[American Colonization Society] Gurley, Ralph Randolph
[1] Printed document, with Day's name written in ink manuscript. Dated at Georgetown July 10, 1823. Single leaf, printed on recto only. Signed in type by Gurley as "Agent for the Board." Chipped along blank edges. Lacking a manuscript address leaf. Good+. [2] Printed document, from "OFFICE OF THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY, WASHINGTON, 22D MAY, 1826." Day's name written in manuscript on recto. With address leaf in manuscript, to "President Day, Yale College, New Haven, Connecticut," red seal, and postal cancel. Old folds, blank extremity wear, Good+. Gurley's written signature may appear on the address leaf. Jeremiah Day was President of Yale College, and also an officer of the American Colonization Society. The Society advocated colonization as the solution to the "problem" of Free Negroes in America. The Society attracted support from numerous slaveholders, who viewed the status of Free Negroes as a threat to the stability of Slave Institutions. The Documents are signed in type by Reverend R.R. Gurley, Secretary of the American Colonization Society.
[New Jersey Whigs in 1848]
2-1/2 pages, entirely in ink manuscript, on pale blue stationery, 8" x 10." At head of letter: a printed presidential sticker, 1" x 2-1/2": "For President, Zachary Taylor. For Vice President, Millard Fillmore." Very Good. The Letter reflects Whigs' uncertainty about the direction of their Party. The most prominent Whigs, Webster and Clay, had failed to win the Presidency. Zachary Taylor, a heroic general whose political opinions were a mystery, seemed a better choice. "I have received the letter which you addressed to me, on behalf of the Whig Executive Committee of the two Houses of Congress, desiring information of the state of public opinion in this state, in regard to the candidate for the Presidency, & other political topics which now interest the Whig Party. I have shown it to my associates upon the Whig Central Committee of this state, and conferred with them upon the subjects of your inquiry. "In regard to the Presidential candidate, there is much division of opinion among the Whigs of New Jersey. Many of the most active and intelligent among them, in every section of the state, think that our candidate should be one whom we have never yet presented to the people. . . The minds of these persons are strongly turned towards Gen. Taylor. "Others equally active and intelligent and equally devoted to the Whig Party, think otherwise and their entire hopes and affections centre in Mr. Clay, whose nomination they ardently desire and with whom they feel assured of triumph. The minds of others rest on Gen. Scott, tho this class is by no means as numerous as either of the others. "We confess ourselves unable to decide. . . Our State Convention to appoint delegates to the National Whig Convention, will meet on 24th inst. and we await such further intelligence as the representations of the different counties in that body will bring us. . . The views which I have expressed are those of a majority of our Committee." Wilson's correspondent was Congressman Hugh White, of New York State, elected as a Whig to Congress 1845-1851.
[Palfrey, John]
Broadside, 9-5/8" x 12-7/8." Printed in two columns, separated by a rule, beneath caption title. Old folds, light toning, mounting remnants at upper edge of blank verso. Very Good. This 1852 broadside reflects the Democratic Party's fear that northern Democrats, alienated by their Party's domination by the Slave Power, would shift allegiances to antislavery Whigs or the antislavery Parties that sprouted during the 1840s. It focuses its ire on former Congressman John Palfrey, the Free Soil candidate and former Whig, who seeks to regain the seat he had lost in 1848. The District required that a candidate secure a majority vote for election; the seat remained vacant for two Congresses. It was currently held by the Whig Benjamin Thompson. The broadside urges Democrats to vote for "a candidate of their own": Richard Frothingham, Jr., "whose fitness for the office is greater than the Free Soil candidate." Palfrey is "a mere sectionalist, who seeks a place in Congress in order to stir up strife between the North and the South, by laboring to set aside the compromises happily effected in 1850." Palfrey,despite his Free Soil label, is "a Whig in principle," who "despises" Democrats. Not in Sabin, LCP. Not located on OCLC, or online sites of AAS, MA Hist. Soc., Library of Congress, Boston Ath., as of June 2024.
