Our Collection

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.

Read and ponder the Fugitive Slave Law!

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01862 Author/Creator: Place Written: Boston, Massachusetts Type: Broadside Date: 1850 Pagination: 1 p. : Height: 68 cm, Width: 42 cm Order a Copy

A large anti-Whig broadside, attacking Samuel A. Elliott of Boston, and re-printing the Fugitive Slave law. Emphasis added with capital letters in some sections. Declares that the law is against the Constitution, habeas corpus and Christianity. States that the law, "...tramples on the Constitution, by its denial of the sacred rights of Trial by Jury, Habeas Corpus, and Appeal..." Appeals to the public, "Freemen of Massachusetts, Remember, that Samuel A. Elliott of Boston, voted for this law, that Millard Fillmore, our Whig President approved it..." Contains three columns, a large banner headline, and text framed in black rules. Backed on linen. Printed at the Spy Office, with black borders.

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