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530. LIVERMORE (GEORGE). An interesting Colleg-
tion, bound in one volume, as follows: “An Hist. Research
respecting the Opinions of Founders Of the Republic OI).
Negroes (presentation copy); Memoir of George Livermore;
Tribute of Man. Ant. Soc. to Memory of Geo. Livermore;
Badger (Henry C.), The Consecrated Life, a Discourse on
Death of Geo. Livermore: Hale (E. E. ), A Sermon, ditto.
Photo. portrait, and A. L. S. All bound in one vol. 8vo,
half morocco. -
An interesting volume that could not be again duplicated.
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M. E. M. O I R.
G E O R. G E L I W E R M O R. E.
JPREPAIRED AGREEABLY TO A RESOLUTION
OF THE
MASS A CHU SETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
By CHARLES DEANE, , , is - 3 & )
CA. M. B R ID G E :
PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON.
- 1869.
M E MOIR,
OF
G E O R. G E L I W E R M O R. E.
GEORGE LIVERMORE, the son of Deacon Nathaniel and Eliza-
beth (Gleason) Livermore, was born in that part of Cambridge
called Cambridgeport, in Massachusetts, on the 10th of July,
1809. He was a descendant of John Livermore, who came
from Ipswich in England, in 1634, and settled in Watertown
in this State.
Mr. Livermore attended the public and private schools at
Cambridgeport until he was fourteen years of age, pursuing,
in addition to the common English course, some of the pre-
paratory studies for admission to college. In a brief auto-
biographical sketch written during his last sickness, he says:
“Among my school-mates at the private school was Oliver
Wendell Holmes, now so widely known as the charming poet
and prose-writer. The humorous scene described in ‘The
Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,” concerning ‘the Leghorn
Hat,’ the ‘Port Chuck, and ‘the Race,' is as vivid to my
memory as if it took place yesterday.””
* In some remarks by our associate, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, at a meeting
of the Society after Mr. Livermore's death, he speaks of this private school, and
refers to some of those who attended it while he was there. Richard H. Dana, Jr., and
Margaret Fuller were of the number. “The boys,” he says, “were rather a fighting
set; and our champion, a nephew of the most celebrated of American painters, had
4 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
His constitution being feeble, and his health not good, it
was thought best that he should abandon the idea of a college
education, and follow some more active calling. Accordingly,
at the age of fourteen he left school, and went into the “store ”
of his older brothers, Isaac and Marshall Livermore, mer-
chants, at Cambridgeport. After this period the only school
advantages he enjoyed were a course of exercises in English
and Latin during two terms at the Deerfield Academy, in
1827–28.
From the time of entering the store, his leisure hours
were always spent in reading and study; and all the money
he could earn was saved for the purchase of books. He thus
refers to this period of his life.
“A great many valuable and standard works were published in a
cheap form, and thus came within the reach of persons of small means.
I was sometimes allowed an evening to go to Boston and attend the
book auctions; and I felt proud and happy when I came home with
two or three volumes, costing from twenty-five to thirty cents each.
At these book auctions there was sold, almost every time I was present,
a thick octavo edition of Shakespeare, with rather coarse wood-cuts.
