Thomas Paine's Defense of the American Revolution, Signed by Jewish Pioneer for Elective Office

This disbound copy of Thomas Paine's Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal includes two ownership signatures by Solomon Etting, the Jewish merchant and civic leader of Baltimore, Maryland. After nearly three decades of petitioning the Maryland legislature, Etting successfully obtained legislation allowing Jews to hold public office. He was promptly elected to the Baltimore City Council.

THOMAS PAINE, A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal, on the Affairs of North-America. In Which the Mistakes in the Abbe's Account of the Revolution in America are Corrected and Cleared Up. Philadelphia, Printed: London, Reprinted, For C. Dilly, in the Poultry, 1782. viii + 76 pp., 5.5" x 8.75". With two ownership signatures by Solomon Etting and one by "F. M. Etting, Phila." General toning and edge chipping; in custom protective box.

Excerpts
"To an author of such distinguished reputation as the Abbe Raynal, it might very well become me to apologize for the present undertaking; but as to be right is the first wish of philosophy, and the first principle of history, he will, I presume, accept from me a declaration of my motives, which are those of doing justice, in preference to any complimental apology, I might otherwise make." (p1)

"Perhaps no two events ever united so intimately and forceably to combat and expel prejudice, as the Revolution of America, and the Alliance with France. Their effects are felt, and their influence already extends as well to the old world as the new. Our style and manner of thinking have undergone a revolution, more extraordinary than the political revolution of the country. We see with other eyes; we hear with other ears; and think with other thoughts, than those we formerly used." (p45)

"The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark." (p47)

Historical Background
Thomas Paine's pamphlets Common Sense (1776) and The American Crisis (1776-1783) contributed to inspire the American cause in the Revolutionary War. French historian Guillaume-Thomas Raynal, abbé de Raynal (1713-1796) published Révolution in 1780, which claimed that the Americans declared independence only because they objected to paying British taxes and had rejected Britain's 1778 peace offer. When Raynal's work was translated into English and published in London as The Revolution of America, by the Abbe Raynal in 1781, Paine was outraged and promptly issued this pamphlet as a rebuttal.

Solomon Etting (1764-1847) was born in York, Pennsylvania. After his father died in 1778, his mother and sisters moved to Baltimore. He became a Jewish merchant and kosher butcher in York and then Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1783 he married Reyna Simon (1764-1790), with whom he had four children. In 1791, he married Rachel Gratz, with whom he had at least six more children. Later in 1791, they moved to Baltimore, Maryland. There, Etting operated a hardware store and invested in shipping and commerce. He was a founding member of the Baltimore Water Company in 1804, a member of the General Committee of Safety and Vigilance that coordinated the defense of Baltimore against British attack in 1814, and a founder of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1827. Because Maryland banned non-Christians from holding office or practicing law, Etting and his father-in-law Bernard Gratz petitioned unsuccessfully to "be placed upon the same footing with other good citizens" in 1797, 1802, and 1824. After the Maryland General Assembly passed a "Jew Bill" in 1826, allowing Jews to hold public office, Etting was elected to the Baltimore City Council.

Frank Marx Etting (1833-1890) was born in Philadelphia, the son of Benjamin Etting (1798-1875) and Harriet Marx Etting (d. 1880). He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1857. In 1861, he was commissioned as a paymaster with the rank of major. He became chief paymaster and was brevetted lieutenant colonel of volunteers in 1865 and of the regular army in 1868. After the war, he was commissioned as a major in the regular army and paymaster. In 1868, he was appointed to the staff of Gen. Irwin McDowell as chief paymaster for the Reconstruction Fund. He was honorably discharged from the army in December 1870. During the Centennial Exposition of 1876, Etting served as chief historian of the Department of the Exposition. He wrote a history of and led efforts to restore Independence Hall. He married Alice Taney Campbell (d. 1882), a granddaughter of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. At his death, he was known for his "remarkable collection of portraits, autographs and revolutionary relics" and his "care of Independence Hall." He was a great-nephew of Solomon Etting and grandson of Solomon Etting's brother Reuben Etting (1762-1848).

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was an English-born intellectual, inventor, and radical pamphleteer who influenced both the American and French Revolutions. He lived and worked in England until 1774, when he migrated to Philadelphia, joining the radical artisan community there. His powerful pamphlet, Common Sense (1776), was the best-selling original work published in eighteenth-century America and had a pronounced impact on the Revolution by making the case for complete independence from Great Britain. He also published a pamphlet series, The American Crisis (thirteen in 1776-1777; three more to 1783), which helped inspire American revolutionaries. General Washington even ordered the first number to be read aloud to his men. Paine later moved to France, published the liberal Enlightenment treatise Rights of Man (1791), and won election to the French National Assembly in 1792. A Girondin, he was arrested in 1793 and narrowly escaped the guillotine during the Reign of Terror. While in prison, he continued to work on The Age of Reason (1794-1807). Paine believed that the American ambassador to France, Federalist Gouverneur Morris, somehow engineered his arrest. Diplomat James Monroe arranged for Paine's release in November 1794, and Paine turned against George Washington and wrote a scathing public letter to Washington in 1796. Paine remained in France until 1802 when, at President Jefferson's invitation, he returned to New York.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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