1792 Providence, Rhode Island Newspaper - Detailed Advertisement for Thomas Paine's "Rights of Man"; Small Pox Epidemic, Providence Enacts Death Sentence for Those Spreading the Disease
Providence, RI: Providence Gazette and Country Journal, 1792. 1st Edition. Very Good. Item #19448
An incredible piece of early American 18th-century medical history.
This September 8, 1792 features a detailed inside-page printing of the act passed by the town-council of Providence forbidding citizens to visit others who have the disease or knowingly spreading the disease by not quarantining themselves, or else suffer the death penalty.
The 1792 Small Pox epidemic was global, with debate happening around the world regarding the safety and benefits of inoculation. This epidemic marked the last major outbreak in New England before widespread adoption of Edward Jenner's vaccination method.
Also in this issue is a long inside-page advertisement for Thomas Paine's influential philosophical work, "The Rights of Man".
In the book, "first published in 1791, Paine posits that popular political revolution is permissible when a government does not safeguard the natural rights of its people. Using these points as a base, it defends the French Revolution against Edmund Burke's attack in Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790).
"Paine was a very strong supporter of the French Revolution....Paine argues that the interests of the monarch and his people are united, and insists that the French Revolution should be understood as one which attacks the despotic principles of the French monarchy, not the king himself, and he takes the Bastille, the main prison in Paris, to symbolize the despotism that had been overthrown." - wiki
This historic piece is complete in four pages. Mild age toning and edge wear. #2I-051.
Price: $75.00