The price generally obtained was not far from three dollars. I had read
the ‘Merchant of Venice, from a borrowed volume of Shakespeare, and
I thought that an author who could write like that was worth owning
entire. I saved my money, therefore, till I had three dollars, and went
to Boston, hoping that a copy of my coveted author might be put up,
and sold within my means. I was not disappointed. After waiting an
hour, the auctioneer put up a copy of Shakespeare. The bidding began
at two dollars and fifty cents, and advanced five cents till it reached
two dollars and ninety cents, when it was knocked down, and the name
of the purchaser was called for. I had bid two dollars and ninety cents,
but another bidder gave his name. I claimed the book, as I had fairly
at least two regular pitched battles with outside fellows, who challenged the preten-
sions of the gentlemen of the “Academy.’ George Livermore came among this rather
rough crowd, the mildest and quietest of boys, – slight, almost feminine in aspect,
quite alien to all such doings. I do not remember him as conspicuous in any
active play, still less as ever quarrelling with anybody. He was a lamb-like creature,
who made us all feel kindly to him, - this I can remember, and his looks, so delicate
and gentle.” /
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 5
made the bid; and I called out to the auctioneer that I had bid $2.90
too. “Ah,’ said he, “if you bid $2.92, the book is yours, as you are the
highest bidder.' I had no disposition to quibble about his pun, but
gladly paid two dollars and ninety-two cents, and hurried home with
my big book under my arm, a prouder and happier boy than I had ever
been before. This was the Shakespeare which I first read. I marked
the favorite passages which most impressed me, and noted the pages
on which they occurred, on the fly-leaf at the end of the volume. I
kept the volume for many years, when, wishing to own an English
edition with notes, and not feeling able to keep both, I had the folly
to exchange it. Many a time have I regretted this. I would, if I
could, have bought it back, and given for it its weight in gold.”
When quite a young man, he became much interested in the
character and history of the merchant-scholar, William Roscoe,
the first account of whom he read in Irving’s “Sketch-Book.”
“I was much pleased,” he says, “to find that a man in active busi-
ness, without a college education, had accomplished so much in litera-
ture, Science, and statesmanship. Roscoe seemed to me to be a model
which one might well strive to imitate, at however humble a distance.
My respect for the abilities, attainments, and character of this remark-
able man increased with my knowledge of the works he published.
His life, written by his son, has always been a favorite biography with
me; and I have bought a large number of copies to present to young
friends. When I visited England in 1845, I sought out the principal
places connected with his name, and had the good fortune to become
personally acquainted with many of his friends and descendants.”
In 1829 Mr. Livermore went to Waltham as a salesman in
a “ dry-goods store,” where he remained a year, “when, a
Smarter young man offering his services,” he returned to
Cambridge. A change having taken place in his brothers’
business, he entered the shop of his father, who was a soap-
manufacturer, and went to work making “fancy soap. and
wash-balls.” All his earnings, except what he needed for
his clothes, he passed over to his father, who was in strait-
ened circumstances. His father had given him a silver
watch which cost ten dollars.
2
6 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
“On the day I was twenty-one years old,” he writes, “wishing in
Some way to signalize my majority, I asked my father for a dollar, and
took a trip in the steamboat to Nahant. The fare was thirty-seven
and a half cents each way, leaving me but twenty-five cents for other
expenses. I could not, of course, get a dinner at any public house with
this sum ; but I managed to find a grocery store, where I got minepence
worth of gingerbread and crackers, and a glass of lemonade for six
cents, which I regarded as a good dinner, and came home with six
cents in my pocket. This was my start in life.”
Two months later, the person in whose shop at Waltham he
had served as salesman, called upon him, and urged him to
return into his employ, saying that the young man who had
succeeded him did not please the customers as well as he
had done, and offering him increased pay. The invitation
was accepted, and Waltham once more became his place of
residence. The following spring, his employer, Mr. Smith,
proposed to him to take the business and conduct it on his
own account for two years, offering fair terms.
“I hesitated at first,” says Mr. Livermore, “about assuming such a
responsibility; but my friends advised me not to let so favorable an
opportunity slip, and on the first of April, 1831, I put up my sign, and
commenced business on my own account. My brother Isaac lent me
one thousand dollars as capital to pay Mr. Smith in part for his goods.
At the end of the two years I returned the one thousand dollars, with
interest, and had earned nearly twice as much more for my own cap-
ital with which to begin business elsewhere. I was sorry to give up
so good a business, but Mr Smith needed and had a right to the store;
and I retired from the scene of my first business experience and success
as gracefully as I could.
“The agent of the Waltham factories, learning that I was to resign
to Mr. Smith the business I had received from him, suggested that I
should take the ‘factory store, which was better located than his, and
thus retain my own customers. This would have injured Mr. Smith
seriously. I did not think it would be honorable in me to encroach
upon his privileges, and I promptly declined the oſſer.”
