Beschreibung:

Working Men Shall Americans Or English Rule! In This City? The crew of the British Steamer have threatened all Americans who shall dare to express their opinions this night at the English Aristocratic! Opera House! We advocate no violence but a free expression of opinion to all public men. Workingmen! Freemen!! Stand by your Lawful Rights! American Committee.
New York, 9 May 1849]. Broadside (approximately 35 ½ x 24 inches; 900x610 mm). Condition: Significant areas of expert paper restoration and manuscript facsimile. Matted and framed. the inflammatory broadside which incited the astor place riot. The origins of the bloody riot stem from a feud between American actor Edwin Forrest and British actor William Charles Macready. However, the underlying reasons for the bloodshed were rooted in class struggles. In May 1849, Macready came to New York to perform Macbeth at the Opera House. At the opening performance on May 7, however, he was booed from the stage and pelted with rotten eggs by supporters of Forrest, who was appearing in his own staging of Macbeth at the Bowery Theatre the same night. A petition was signed the next day by the wealthy elite of the city pleading with Macready to not cancel the run and a performance was rescheduled for May 10th. “So soon as placards announced the intended reappearance of Macready, others, proclaiming that Forrest would appear in the same play on the same night at the Broadway [Theatre], were put up alongside them. The following incendiary handbill was also posted all over town…” (Lossing, History of New York City, II: pp 511). According to Cliff, only 200 copies were printed and posted of this broadside “that raised the stakes with a blatant appeal to national prejudice.” ( Cliff, The Shakespeare Riots, p 211 ). Both this poster, and a poster in support of Macready were printed at the same office and distributed by boss of the Sixth Ward and notorious Tammany politician Isaiah Rynders. The broadside is signed in print at the end by “American Committee,” referring to the nativist association headed by Ned Buntline which was largely behind what would ensue on May 10. That morning crowds began amassing in front of the Opera House and by the time of the curtain numbered almost 20,000. The crowd attempted to force the doors of the Opera House, stones were thrown and the militia from the Seventh Regiment Armory were called in. The mob, however, turned on them as well, leading to orders for the troops to fire. Twenty-two men were killed in what would be eventually seen as a portent for the Civil War draft riot. we could not locate another extant copy of this famous broadside.