21 November 1840

Baldwin, Roger Sherman, 1793-1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Theodore Sedgwick

Discusses a two hundred page report (possibly of the Amistad case). Mentions Lewis Tappan, an abolitionist who supported the Amistad Africans' freedom. Discusses the authenticity of treaties admitted as evidence in the Amistad case at District Court. Refers to the Amistad Africans, whose recent importation to Cuba, reflected the violation of international and Spanish law. States that John Quincy Adams, who assisted with the Africans' defense, "Thinks the govt, when they see the record, may abandon their appeal without a hearing; as he is very confident they cannot hope to be successful.…

GLC07099

1795

Barlow, Joel, 1754-1812

Manuscript document

Title: List of expenses for materials for US Consul at Algiers, including gifts.

The list of expenses includes watches, rings and fabrics probably used to secure the release of prisoners and halt pirate attacks.

GLC07284

19 September 1823

Key, Francis Scott, 1779-1843

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown

Written by Key, the penman of the Star Spangled Banner and a founding member of the American Colonization Society, as an attorney to an unknown reverend. Says he would like to join him on the 30th, but cannot because court will be in session. Appears to write on efforts to assist the American Colonization Society. Hopes his correspondent can help supply missionaries. Comments that a Mr. Ayres is making preparations for a school modeled after "the plan of Mr. Johnson at Regents Town" that will keep African captives and boys together. Says they will be put under the charge of Lott Carey, a…

GLC07483.02

1793-1796 ca.

Burnham, John, 1758-1837

Header Record

Title: Algiers archive relating to the capture of John Burnham [Decimalized .01- .9]

Includes 19-page narrative of capture details, 2 letters to Edmund Randolph pleading for help, etc. Burnham was captain of the ship "Hope." Collection includes lists of goods and monies owed to various parties in the Mediteranean and also suggestions of how to best bring about peace with the Ottoman Empire (i.e. get France's help.) Also included is a folder of 9 letters grouped under the title "Papers relating to the Pension of Captain Burnham, an Algerine Prisoner."

GLC07937

10 March 1910

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Walter S. Field

Roosevelt discusses a suit in Oklahoma against him "as trustee for the Kickapoo Indian Wah-nah-ka" and how to proceed so that the Indian's rights were protected. Wants Field, a Washington Attorney, to appear on his behalf. Also indicates that he wants a new trustee appointed, because he was in Africa. The letter was written from the White Nile River.

GLC07733.01

1805

Guerrazzi, John, fl. 1805

Print

Title: The attack made on Tripoli on the 3d. August 1804...

GLC07730

1810-1812

Lear, Tobias, 1762-1816

Header Record

Title: Lear family archive of 6 items during service as US Consul in Algiers [Decimalized .01- .06]

GLC07827

circa 1830-1840

Broadside

Title: Views of slavery

Abolitionist broadside with six images depicting kidnapping, torture, auction, and labor of enslaved people. With Channing quotation, "Our laws know no higher crime than that of reducing a man to slavery. To steal or to buy an African on his own shores is a piracy." Lithograph drawings.

GLC06477

1896

Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt, 1868-1963

Book

Title: The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the USA 1638-1870

8vo. Printed by Longsman, Green & Co. First edition of Du Bois's first book. Howes D522.

GLC06983

January 1883

Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown

Sends his autograph to an unknown recipient with a quotation: "What does it imply? The Mongolian, the Hebrew, the African, the least aggressive and sanguinary of men, why are the most hated and persecuted by Christian nations?"

GLC05716

22 July 1851

Clay, Henry, 1777-1852

Letter signed

Title: to Thomas Robinson Hazard

Clay writes from Ashland, his estate, to Hazard, the noted reformer. Declines an invitation to visit Hazard in Rhode Island, relating that he will not be able to leave home this summer due to ill health. Also due to his health, this letter is written by an amanuensis. Notes that though the climate and sea bathing of Rhode Island would aid his health, "the journey, the cities, the crowds, and the company which I should encounter would neutralize any advantage that I should derive from visiting Newport." Agrees with Hazard on African colonization, remarking, "Its success and prosperity are…

GLC05721

1835

Pamphlet

Title: Proceedings of the Colonization Society of the city of New York... [Liberia]

Full title: "Proceedings of the Colonization Society of the City of New York, at their third annual meeting, held on the 13th and 14th of May, 1835, including the annual report of the Board of Managers, to the Society." Concerning the colony of freed slaves established in Liberia. An appendix publishes newspaper accounts of speeches from the meeting. The last page has a poem of L.H. Sigourney entitled "Liberia." Published by Wm. A. Mercein and Son, Pearl Street.

GLC05215

1826

Shaler, William, 1773-1833

Book

Title: Sketches of Algiers, political, historical and civil...

Printed by Cummings, Hilliard and Company. First edition. Original worn paperboards and quarter leather. Written by Shaler as American Consul General at Algiers. Includes chapter 7 "Extracts of the journal kept in the consulate of the United States, at Algiers," which appears to be the only original materials. (The rest appears to derive from other works, as per Shaler's preface.)

GLC05246.04

3 March 1841

Van Buren, Martin, 1782-1862

Book

Title: Message from the President of the United States, transmitting a report from the Secretary of State, in relation to seizures or search of American vessels, & c.

House doc. no. 115. Pertains to "Search or seizure of American vessels on coast of Africa, & c."

