Item #83652 A DISSUASION TO GREAT-BRITAIN AND THE COLONIES, FROM THE SLAVE TRADE TO AFRICA : SHEWING, THE CONTRADICTION THIS TRADE BEARS, BOTH TO LAWS DIVINE AND PROVINICAL; THE DISADVANTAGES ARISING FROM IT, AND ADVANTAGES FROM ABOLISHING IT, BOTH TO EUROPE AND AFRICA, PARTICULARLY TO BRITAIN AND THE PLANTATIONS. : ALSO SHEWING, HOW TO PUT THIS TRADE TO AFRICA ON A JUST AND LAWFUL FOOTING. James Swan.
A DISSUASION TO GREAT-BRITAIN AND THE COLONIES, FROM THE SLAVE TRADE TO AFRICA : SHEWING, THE CONTRADICTION THIS TRADE BEARS, BOTH TO LAWS DIVINE AND PROVINICAL; THE DISADVANTAGES ARISING FROM IT, AND ADVANTAGES FROM ABOLISHING IT, BOTH TO EUROPE AND AFRICA, PARTICULARLY TO BRITAIN AND THE PLANTATIONS. : ALSO SHEWING, HOW TO PUT THIS TRADE TO AFRICA ON A JUST AND LAWFUL FOOTING.
A DISSUASION TO GREAT-BRITAIN AND THE COLONIES, FROM THE SLAVE TRADE TO AFRICA : SHEWING, THE CONTRADICTION THIS TRADE BEARS, BOTH TO LAWS DIVINE AND PROVINICAL; THE DISADVANTAGES ARISING FROM IT, AND ADVANTAGES FROM ABOLISHING IT, BOTH TO EUROPE AND AFRICA, PARTICULARLY TO BRITAIN AND THE PLANTATIONS. : ALSO SHEWING, HOW TO PUT THIS TRADE TO AFRICA ON A JUST AND LAWFUL FOOTING.
A DISSUASION TO GREAT-BRITAIN AND THE COLONIES, FROM THE SLAVE TRADE TO AFRICA : SHEWING, THE CONTRADICTION THIS TRADE BEARS, BOTH TO LAWS DIVINE AND PROVINICAL; THE DISADVANTAGES ARISING FROM IT, AND ADVANTAGES FROM ABOLISHING IT, BOTH TO EUROPE AND AFRICA, PARTICULARLY TO BRITAIN AND THE PLANTATIONS. : ALSO SHEWING, HOW TO PUT THIS TRADE TO AFRICA ON A JUST AND LAWFUL FOOTING.
A DISSUASION TO GREAT-BRITAIN AND THE COLONIES, FROM THE SLAVE TRADE TO AFRICA : SHEWING, THE CONTRADICTION THIS TRADE BEARS, BOTH TO LAWS DIVINE AND PROVINICAL; THE DISADVANTAGES ARISING FROM IT, AND ADVANTAGES FROM ABOLISHING IT, BOTH TO EUROPE AND AFRICA, PARTICULARLY TO BRITAIN AND THE PLANTATIONS. : ALSO SHEWING, HOW TO PUT THIS TRADE TO AFRICA ON A JUST AND LAWFUL FOOTING.
A DISSUASION TO GREAT-BRITAIN AND THE COLONIES, FROM THE SLAVE TRADE TO AFRICA : SHEWING, THE CONTRADICTION THIS TRADE BEARS, BOTH TO LAWS DIVINE AND PROVINICAL; THE DISADVANTAGES ARISING FROM IT, AND ADVANTAGES FROM ABOLISHING IT, BOTH TO EUROPE AND AFRICA, PARTICULARLY TO BRITAIN AND THE PLANTATIONS. : ALSO SHEWING, HOW TO PUT THIS TRADE TO AFRICA ON A JUST AND LAWFUL FOOTING.
A DISSUASION TO GREAT-BRITAIN AND THE COLONIES, FROM THE SLAVE TRADE TO AFRICA : SHEWING, THE CONTRADICTION THIS TRADE BEARS, BOTH TO LAWS DIVINE AND PROVINICAL; THE DISADVANTAGES ARISING FROM IT, AND ADVANTAGES FROM ABOLISHING IT, BOTH TO EUROPE AND AFRICA, PARTICULARLY TO BRITAIN AND THE PLANTATIONS. : ALSO SHEWING, HOW TO PUT THIS TRADE TO AFRICA ON A JUST AND LAWFUL FOOTING.

A DISSUASION TO GREAT-BRITAIN AND THE COLONIES, FROM THE SLAVE TRADE TO AFRICA : SHEWING, THE CONTRADICTION THIS TRADE BEARS, BOTH TO LAWS DIVINE AND PROVINICAL; THE DISADVANTAGES ARISING FROM IT, AND ADVANTAGES FROM ABOLISHING IT, BOTH TO EUROPE AND AFRICA, PARTICULARLY TO BRITAIN AND THE PLANTATIONS. : ALSO SHEWING, HOW TO PUT THIS TRADE TO AFRICA ON A JUST AND LAWFUL FOOTING.

Boston, Mass: E. Russell, near the New Intelligence-Office and Auction-room, and next the Cornfield, Union-street. 1772. Removed. 8vo, pp. 70. Lacks titlepage and dedication, which is dedicated to 'All Friends of Liberty'. Begins with preface (first page nearly detached), but subsequently complete. xvi, 1 unnumbered page, 18-70 pages, 20 cm. "By James Swan, a native of Great-Britain, and friend to the welfare of this continent."

Swan wrote this at age 22 while still a clerk in a counting house. He was a member of the Sons of Liberty and participated in the Boston Tea Party. He was twice wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill, he next became secretary of the Massachusetts Board of War and the legislature. During the time he held that office, he drew heavily on his private resources to aid the Continental Army, which was then in dire need of funds to arm and equip the soldiers who were arriving in Boston from all parts of New England. In 1787 or 1788 the indebted Swan moved to France. En route, he stayed at Mt. Vernon as a guest of George Washington.

In France his social circle included Lafayette. Swan was successful in his business activities related to the millions of dollars owed by the United States to France. While in France, Swan acquired furniture, now held in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Swan returned to the U.S. in 1794 or 1795. He travelled to Philadelphia and while there posed for portraitist Gilbert Stuart; the finished painting is now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He again went to France in 1798. He was imprisoned in Paris for debt in 1808, and released c. 1830. He died in Paris in 1830.

Thus, after the American Revolution Swan privately assumed the entire United States French debts, then resold these debts at a profit on domestic U.S. markets. The United States no longer owed money to foreign governments, although it continued to owe money to private investors both in the United States and in Europe. This allowed the young United States to place itself on a sound financial footing. The full story of Swan's financial ups and down is so bizarre as to almost defy the imagination. For example, at the beginning of the Revolution, Swan was said to have owned two and one-half million acres of land in Western Virginia and Kentucky. He sold what he could of this property, and devoted the proceeds to furthering the cause of American independence. In return for this service the house of Burgesses of Virginia granted land to him after the close of the Revolution, in consideration of his having placed his entire fortune at the service of the patriotic army. The original tract embraced a vast domain containing 2,500,000 acres and Virginia gave to him much more lying west of the Alleghenies. However this land was settled and Swan and his descendants ultimately had no claim to it.
Evans 123572. Fair. Item #83652

Price: $1,200.00

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