March 15th , 1774
Isaac Weld JP FGSD MRIA (1774–1856) was an Anglo-Irish topographical writer, explorer, and artist. He travelled extensively in North America was a member of the Royal Dublin Society.
In 1795 he sailed to Philadelphia from Dublin and spent two years travelling in the United States and Canada. He visited Monticello and Mount Vernon and met George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. He journeyed to the United States and Canada partly as an adventure and partly as research into suitable countries for the Irish to emigrate to: “any part of those territories might be looked forward to as an eligible and agreeable place of abode”. He travelled on horseback, by coach and by canoe in Canada with local native guides. Weld eturned in 1797 “without entertaining the slightest wish to revisit it.” He found the Americans to be obsessed with material things and preferred Canada. His published Travels (1799) quickly went into three editions and was translated into French, German, Italian, and Dutch.
Quotes from Travels Through the States of North America
Weld wrote on slavery that “there will be an end to slavery in the United States… negroes will not remain deaf to the inviting call of liberty forever.” With regard to Americans in general, he stated, “civility cannot be purchased from them on any terms; they seem to think that it is incompatible with freedom”. On Washington, DC, he wrote “If the affairs of the United States go on as rapidly as they have done, it will become the grand emporium of the West, and rival in magnitude and splendour the cities of the whole world.”
