An Appeal To the People Of Rhode Island, In Behalf Of The Constitution And The Laws; By Thomas, R. Hazard. 1857, this is a presentation copy from the author to Ch. B. Fearing [Charles B. Fearing], signed “with respects of the author”on the front free endpaper, 1/2 bound, with stiff paper boards decorated in orange brown colors, blank endpapers, a two-page Preface and the text runs from page 5 through page 163, followed by a one-page Index and a map showing a Deed in Equity of Peckham Farm from 1852; the crossroads in the upper left part of the map have been traced over by someone with an old quill pen and you can see the highlights of the ink on the opposite side of the previous page, and this is a first edition. Thomas Robinson Hazard (1797 - 1886) descended from an Old New England Quaker family. He was born in Rhode Island, engaged in farming, and became a magnate in the woolen business. In the 1840’s, he helped create the Rhode Island Hospital for the Insane, the first of its kind in the state, at a time when care for destitute and mentally handicapped people fell largely upon local governments, and Hazard headed a survey of Rhode Island’s poor houses and insane asylums which led to reforms in the way “insane paupers” were treated throughout the state; the findings of the survey exposed the abuse of disabled Rhode Islanders and helped abolish state policies which treated mental illness as a crime. He was an enthusiastic spiritualist - he believed in mediums helping to create a connection with the afterlife and the dead; he supported women’s suffrage, and he was an abolitionist who belonged to the American Colonization Society, a group which promoted the idea of sending free blacks and emancipated slaves back to Liberia, an idea which was generally opposed by the African-American community and the abolitionist movement - it just seemed like a way to get rid of black people. William Lloyd Garrison actually thought the society was a fraud and it didn’t solve the problem of slavery - it actually helped to preserve it. So Hazard’s life was not without controversy. The book concerns a land dispute about the Peckham Farm. Someone agreed to sell the land to Charles Hazard for $10,500 and the person who owned the land - Robert Ives - claimed he was offered more, a lawsuit ensued, and it actually became a big case throughout the state. It was titled Ives v. Hazard, and was resolved in favor of - we won’t tell you who, but the book was written by Thomas R. Hazard, on behalf of Charles Hazard, if that gives you a clue. The book measures 9 1/2 x 5 3/4 in. wide, with a tight binding and clean text, light wear at the crown and heel of the spine, and modest wear at the tips. (We are surprised that the text appears the way it does - it seems very clean, with a hint of shadow on the pages, but no actual wear or brown spots, so we’ve called the text clean.) Page 27 also has some creases in the bottom corner because the page was oversized - it was printed that way - and had to be folded to fit the borders of the book. Numerous editions were published after 1857, and this is a presentation copy from the author and a rare first edition. #1682 #49