Smith, Gerrit (1797-1874) Report From the County of Madison.
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04717.11 Author/Creator: Smith, Gerrit (1797-1874) Place Written: Peterboro, New York Type: Printed document Date: 13 November 1843 Pagination: 3 p. ; 30.7 x 20.2 cm. Order a Copy
Smith inspires Madison County abolitionists following a recent election: "We have 'kept' the whole antislavery 'faith.' We have stood up for all its righteous and glorious principles; and have stood by each other. We have pursued slavery, hotly and unsparingly, into all its hiding-places, whether in the Church or in the State."
Smith, a politician from New York, served as a U.S. Representative from 1853-1854. He was a noted philanthropist and social reformer active in anti-slavery campaigns and women's rights.
ELECTION DAY is past!-and now, in behalf of the friends of the slave in the County of Madison, and State of New-York, I declare to you, that we "have fought a good fight-have kept the faith." We have "fought" earnestly, strenuously, untiringly. We have "kept" the whole anti-slavery "faith." We have stood up for all its righteous and glorious principles; and have stood by each other. We have pursued slavery, hotly and unsparingly, into all its hiding-places, whether in the Church or in the State. We have dealt impartially with proslavery demagogues, and proslavery ministers, and proslavery schools, and proslavery churches--and unmasked them all.
At an early day, the duty of voting for the slave was felt by a few persons in this County. Our first systematic effort to get votes for him was in 1837. By means of much toil--of much riding, and writing and speaking--we induced about fifty of the inhabitants of the County to vote that year upon anti-slavery principles.
In the year 1840, the year of the organization of the Libery Party, about 230 anti-slavery votes were cast in this County. And here I would say something of the origin of this Party, because of the persevering attempts made by a few persons in New England to stigmatize that origin….
In common with the great body of abolitionists, I had not, at this time [1839], given up my reliance on the interrogation-system. But, very soon after, a train of thought passed through my mind, leaving the conviction that this reliance should be given up….I saw now, for the first time, and I was surprised that I had not seen it before, that no National party in this country, whether ecclesiastical or political, is, so long as the system of American slavery endures, to be trusted on the question of slavery. It was now evident to me, that every such party is necessarily proslavery-and that it is so for the simple reason, that the South, making slavery her paramount interest, will abide in no party, will come into no party, save on the condition that such party shall not attack slavery. Some may say that the Libery Party is a National Party, and is, therefore, involved in my condemnation of all National Parties. To this I reply-that it is, in its hopes and objects, a National Party: but that, until the South has come into it, which cannot be until she has let go of slavery, it canot be an actual National Party….
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