Chase, Salmon P. (Salmon Portland) (1808-1873) to Alexander S. Latty
High-resolution images are available to schools and libraries via subscription to American History, 1493-1943. Check to see if your school or library already has a subscription. Or click here for more information. You may also order a pdf of the image from us here.
Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00018 Author/Creator: Chase, Salmon P. (Salmon Portland) (1808-1873) Place Written: Washington, D.C. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 30 May 1854 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 21 x 18 cm. Order a Copy
Urges him to sign and circulate a petition concerning slavery he is working on with Senator Benjamin Franklin Wade. Writes "...it is time to have a Democracy of the People against the Oligarchy of the Slaveholder. So sir, I pray you, If our call rally the People nobody will be afraid to join us for every thing will be swept before the Young Democracy...I think it cannot fail to be successful as the question is reduced to a narrow concern are we to be free or not."
Wade, like Chase, was an anti-slavery advocate and a leader of the movement against the Kansas Nebraska Act.
Washington, May 30, 1854
Dear Latty,
Senator Wade is engaged with me in circulating the enclosed call all over the State. He says it is time to have a Democracy of the People against the Oligarchy of the Slaveholder. So I. So say you. If our call rally the People nobody will be afraid to join us for every thing will be swept before the Young Democracy.
I hope you will see your way clear to join this movement. From the tone of the papers I think it cannot fail to be successful. The question is reduced to a narrow concern are we to be free or not.
If you sign one of the enclosed letters please get such others to sign as you think but send it to Columbus so as to be printed there by the 12th June, either directed to Judge Jo R. Swan or to John W. Andrews Esq or to Dr. J.H. Coulton.
I hope to find time for a more decent letter before long. I rejoice in the improved health of your little boy.
Yours faithfully
SPChase
Citation Guidelines for Online Resources
The copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.