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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 70,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World to soldiers’ letters from World War II and Vietnam. Explore primary sources, visit exhibitions in person or online, or bring your class on a field trip.

Reform Movement

682 search results

Showing results 176 - 200

Pages

29 November 1843

Smith, Gerrit (1797-1874)

Printed document

Title: 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

29 December 1843

Walrath, J. I. (fl. 1843)

Letter signed

Title: to N. R. Chapman

Walrath and P. Briggs agree with Chapman's position, and will attend an event or meeting to which they were invited "if providence permitts." Signed "Yours in Christ for the slave..."

GLC06593.01

1844

Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)

Pamphlet

Title: An address delivered in the court-house in Concord, Massachusetts, on 1st August, 1844, on the anniversary of the emancipation of the negroes of the British West Indies

Speech by Emerson attacking slavery, one of his earliest statements in support of abolition. First edition. Published by James Munroe and Company.

GLC05766

1844

Garrison, William Lloyd (1805-1879)

Printed letter

Title: Letter from the American Anti-Slavery Society

A letter issued by various members of the American Anti-Slavery Society asking for financial support from the "anti-slavery public."

GLC06143.01

1844

American Anti-Slavery Society

Pamphlet

Title: Declaration of sentiments of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Adopted at the formation of said society, in Philadelphia, on the 4th day of December, 1833.

Leaflet published by the American Anti-Slavery Society, printed by William S. Dorr. Concludes with "We charge upon the existing national government, that it is an insupportable despotism, wielded by a power which is superior to all legal and constitutional restraints- equally indisposed and unable to protect the lives or liberties of the people- the prop and safeguard of American Slavery." Includes a short list of anti-slavery newspapers.

GLC06200

1844

Severance, Luther (1797-1855)

Pamphlet

Title: Speech of Mr. Severance, of Maine on the right of petition.

Delivered in the House of Representatives, 16 February 1844. Discusses the ban on receiving any petitions regarding the abolition of slavery in the House of Representatives. Printed by J. and G.S. Gideon, Washington, D.C. Partially uncut.

GLC00267.095

1844

Allen, George (1792-1883)

Pamphlet

Title: An appeal to the people of Massachusetts, on the Texas question

Appeals to the people to oppose the annexation, arguing that adding Texas to the Union will further entrench and empower the institution of slavery. Suggests holding a convention. Attributed to "A Massachusetts Freeman." Printed by Charles C. Little & James Brown.

GLC00267.104

5 January 1844 to 26 December 1845

Garrison, William Lloyd (1805-1879)

Newspaper

Title: The liberator. [Vol. 14, no. 1 (January 5, 1844) - v. 15, no. 52 (December 26, 1845)]

GLC06109.03

22 April 1844

Buffum, James N. (1807-1887)

Autograph letter signed

Title: to David P. Harmon

Letter asking Harmon to attend the upcoming American Anti-slavery Society convention in Lynn, Massachusetts.

GLC06143.02

24 May 1844

Smith, Gerrit (1797-1874)

Printed letter

Title: 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

10 September 1844

Walker, Robert J. (Robert John) (1801-1869)

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Thomas C. Reynolds

Walker, a United States Senator from Mississippi, relates that he has not received an abolition pamphlet to which Reynolds previously referred. Mentions another pamphlet, also pertaining to abolition, and notes the importance of its circulation. Reports that the Central Committee of Virginia requested 5000 copies of the pamphlet.

GLC02505.41

26 December 1844

Smith, Gerrit (1797-1874)

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Daniel Cady

Writes to his uncle about two merchants, Shepard and Wright, who owe him money. Believes that if they start legal action against Shepard, he will pay. With note and docket on verso by recipient.

GLC07483.16

1844-1858

Harmon, David Porter (1800-1869)

Header Record

Title: Collection of abolitionist materials including letters, documents and printed [Decimalized .01- .29]

Includes 15 ALS's by notable figures in abolitionist movement, large printed broadside (printing map at top) for election of 1856 (Fremont). Many of the letters discuss arrangements for lectures by abolitionists such as Lucy Stone, the Crafts, William Lloyd Garrison and others. Includes later notes and descriptions by a descendent of Harmon.

GLC06143

1845

Child, Lydia Maria Francis (1802-1880)

Book

Title: Letters from New York : Second series.

