2 June 1875

Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885

Autograph manuscript

Title: [Notes during a meeting with the Sioux Indians]

Comments on a treaty with the Sioux and rights to lands in Nebraska. A note in the margin by Benjamin R. Cowen, Grant's assistant secretary of the interior, identifies Grant's authorship and date. Another unattributed note identifies Cowen. Accompanied by an engraving (see GLC06035.02).

GLC06035.01

15 April 1790

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Letter signed

Title: to Samuel Huntington

Jefferson, Secretary of State, transmits two copies (not included) of the first Patent Act of the United States to Huntington, Governor of Connecticut. The U.S. Constitution empowered the Federal Government to issue patents by providing, in article 1, section 8, that Congress shall have the power "to promote the progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." The first act of Congress under that authority was passed April 10, 1790, giving complete power to grant patents to a…

GLC06036

27 August 1793

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Letter signed

Title: to merchants of Elizabeth Town, New Jersey

Written by Jefferson as Secretary of State. Assures merchants of Elizabeth Town, New Jersey that the government will do all it can to protect commerce on the high seas. Says "due attention will be paid to any injuries they may suffer on the high seas, or in foreign countries, contrary to the law of Nations, or to existing treaties." Claims the "just and friendly dispositions" of the belligerent powers in Europe will move them to take effective measures to stop abuses. Hopes merchants will send information to the government. Since there is no specific mercantile group that receives such…

GLC06037

16 April 1883

Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

Pamphlet

Title: Address by Hon. Frederick Douglass, delivered in the Congregational Church, Washington, D.C., April 16, 1883 : on the twenty-first anniversary of emancipation, in the District of Columbia.

"What Abraham Lincoln said in respect of the United States is as true of the colored people as of the relations of those States. They cannot remain half slave and half free. You must give them all or take from them all. Until this half-and-half condition is ended, there will be just ground of complaint... Until the colored man's pathway to the American ballot box, North and South, shall be as smooth and safe as the same is for the white citizen, this discussion will go on..." Bound in a light blue cover.

GLC06116

1855

Nell, William C., 1816-1874

Book

Title: The colored patriots of the American Revolution, with sketches of several distinguished colored persons: to which is added a brief survey of the condition and prospects of colored Americans.

Published by Robert F. Wallcut. Includes an introduction by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Contains descriptions of African Americans' meritorious military service. Includes a printed fold-out leaf opposite page 132, which consists of George Washington's discharge for a soldier named Brister Baker. The first illustration depicts Crispus Attucks, a runaway slave and a sailor who died 5 March 1770 in the Boston Massacre. A second section includes information on the state of African American Civil Rights at the time of publication. This work is a duplicate of GLC06176.

GLC06132

1855

Nell, William C., 1816-1874

Book

Title: The colored patriots of the American Revolution, with sketches of several distinguished colored persons: to which is added a brief survey of the condition and prospects of colored Americans.

Signed several times on the inside cover by Mrs. George H. Washington at an unspecified date. Signed 23 December 1978 in blue pen on the inner front cover by William D. Hoyt. Published by Robert F. Wallcut. Includes an introduction by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Nell, the author, describes African Americans' meritorious military service. Contains a printed fold-out leaf opposite page 132, which consists of George Washington's discharge for a soldier named Brister Baker. The first illustration depicts Crispus Attucks, a runaway slave and a sailor who died 5 March 1770 in the Boston Massacre…

GLC06176

24 April 1861

Broadside

Title: Herald extra

Reports on various events related to the 19 April 1861 Baltimore Riot, during which secessionists attacked Union soldiers passing through the city. Referring to Baltimore officials' prior authorization of the destruction of bridges leading into the city, states "the President said to the Baltimore deputation, on Monday, if the passage of U. S. troops was again obstructed he would lay the city in ashes."

GLC06107.41

December 31, 1861

Broadside

Title: Herald extra. [December 31, 1861]

Long sheet. Reports on Lincoln regarding the Trent Affair.