Lewis, Leon [i.e., Julius Warren Lewis]
32pp. Bound in original printed paper over boards [library gum label on blank portion of title page; front pastedown with library plate and withdrawal stamp. Inner margin of first leaf with some soil, but not affecting any text. Text clean. Good+. The author wrote as "Leon" Lewis. On the night of May 4, 1886, 800-1000 people attended a public meeting in Chicago's Hay Market Square in support of the eight-hour workday. Several clashes with the police had previously occurred; the meeting was called to protest alleged police brutality. At the meeting someone threw a bomb; it exploded, wounded many, and killed several policemen. Alden, Nee, and Schwaab were found guilty of the murder, primarily because they had a history of uttering and printing "seditious" material advising the killing of policemen and Pinkerton men. Lewis expressed outrage at "this fiendish CONTRIVED MURDER!" He denounces "the reigning religious Mummery and Superstition, judicial Prostitution and Depravity, and political Jobbery and Expediency." Examining the status of the jurors in detail, he concludes, "The Jury was Illegal." Moreover, the Police were the Hay Market aggressors and "are solely and entirely responsible." He exposes perjury, judicial misconduct, and unconstitutional searches and seizures. In 1893, after years of public outcry, Governor Altgeld pardoned the defendants: he declared the trial a sham, the jurors obviously biased in favor of conviction, and that the State had never demonstrated who threw the bomb or, indeed, whether the defendants had any connection with the bomber.
[American Colonization Society] McLain, W.
Printed broadside document, signed in type by McLain, "In behalf of the Society." A couple of short, blank edge chips. Clean horizontal closed tear expertly repaired without loss. Good+. The Society advocated colonization as the solution to the "problem" of Free Negroes in America. The Society attracted support from numerous slaveholders, who viewed the status of Free Negroes as a threat to the stability of Slave Institutions. Secretary McLain reports on the Society's activities. In the last year "we have actually sent 443 emigrants to Liberia, and have received application to send from Baltimore 95 more, and from New Orleans 472 more." Additionally, 567 are "waiting for a passage," 415 of whom "are slaves, the freedom, of most of whom, depends upon their emigration to Liberia!"
[Nancy Bassett's Estate, Including Slaves]
Folio blue sheet, folded to [4] pp, each page 7-3/4" x 12-3/4." In neat ink manuscript handwriting, three columns per page, signed by P P Ballard. Docketed on last page and folded for filing, Madison County, Kentucky, 31 January 1857. The sale of each item of personal property, no matter how minor, is recorded: purchaser, item purchased, and price. E. Bassett bought a towel for ten cents; Mrs. Mitchell bought a cream spoon for $1.50. The list comprises the first two pages. Most of the third page is a list entitled, "Hire of following Slaves for the year 1856." The names of about 25 slaves are listed, with names of persons to whom they were hired, and the amounts due for those hires. "Jim" was hired out to W.J. Gillespie for $88. "Milly" and "Dilsy" were hired "at the lowest bidder" for $30 and $50 respectively, to W.W. Duff.
[Johnson, Andrew]
Six stationery leaves, written on rectos only in neat ink script. Leaves attached by a brass fastener at blank top margins. Text lightened but mostly legible. Except as noted, Very Good. The author is unknown. The letterhead suggests he was a member of Congress. He forcefully expresses his opposition to the Republican majority and to the President's impeachment and trial. Washington is undergoing "a political revolution, which if permitted to go on, must end in the complete ruin of our Republic. Congress is fast absorbing all the powers of government, and claims not only to be the maker, but the judge and executor, of the law. An honest President stands in the way of its evil designs, he is therefore arraigned, as a criminal, and after a mock trial is to be deposed." Johnson was charged with violating the Tenure of Office Act, which the author considers a mere pretext for impeaching an honorable man with whose policies Congress disagreed. "A wicked law was passed to hamper and bind him in the performance of his lawful duties, with the clear intent that he should break it, and thereby bring upon himself the condemnation of ambitious and despotic partisans."
Kansas Pacific Railway Co.
[2], 60 pp. Original printed front title wrapper, lacking rear wrapper. Disbound. Clean text. Except as noted, Very Good. The Argument is a detailed indictment of the discriminatory and monopolistic practices of the Union Pacific Railroad, in support of a bill to require the Union Pacific to cease its illegal conduct. The history of the establishment of a cross-continent railroad is reviewed, with analysis of the relevant statutes and their judicial interpretation. The Kansas Railway Company argues that, "The Union Pacific Railroad Company, from the year 1870 up to the present time, has operated its road in open and direct contravention of the requirements of the Acts of Congress, and in violation of vested rights of the public, the Government, and the Kansas Pacific Company, to the manifest loss and injury of the public, the Government, and the Kansas Pacific Company." OCLC locates about fifteen copies as of June 2024.