Second volume of journalism published by author and abolitionist Child. Includes a chapter on the rights of women. First edition. Printed by C.S. Francis (New York) and J. H. France (Boston). BAL 3152.

GLC06218

1845

Walker, Jonathan

Book

Title: Trial And Imprisonment Of Jonathan Walker, At Pensacola, Florida, for Aiding Slaves to Escape From Bondage.

First ed., Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery Office. 4 illustrations. [Inspired John Greenleaf Whittier to write The Man With the Branded Hand, included in subsequent editions.]

GLC09387

1845

Stewart, Alvan (1790-1849)

Pamphlet

Title: A legal argument before the Supreme Court of the state of New Jersey... for the deliverance of 4,000 persons from bondage.

Delivered at the May term in Trenton, New Jersey. Challenges state laws concerning slavery because they contradict New Jersey's 1844 constitution which abolished slavery. Published by Finch & Weed, New York. Printed by S.W. Benedict.

GLC00267.069

1 January 1845

Smith, Gerrit (1797-1874)

Printed letter

Title: to William H. Seward

Informs Seward why he did not support Henry Clay, the Whig Candidate, in the Presidential election of 1844. Presents an argument as to why the Liberty Party did not support Clay: "Mr. Clay would not have been defeated, had he done his duty. If he had, as soon as he learned that he was put in nomination, publicly washed his hands of the blood of duelling and slavery, he would have been elected."

GLC04717.12

1 February 1845

Smith, Gerrit (1797-1874)

Printed letter

Title: 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 1831-1834, and as a justice of the State supreme court in 1847 and 1848.

GLC04717.68

circa 15 June 1845

May, Samuel J. (Samuel Joseph) (1797-1871)

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Marius Racine Robinson

May, a prominent abolitionist and reformer, writes to Robinson, Secretary of the Western Anti-Slavery Society. Robinson had invited May to speak, and May promises to come if he can find a suitable replacement to serve as pastor in his absence (possibly for the Unitarian Church in Syracuse). Circa year based on May's pastorship of the Unitarian Church in Syracuse.

GLC02448.12

27 June 1845

Pomeroy, Lemuel Strong (1812-1879)

Autograph letter signed

Title: to N. R. Chapman

Pomeroy recently walked from Manlius, New York, to visit Chapman but was disappointed in finding Chapman absent. Writes, "We are doing what we can at Cortland to act on the good work of Emancipation." Mentions his brother Theodore Pomeroy.

GLC06593.02

15 July 1845

Smith, Gerrit (1797-1874)

Printed document

Title: 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

19 September 1845

Garrison, William Lloyd (1805-1879)

Newspaper

Title: The Liberator. [Vol. 15, no. 38, whole no. 766 (September 19, 1845)]

Contains articles on "Slavery in the United States," and Cassius M. Clay, among miscellaneous other reports. Garrison serves as editor, James Brown Yerrinton as printer, and Henry W. Williams as general agent. Discolored in creases.

GLC08875.58

1846

Douglass, Frederick (1818-1895)

Book

Title: The narrative of Frederick Douglass, an American slave. Written by himself.

Third English edition. Contains a frontispiece print of Douglass. Printed by Joseph Barker. Includes a preface to the second Dublin edition, preface to the first American edition, and a letter from Wendell Phillips (22 April 1845). Narrative is followed by an appendix and "American Slavery," a "Report of a public meeting held at Finsbury Chapel, Moorfields, to receive Frederick Douglass" (22 May 1846). Last pages contain information on the American Anti-Slavery Society for the "Friends of the Slave."

GLC05117

2 January 1846 to 31 December 1847

Garrison, William Lloyd (1805-1879)

Newspaper

Title: The liberator. [Vol. 16, no. 1 (January 2, 1846) - v. 17, no. 53 (December 31, 1847)]

GLC06109.04

02 February 1846

Chappell, Absalom H. (Absalom Harris) (1801-1878)

Printed document

Title: Resolutions of the legislature of Georgia

[Title continued] in opposition to the principles of certain resolves of the legislature of Massachusetts in relation to an amendment of the constitution on the subject of federal representation. Copy of a resolution by the Georgia Legislature, printed for the twenty ninth Congress. The resolution is in opposition to a call by the Massachusetts legislature to repeal the three fifths voting clause of the Constitution. Likely printed in Washington, D.C. First edition.

GLC00267.006

Showing results 176 - 200

Pages