GLC06107.44

1845

Latrobe, John H.B., 1803-1891

Pamphlet

Title: Memoir of Benjamin Banneker read before the Maryland Historical Society, at the monthly meeting, May 1, 1845

First edition published by John D. Toy. Honors Banneker, a free African American scientist/astronomer from Maryland who created of a series of famous almanacs. Compares Banneker to David Rittenhouse, a noted Pennsylvania astronomer and inventor. Latrobe mentions that Maryland is the only State that has created a plan for how to deal with rising concerns about African-Americans: they have chosen to appropriate money to establish a colony of freemen in Africa. Also adds that the case of Banneker is interesting in light of discussions about the comparative native intellect of blacks and…

GLC06111

1867

Brown, William Wells, 1815-1884

Book

Title: Clotelle; or the colored heroine. A tale of the Southern States.

Published by Lee and Shepard. Includes engraved plates. Previous documentation states this is the second American edition; the first edition was published in London. Clotelle is said to portray the daughter of Thomas Jefferson. Signed by Emily C. Taylor, presumably a prior owner of the volume. The author, Brown, was an enslaved person who sought refuge and abolitionist

GLC06113

circa 1861-1864

Stephens, Alexander Hamilton, 1812-1883

Broadside

Title: Who is responsible for the war? Who accountable for its horrors and desolations?

Excerpts from a speech by Stephens to the Georgia secession convention on January 31, 1861. (Stephens, who was opposed to secession, ended up becoming vice president of the Confederacy.) He tells the convention, "This step, once taken, can never be recalled; and all the baleful and withering consequences that must follow (as you will see) will rest on the Convention for all coming time." Includes a list of "warlike and treasonable acts" committed by the Southern states before President Lincoln was inaugurated, presented as evidence that Lincoln did not instigate the war, as claimed by the…

GLC06157.08

1861

Broadside

Title: Fort Sumpter

Printed text of patriotic Confederate song celebrating the taking of Fort Sumter. Details events of the bombardment, including the death of two Union soldiers during Anderson's final salute to the United States flag. Illustrated with the first Confederate national flag flying in the breeze. Sung to the tune of "Dearest Mae." The chorus warns "Uncle Abe...ne'er invade our Southern soil."

GLC06158.13

1865

Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901

Photograph

Title: Albumen photograph with Gen. Harrison as commander of 1st Brigade, 20th Corps + signed note

Portrait group showing Harrison on the far left standing next to the seated General Harrison and two other officers. With a bequest note on verso, ANS of Mrs. Eva Cogswell (General Cogswell's widow) giving it to Gen. Harrison's daughter Elizabeth on 15 April 1901.

GLC06164

2 May 1803

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Craven Peyton

Discusses a dispute with a neighbor, the Henderson family, and their dam near Monticello. States that although he does not remember the exact position of John and Charles Henderson's four acres of land, he knows they cannot build a mill without affecting his property. Indicates that he will do whatever possible to oppose the building of a dam, "should they propose to avail themselves of the canal of the old mill I will give orders for the immediate removal of every stone in the dam... otherwise I do not wish to disturb the dam, till my own mill needs the water...." See also GLC 963.

GLC05966

11 March 1862

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Document signed

Title: [Presidential authorization to the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the United States to the pardon of Nathiel W. Watkins].

Watkins was the half-brother of Henry Clay, who had commanded a corps of Confederate Missouri Guards at the beginning of the Civil War. Document is perforated for inclusion in binder.

GLC05968

7 August 1841

Tyler, John, 1790-1862

Document signed

Title: [Pardon of Lorenzo Dow for the murder of a ship captain].

Countersigned by Secretary of State Daniel Webster. Dow was convicted for the murder of Captain William C. Langdon of the Brig "Francis" while at sea and sentenced to be hung. Pardoned because he was "...a fit subject for the interposition of the Executive Clemency."

GLC05976

25 December 1864

Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885

Autograph document signed

Title: to Edwin McMasters Stanton

Grant, Commander in Chief of the United States Army, writes to Stanton, Secretary of War. Relates his receipt of a dispatch from General Foster (possibly John Gray Foster), describing the capture of Savannah, Georgia "with artillery, munitions of War, railroad Cars and cotton." Referring to Confederate General William Joseph Hardee, writes "I wish Hardee's fifteen to eighteen thousand of a garrison could have been added to the other captures. It is a good thing the way it stands and the country may well rejoice over it." Marked at the top as "Cipher."

