The Prospect Before Us. Volume II, pt. 1.

• imprint_number: 1800.020
• title: The Prospect Before Us. Volume II, pt. 1.
• sequence_number: 20
• year: 1800
• place_issued: Richmond
• issuing_press: Meriwether Jones
• author: Callender, James Thomson (1758-1803).
• notes: Imprint states: " Printed and sold by M. Jones, printer to the Commonwealth; by S. Pleasants, jun. at the office of the Virginia Argus; by T. Field, Petersburg; and by the author, in the jail of Richmond. 1800."
  An avowedly partisan work, Callender wrote in the preface to its first volume (1800.019) that the "design of this book is to exhibit the multiplied corruptions of the federal government, and more especially, the misconduct of the president, Mr. Adams" [p. 3]. The result was his arrest, trial, and conviction for seditious libel under the Sedition Act of 1798 after publishing that first volume in May 1800. Callender wrote the second volume in his Richmond jail cell before being pardoned by Jefferson in March 1801, publishing it in two parts, this part in fall 1800 and the other in the ensuing winter (1801.008).
  Production of this volume completed by the press of Meriwether Jones, who had avoided a similar prosecution for the first volume by sharing its production with Samuel Pleasants and James Lyon; with the impending expiration of the Sedition Act (March 3, 1801), Jones now felt safe from retribution for assisting Callender in his controversial publication.
  
  
• Related Bios:
  • James Thomson Callender
  • Thomas Field
  • Meriwether Jones
  • Samuel Pleasants, Jr.

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