American Historical Ephemera & Photography, Featuring Property from the James Milgram, M.D., Collection of Broadsides, Ephemeral Americana & Historical Documents

Republicans, Attend! [Palmyra, Ontario, NY]: N.p., 1809. Visible 10 1/16 x 11 1/2 in. (brown spotting, short marginal tears, soil along early folds). Signed in type by William Rogers and Abraham Gallop. -- To the Electors of Ontario. [Ontario County, NY]: N.p., 21 April 1809. Visible approx. 10 x 11 1/2 in. (losses at corners, brown spotting, ink bleed). Signed in type by James Piatt and "An Elector." -- Together, 2 broadsides framed together to 27 x 15 in. (not examined out of frame).

Two broadsides from Ontario County, New York publishing testimonies from prominent citizens regarding Philetus Swift who is accused by Federalists to have expressed that he "had rather Bonaparte should govern this country than the leading Federalists." 

In Republicans Attend!, William Rogers and Abraham Gallop respond to a handbill issued by Polydore B. Wisner which published the accusation of Swift's preference for French rule. Rogers and Gallop both attest that this was "an attempt...to injure the character of Philetus Swift, and for electioneering purposes...We now declare that we have no recollection of his ever making any such expression, and we further state, that we are and have been for a long time intimately acquainted with Philetus Swift, and have never heard him express any more partiality for Bonaparte than George the Third, or any other Foreign Despot."

The second broadside, To the Electors of Ontario, is written in direct response to the first, calling into question the testimony of Rogers and Gallop by noting that their affidavit was not "sworn" but only "taken and subscribed." They then publish their own "sworn" affidavit by James Piatt attesting that "he perfectly recollects, that in conversation at that time, concerning a French Party in this country, this deponent heard the said Philetus Swift say, HE HAD RATHER BONAPARTE SHOULD GOVERN THIS COUNTRY THAN THE LEADING FEDERALISTS."

An interesting reflection on the anxieties of foreign invasion and rule within the context of early American politics. RARE: No other known copies, and particularly remarkable to have the companion pieces.