GLC05978

circa 1864

Broadside

Title: A Traitor's Peace that the Northern Copperhead Leaders Would Force Upon the Country

Election broadside printed by McGill & Witherow in Washington D.C. for the Congressional Union Committee, with an engraving by Thomas Nast, from Harper's Magazine. Very similar to GLC06032 - same image and text, but different title (although, this document is in better condition). Image at top half of broadside shows a ragged Northern soldier with an amputated leg shaking hands with an erect and proud Jefferson Davis in the uniform of a Confederate soldier over the freshly dug grave of "Union-Heroes who fell in a useless war." Davis's right foot is sitting on the grave and has snapped a…

GLC05986

30 November 1864

Newspaper

Title: Daily Virginia state journal. [Vol. 2, no. 829 (November 30, 1864)]

Peace proposal by Abraham Lincoln, Drinking and Battle of Piedmont, West Virginia, Confederate Blockade Runners, Halifax, Novia Scotia.

GLC05959.63

20 October 1864

Baker, Lewis & Co., fl. 1864

Newspaper

Title: The Daily register. [Vol. 2, no. 25 (October 20, 1864)]

Prints a speech of New York Governor Horatio Seymour in Philadelphia to the democratic meeting about why Abraham Lincoln should not be re-elected in the 1864 presidential election. Prints the democratic ticket of General George B. McClellan. This paper is extremely supportive of McClellan as the Democratic presidential candidate. Also includes an interview between Abraham Lincoln and "loyal Tennesseans." Gives an update on the whereabouts of Union General William T. Sherman's army and other war news.

GLC05959.66

1860

Thayer & Eldridge (Boston, Mass.), fl. 1860

Pamphlet

Title: [Republican song book]

From the 1860 Presidential campaign. Published by Thayer & Eldridge, Boston. Original salmon colored wrappers, illustrated with woodcut portrait of Lincoln.

GLC05963

1861

Broadside

Title: [Dixie printed on back of a sheet checks]

A new version of Dixie printed on the back of a sheet of checks from the Bank of Virginia. Contains 9 stanzas. Some very virulent anti-Lincoln lines, including "Old Abe is good at stealing niggers." Note on upper right in pencil says "Printed at Richmond, Va. 1861" What appears to be a title says "Running Air - "Dixie" Rhymes."

GLC05987.27

circa 1860

Taylor, Richard, 1826-1879

Broadside

Title: To the People of the state of Louisiana

Pro-secession broadside issued by Confederate General Richard Taylor, F.H. Hatch, R.A. Hunter, and Emile Lasere, as the Committee on the part of the Louisiana Delegation at Charleston and Baltimore. Discusses preserving the sovereignty of Louisiana, the Democratic candidates for the 1860 election, the state of politics in Louisiana, and the importance of protecting the institution of slavery. Published by order of the Democratic State Committee. Accompanied by collateral envelope "F. H. Hutch to R. Taylor Esq, St. Charles, New Orleans Augt 29, 1860."

GLC05987.28

19 May 1812

Macon, Nathaniel, 1758-1837

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Langdon

Reports that James Madison was nominated for president and Langdon for vice president by Republican Congressional Caucus. Congratulates Langdon and describes his nomination as "made without the solicitation or intrigue of any one of your acquaintances, I consider it made purely on principle." Hopes Langdon will accept the nomination. Macon was a North Carolina congressman. Langdon declined the nomination.

GLC05899.01

29 May 1812

Varnum, Joseph B., 1751-1821

Autograph document signed

Title: [Extracts from the proceedings Republican presidential and vice presidential nominating convention]

Records the process by which James Madison and John Langdon were nominated for president and vice president for the election of 1812. Also indicates the failed attempt to nominate Elbridge Gerry for vice president: "[O]n counting the ballots... for John Langdon 64 for Elbridge Gerry 16..." Langdon declined the nomination.

GLC05899.05