19 July 1870

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

Document signed

Title: [Permission for John Lothrop Motley]

President Grant authorizes John Lothrop Motley "to exchange the ratifications of the [Addition] Convention to the Convention of April 7. 1862 between Great Britain & the U.S. for the suppression of the African Slave Trade." One engraving, "H.M. Gun-boat 'Teaser' Capturing the Slaver 'Abbot Devereaux,'" and one bust engraving of President Grant included.

GLC02781

27 December 1863

Birney, William, 1819-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Angel James Creswell

General Birney discusses the recruitment of African American troops with Creswell, a United States Representative from Maryland. Expresses his hope to "enable the First District to meet its full quota in colored troops," with Creswell's support. Discusses slaveholders' conspiracies intended to prevent enslaved people from enlisting, including the mistreatment of enlisted enslaved people's wives and children. States that a Mr. Vickers, from Kent County, Maryland (possibly George Vickers), indicted a Mr. Gardner for encouraging his enslaved people to enlist. States that Vickers also…

GLC03428.02

1866

United States. Congress

Pamphlet

Title: Final report of the congressional committee upon the question of reconstruction

Report of the Joint Committee of the two Houses of Congress on reconstruction. The legislation contains a draft of the 14th amendment, and two bills providing for the restoration of the rebellious state to their full political rights.

GLC03465

28 December 1843

Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845

Autograph letter signed

Title: to R.W. Latham

Jackson writes to Latham at Upperville, Virginia. Discusses Stockly Donelson's default on a contract involving the purchase of enslaved people from Andrew Jackson Donelson and Andrew Jackson, Jr. Latham who attempted to hold A. J. Donelson and Andrew Jackson Jr. liable for the sum. Tells Latham that Stockly's part of the debt is secured by a deed of trust.

GLC03423

January 31, 1861

Hicks, Thomas H., 1798-1865

Broadside

Title: To the People of Maryland

Mildly pro-Confederate broadside issued by Hicks as governor of Maryland during the secession crisis, before the border states had seceded. Concerns the impending crisis and what side Maryland should take in it, but firmly associates Maryland's interests with those of the "Cotton States," and its slave owning neighbors.

GLC03427

January 24, 1691 - December 20, 1843

Header Record

Title: Middlesex County Virginia documents [Decimalized: .01-.85]

A collection of eighty seven documents, many regarding the slave trade in Middlesex County Virginia. Includes by-laws for Colored Ladies Lincoln Association and a document regarding a freeman emancipating an enslaved woman he intended to marry. Also includes slave sales documents. The collection also includes materials relating to the Pursoll family, the Winn family, and a printed document signed by Peter V. Daniel, who later served as Supreme Court Justice. A finding aid list was created by Pierpont Morgan Library.

GLC03434

1863

Vallandigham, Clement L., 1820-1871

Book signed

Title: The record of Hon. C. L. Vallandigham on abolition, the Union and the Civil War.

Published by J. Walter & Co. in Ohio. Vallandigham signs 19 January 1864 in Windsor, Ontario, where he was living in exile.

GLC03441

18 June 1862

Medary, Samuel, 1801-1864

Newspaper

Title: The crisis. [Vol. 2, no. 21 (June 18, 1862)]

Pro-slavery newspaper. The article "Questions Gingerly Touched and Tenderly Asked" harshly criticizes the "Ohio State Journal" for its previous criticism of "the Crisis". Also includes a speech by Samuel S. Cox of Ohio, given at the House of Representatives on June 6, 1862 entitled "Emancipation and its Results-- Is Ohio to be Africanized?" (pages 162-163 and 166). Reports on many news items of local and national importance, as well as advertisements, court cases, and military news.

GLC03442

4 October 1862

Harper & Brothers, 1833-1962

Newspaper

Title: Harper's weekly. [Vol. 6, no. 301 (October 4, 1862)]

Includes a printing of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on the third page titled, "THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY." Discusses the Emancipation Proclamation, including an article titled "Slavery Practically abolished." Includes coverage of McClellan in Fredericksburg, an image of General McClellan entering the town of Frederick, Maryland, and the Battle of Antietam. Duplicate of GLC08620.

