E Pluribus Unum. A Political Tract on Kossuth and America.

[GOEPP, Charles].

$4,000.00

Item Number: 131558

Philadelphia: Published by F. W. Thomas, 1852.

Rare first edition of Goepp’s criticism of Kossuth. Octavo, bound in full cloth. Deaccessioned from the Library of Congress with the library’s bookplate and stamp to the pastedown. In good condition. Rare.

Hungarian politician Lajos Kossuth was widely honoured during his lifetime, including in Great Britain and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe. In 1851, he visited America with the intention of appealing to European immigrants in the American heartland with hopes that he could rally them behind the cause of a free and democratic Hungary. During his visit, Kossuth infuriated the abolitionists by refusing to say anything offensive to the pro-slavery establishment, which, however, did not give him much support. Abolitionists said that Kossuth's "hands off" position regarding American slavery was unacceptable. Wm. Lloyd Garrison, on behalf of the American Anti-Slavery Society, published a pamphlet "exposing the Hungarian as a self-seeking toady." Kossuth left the U.S. with only a fraction of the money he had hoped to earn on his tour.