Broadside, 9-1/4" x 10-3/8." Two songs, without music. Printed in two columns, separated by a decorative rule. Lightly toned, light blank edge chipping, wear, untrimmed. This rare broadside is in Good+ to Very Good condition. The first line of the first song, by Thomas Haynes Bayly, is: "I'd be a butterfly, born in a bow'r." The first line of the second song, by William Mitford, is: "Quite soft blew the wind from the west." AAS notes that the printer, known variously as Joseph M'Clelland and M'Cleland, is listed at the Water Street address in New York City directories from 1824 to 1829. Not in American Imprints or Sabin. OCLC 1226714023 [1- AAS] as of June 2024.
Broadside, 5-3/4" x 7-5/8." Light dusting, early repairs on blank verso. A few light crimps and a pinhole without affecting text. Good+. Above the printed title is the following manuscript note: "The Certificate underneath was obtained at the request of John Jauncey & Gerrit Bogart." The Certificate is signed in type by John Bassett and John B. Johnson, each identified as "one of the Ministers of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, in the City of Albany." Dated in type, "Albany, April 21, 1801." Beneath those typed signatures is a printed endorsement, confirming that the Certificate "respecting the Moral Character of the Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer, is, in our knowledge and belief, accurate and just. Signed in type by a Rector [Tho. Ellison] and Ministers [Alex. Miller, Eliphalet Nott, Cyrus Stebbing, and Stephen Olmsted] of several other Albany Churches. Though a Federalist, Van Rensselaer was known as a reformer, particularly concerning land tenures in his family's enormous Manor estates. His actions may have brought him resentment and opposition from his erstwhile allies. Not in Sabin, American Imprints, or online OCLC, AAS, NYPL, Morgan Library, NYU, NYHS, Union College as of June 2024.
27, [1 blank] pp. Disbound. Else Very Good. Northern Methodist missionaries founded Claflin University in 1869. It is one of the historically black colleges and universities, created after the Civil War for the education of freedmen and their families. George Clinton Rowe [1853-1903] was the African American pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church, founded by freedmen in Charleston after the War. [See, Haley, Afro-American Encyclopedia 589 [Nashville: 1895] for a portrait of Rowe.] Born in Litchfield, Connecticut, Rowe became Consul for Liberia in Charleston from 1899 until the end of his life. The message of his rare Address, as summarized on OCLC, is that "African Americans should establish and staff their own schools to instill racial pride and to provide role models for youth. He says African Americans are the equal of whites when educated and given a fair chance to achieve." But his way of expressing this sentiment is considered profoundly unacceptable today: "If any one present desires to be thought white, the enfailing recipe is to labor and acquire ability in the avocations of life which compares favorably with the better element of the Anglo Saxon race, and which reaches far above a large proportion of that race." Not in Work, Turnbull, LCP [which notes two other works by Rowe], Blockson. OCLC 26158622 [2- College of Charleston, Library of Congress] as of June 2024.
