THE FEDERAL POLITICIAN

Philadelphia: Francis & Robert Bailey, 1795. xxiii, [1 blank], [24]-240, 281-284 [Subscribers] pp, as issued. Light scattered foxing, untrimmed. Inscription in neat ink script on front free endpaper: "James Pollard's Book Presented by George Turner in 1803." Contemporary pale grey boards, rebacked. Very Good.

With a three-page list of Subscribers, including Alexander Hamilton [who bought six copies], James Madison [2], Robert Morris [2], Oliver Wolcott, and other well-known Congressmen, lawyers, and merchants.
Puglia's introduction anticipates his critics who, he says, express "the expiring rage of conquered Anti-federalism." He defends America's Federal system, contrasting it with the "aspiring tyranny" of the French Revolution; celebrates America's built-in restraints against mobbery and despotism; and argues that the reins of government must be controlled by men of moderation under a system of "rational liberty" that recognizes that civil society is necessary for nurturing the rule of law and the equal rights of all. Puglia concludes with a section entitled, "The Author to His Enemies, If He Has Any."
FIRST EDITION. Evans 29373. Sabin 66617. ESTC W20315. Not in Cohen, Harv. Law Cat., Larned.