GLC03443

1787 - 1788

Loudon, Samuel, 1727-1813

Magazine

Title: The American Magazine.

Contains six monthly issues. Billed as "Containing a Miscellaneous Collection of Original an other Valuable Essays, in Prose and Verse, and Calculated both for Instruction and Amusement." A quote underneath the title reads: "Science the guide, and truth the eternal goal." A table of contents appears for each issue, on p. 1, 65, 129, 193, 273, and 353. There are several articles on contemporary political issues. In the December issue, notable articles appear on Bills of Rights, principles of government and commerce, education, and a "London review of John Adams's defense of the…

GLC03462

1861-1862 circa

Walker, Leroy Pope, 1817-1884

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Thomas J. Porter

Forwarding Porter a petition to the President, and wishes Porter would forward it to the President. The petition requests the exemption of Walker's overseer from military service. Most likely written while Walker was Secretary of State, between 17 September 1861 and 31 March 1862.

GLC03468.08

18 December 1857

Douglas, Stephen Arnold, 1813-1861

Broadsheet

Title: Campaign Democrat Extra. No. 2: On Kansas Affairs

Complete text of Douglas's report from the Committee on Territories to the United States Senate on December 18, 1857. With a new bill proposing specific guidelines for authorizing the Kansas territory to form a constitution to prepare for admittance to the Union. This report was evidence of Douglas's disapproval of the notorious pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution proposed for Kansas, which was endorsed by President James Buchanan. Douglas, hoping to save his Senate seat in the 1858 election, opposed the administration not because it sanctioned slavery in Kansas, but because it violated his…

GLC03167

29 June 1850

Shields, James, 1806-1879

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Chathen

Shields writes as a U.S. Senator from Illinois to Chathen at Jacksonville, Illinois. Argues that Henry Clay opposes the extension of slavery and is no more a pro-slavery man than Thomas Hart Benton (both Clay and Benton were U.S. Senators). Also notes that Chathen has made the mistake of labeling compromise (the Compromise of 1850) as a pro-slavery measure. Argues that the Compromise is opposed violently by the south, and will be defeated by southerners, because they see it as an enactment of the Wilmot Proviso. Contains various pencil notes on verso, apparently unrelated to Shields's…

GLC03170

1862-1863

McFaddin, William M., fl. 1862-1863

Header Record

Title: [Collection of William McFaddin, 42nd regiment, Mississippi, cavalry] [Decimalized .01- .06]

Collection of six letters by a soldier in the 42nd Mississippi Volunteers. A letter from 7 April 1863 describes a skirmish and includes an additional note from 8 April, which appears to be addressed to a slave: "I have been a good master to you... stay close to home with your mistress.... Your Master." His final letter of 12 April 1863 says he will desert if he can't get home.

GLC03135.08

7 September 1791

Davis, Ignatious, 1759-1828

Broadside

Title: Thirty Dollars Reward

Printed by John Winter of Frederick-Town (now known as Frederick), Maryland. Broadside which announces Ignatious Davis's offer of a 30 dollar reward for Arch, an enslaved man seeking refuge. He is described as "a handsome Negro Lad ... About twenty years of age ... of yellow complexion, talks sensible and artful, but if close examined is apt to tremble." Says he is undersized, active, and has small legs. Also has a ridge or scar on the back of his neck. Describes the clothing he was wearing when he absconded on 22 August 1791. Says he will pay the full reward if Arch is found to be over 60…

GLC03157

February 2, 1861

Pamphlet

Title: A Declaration of the causes which impel the state of Texas to secede...

