Chase, Salmon P. (Salmon Portland) (1808-1873) to [Alexander Sankey] Latty
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00011 Author/Creator: Chase, Salmon P. (Salmon Portland) (1808-1873) Place Written: Columbus, Ohio Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 26 January 1856 Pagination: 2 p. ; 18 x 22 cm. Order a Copy
Writes to "Latty" concerning republican politics and elections, the Know-Nothings, and immigration.
In October 1856 Alexander Latty was elected on the Whig ticket as Common Pleas Judge of the second subdivision of the third district, comprising at that time of Defiance, Fulton, Henry, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert, Williams and Wood Counties (Ohio). He was re-elected to that office in 1861, 1866 and 1871, later becoming a Republican candidate, and holding the office for twenty years before retiring from the bench in February 1877 (from the Bowling Green State University archives, Alexander Sankey Latty Family Papers - MS 1076).
By 1856, the Know Nothing party was in decline. Northern workers felt more threatened by the slave power than by the Pope and Catholic immigrants, while fewer Southerners were willing to support a party that ignored the expansion of slavery. Nevertheless, the Know Nothings left an indelible mark on American politics. The movement eroded loyalty to the national political parties, fatally weakened the Whig party, and undermined the political system's capacity to contain the divisive issue of slavery.
In this letter, Salmon P. Chase, a leading Ohio politician, argues that opponents of slavery must ensure that their cause is not neutralized or deflected by the Know Nothing movement.
Columbus, Jany 26, 1856
Dear Latty,
I have not time to write you as I wish: but I must take a moment first to express my regret that you came to the conclusion you did in respect to the Secretaryship, which I have given to Mr. Rice a gentleman certainly as unacceptable as you could be to the class of illiberals you thought might be offended by your appointment, and secondly to say that the very object, as I understand it, of the informal Convention on the 22d. Feb. is to secure the Republican organization against the possibility of being absorbd or neutraliz'd by the K.N. order. If the meeting had been postponed I fear disastrous results would have followd. As it is I hope for the best. You [2] may depend upon it, that there is no danger from any movement which that Convention may originate, [struck: to any] of any proscription on account of [birth] or creed. We work now to overturn the Slave Power. For that we want the Union of all Liberty loving men, native or foreign born. While engaged in that work there can be no proscription. When that work shall be accomplished either there will be no proscribers or they will be powerless for evil. At this moment I believe that there are few of the Americans who went with us last fall, who desire any extension of the naturalization term or who would not readily and zealously sustain any good man for office of [inserted: real] Republican principles without reference to the accident of birth. And my confidence in this respect is not shaken by the resolutions of the 3.d Jany.
In haste yours faithfully
S. P. Chase
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