An Historical Research respecting the Opinions of the Founders of the Republic on Negroes as Slaves, as Citizens, and as Soldiers. [one of 50 copies printed on large paper]

“Said to have been responsible for adding thousands of men to the Union forces” (ANB)

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Large paper copy. Influential historical paper on the Founding Fathers’ views on African Americans, read before the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1862, during the American Civil War.

Boston merchant and bibliophile George Livermore’s An Historical Research was “...reprinted several times and is said to have been responsible for adding thousands of men to the Union forces.” (ANB)

Livermore’s favorable view and ample documentation of African Americans’ faithful service to the country during the American Revolution seen herein helped clarify the question of whether black troops should join the Union’s fight against the Confederacy. Freemen alone—black or white—should be able to join the cause of liberty; the emancipation of slaves would enable them to fight.

Recalling the American Revolution, Livermore now appears to see—or very ably makes the case—that the move toward the emancipation of slaves during the Civil War was the next logical step:

Very many slaves were offered to, and received by, the army, on the condition that they they were to be emancipated, either at the time of enlisting, or when they had served out the term of their enlistment. The inconsistency of keeping in slavery any person who had taken up arms for the defense of our national liberty, had led to the passing of an order, forbidding “slaves,” as such, to be received as soldiers. (p155)

Useful appendixes discuss such topics as “Negroes in the Navy,” “Negro Regiments in the State of New York,” “General Jackson’s Proclamation to the Negroes,” and “Negro Soldiers under Monarchical Governments.”

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