Self-Paced Courses: Explore American history with top historians at your own time and pace!
23 August 1847
Smith, Gerrit (1797-1874)
To the Editors of the Emancipator, Boston
Discusses an extract of a letter he wrote in 1843 printed in a recent issue of the Emancipator. Pertains to Smith's views of the Liberty Party.
GLC04717.13
15 August 1848
To J. K. Ingalls, editor of the Landmark, New-York
Smith writes, "I hardly need say, that I am deeply interested in the present movement against the extension of slavery; and that I infinitely prefer the election of the candidates, who are identified with it, to the election of the Whig and...
GLC04717.14
25 August 1849
to Chancellor Walworth
Smith responds to a paper Walworth signed as chairman of an unspecified committee. Attacks Walworth's claim "that democracy and slavery may be in full fellowship with each other." Reuben Hyde Walworth served as Chancellor of the State of New York...
GLC04717.15
9 January 1851
Anti-Fugitive Slave Law Meeting. At a large meeting of persons from various parts of the State of New York, held in the City of Syracuse...
(title continues)... January 9th 1851, and of which Frederick Douglass was President, the following resolutions and address were unanimously adopted. The address is the same, and, with an inconsiderable exception, the Resolutions are the same, as...
GLC04717.16
25 May 1852
to Frederick Douglass
Smith offers his opinions on Lajos Kossuth, the Hungarian revolutionary hero. Writes, "I have not seen Kossuth:- but I have read his Speeches. The impression they have made upon me is, that he is not only transcendently eloquent- especially when...
GLC04717.18
13 March 1855
to William Henry Seward
Smith writes to Seward, a United States Senator from New York. Praises Seward's intellectualism and philanthropic spirit. Notes that Seward's recent speech on the Fugitive Slave Act "does not, in all respects, come up to my expectation of what...
GLC04717.21
28 June 1855
Radical Political Abolitionists. Convention (1855 : Syracuse, N.Y.)
Abolition documents. Number one. Principles and measures.
Created at the convention from 26-28 June. The abolitionists declare, "We...maintain that there can be no legitimate civil government, rightfully claiming support and allegiance as such, that is not authorized, nay, that is not morally and...
GLC04717.22
17 July 1855
To the New York Tribune
Smith discusses the Tribune's former claim that he was absent from the House of Representatives on the night of the Kansas-Nebraska Act's passage in 1854. Thanks the Tribune for finally admitting he was present in the House, and voted against the...
GLC04717.23
30 January 1856
to Governor Chase, Ohio
Smith writes to Salmon Portland Chase, Governor of Ohio, also an abolitionist. Expresses his disappointment in Chase's Inaugural Address: "The habit of the whole country is to justify the pretensions of slavery, and, therefore, to adopt the...
GLC04717.24
1 October 1857
Address reported by Gerrit Smith to the Jerry Rescue Convention, held in Syracuse October 1, 1857.
Regarding William "Jerry" Henry, who had been arrested under the Fugitive Slave Law in Syracuse in 1851, and rescued by local citizens. Smith commends the rescue, claiming no Christian can disapprove of the rescue. Discusses his disappointment in...
GLC04717.26
March 1859
Personal Liberty Bill
Begins with a list of the foremost duties of the New York Legislature: to close the dramshops, to prevent withholding suffrage from black men, and to protect the "weary and heart-broken fugitive slaves" within State limits. Includes an excerpt of a...
GLC04717.27
27 August 1857
Compensated emancipation: a speech by Gerrit Smith, in the National Compensation Convention, held in Cleveland, Ohio, August 25, 26 and 27, 1857.
Smith declares, "We are here for the purpose of making a public and formal, and, as we hope, an impressive confession, that the North ought to share with the South in the temporary losses that will result from the abolition of Slavery. Indeed, such...
GLC04717.28
27 August 1859
to John Thomas, Esq.
Smith declines Thomas's invitation to preside at the anniversary of the Rescue of Jerry, who had been arrested in Syracuse under the Fugitive Slave Law and freed by local citizens in 1851. Informs Thomas, Chairman of Jerry Rescue Committee: "The...
GLC04717.29
7 May 1846
To the Liberty Party
Discusses the Liberty Party's objectives, including the foremost goal of overthrowing slavery. Analyzes modification and expansion of party objectives, regarding issues such as banks, tariffs, and association with slaveholders.
GLC04717.30
15 September 1846
To the Liberty Party of the County of Madison
Offers encouraging words to the Liberty Party following the recent Canastota Convention: "The New-York State Liberty Car is again upon the track."
GLC04717.31
18 March 1848
Letter of Gerrit Smith, to the Liberty Party of New-Hampshire
Criticizes the Liberty Party of New Hampshire for voting for slaveholders. Encourages the state to reconstruct a "true" liberty party, "a Party, which will sooner perish than vote for a proslavery man- and a Party, too, which will practically...