Mr. Livermore’s religious nature was warm and earnest,
and had been early developed under the most favorable cir-
cumstances beneath the paternal roof. Although suffering
i
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 7
much from poor health, his religious views were cheerful.
During his residence in Waltham, he boarded with a lady
of eminent piety, who had a high regard for him.
“Her religion,” he writes, “ was after the pattern of the strictest Cal-
vinism. As she loved me, she wished to save my soul; and no argu-
ments which she and her minister and friends could bring were kept
back. I had, however, thought and read a good deal on the subject of
religion, and had examined the evidences for and against the particular
form of faith which is called ‘Orthodoxy.' The result of my investiga-
tions was to convince me that the grounds of true religion are very
simple; viz., to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and our
neighbor as ourself. My sister Eliza (now the wife of the Rev. Mr.
Stebbins) did more than any one else to encourage my religious inqui-
ries and to fix my religious principles. The year in which I attained
my majority, I, with her, made an open profession of my faith, and
united with the church where my parents worshipped, where my father
was deacon, and where I had been a Sunday-school scholar since I was
five years old. I have always regarded this act of consecration with
Satisfaction; ‘not as though I had already attained, either were already
perfect, but as a means of fixing my mind and directing my thoughts
to the higher and spiritual wants of my nature. My dear mother had
taught me a large number of hymns, which I shall never forget, and
some of which. I repeat every day and night.”
In the interval between relinquishing his business at Wal-
tham and entering into new engagements, as he had rarely
been away from home, and never beyond the limits of this
State, he made a visit to Maine, which was followed by a jour-
ney to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington.
On his return, he went to West Point and Saratoga. Of his
visit to Maine he says, -
“In the spring of 1833, soon after I left Waltham, I went, by sail-
ing packet, to Bangor. I had never been out of the State before. The
voyage was rather rough and I was sea-sick; but it was a new experience
to me, and I enjoyed the novelty. I went to Old Town, where there
was, on the island of Orono, an Indian settlement. These Indians are
Roman Catholics. They have a church and a Catholic priest on the
island. The church is a rude structure, and I desired to see the inte-
8 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
rior. The priest told me I could do this by calling on the deacon, who
had the keys, and giving him a small compensation for his trouble. He
pointed out the wigwam where the deacon lived, and I went there and
made known my wishes to a fat squaw, who stood at the entrance.
‘You want to see church,' said she. ‘How much you give º’ Wish-
ing to be liberal, I said, “Half-dollar, being twice the sum the priest
had named as the customary fee. She grumbled out, ‘Deacon not at
home.’ Supposing that I should have to go again to accomplish my
purpose, I started to return, when the squaw called out, ‘You give a
dollar, and the deacon is at home.’ I readily produced my dollar, and
my tawny guide came out with the keys and showed me the church.”
During his visit to Washington, he called upon President
Jackson, and “was surprised to find that hard and tyrannical
ruler so gentle and affable in private conversation.” He also
spent a day at Mount Vernon, with the greatest interest and
satisfaction. -
Some attempts about this time to form a mercantile con-
nection failed, but in 1834 he established himself in Boston,
in the shoe and leather business. This led him at times to
visit other cities, and to be absent from home for weeks and
months together. But however pressing his engagements,
his thoughts always reverted fondly to the paternal hearth,
and to his Sunday school, which through life claimed his
warmest interest and affection.
In a letter to a younger brother from New York, dated 22d
September, 1834, occurs this passage : —
“Young never uttered a truer sentiment than this: “We take no
note of time but from its loss.’ You are just at the age when time is of
immense value. Improve every moment ; but do not consider time
lost, if spent in profitable conversation, — or even sometimes in silenice.
There are other ways of improving the mind than reading books; read
men, read the volume of Nature; read everything you see ; but when
you take a printed volume, bestow on it your whole attention, and read
it through before you commence anything else. You are just arriv-
ing at an age when you will feel the worth of information on almost
any subject. In a few weeks you will be called to act for yourself in
life. I believe you have long since determined to act in all things from
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 9
principle, not from caprice, or the impulse of the moment. Let purity
of purpose be your polé-star through life, and you will not live in vain.
