January 27, 1863

Chase, Salmon P. (Salmon Portland), 1808-1873

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Pitt Fessenden

Written as Secretary of Treasury on department stationery. Discusses the national banking system and tax on circulation. States that against his urgings, Congress has insisted on a conversion clause. Writes that in his first report in July 1861, he suggested a tax on bank notes and other internal taxes but that no duties were imposed. In his second report, he says he proposed a national banking system and a tax on circulation. Remarks, "It is my considered judgment that had these views been adopted at the last session...there might have been comparatively little financial embarrassment…

GLC01574.01

April 14, 1825

Clay, Henry, 1777-1852

Letter signed

Title: to William C. Somerville

Secretary of State Clay informs Somerville of Somerville's appointment as Charge d'Affaires of the United States in Sweden. States that Somerville will replace Christopher Hughes, who will assume the post of Charge d'Affaires of the United States in the Netherlands. Refers to the inclusion of a letter of introduction addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Sweden, a copy of this letter, and of Somerville's Commission (not included). Offers instructions regarding the duties Somerville will assume at his new post. Informs that Somerville will receive more papers…

GLC01574.03

April 4, 1840

Clay, Henry, 1777-1852

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Alexander Miller

States that he would be happy to assist him in procuring a loan but feels that now is not a good time. Remarks, "There is a want of Capital and a want of confidence." Explains that he would be able to represent him well but that there is a tendency to not lend money to distant borrowers. Offers to supply him or his agent with letters of recommendation. Comments that chances are good for the election of General William Henry Harrison, who won the Presidency in 1840.

GLC01574.04

March 29, 1808

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown

This document refers to the Monroe-Pinkney treaty of 1806 (per Monroe Papers).

GLC01575

April 19, 1821

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Thomas Jefferson

Mentions funding appropriations for the University of Virginia, and states that he enclosed a report on the subject. Pledges continued support for the University. A discussion of foreign relations with Europe follows. Comments on an Austrian attack on Naples and its possible consequences, and tariff disagreements between the United States and France. Describes the people of Europe as "ripe for revolt."

GLC01576

1845

Baillie, James S., fl. 1838-1855

Print

Title: Surrender of Cornwallis

Hand-colored lithograph showing Lord Cornwallis surrendering to George Washington at Yorktown on 19 October 1781. Several other American and British military leaders also appear. Names printed under lithrograph read: "Kosciuzko," "Steuben," "Laurens," "Hamilton," "Lincoln," "Knox," "Lafeyette," "Wayne," "Washington," "Cornwallis," "Tarleton," "Knyphausen," "Chewton," "Rawdon," and "O'hara."James S. Baillie was a lithographer active in New York City from 1838-1855.

GLC02918.02

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

9 September 1786

Washington, George, 1732-1799

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Francis Mercer

Washington replies to a letter from Mercer, noting that he would have replied sooner, but he had a fever. Expresses his plan to never enslaved another person again, and his wish that slavery be abolished by "slow, sure & imperceptible degrees." Discusses financial matters, mentioning a debt he owes Governor George Clinton of New York, which was supposed to have been repaid within twelve months of "the Peace" (1783). For what remains of the loan, Washington is paying seven percent interest. Mentions another, higher debt he owes to an unspecified individual, and that repayment of this…

GLC03705

1861

H.H. Lloyd & Co.

Map

Title: Lloyd's new political chart, 1861

Full title: "Lloyd's New Political Chart, 1861. With a Map of the United States, Showing the Free States, Border Slave States, Cotton States, and Territories, in Different Colors." Compiled and published by H.H. Lloyd & Co.'s Agents' General Depot for Books, Maps, and Stationary Packages, 25 Howard Street in New York. Eclectic item composed of map, wood-cut portraits, biographies and statistics. Topped with a banner with "The National Political Chart," at the top. Underneath the banner is an image of George Washington flanked on the left by an image of the Seal of the U.S. and on the…

GLC04243

1836

American Anti-Slavery Society, 1833-1870

Broadside

Title: Slave Market of America.

American Anti-Slavery Society broadside regarding the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. The text quotes scripture, the Declaration of Independence, the federal Constitution, state constitutions, and news accounts. Illustrated with nine woodcuts. The woodcuts include the signing of the Declaration (based on Trumbull), a map of the capitol district entitled "The Residence of 7000 Slaves," a picture of the capitol building, three pictures of public prisons including one captioned "Jail in Washington, Sale of a Free Citizen to pay his Jail Fees," and three pictures of "Private…

GLC04557

1861/01/13

Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Francis W. Pickens re: prophesy of a Civil War; secession

Prophesizes that the South is "probably soon to be involved in that fiercest of human strifes, a Civil War," and discusses secession and withdrawal of southerners from the U.S. Congress.

GLC04624

1789

Laing, Joseph, 1828-1905

Print

Title: Inauguration of Gen. George Washington

This document is a print lithograph of George Washington at his inauguration in 1789. Probably 1870s or 1880s print by Joeseph Laing and published by William Blackman.

