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1843 December 28 . John Jay ALS to Gerrit Smith; New York, [New York]

3 pages

Box 3
Discusses editions of his father's book, A View of the Action of the Federal Government, in Behalf of Slavery, and producing an appendix if materials are provided for him. His father used to make anti-slavery scapbooks "... & there he could find a full history of every important matter connected with slavery & abolition." Sent Smith a copy of the address he delivered at the Colored Orphan Asylum (later printed as An Address in Behalf of the Colored Orphan Asylum, Delivered at their Seventh Anniversary, December 11, 1843). [Lewis] Tappan showed him a letter from [Joshua] Leavitt concerning fugitive slaves arrested in Washington, D.C., and some subsequently sold South by [Robert] Beall. Comments on John Bush, who assisted the fugitives: "Mr. Bush a free man of colour is under bond to be tried for kidnapping them - a capital crime here." Outlines courses of action to protest the matter, including petitioning Congress about government agents aiding "in capturing or detaining any person under the pretext of being a slave," petitioning the Senate about the sale of the enslaved people, and using Bush's trial to challenge the legality of slavery in D.C.
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1844 February 1 . J[ohn] M[acRae] Washington ALS to Col. J. Hooe; [Brentsville, Virginia?].

1 page

Box 3
Richard, an enslaved man, has delivered Hooe's note offering him for sale. "He has a wife & children at Park Gate, to whom I believe him sincerely attached." Agrees to meet with Hooe to discuss, but notes "I can make no offer at this time." Address panel marked "By Richd.," indicating it was hand-delivered by him. N.B. Per Swann Auctions, "It would appear that Washington did not go ahead with the purchase to reunite Richard with his family. Another document handled by Swann on 28 March 2019, lot 27, shows that Richard was being leased by the Hooe estate to another plantation through 1848."
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1844 February 28 . Fanny ALS to Caroline E. Mackay; Concord, [Massachusetts].

4 pages

Box 3
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Discussion of Lydia M. Child, a letter she wrote on valentines, and the townspeople of Concord's interest in the abolition cause. Notes that "Our good Towns-People are much interested in the Aboliton Cause. All seem to be affected either on one side or the other, none are indifferent."
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1844 April 29 . John Davis ALS to Joseph J. Green; Westfield, [Massachusetts].

3 pages

Box 3
Busy with his studies. Left Leicester after experiencing trouble with teachers when his request to spend an evening out was declined but the request of a mixed-race student was approved. Davis left without permission and decided he would not like to stay at the school. "I have since understood that the reason of his excusing the Molatto was because there were several Abolitionists in the place who thought considerable of him (the Molatto) and if he (Mr Partrige) had not excused him, he would have been blamed." Thoughts on the relative importance of good teachers versus the desire to learn. Notes subjects he will be studying and financial needs.
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1844 July 3 . Adams County (Miss.) Citizens DS to Adams County (Miss.) Board of Police; Natchez, [Mississippi].

1 page

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Recommendation for Eliza Smith, a free woman, and request that she be granted residence in Adams County; "we have Known Eliza Smith a mulatto woman a free person of Color . . . and Know that she is of good moral character, and therefore pray that your . . . body make grant her . . . permission to reside in said County upon her Complying with the law respecting free Persons of Color."
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1844 September 1 . Thomas Clarkson ALS; Suffolk, England.

2 pages

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Delighted that "our holy cause is rapidly gaining ground in your Country, " but disturbed to hear that Friends are indifferent to slavery. "This Intelligence has cut me to the quick...I believe I shall mourn over it as a long as I live." Describes history of Quaker involvement in antislavery cause. Also mentions receiving a book form Maria Weston Chapman in Boston entitled the "Liberty Bell," which he wrote a piece for.
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1844 November 20 . F. A. Thompson ALS to G. W. McMillan; Lane Seminary, Walnut Hills, Ohio.

3 pages

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Regarding missionary work; anticipates approval to go to India and East Africa as a missionary, and they need more missionaries to travel to Southeast Africa. Recently preached that more ministers should go South to preach to slaveholders. Says that "I am racked, and tormented on the subject of slavery" and that he boarded with a reverend who was"as hot as all the Abolition fires can make him." Dr. [Lyman] Beecher is in Indiana to ordain his son [Charles Beecher].
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1844 December 7 . Alanson St. Clair ALS to Catherine M. Moore; Elizabethtown, [New York].

4 pages

Box 3
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Advice not to join the Methodist church because so many members own slaves; "In the Methodist Episcopal Church, there are said to be more than three thousand ministers [and] twenty five thousand who hold slaves . . . Such characters I do not regard as Christians, but thieves and robbers in the worst sense of those words." He separated from the Presbyterian Church because it was"stained with slavery," writes on the elections of 1844 and 1848.
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1845 January 23 . E. H. Stow ALS to Robert Darragh; Washington, [Pennsylvania].

2 pages

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Danger and demoralization of party politics over slavery and disunion. Discusses the fall of other civilizations and laments the potential fracture of the country; "The dissolution of this Union would be the dissolution of my every hope of American Greatness."
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[ca. January 1845] . Lewis Tappan, W[illia]m E. Whiting, William Mowrey, and J[ames] C. Jackson Pr. LS to N. R. Chapman; Albany, [New York].

3 pages

Box 3
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Seeking support for the Albany Patriot, published by the Albany Liberty Party Convention. They need to purchase a press "and the necessary fixtures to establish an office in which the Patriot can be printed." Tappan has suggested selling $1000 of antislavery books at a discount and give half of the profits to Jackson to sustain the"Patriot," and asks that supporters of anti-slavery purchase these books. Includes a handwritten note from Jackson, asking Chapman to buy some of Tappan's books.