[Keene, Richard Raynal]:

$1,750 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

A LETTER FROM RICHARD RAYNAL KEENE, TO LUTHER MARTIN, ESQ. ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF MARYLAND; UPON THE SUBJECT OF HIS 'MODERN GRATITUDE.' A strange and uncommon artifact of Federal-era political and personal controversy, this is Richard Raynal Keene's response to Luther Martin's MODERN GRATITUDE, IN FIVE NUMBERS: ADDRESSED TO RICHARD RAYNAL KEENE, ESQ. CONCERNING A FAMILY MARRIAGE. Apart from defending himself with regard to his actions with Martin's daughter, Keene's tract is also an excellent example of the importance of personal honor in the Federal era, as well as making allusions to current political and international affairs.In the previous work, Luther Martin took Keene to task for seducing his fifteen-year-old daughter, whom Keene married in 1802. At the time, Martin was the Attorney General of Maryland and Keene's legal mentor. Keene would go on to live a fascinating life, serving as U.S. Attorney in New Orleans after he married Martin's daughter, as a defendant alongside Aaron Burr during the Burr Conspiracy trial, and as a colonel in the Spanish Army for over a decade during which time he secured the very first permission from the Spanish Cortes to settle a colony in Texas, which never ultimately materialized. Keene also participated in the failed ransom attempt of American seamen in Algiers in 1814, was accused of treason by Richard Meade for a letter Keene sent to the Spanish King that was critical of American government, and tried to buy a large portion of Cuba aroun

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