Kaaterskill Books

Illinois and Michigan Canal Debtors Not Paid

[Illinois and Michigan Canal] Macalester, Charles.

[Appeal of Macalester and Stebbins to the people of Illinois, Philadelphia, June, 1851] To the People of the State of Illinois.

[Philadelphia, Pa.]: [B. Mifflin, Printer], 1851. 19 pp. 8vo. Removed. First edition. Removed from a larger volume, lacking the wrappers, mail fold, otherwise good. Item #37649

After the initial route was laid out in 1824, construction on the Illinois and Michigan Canal began in 1836, only to be suspended for several years after the Panic of 1837 which set the state of Illinois into a financial crisis. To meet the debt payments for the state in 1841, money was borrowed from the firm of Macalester & Stebbins of Philadelphia, "but the State failed to meet her obligations to us; which prevented us from meeting ours to others, and the consequence was that we were overwhelmed with disaster, and the credit and business of the house destroyed." This appeal to the People of Illinois is for the final resolution of justice after some payments had been made.

A quite detailed analysis and accounting, and scarce. We could located only one other copy, at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, which provides the title and printing information, from the wrapper: "Appeal of Macalester and Stebbins to the people of Illinois, Philadelphia, June, 1851".

Charles Macalester II (1798–1873) was a businessman in Ohio & Philadelphia, and for whom Macalester College in Minnesota is named.

Price: $225.00