GLC04723

1942

War Manpower Commission

Poster

Title: Women in the War We Can't Win Without Them

GLC09543

January 1, 1863

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Document signed

Title: Emancipation Proclamation [California printing, Cheesman copy]

One of three color lithographic broadsides. Printed by L. Nagel and copyright by "F.S. Butler, 1864." Presented to Lincoln for signing by David Williams Cheesman. Signed on back: "Property of Mrs. Maria Cheesman/ Phoenix/ Oregon." See Eberstadt, "Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation," New Colophon (2d Series, 1950) no. 19. The broadside, according to Eberstadt, was "executed by a fourteen-year-old boy. Benjamin F. Butler, who was a California pioneer of 1849 and established the first lithographing plant on the West Coast, may have been the boy's father." (p. 337)

GLC00742

06 August 1787

Constitutional Convention, 1787

Document signed

Title: Constitution [printing of first draft] [Committee of Detail]

Report of the Committee of Detail, the first draft of the Constitution, signed by Pierce Butler with his annotations. The leaves are printed recto only. Uncut and unbound, sealed in Plexiglas string mat. "We the People of the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island...." Some words written in another hand. Dated at top "May [th]e 30th 1787" Printed by Dunlap and Claypoole.

GLC00819.01

2 August 1776 circa

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Broadside

Title: Declaration of Independence [Charleston, 1776]

Unrecorded and unique. Endorsed on verso. Peter Timothy was printer to the colony of South Carolina, and later to the state of North Carolina. News of the Declaration was received Aug. 2. Timothy's broadside follows Dunlap with minor variants of capitalization, spelling and punctuation.

GLC00959

December 6, 1797

Lamarquisie, Bernard M., fl. 1797

Letter signed

Title: to the Society of Cincinnati

Lamarquisie (also "de la Marquisie"), a Frenchman who had served as a captain of engineers in the Continental Army, asks the Massachusetts Society of Cincinnati for financial aid. The former officer, "persecuted in France during the Revolution," writes that he needs money to travel from Boston to Philadelphia, in order to pursue his memorial before Congress. The first letter, a summary of his military service during the Revolutionary War, includes mention of his journey to Canada with American commissioners Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase and Charles Carroll, his engineering work at West…

GLC01450.624

October 1, 1775

Cudworth, Melzar, fl. 1775-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Cudworth

Cudworth, impressed on board H.M.S. Asia, writes to his father James in Scituate, Massachusetts. Assures James of his well being. Expresses uncertainty regarding his return home. Mentions John White, Daniel [Mack?], Morris Comdon, and Joseph Pierce, possibly some of his shipmates aboard the Asia. Reports that he received news of his father from Edman Patrick.

GLC01450.630.01

March 24, 1776

Cudworth, Melzar, fl. 1775-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Joseph Otis

Cudworth, impressed on board H. M. S. Asia, writes to Otis, his friend in Boston. States that on 14 March, he was impressed on the H. M. S. Livley, at Marblehead, Massachusetts. Relates that he was on the Livley until the 24 March, when he was taken to Boston and placed on board the H. M. S. Asia. Pleads with Otis to visit him on board the Asia. Asks that Otis inform James Cudworth, Melzar's father, that he went to Marblehead with Samuel Holbrook. Possibly written in 1775 (date is partially illegible).

GLC01450.630.02

March 24, 1811

French, Thomas, fl. 1811, Blake, Phineas, fl. 1811, Kinsley, Adam, fl. 1811

Letter signed

Title: to Tench Coxe

Written by Thomas French, Phineas Blake, and Adam Kinsley, heads of the gun firm French, Blake & Kinsley. Sends duplicate receipts for four hundred muskets purchased.

GLC01450.709

June 18, 1813

Roby, Henry, fl. 1810-1820

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Abiel Wood

The top half of the first page records three diary-like entries for 16-18 June 1813. They discuss the weather, farming, and local naval activities in the War of 1812, including reports of "a heavy cannonading." The bottom half takes the form of a letter dated 18 June 1813. It discusses hauling a load of rocks, tending to the potatoes, and the town's reaction to the cannonading heard two days before. The townspeople called a meeting and discussed building and arming a battery. Notes that when "the true result of the firing is heard their fears will subside[.]" Also claims that "one half…

GLC01450.711

March 8, 1858

Foster, fl. 1858

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his cousin

He received his cousin's paper, but has not written earlier because his studies, at Brown University, have kept him busy. Reports of a local stable fire in which eight of sixty horses died and nearly all their carriages were destroyed. Two days later, their was an attempt to set fire to another stable. A hackman was suspected. Mentions good weather. Discusses skating. A note on the back, possibly a response to a letter from Annie mentioned in the letter's main body, records a day's schedule a Brown.

GLC01450.712.01

June 14, 1858

Foster, fl. 1858

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his cousin

Describes Class Day at Brown University and an upcoming event called Whately Burial, in which juniors carry a coffin through the streets containing one of their textbooks, Whately's Logic. Comments on last year's Whately Burial and getting caught in the rain. Mentions hot air ballooning in Providence, in which a the ballon reached heights of 1000 feet and a rabbit was dropped down in parachute. Describes the parachuting process.

GLC01450.712.02

after 1792

Mutinot, fl. 1792

Autograph note signed

Title: French Revolution request for payment dated 13. Vendemiaire

GLC01450.718.01

January 9, 1815

Parker, Daniel, 1782-1846

Letter signed

Title: to J. T. Churm and others in the 17th regiment of infantry

Discusses the case of Lieutenant Joseph Duncan, who was transferred from the 17th to the 19th regiment. Details on the case are not given, although it appears to concern Duncan's rank. Parker expresses that the secretary of war does not see "any cause of complaint on the part of the officers of the 17th Infy." Parker was assistant inspector general in the war department.

GLC01450.718.07