GLC05163

1817

Washington, Bushrod, 1762-1829

Pamphlet

Title: A view of exertions lately made for the purposes of colonizing the free people of colour, in the United States, in Africa, or elsewhere

A pamphlet containing Bushrod's memorial as president of the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States, along with other writings on the subject of colonization. Includes speeches by Henry Clay and many others, resolutions, and a "brief sketch of Sierra Leone." Printed by Jonathan Elliot. Disbound pamphlet.

GLC05181

30 May 1924

Carver, George Washington, 1864-1943

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mr. Hardwick

Discusses at great length Hardwick's emerging spirituality. Carver mentions that he created a medicine from peanuts to alleviate respiratory problems after hearing a sermon about an African girl who converted to Christianity and then died, probably from tuberculosis.

GLC05508.063

31 May 1850

Clarke, Matthew St. Clair, 1791-1852

Printed letter signed

Title: [American Colonization Society circular proposing steamship line between the United States and Africa]

Addressed to "His Excellency the Gov of NJ" (Daniel Haines). Signed by [Matthew St. Clair Clarke]. Copy of the memorial of Joseph Bryan, of Alabama, to Congress, proposing to establish a line of steam ships between the U.S. and Africa. Cites the need for maintaining a naval force on the western coast of Africa, the need for extinguishing the slave trade, to extend trade between the United States and Africa, and to convey that emancipated people can emigrate to Africa, if they wish.

GLC05492

7 January 1840

Van Buren, Martin, 1782-1862

Document signed

Title: [Orders for transport of the Amistad captives]

Countersigned by John Forsyth as Secretary of State. President Van Buren writes to Norris Wilcox, Marshal of the District of Connecticut. States: "The Marshal of the United States for the District of Connecticut will deliver over to Lieutenant John S. Paine, of the United States Navy, and aid in conveying on board the schooner Grampus, under his command all the negroes late of the Spanish schooner Amistad, in his custody under process now pending before the District Court of the United States for the District of Connecticut. For so doing this order will be his warrant."

GLC05636.01

30 October 1839

Grundy, Felix, 1777-1840

Letter

Title: to William S. Holabird

The body of the letter appears to be clerically written; the signature has been clipped and someone has written "Felix Grundy" in a different hand beneath. Grundy, Attorney General of the United States, informs Holabird, District Attorney of Connecticut: "It is necessary that I should know, what legal proceedings are now pending in your District, in relation to the negroes and vessel Amistad- You will be good enough to give the information at your earliest convenience- You named to the President, that you intended to visit Washington; will you do so, and when? Where was the Amistad, when…

GLC05636.03

1829-1853

Header Record

Title: Papers related to the Amistad mutiny [Decimalized .01-.59]

This collection contains the papers of William S. Holabird, who served as United States District Attorney for the state of Connecticut during the Amistad trial. These materials include a letter of Judge Andrew T. Judson which suggests executive interference in the proceedings (#5), depositions of the Spanish minister (#7-9), testimony of witnesses (#10-14), and important letters of Secretary of State John Forsyth instructing Holabird on the Amistad case (#17-23). Also includes Holabird's commission as United States District Attorney (#16). Contains political or legal letters for the period…

GLC05636

April-June 1840

Holabird, William S., 1794-1855

Autograph document

Title: [Brief from the Circuit Court regarding the Amistad case]

Referring to Lieutenant Thomas R. Gedney, includes information pertaining to the Amistad case: "Gidney & others v. The Amistad Negroes. Circuit court U.S." Considers four principle points: "shall the vessel, & the blacks, be restored to the Spanish Government from whence they came;" "whether these negroes shall be restored to the Spanish Govt or be sit at liberty here;" "The Spanish Govt claim that the Amistad being a Sp vessel, and not having violated the laws of nations, on the municipal laws of this country... that the Courts of no other nation can hold jurisdiction of them;" and…

GLC05636.02

1854

Foote, Andrew H. (Andrew Hull), 1806-1863

Book

Title: Africa and the American Flag. By Commander Andrew H. Foote. U.S. Navy, Lieutenant commanding U.S. Brig. Perry on the Coast of Africa, A.D. 1850-1851.

Signed by Rear Admiral Semmes on the inner front cover. 390 pages of text followed by 18 pages of advertisements. Includes lithographs as illustration. Published by D. Appleton & Co. Discusses Western European and American interests in the African coast.

GLC05675

1808

Broadside

Title: 5000 American Seamen detained on board British vessels!

Alerts citizens to British impressment, American prisoners in France, "Algerine Piracy and Barbarity," and the relocation of American families to Canada, and blames it all on the Embargo Act of 1807. Urges "a hearty vote for the ANTI-EMBARGO and FEDERAL REPUBLICAN TICKET" in the election of 1808.

GLC07703

26 June 1825

Adams, John, 1735-1826

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Smith Shaw

Former President Adams discusses Native American and African religion with Shaw, his nephew and former private secretary. States "Dr. Jarvis has assigned some good causes of the too general inattention to the religion of the indians. But those causes do not apply to the negroes. We have thousands if not millions of them domesticated with us. We might examine them. But who asks them a question? Or studies their languages ... Why are not Bibles translated into negro and sent to the gold coast?" Refers to a slave named Glasgow owned by Boston pastor Samuel Cooper. States that when Cooper…

GLC07533

January 12, 1788

Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790

Letter signed

Title: to Samuel Huntington

Written by Franklin, signer of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution, as President of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania to Huntington as Governor of Connecticut, three days after Connecticut ratified the Constitution. Writes in his capacity as President of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. Sends along several copies of the society's constitution, the laws of Pennsylvania concerning slavery, and a copy of Thomas Clarkson's essay on the commerce of slavery from Africa (a copy of the society's constitution is at GLC07485.02, but the other items…

GLC07485.01