29 November 1859

Brown, John, 1800-1859

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Stearns

Written three days before his execution. He asks to be "spared from having any mock; or hypocritical prayers made over me, when I am publicly murdered: & that my only religious attendants be poor little, dirty, ragged, bare headed, & barefooted Slave Boys; & Girls led by some old gray headed Slave Mother...Farewell, Farewell." Docket reads "please mail this to her." Addressed to "Mrs. George L. Stearns." Mary's husband George was a member of The Secret Six, the group that financed Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry.

GLC05925.01

2 December 1859

Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862

Broadside

Title: Martyrdom of John Brown

Program created by Thoreau for the funeral service for John Brown to be held in the Concord Town Hall on December 2nd. Event will include "Reading of pertinent passages. Selections from Brown's last words. Service for the death of a martyr." Also contains a "Dirge" in Brown's honor, written by Sanborn to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne" The first verse states "To-day beside Potomac's wave, Beneath Virginia's Sky, They slay the man who loved the slave, and dared for him to die." Concord was the home to many of Brown's most famous and ardent supporters. The dirge is misdated 30 December at…

GLC05925.02

1843

Allen, George, 1792-1883

Pamphlet

Title: The Complaint of Mexico, and conspiracy against liberty [Texas]

Anti-Texas annexation tract. Printed by J. W. Alden.

GLC05935

circa 1837

Southard, Nathaniel, fl. 1837

Pamphlet

Title: The American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838, being the second after Bissextile or Leap-Year, and the 62nd of American Independence. Adapted to most parts of the United States.

Labeled Vol. 1 no. 3. Southard serves as editor. Published by D. K. Hitchcock. With front paper engraving depicting William [Lloyd] Garrison attempting to chop down a tree labeled "Slavery" while a minister, soldier, businessman and President Van Buren attempt to support the tree. Contains many illustrations showing the injustices of slavery. Closes with Garrison's address opposing the annexation of Texas to the Union as a "slaveholding country." Edges are extremely delicate.

GLC05939

1829

House of Refuge, fl. 1860

Pamphlet

Title: The First annual report of the House of Refuge of Philadelphia with an appendix

Summarizes the management of the House of Refuge for the first year, a juvenile detention center. Details the accounts for the year, prints the members of the board, and has illustrations and diagrams of the building and grounds. Lists donations and subscriptions. Disbound. Printed by John Young.

GLC05948

1847

Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850

Broadside

Title: Taylor & his battles [large colored sheet, illustrated] [election-related?]

Hand-colored yellow, green, and red. Depicts Taylor in various battles from the War of 1812, Seminole Indian Wars and the Mexican War. Printed by Rufus Blanchard of Cincinnati and published by Ensign & Thayer, New York.

GLC05952

1833

Gouge, William M., fl. 1833

Book

Title: A Short history of paper money and banking in the United States, including an account of provincial and continental paper-money.

Title continues: "To which is prefixed an inquiry into the principles of the system, with considerations of its effects on morals and happiness. The whole intended as a plain exposition of the way in which paper money and money corporations, affect the interests of different portions of the community." Signed on free-front endpaper by E. W. Wyse. Printed by T. W. Ustick. Original glazed cloth binding with paper label; rebacked. Gouge was Associate Editor of the Philadelphia Gazette from 1823 to 1829 and reporter of the debates of the Delaware Constitutional Convention of 1831. Checklist…

GLC05953

1858

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896

Book

Title: Father Henson's story of his own life.

Life of Father Josiah Henson with frontis portraits. Published by John P. Jewett & Co. in Boston and Henry P. B. Jewett in Cleveland. First edition.

GLC05957

1857

Abbot, Henry Larcom, 1831-1927

Pamphlet signed

Title: Article upon the determination of altitudes from observations taken with the barometer...

Title continues "being Chapter VI and Appendix E of the Report of Lieut. Henry L. Abbot, Corps of Topographical Engineers, upon Explorations for a Railroad Route from the Sacramento Valley to the Columbia River made by Lieut. L.S. Williamson, Corps of Topographical Engineers, assisted by Lieut. Henry L. Abbot, Corps of Topographical Engineers." Presentation copy signed on cover with an inscription by Henry L. Abbot to Edwin Hale Abbot. Part of the series, "Explorations and survey for a railroad route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. War Department." Original yellow…

GLC05761

January 20, 1842

Tyler, John, 1790-1862

Pamphlet

Title: Message from the President of the United States...

