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.

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874 Speech of Gerrit Smith in the Kansas meeting, at the capitol in Albany, March 13th 1856.

Order a pdf of this item here.

Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04717.25 Author/Creator: Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874 Place Written: Albany, New York Type: Printed document Date: 13 March 1856 Pagination: 3 p. ; 31.2 x 19.2 cm. Order a Copy

At the Capitol in Albany. Criticizes Missouri aid societies that offer large bounties to proslavery inhabitants of Kansas. Deplores the allowance of slavery in Missouri, referring to the Missouri Compromise as liberty bargaining with slavery. Also condemns violation of the Compromise. Declares, "The right ballots could kill slavery this year. But delay a few years, and it will take bayonets to do it."

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Citation Guidelines for Online Resources