2 July 1834

Forsyth, John, 1780-1841

Document signed

Title: to William S. Holabird

Partially printed. Holabird's appointment as Attorney of the United States for the District of Connecticut. John Forsyth, Secretary of State, appoints William S. Holabird as Secretary of State for the District of Connecticut. A handwritten note by Forsyth states: "I will thank you at the time of acknowledging the receipt of your Commission to name the place of your birth."

GLC05636.16

23 September 1839

Forsyth, John, 1780-1841

Letter signed

Title: to William S. Holabird

Forsyth states: "It is necessary to a just decision on the various points presenting themselves for the President's consideration in the case of the Spanish Schooner 'Amistad,' that the Department should be furnished, with a copy of the ships' papers, together with a transcript of the proceedings of the Court of Inquiry held by the District Judge, on board that vessel, to which you refer in your letter of the 5th instant, and on which the Blacks were imprisoned for the alleged murder of the Captain and Mate..."

GLC05636.17

6 January 1840

Forsyth, John, 1780-1841

Letter signed

Title: to William S. Holabird

Forsyth discusses the Amistad case, revealing the administration's assumptions regarding the verdict of the trial. States that the Spanish minister had applied to the State Department for the "use of a vessel of the United States in the event of the decision of the Circuit Court in the case of the Amistad being favorable to his former application, to convey the negroes to Cuba, for the purpose of being delivered over to the authorities of that Island." States that President Van Buren has agreed, and "ordered a vessel to be in readiness to receive the negroes from the Custody of the Marshal…

GLC05636.18

January 17, 1840

Forsyth, John, 1780-1841

Letter signed

Title: to William S. Holabird

Fearing that his letter of 12 January had not reached Holabird, Forsyth reiterates President Van Buren's instructions regarding the Amistad. Writes "... I have to acquaint you with the desire of the President that you take the necessary measures to carry the case by appeal to the Circuit Court, both on that branch of the decision which relates to the negroes, and that which grants salvage on the vessel and the goods found on board. That part which concerns the slave Antonio is not to be disturbed, and instructions will be forwarded to you designating the parties to whom he is to be…

GLC05636.19

25 March 1840

Forsyth, John, 1780-1841

Letter signed

Title: to William S. Holabird

Encloses a letter from the Spanish minister at Washington, D.C., a translation of the letter, and the printed copy of a treaty (not included) from 1835 between Great Britain and Spain intended to enforce restriction of the slave trade. Intends for Holabird to use the documents at the upcoming Circuit Court Amistad trial. Instructs Holabird to return the treaty to the State Department on the request of the Spanish minister.

GLC05636.21

30 April 1840

Forsyth, John, 1780-1841

Letter signed

Title: to William S. Holabird

Relates that the Africans' defense team requested President Martin Van Buren to instruct Holabird to present copies of the 1817 Decree of the King of Spain, the 1838 ordinance of the Queen of Spain, and the 1817 Treaty between Spain and Great Britain in the Circuit Court hearing of the Amistad case. These documents, which had previously been used when the Amistad trial was held at the District Court level, pertain to the slave trade in Spanish territories. Van Buren does not question the authenticity of the documents, but does not feel he has the right "to interpose in the manner desired of…

GLC05636.22

8 September 1840

Forsyth, John, 1780-1841

Letter signed

Title: to William S. Holabird

Transmits the deposition (not included) of Henry Thompson given to H. Griffiths, Esquire, United States Commercial Agent on the Island of Mauritius. Thompson had been a crew member of the Bark Pembroke, from which he was illegally discharged.

GLC05636.23

1838/02/01

Forsyth, John, 1780-1841

Letter signed

Title: to Hon. C. Morris re: copy of congressional journals and documents

Forsyth writes that the journals intended for Marietta College would be forwarded.

GLC02504.17

February 8, 1840

Forsyth, John, 1780-1841

Letter signed

Title: to William S. Holabird

Writes regarding arrangements made by the Spanish Government for Antonio, the slave cabin-boy on board the Amistad, to testify at an upcoming trial in New Haven, Connecticut. Discusses the Minister's obtainment of Jose Ruiz's and Pedro Montes's proprietary title in the other Africans aboard the ship (the titles are to be procured from Cuba). Reports that he informed the Spanish Minister of Holabird's suggestion regarding obtainment of the Spanish laws and edicts prohibiting the importation of African slaves in Cuba. Relates that a Spanish Consul in Boston, Antonio G. Vega, and the Spanish…

GLC05636.20