When the States were young

This remarkable collection of transatlantic correspondence dates from 1784 to 1799 “when the States were young, France was in ferment & the British Empire was on the make”. The main correspondents are Major Pierce Butler(1745-1822)slave owner & a signatory of the American Constitution, & the unrelated Rev. Weeden Butler(1742-1823)of London, ancestor of British politician “Rab” Butler (d.1982). They offer intriguing insights into history in general, the American Constitution & slavery in particular. The letters (preserved in the British Library) are transcribed in full, annotated & presented with a scholarly Introduction and Sequel by Lord Dunboyne (1917-2004). A very human saga unfolds & the Sequel ends with an eye-witness account by Mortimer N. Thomson of The New York Daily Tribune, recording in harrowing detail the 1859 Slave Auction in Savannah, Georgia, held to satisfy creditors of Pierce M. Butler, grandson of Major Pierce & ex-husband of celebrated actress, author & abolitionist Fanny Kemble.