War of 1812
"A Discourse Occasioned by the Death of Hon. William Prescott, LL. D., Delivered in The Church On Church Green" December 15, 1844"
1844 Memorial Pamphlet, "A Discourse Occasioned by the Death of Hon. William Prescott, LL. D., Delivered in The Church On Church Green, December 15, 1844" by Alexander Young (1800-1854), Printed in 1844 by Charles C. Little and James Brown of Boston, Complete, Fine.
This copy with personalized notation at upper right reading: "S. J. Prescott Esqr. / with the regards of Mrs Bilrings" as shown. As a young boy, S. J. Prescott, was a nephew to American Revolutionary War Colonel William Prescott (1726-1795) who commanded the Patriot forces in the Battle of Bunker Hill, whose 1798 memoirs praised William Prescott and chided Israel Putnam) William Prescott Jr. (October 19, 1762 in Pepperell, Massachusetts " December 8, 1844 in Boston, Massachusetts) was a representative from Massachusetts to the (1814"1815) Hartford Convention. This rare funeral memorial imprint with its original Self-Covers with minor separation printed in black on Tan Paper, string bound, Printed in 1844 by Charles C. Little and James Brown of Boston, with 34 pages, Complete, measures 8.75" x 5.75". Lower marginal stain throughout with scattered light foxing with expected light wear from use. One copy located in the Boston Public Library and Simmons College. Cover See Urn: Oclc record: 1085320110
William Prescott was the only child of American Revolution leader Colonel William Prescott, who served at Bunker Hill in 1775. (Col. Prescott's likeness was made into a statue for a memorial for the Battle of Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts and was dedicated in 1881.)
William Prescott Jr., graduated from Harvard in 1783, and then taught at Brooklyn, Connecticut, and later at Beverly, Massachusetts. He passed the bar exam in 1787 after studying law in Beverly with Nathan Dane.
Prescott founded a law practice in Beverly. In 1789, he moved his practice to Salem, Massachusetts, where he became a well-known attorney. He represented Salem for several years in the Massachusetts Legislature.
He was elected a State Senator by the Federal party for Essex County, first in 1806, and again in 1813. He twice declined a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. In 1808 he moved to Boston, and was for several years a member of the Governor's Council.
Prescott was elected as a representative to the 1814 secessionist Hartford Convention. In 1815, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1818, Prescott purchased 50 shares of the Suffolk Bank, a clearinghouse bank on State Street in Boston.
He married Catherine Greene Hickling, a daughter of Thomas Hickling, for many years United States consul at the Azores. Their son William H. Prescott became a well-known historian.
The "Hartford Convention" was a series of meetings from December 15, 1814, to January 5, 1815, in Hartford, Connecticut, in which the New England Federalist Party met to discuss their grievances concerning the ongoing War of 1812 with Britain and the political problems arising from the federal government's increasing power.
This convention discussed removing the three-fifths compromise and requiring a two-thirds majority in Congress for the admission of new states, declarations of war, and creating laws restricting trade. The Federalists also discussed their grievances with the Louisiana Purchase and the Embargo of 1807.
However, weeks after the convention's end, news of Major General Andrew Jackson's overwhelming victory in New Orleans swept over the Northeast, discrediting and disgracing the Federalists, resulting in their elimination as a major national political force.
The convention was controversial at the time, and many historians consider it a contributing factor to the downfall of the Federalist Party. There are many reasons for this, not least of which was the proposed idea of New England, the Federalists' main base, seceding from the union and creating a new country.