Cain, Richard Harvey
[4] pp on lined legal paper, 8" x 12-3/4," the pages attached at the top, headed, "State of South Carolina, Charleston County. In Common Pleas. John C. Mallonee vs. R.H. Cain, Defendant. Answer." Docketed on page [4]. Very Good with old folds. This document illustrates black men's active political engagement in the Deep South during early Reconstruction, before Jim Crow laws would exclude them from participation in civic life. "Richard Harvey Cain was born a free black in Greenbrier County, Virginia on April 12, 1825. In 1831 his parents moved to Gallipolis, Ohio where he attended school. Seventeen years later, in 1848, he joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church and became a minister in Muscatine, Iowa. Cain moved to South Carolina in 1865 to lead a Charleston AME church and soon became involved in local politics. In 1868, he was elected a member of the South Carolina State Constitutional Convention. Later in the year he was elected to the South Carolina State Senate, a post he held until 1870. Cain was editor and publisher of the South Carolina Leader which eventually became the Missionary Record. "In 1872, Richard Harvey Cain was elected to South Carolina's at large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Cain served on the Agriculture Committee in the 43rd Congress. He is most remembered, however, for his support of a civil rights bill introduced into the House in 1870. Although the bill failed to be enacted, during the debate he spoke eloquently and passionately about his own experiences during a trip to the nation's capital where he was denied first class accommodations on a train. By 1874, Cain's at large seat was eliminated and he chose not to seek another office that year. He continued, however, to be actively involved in the South Carolina Republican Party and in 1876 he returned to Congress representing the 2nd district of South Carolina. Cain served one term and then returned to his ministerial duties in Charleston. In 1880 Cain was elected a Bishop in the A.M.E. Church. Soon afterwards he moved to Texas and became one of the founders of Paul Quinn College in Austin. Bishop Cain served as the college's first president between 1880 and 1884." [online Blackpast web site.] Mallonee's Complaint sought to recover money that Cain allegedly borrowed. Cain agrees that he owes Mallonee some money, but less than the amount Mallonee claims. "Since said indebtedness was transacted, the plaintiff and the defendant were candidates for public office at the hands of the people of said county and that the plaintiff did on or about the middle of October 1870 request the defendant to make use of such monies as was required as his share of expenditures to carry on the Political Campaign. . . The defendant did make use of said money to the amount of one hundred dollars," itemizing his uses of the money, including "printing papers & Hand bills bearing Plaintiffs name as a candidate for the Legislature of this state," "In securing men to carry such papers and hand bills in the county and about the city," and "In employing Teams to carry persons to the polls and otherwise aiding the Election of our party. . ."
Typed document, on legal size paper, completed and signed in manuscript. Three leaves, typed and written on rectos only. Plus plain wrapper, penciled "Agreement" and docketed. Tacked together at top margin. Signed in ink by Alomena Johnston, heirs of the Johnston family, and approved by Probate Judge Bryan 13 March 1903, with his signature. Very Good. The Estate of William E. Johnston, deceased, through its administratrix Alomena Johnston, has a claim against the Reformed Methodist Union Episcopal Church, "for services rendered as its President and Bishop covering a period of several years," amounting to just over $3,000. This document seeks the Charleston Probate Court's approval to compromise the claim. The Estate and the Church, which is obviously in dire financial straits, agreed to settle for half that amount: paying $85 immediately, and then ten dollars monthly until done. Johnston, born in Charleston as a free black about 1839, was raised in Philadelphia and served in the Union army during the War. He returned to South Carolina as a minister of the AME church, and became an active Republican. He represented Sumter District at the State's 1868 Constitutional Convention, served in the South Carolina House, and then elected to the State Senate. [Wikipedia.] "The Reformed Methodist Union Episcopal Church was organized in Charleston in 1885 after seceding from the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). As the two major black Methodist bodies, the AME and AME Zion churches, established themselves in the South during the post - Civil War era, they found that some adherents became dissatisfied with the governance or rules of their bodies. "The beginning of the Reformed Methodists has been attributed to two possible causes. According to one view, the separation occurred because of differences over the selection of representatives to an annual conference. The other view holds that the Reverend William E. Johnson [sic] and some erstwhile congregants of the famed Morris Brown AME Church sought ownership of the church's property. The court battle between the Johnson contingent and the AME Church resulted in a ruling that each party could use the facilities provided that it kept membership in the denomination. Nonetheless, sometime later the Johnson [sic] faction withdrew and organized the Reformed Methodist Church" [South Carolina Encyclopedia on line].
31, [1 blank] pp. Broken stitching. Light tanning, some chipping to bottom outer corners of first few leaves. Old rubberstamp on title page. Light wear. Good+. "In his Observations on Reconstruction [1866], Henry Flanders challenged the motives of Republican politicians. They cared little for the black man, he insisted, but sought instead to keep slavery's image before the American voting public. 'Although slavery is dead,' wrote Flanders, 'political anti-slavery is alive, and the imaginary wrongs of the negro in a state of freedom are useful in the shifts of party as his real wrongs in a state of slavery'." [Smith, "The Old Arguments Anew: Proslavery and Antislavery Thought during Reconstruction," The Kentucky Review: Vol. 6 : No. 1 , Article 2, p.14. (1986)]. LCP 3696. Sabin 24672.