GLC04717.32
17 September 1851
Speech of Gerrit Smith, made in the National Liberty Party Convention at Buffalo, September 17th, 1851, when the following Resolutions were under discussion...
(title continues)... 1. Resolved, That righteous civil government is an indispensable agency for blessing and saving the world; and that every political party which does not identify itself, openly and heartily, with such government, is unworthy of...
GLC04717.33
13 August 1852
Smith addresses the Pittsburgh Convention of the Liberty Party. Urges the Convention to organize a permanent party, and to "declare slavery to be utterly incapable of legalization."
GLC04717.34
October 1852
National Liberty Party: at the National Liberty Party Convention, held in Syracuse September 30th, 1852, the following resolutions reported by Gerrit Smith, as chairman of the Business Committee, were unanimously adopted...
The Convention, held in Syracuse 30 September and 1 October 1852, chose to nominate William Goodell as President and S. M. Bell as Vice President. Includes Gerrit Smith's address to the Party. Lists officers nominated to lead the New York State...
GLC04717.35
5 November 1852
To the voters of the Counties of Oswego and Madison
Complains that he was nominated for a Congressional seat, a position he did not seek. Assures he will not resign, but will perform his duty, pursuing abolition from his position. Includes his political creed, asserting that slavery is not in the...
GLC04717.36
31 July 1855
Second Letter of Gerrit Smith to the New-York Tribune
Addresses grievances he holds against the Tribune: "The 'error', 'weaknesses', 'eccentricities', 'excessive passion' or 'monomania', which you attribute to me, have, doubtless, had not a little to do in encouraging you to select me as the person, on...
GLC04717.37
22 August 1855
to Edward Cornelius Delavan, Esquire
Smith writes to Delavan, a temperance leader. Discusses his views on the government's power to educate the people in relation to slavery and alcohol. Expresses his opinion that the government should regulate alcohol consumption.
GLC04717.38
4 August 1858
Gerrit Smith's acceptance
Includes a State Mass Convention's nomination of Smith as a candidate for Governor of New York. Contains Smith's reply, which begins: "My years have been spent in seclusion. My habits are all formed to private life. It is emphatically true that...
GLC04717.39
5 November 1858
To the men who put me in nomination!
Discusses meetings he held across the state during his campaign for the position of Governor of New York. Hopes the good accomplished by the meetings is not estimated by the low number of votes he received. Encourages temperance and abolition....
GLC04717.40
12 November 1858
Letter from Gerrit Smith to Rev. Dr. John Marsh; Letter from Gerrit Smith to Joshua R. Giddings.
Smith responds to an editorial published by Marsh, editor of Journal and Prohibitionist, New York. Marsh accused Smith of being "unsound on Temperance." Also replies to a published letter from Giddings, in which Giddings sought to defend the...
GLC04717.41
no date
An appeal for the Sabbath.
Smith declares, "the spirit of the age and the tide of our prosperity threaten to wrest from us this most precious institution of the Creator of the world." Includes a printed patterned border.
GLC04717.42
21 August 1838
An address, reported by Gerrit Smith to the 'Christian Union Convention' held in Syracuse, August 21st, 1838.
Smith begins, "No person, acquainted with the words and the heart of Jesus Christ, believes, that it is His choice to have His disciples separated from each other by party lines- wearing the badges, and contending with each other about the...
GLC04717.43
29 January 1841
Union of Christians: at a large meeting, held in Peterboro', January 29th, 1841, to promote the union of Christians, the following resolutions were passed...
Focuses on the formation of a common Church.
GLC04717.44
25 February 1842
To the Christians of Peterboro and its vicinity
Smith disagrees with removing a Baptist Church in Peterboro and building a Methodist Church. Argues against sectarianism. Contains cloth tape along left edge.
GLC04717.45
29 November 1843
Church of Peterboro
Includes a creed and resolutions of the Church of Peterboro. Resolutions name an elder for the church, cite the church's opposition to sectarianism and slavery, and cover other pertinent issues.
GLC04717.46
15 July 1845
To those ministers in the county of Madison, who refuse to preach politics
Believes that the continued enslavement of millions of citizens results from religious leaders' refusal to preach politics. Emphasizes the duty of religious leaders to preach against slavery.
GLC04717.47
4 April 1849
to President Green, Whitesboro
Addresses a chief difference: "You have none, whilst I have the utmost confidence, in the capabilities of the masses to take care of themselves."
GLC04717.48
1 June 1849
[Resolutions passed unanimously by the Church of Peterboro]
Resolutions open fellowship to "christians of every name and type," uphold the Sabbath, etc.
GLC04717.49
7 July 1849
At the meeting of the "Church of Peterboro," held July 7th, 1849, the following Resolutions were passed, without a dissenting voice...
