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Summary: Federalist inventor Nathan Read offers a series of toasts, beginning with a call to appreciate “the day, which announced the Birth of Washington; - May it be sacred to his country & auspicious to the world.” Read moves on to celebratory toasts of Alexander Hamilton, Massachusetts Governor Caleb Strong, and “The Minority in Congress, a constellation of patriots,” while mercilessly ridiculing Republican Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison (“the French citizens”), and “their friend ‘the imperial butcher of the human race’” (Napoleon Bonaparte).
[George Washington]. Nathan Read. Autograph Document. Belfast, [Mass./Maine], February 22, 1814. 2 pp.
Inventory# 21627 $1,300
Transcript:
“1st. The day, which announced the Birth of Washington; - May it be sacred to his country & auspicious to the world. –
2d. The memory of Alexander Hamilton. – It was sufficient that he was the bosom friend & disciple of Washington to be designated as a victim to appease the Demon of Democracy. –
3d. His Excellency, Govr. Strong. – Not less distinguished for his wisdom & firmness than renowned for his virtue & patriotism …”
Historical Background:
Federalist opposition to “Mr. Madison’s War” was persistent, at times bordering on treasonous in New England.
Just a few months after writing this manuscript, Read’s adopted hometown of Belfast (District of Maine in Massachusetts) was occupied by a small British force during the War of 1812.
Nathan Read (1759-1849) was a Massachusetts native, Harvard graduate, U.S. Congressman, and inventor. Read pioneered in the transference of the principles of Watt’s steam engine to locomotion. His nephew later claimed that Read should be credited with inventing the first steamboat, two decades before Robert Fulton. Read was the first petitioner for a patent before the patent law was enacted by Congress, and in 1798, he secured a patent for a machine for cutting and heading nails in one factory. He served in Congress from 1800-1803. In his retirement, Read moved to the Maine district and helped establish Belfast Academy.
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