Narrow broadside, 3-1/4" x 10." Spotted, a bit of creasing. Engraved illustration of the tree of liberty beneath the title. Old mounting remnant on blank verso. The candidate for Governor was Samuel E. Sewall; for Lieutenant Governor, William Jackson; for State Senate Abel Bliss and Chauncy Chapin; for Congressman, Lucius Boltwood; and five for State Representatives. All were antislavery men. Good+. The forerunner of Martin Van Buren's 1848 Free Soil Party and of the Republican Party in 1854, the Liberty Party was the first political party organized to oppose slavery. It lost badly in this Massachusetts election. However, on the national scene-- headed by James Birney -- it was sufficiently powerful to defeat Henry Clay's bid for the presidency, as his tepid stand on the slavery question angered northern anti-slavery Whigs. This is a rare artifact of the Liberty Party's short but influential existence. The Boston Public Library and the MA Historical Society-- suggesting dates of 1844, 1843, and 1840-- own copies very similar to ours: they name Sewall's residence as Roxbury, and Jackson's as Newton. Ours do not name the residences.
56pp, LACKING THE FRONTIS portrait of Jenkins, one plate illustration of Jenkins preparing to bury his recent victim. Original printed wrappers, portrait of Jenkins on front wrap. Wood's Preface dated in type, "Napa City, March 1st, 1864." Good+. "O'Brien's wife wanted him out of the way, and Jenkins obliged, burying O'Brien in the woods. Like many before him, when discovered, he charged his plight to liquor" [McDade]. Jenkins was a busy criminal; his murders and other transgressions in the South and Southwest are chronicled in detail here. "The dispensation of justice in that day was not impeded by iniquitous technicality, nor disturbed by false sentiment. This abandoned wretch was arrested Jan. 19, 1864, and hanged on March 18 of the same year" [Cowan]. Cowan 312. Graff 4736. Howes W635aa. McDade 514.
52, iv pp. Toned with scattered foxing, disbound. Good+. Contemporary ownership signature at head of title, "Timothy Woodbridge." Reverend Dickinson, founder and first president of the College of New Jersey, later Princeton, was a leading advocate of infant baptism. Whether infants should be baptized was a major controversy in 18th century religious circles, and Dickinson did not lack for opponents, who also contributed pamphlets on the issue. God's covenant with Abraham, says Dickinson, "was the covenant of grace. . . and that one of the obligations of this covenant was, that it should be sealed to infants in their earlier infancy." Evans 17136. ESTC W9603.
Folio ledger, 11" x 16-1/4" Original half morocco and dark paper over boards [spine morocco loss, rubbed]. Several hundred pages, with names and residences of guests in ink, 28 June 1922 through 15 July 1925. Nearly all leaves filled. Very Good with light wear. Guests come from all over the country, but primarily from Georgia [Atlanta and Athens areas]. "The Cliff House Hotel, built in 1882 by Rufus L. Moss Sr., was the first lodging establishment in Tallulah Falls. The hotel served the thriving tourist industry until 1937, when it burned in a kitchen fire" [New Georgia Encyclopedia on line]. "Overlooking jaw-dropping Tallulah Gorge, a 1,000-foot chasm carved over millions of years, the town of Tallulah Falls was once a bustling resort town that rivaled Niagara Falls. People from all over came to see the awe-inspiring beauty of North Georgia's natural pursuits. Located two hours northeast of Atlanta, Tallulah Falls is home to Tallulah Gorge State Park. Best visited in fall when the trees surrounding the abyss turn vibrant shades of red, gold and orange, the multiple overlooks and hiking and biking trails are world-class. Visitors can clamber for a permit to hike the gorge floor â" only 100 are allowed per day â" or they can cross it on a swaying suspension bridge 80 feet above the jutting rocks. Pop into the impressive Jane Hurt Yarn Interpretive Center to learn about the area's delicate ecosystem and craggy terrain. The town's namesake falls are a series of waterfalls cascading into the gorge with names such as L'Eau d'Or, Hurricane, Oceana and Bridal Veil. Each one makes for an incredible photo opportunity" [online Exploregeorgia]. The Ledger begins the year after a disastrous 1921 fire destroyed much of the Town, and nearly all of its historic buildings and hotels. Despite the tragic events, the Cliff House Hotel appeared to thrive, judging from the evidence in this Ledger.
