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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Spencer, Ichabod S. (Ichabod Smith), 1798-1854 Fugitive slave law. The religious duty of obedience to law: a sermon, preached in the Second Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, Nov. 24, 1850.

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00267.141 Author/Creator: Spencer, Ichabod S. (Ichabod Smith), 1798-1854 Place Written: New York, New York Type: Pamphlet Date: 1850 Pagination: 1 v. : 31 p. ; 23.5 x 14.6 cm. Order a Copy

Published by M. W. Dodd. Argues against resistance to government and law, and upholds citizens' religious duty to obey the law. Writes, "I am not justifying slavery... I am not justifying the fugitive-slave Law. It may be wrong: it may be unwise and unconstitutional... But, be it wrong- be it unwise and unconstitutional; there are civil courts to decide upon its constitutionality, and no man has any right to decide for himself that it is unconstitutional, and act upon that decision..."

Spencer, Ichabod S. (Ichabod Smith), 1798-1854

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