GLC03171

16 October 1848

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Gilbert C. Rice

Calhoun, a U.S. Senator from South Carolina, writes to Rice at Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Cannot furnish Rice with requested documents (a speech he delivered in Senate and a letter by "Hammond"). Argues that neither the Whigs nor the Democrats have dealt with the question of abolition appropriately: "I fear the abolition question has been permitted by the North to progress too far to be arrested. Neither party has met it as it ought to have been... The South begins to lose all confidence & must look to itself for protection..." Accompanied by two envelopes, both addressed to Rice, one…

GLC03193

9 January 1876

Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Conness

Commander in Chief of the Army Sherman writes to Conness about the quarrel he had with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton over the terms of Confederate General Joseph Johnston's surrender in 1865. Sherman suggests that he may have acted wrongly. " ... I do not profess to be infallible, or more than mortal. I have made some fearful mistakes in life which in a retrospect would be corrected, among them in regard to Mr. Stanton." Admits that he felt Stanton was trying to destroy him, " ... because he supposed I was not acting in full harmony on the then policy with the Negros - And failing…

GLC03341.01

1860

Drew, Thomas, fl. 1860

Book

Title: The John Brown invasion; an authentic history of the Harper's Ferry tragedy, with full details of the capture, trial, and execution of the invaders, and of all the incidents connected therewith. With a lithographic portrait of Capt. John Brown, from a photograph by Whipple.

An attempt to compile a wide variety of contemporary sources in order to present a balanced view of the events surrounding the raid on Harpers Ferry. However, portrays Brown as a hero and states that the purpose of the book is to "combine in these pages every fact and incident relating to the event, which the friends and admirers of the man would wish to preserve, as mementoes of the simplicity of his character, the nobility of his purposes, the disinterestedness of his motives, the sublime heroism of his deeds, and the remarkable piety by which he was governed and sustained." Compiled by…

GLC03346

February 22, 1863

Tracy, Edward Dorr, 1833-1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to [Matt] Steele

General Tracy writes to Steele, his brother-in-law. Notes that Mr. Atwood will transmit this letter. Sends a "written sketch" of his deceased friend, Dr. Fearn, with instructions for Steele to pass it on to an editor if he deems it worthy of publication. Promises to write to his sisters, and requests a servant.

GLC03357

1889

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896

Book signed

Title: Uncle Tom's cabin

Inscribed by Stowe to Edward W. Seymour, dated June 27, 1890, with quotation from Psalms 72:12, "He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor, & him that hath no Helper." A later edition, printed by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Edward Woodruff Seymour was a Connecticut politician and state supreme court justice from Litchfield, Connecticut, Stowe's home town.

GLC03363

25 March 1857

Washburn, Israel, 1813-1883

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Francis Preston Blair

Maine Representative Washburn writes to Blair, former editor of the Washington, D.C. newspaper The Globe. Recommends George M. Weston (possibly Augusta, Maine lawyer and author George Melville Weston) for the editorial position of a Republican newspaper Blair is organizing in Washington, D.C. States that Weston was chief editor of Democratic Maine newspaper The Augusta Age when "Democracy meant something besides slavery."

GLC03209.23

12 July 1858

Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William A. Winston

Sending "the three Negro men belonging to the estate of G. W. P. Custis, viz: Reuben, Parks & Edward, whom I wish you to hire in Virginia... for the year or a term of years, not exceeding 31 Decr 1862...." Lee asks that the men be kept in the vicinity but also notes "I do not wish these men returned here during the usual holy days...." Lee was executor for the estate of his father-in-law George Washington Parke Custis.

GLC03214

12 May 1860

Andrews, J. D., fl. 1860

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Francis P. Blair

Writes about various political matters. Discusses the nominations for the election of 1860. States that the "extreme men" of the Republican party will push the nomination of William Seward but says, "If we take Seward, we have the sectional strife, negro equality, and defeat." Writes "The South is coming together - [Stephen] Douglas will not be nominated but may even stump, if his friends have their own way." Francis P. Blair was a journalist and politician. As editor of various newspapers, he exerted influence over Jackson, Polk, and Van Buren. He later campaigned for and advised Lincoln…

GLC03209.03

26 March 1911

Parsons, Luke F., 1833-1926

Autograph letter signed

Title: to J. E. Boos

Reminiscences about John Brown by a former follower. Gives a physical description of Brown, and discusses Brown's conviction to always fight for what was right. "He said the Lord had created him to be the deliverer of the slaves from bondage, the same as he did Moses." Of Brown's composure says he was "never excited, always cool, calm, and thoughtful, but had the deliberate courage of a lyon." Also relates a story from their days together in Kansas. Written from "Home."

GLC03227