THE REVELATION OF RIGHTS

Second edition. 18.5 cm. ix, [2], [13]-152 pp. Contemporary calf-backed marbled boards (rubbed). Contemporary ownership signature of Sarah McElhiney on front endpaper. The title page prints a quote from Robert Burns: "If I'm designed yon lordling's slave, / By Nature's law designed. / Why was an independent wish / E'er planted in my mind? / If not, why am I subject to / His cruelty and scorn? / Or why has man the will and power / To make his fellow mourn." A graduate of Princeton University in 1801, Ellmaker was known for his interest in minority rights. His brief biography on the Princeton University Archives website states: "We are aware of Ellmaker's views due to a posthumously published book, 'The Revelation of Rights.' Unlike many early abolitionists, Ellmaker did not argue for gradual emancipation or some form of colonization. Instead, he demanded immediate emancipation as a moral imperative, rooting his argument in Christian theology. Ellmaker's book lambasted American hypocrisy when it came to race: "If our government be founded on the equal rights of man, and be administered on the principle of universal equity; if it have any pretence [sic] to benevolence, or any claim to the semblance of philanthropy; it will be necessary for our politicians to define what they mean by MAN. Their definition must be more limited than the common acceptation of the word, which is, a being who is capable of reasoning, or who possesses the faculties by which reason is exercised. It must also be more limited than the definition of Plato who defined man to be, 'a two legged animal without feathers.' . In America, the great cry is, we have the Africans among us, and how will we get rid of them? Alas, we have tolerated the crime, and how can we cease to sin in the deed? May not the African in his turn say, we have the whites among us, and how will we get rid of them? We have submitted to bondage, how shall we regain our freedom? Have we any better claim to the air or the soil of America than the Africans? Have we any charter from God which secures it to us in exclusion of all others, of a different complexion, or of different features? Are the Africans and ourselves of different families? . If priority were to determine who should have the preference to the air and soil of this country; then, the copper-colored Indian would have the best title of any." Ellmaker acknowledged that slaveowners would suffer from immediate emancipation of all enslaved people, but said this was irrelevant because more people would suffer from enslavement. He asserted that their right to avoid suffering should not be ignored in favor of the white ruling class's comfort.".…