. was Daniel D. Tompkins, who was serving under James Monroe. In the next section, Cadbury heads back to England on the Ship Bourier. The section is 20 pages long, and accounts the trip back to Cadbury's home in Liverpool. Cadbury spends much of the section reminiscing about the United States and England and its people as well as speaking often about the weather and the speed of the ship. He returns home to a Liverpool that 'looks dark dirty and gloomy…every thing appeared very different to what I had anticipated - the houses looked high the Bricks very dark coloured.' The final section, a short 11 pages, is the 'Journal of my second voyage to the United States in the Ship Lancaster Burkhart, for Philadelphia - Sailed the 4th day of Second Month 1821. On this journey he is 'accompanied by my kind & affectionate brother Bevy. This section is written in much less detail than the others. It recounts Cadbury and his brother's trip back to Philadelphia to see their uncle and cousins. 3 pages have been cut off the middle. the section ends abruptly, with the brothers still on the ship to America. Many blank pages follow the section, suggesting that Cadbury had the intention of finishing the section, but never actually did.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good+

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