Title continues, "... communicating, In compliance with a resolution of the Senate, copies of correspondence in relation to the mutiny on board the brig Creole, and the liberation of the slaves who were passengers in the said vessel." 27th Congress, 2d session. Senate document 51.

GLC05793

February 12, 1841

United States. Congress (26th, 2d session : 1841)

Pamphlet

Title: Message from the President of the United States, transmitting, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate,...

(title continues)... copies of correspondence relative to the negroes taken on board the schooner Amistad. Contains reports and correspondence created by John Forsyth, Secretary of State, the Chevalier de Argaiz (envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Spain), and others pertaining to the Amistad case. Discusses Cuban laws regarding slavery and other topics relevant to the Amistad case. Senate document number 179.

GLC05794

15 April 1840

United States. Congress (26th, 1st session : 1840)

Pamphlet

Title: Africans taken in the Amistad: message from the President of the United States transmitting...

... (title continues) the information required by the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 23d ultimo, in relation to the Africans taken in the vessel called the Amistad, &c. Includes correspondence between John Forsyth (Secretary of State), the Chevalier de Argaiz (envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Spain), and others involved with the Amistad case. Includes Spanish and English versions. Document number 185.

GLC05795.01

24 June 1846

United States. Congress (29th, 1st session : 1846)

Pamphlet

Title: Schooner Amistad.

Contains an introductory statement by James Buchanan, Secretary of State, transmitting documents to Charles J. Ingersoll, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives. The report contains correspondence between Buchanan and A. Calderon de la Barca, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Spain. Contains an 1818 letter from Don Luis de Onis (Spanish Minister) to John Quincy Adams (Secretary of State 1817-1825). This pamphlet pertains to "the urgent necessity for bringing to a decision an affair already too prolonged- that of the schooner Amistad…

GLC05796

15 June 1842

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mr. Miller

Encloses his editorial entitled "The People's Constitution" (see GLC05757.01) and requests that they print it on Friday. Ends with patriotic fervor: "But every man must be true to the Constitution. There must be no compromise." A note at the bottom asks to be remembered to Low & Millard. Millard, Low, & Miller published the Daily Express. Dorr, then an illegitimate governor, led the Dorr Rebellion over suffrage rights in Rhode Island.

GLC05757.02

25 June 1842

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Millard, Low, & Miller

Governor Dorr encloses a proclamation and general order (see GLC05757.04 and GLC05757.05) to be published "without delay" in the Daily Express, the Herald, or some other paper. Rejects the insinuation in an editorial in the Express that he might be persuaded to abandon the People's Constitution. Discusses suffrage, comments "I know of no way to abrogate it, except by a majority of the whole People," and asks: "Has the Express abandoned the cause of the People." Millard, Low, & Miller published the Daily Express. Dorr, then an illegitimate governor, led the Dorr Rebellion over…

GLC05757.03

25 June 1842

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph document signed

Title: State of Rhode Island & Providence Plantations. A Proclamation by the Governor of the Same.

Governor Dorr sent this proclamation with a letter (see GLC05757.03) to Millard, Low, & Miller, publishers of the Daily Express. Instructs the General Assembly to meet at Gloucester, Rhode Island, on 4 July 1842 instead of at Providence. Also requests that "the towns and districts, in which vacancies may have occurred, by the resignation of Representatives or Senators, to proceed forth with to supply this Same by new elections, according to the provisions of the [People's] Constitution." Several edits. Dorr, then an illegitimate governor, led the Dorr Rebellion over suffrage rights in…

GLC05757.04

25 June 1842

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph document signed

Title: General Orders

Governor Dorr sent this order with a letter (see GLC05757.03) to Millard, Low, & Miller, publishers of the Daily Express. Orders the mobilization of volunteer forces. "It has become the duty of all our citizenship who believe that the People are sovereign, and have a right to make and alter their forms of government, now to sustain by all necessary means, the Constitution adopted by the People of this State, and the Government elected under the same." Several edits. Dorr, then an illegitimate governor, led the Dorr Rebellion over suffrage rights in Rhode Island.

