Rogers, Ammi. Memoirs of the Rev. Ammi Rogers, A. M. A Clergyman of the Episcopal Church. Johnstown, N. Y.: Printed by W. Clarke, for the Author, 1838. Eighth Edition, with Additions, Omissions and Alterations. [10422]
Leather spine, marbled boards, 6 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches, 264 generally clean pp, tight. Very good. Hardcover.
Title continues: Educated at Yale College in Connecticut, Ordained in Trinity Church in the City of New York, Persecuted in the State of Connecticut on Account of Religion and Politics, for almost Twenty Years - and Finally Falsely accused and imprisoned Norowich [sic] jail, for two years, on the charge of crimes said to have been committed in the town of Griswold, in the county of New London, when he was not within about one hundred miles of the place, (see page 147) and of which he was absolutely as innocent as the Judge who pronounced sentence or as any other person in the world. Also, A concise view of the authority, doctrine and worship, in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and a very valuable index to the Holy Bible. Composed, Compiled and Written by the said Ammi Rogers, Late Rector of St. Peter's church, in Hebron, Tolland co. Connecticut.
Reverend Rogers (1769-1842), here defends himself against the accusation of impregnating a young woman and then aborting her child. The trial was published in 1820 as Report of the Trial of Ammi Rogers, for a high crime and misdemeanor, in a brutal and high handed assault on the body of Asenath Caroline Smith, of Griswold, Con...&c.
“Seven months after the infamous Rogers case, the General Assembly of Connecticut enacts the nation's first law specifically criminalizing abortion. Ammi Rogers, a Connecticut-born Episcopalian minister, was charged with seducing a woman then causing the death of the unborn child through the use of 'pernicious drugs.' He was sentenced to two years in a local jail; the Connecticut law, when enacted, stipulated time be served in the harsher Newgate prison. Between the 1840 and 1860, 13 states pass laws forbidding abortion during any stage of a pregnancy. Three others make it illegal after "quickening" (the time when a woman can feel a baby's movement, usually in the fourth or fifth month). By the end of the Civil War, 30 states had anti-abortion laws.” – World Magazine.