Accuses a clerk and store owner who sell liquor as being "out of...place" for preaching the gospel. A second resolution attests that no members of the Church of Peterboro are guilty of voting for anti-abolitionists or drinking intoxicating liquors....
GLC04717.50
20 July 1849
To the Church of Peterboro
Uses an allegory of a tea, coffee, and liquor merchant to illustrate that "the wickedness in one branch... taints with wickedness every other branch..."
GLC04717.51
9 August 1849
to Hiram P. Crozier, New York
Defends the Resolutions of the Church of Peterboro, which Crozier criticized. Chastises Crozier for running a store that sells liquor, declaring "iniquity, permitted in one of the branches of the store, stamps the whole store with iniquity."...
GLC04717.52
27 November 1849
Proceedings of the Church of Peterboro, at their meeting held Nov. 27, 1849.
The Church of Peterboro substitutes several resolutions for one previously set forth. Resolutions regarding those who, though they do not consider themselves Christians, voted on the continuance of Hiram P. Crozier's pastorship.
GLC04717.53
14 January 1859
[Hymns to be sung in connection with Gerrit Smith's discourse]
Smith will deliver the discourse 23 January at the Presbyterian Church of Peterboro, on the topic of the "New Religion." Contains four hymns. Includes a pencil note at the top of the page.
GLC04717.54
13 April 1841
To John Curtis, Preston Armour, Asahel C. Stone, and Geo. W. Ellinwood, Esquires, commissioners of excise of the town of Smithfield, County of Madison, and State of New York.
"Your petitioners implore your honorable body, in the name of the drunkard, his wife, and his children- in the name, too, of the sober, who, whilst tavern licences are granted, are exposed to become drunkards- to refuse to grant such licences. They...
GLC04717.57
15 March 1843
To the people of the town of Smithfield
Smith writes "At the recent Town Meeting, you again refused to elect men for Commissioners of Excise, who are willing to license dram-selling. You did right... dram-drinking is morally wrong."
GLC04717.58
18 May 1857
to Edward C. Delavan
Smith, active in the temperance movement, declines Delavan's invitation to attend an approaching meeting of the New York State Temperance Society. Delavan was a leader in the temperance movement.
GLC04717.59
4 January 1850
to John Cochran, Isaac T. Hopper, Daniel C. Eaton, George H. Evans, and William Kemeys
Smith writes to prominent men he chose to designate the distribution of gifts of land and money among five hundred males and females from New York. Notes that he will not give the females land, but will instead bestow $50 upon each of them....
GLC04717.65
5 January 1855
Hon. H. C. Goodwin, M.C.
Smith writes, "I am happy to see, in the proceedings of the House of Representatives, the proposition to take up the Bill for the relief of the sufferers by French spoliations... We must remember the condition of our country in 1778, in order to...
GLC04717.67
1 February 1845
Hon. F. Whittlesey of Rochester
Criticizes Whittlesey for advocating a plan for higher rates of toll on the Oswego River than on the western part of the Erie Canal. Smith calls it "discrimination in tolls." Whittlesey served as a United States Representative from New York 1831...
GLC04717.68
24 May 1844
To the persons who derive title from myself or my late father to land in Charlotte River and Byrne's Tracts, in the Counties of Delaware, Otsego, and Schoharie
Discusses the authenticity of land titles, possibly for land he previously gifted to African Americans in need. Suspects that Native Americans told residents that the land titles were inauthentic in order to obtain timber from the property.
GLC04717.69
21 December 1857
From the New York Tibune. Mr. Gerrit Smith on the President's message. The currency and the hard times.
Smith writes, "There is nothing in the nature of civil government, and there is nothing in the Constitution, to justify the Federal Government in banking, or in undertaking to authorize it in others." Also criticizes economists' reference to slavery...
GLC04717.70
circa 1847-1878
Phillips, Wendell (1811-1884)
to Dr. Howe
Phillips indicates that he has consigned Howe's excellent letter to George Thompson, M.P., who will put it "into the night train to reach as many English eyes as possible." Thompson was elected a member of Parliament in 1847 for the Tower Hamlets....
GLC03998.02
18 April 1860
to Oliver Johnson
Requests Johnson to mail him a copy of the "Independent" containing Beecher's speech at Cooper Institute on women's rights.
GLC03998.03
6 June 1883
to Mr. Kip
Declines an invitation from H. G. Chapman to attend the Hemenway Gymnasium on class day.
GLC03998.04
1 October 1850
to Francis Jackson
Requests Jackson to sign a statement in support of women's rights and to ask Theodore Parker to do the same. Sends his admiration of Jackson's neice's sketch of Parker and promises to sit for her when he returns to Boston. Encloses a letter from...
GLC03998.05
Showing results 151 - 200