GLC05757.05

27 August 1842

Simons, William, 1785-1845

Broadside

Title: Republican Herald--Extra. Governor Morton's Letter.

An extra from a Rhode Island newspaper, published by Simons, that prints a letter from the former governor of Massachusetts, Marcus Morton. Morton declares that the circumstances in Rhode Island (relating to the Dorr Rebellion) are of national concern. States the Whig Government almost unanimously supports the old Charter government and the Democratic newspapers support the new Constitution. Although he asserts his neutrality, the letter clearly sides with Dorr and his supporters.

GLC05757.06

1842

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph document signed

Title: [Thomas Dorr's response to Whig accusations during the Dorr Rebellion]

Written in the third person and signed "Gov. Dorr" at the top of the page. Responds to accusations in Whig newspapers that he is "one of the most pusillanimous cowards in existence" and is "about to descend upon Rhode Island with a military force." Compares Dorr to Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. Dorr, then an illegitimate governor, led the Dorr Rebellion over suffrage rights in Rhode Island. Pencilled note on the verso indicates the document is written in Dorr's hand.

GLC05757.07

6 December 1842

New Hampshire legislators

Letter signed

Title: to Thomas W. Dorr

The 141 undersigned Democratic Republican members of the New Hampshire legislature (including Franklin Pierce) and other citizens convey their support for Rhode Island's illegitimate Governor Dorr: "We think that the principles for which you have contended though as yet unsuccessful, are the fundamental principles of Republican Government." They ask him to speak at the Old North Church in Concord on 14 December 1842. Dorr, then an illegitimate governor, led the Dorr Rebellion over suffrage rights in Rhode Island. See GLC05757.09 for his response.

GLC05757.08

7 December 1842

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Moses Norris, Jr., Thomas Chandler, Reuben Davis, Franklin Pierce, Nathan Felton, and Samuel Swasey, & others

Responds to a letter from 141 Democratic Republican members of the New Hampshire legislature and citizenry (see GLC05757.08). Thanks them for their support and accepts their invitation to speak about Rhode Island's citizen's thwarted attempt to enact a new Constitution, Equal rights and suffrage. Dorr, then an illegitimate governor, led the Dorr Rebellion over suffrage rights in Rhode Island.

GLC05757.09

14 April 1843

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph letter signed

Title: to H. H. Carroll

Discusses New Hampshire politics. Provides a long analysis of political events in Rhode Island, including a recent setback to the "People's cause," the possibility of registering voters, and holding a democratic convention to nominate Martin Van Buren for President. Discusses at some length the situation of the people of Rhode Island and compares their plight to that of Russian serfs. Dorr led the Dorr Rebellion over suffrage rights in Rhode Island. The address identifies Carroll as the editor of the New Hampshire Patriot.

GLC05757.10

1842

Cleveland, Richard Jeffry, 1773-1860

Book

Title: A Narrative of Voyages and commercial enterprises

Published by John Owen. First edition. Original cloth. Vol. II signed in pencil by F.A. Fruman, possibly the owner, in New York in 1861. Includes discussions of Captain Cleveland's voyages to China, Hawaii, Alaska, South America, California and the Northwest coast from 1799-1803. His voyages to Alaska and the Islands in 1799 and California in 1803 pertained mostly to the fur trade. Includes descriptions of his impressions of Native Americans. Cleveland was partners with William Shaler.

GLC05760

circa 1856

Pamphlet

Title: Infidelity and abolitionism. An open letter to the friends of religion, morality, and the American Union.

Attacks the Presidential campaign of John C. Frémont. "John C. Fremont is the candidate for the Presidency of conjoined fanaticisms... We assert and defy contradiction, that every organization boasting infidel doctrines is now an organization in favor of Fremont; and we assert also, that all those desiring a dissolution of the Union are openly co-operating with these organizations."

GLC05764

1844

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882

Pamphlet

Title: An address delivered in the court-house in Concord, Massachusetts, on 1st August, 1844, on the anniversary of the emancipation of the negroes of the British West Indies

Speech by Emerson attacking slavery, one of his earliest statements in support of abolition. First edition. Published by James Munroe and Company.

GLC05766