The time will come when all will find their proper place in the world.
. . . We have, as a family, cause to be grateful that our escutcheon
is not marred by one dishonorable blot. Let us strive to increase its
lustre. . . .
“Be a valuable member of society, no matter how humble may be
your occupation for a few years. Remember Roger Sherman was
called from the cobbler's bench to assist in drafting the Declaration of
Independence.” w
In the winter of 1834–5 he went to the South and West,
spending some weeks in New Orleans. In a little memorandum-
book kept by him at this time, we find that on the 15th of
February he “heard Rev. Mr. Clapp preach in the morning,”
and in the “afternoon attended the meeting of the slaves at
the Methodist Church.” A few evenings after he “attended
a meeting of colored persons about to emigrate to Liberia.
Gloster Simpson, formerly a slave, and recently from Liberia,
spoke in favor of the colony. All who were about to emi-
grate formed themselves into a Temperance Society.” For
further information respecting this colonization scheme, he
calls the next day on this Gloster Simpson from Liberia.
He returned home from New Orleans by way of the Missis-
sippi and the Ohio Rivers, and arriving at Louisville spent
the Sunday there, March 15th. He “attended the Sunday
school of the Rev. Mr. Clarke's Society’’ (James Freeman
Clarke, D. D., now of Boston). “The whole number of schol-
ars,” he says, “is at present about fifty. Mr. Clarke preached
in the morning on the education of children.”
Mr. Livermore's love of books increased with the increase
of his means: indeed, it outran his means, which were yet
small. His tastes craved for, and were formed upon, the best
models: the authors with whom he communed were of the
highest order, not only as regards purity and elevation of
sentiment, but elegance of style. His pure mind rejected
everything coarse or irreverent. He had a great horror of
10 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE,
the very presence of books of a demoralizing tendency, — a
feeling which led him to discard from his collection a copy
of Byron, as he did not wish so impure a book in his library.
His poetic faculty was large, and showed itself not only
in a love for the best poets, but in the composition of some
exquisite verses. Within a few years of the period of which
we are now speaking, he wrote two dedication-hymns, a num-
ber of hymns addressed to Sunday-school children, some
verses suggested by the Scripture passage, “And Jesus
called a little child unto him,” &c. Other pieces were en-
titled, “The Negro Missionary,” “The Blind Harper and his
Boy in Rogers's Italy,” and some verses “To my Sister on her
Wedding-Day.” These subjects of his Muse are here enumer-
ated for the purpose of showing how largely religious ideas
and sentiments possessed his mind at this time. Many of
these verses are excellent as poetry, and probably have never
been published, unless upon the cards of his Sunday scholars.
To a valued friend in the Divinity School, who had already
dedicated himself to the cause of Sunday schools and phil-
anthropic labors among the poor, he presented a copy of the
“Sunday-School Guide,” written by his pastor, the Rev. A.
B. Muzzey, on a blank leaf of which was inscribed this
sonnet : —
“TO R. C. W. *
“Self-consecrated to the cause of truth,
Wedded to charity by tenderest ties,
Thou art a Guide to many a wandering youth,
Directing upward their inquiring eyes.
Happy the chosen path thy feet pursue !
The work our Lord began, 'tis thine to do.
To bless the little ones, – preach to the poor,
Lead the lone pilgrim to the heavenly door,
And bid him enter freely, - heal the blind
By pouring light celestial on the mind, –
Comfort the mourning, — bind the broken heart,
And give the balm religious joys impart :
These are the duties that your path attend ;
God bless your efforts evermore, my friend G. L.
“DECEMBER 10th, 1837.”
* Waterston.
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 11
In the year 1838, Mr. Livermore and an older brother, Isaac
Livermore, formed a copartnership in business as wool-mer-
chants, – an arrangement which was favorable to the culti-
vation of his literary tastes, as the larger share of the
responsibilities of the business would be assumed by the
senior partner, who would regard with an indulgent eye the
favorite pursuits of the junior.
About this time Mr. Livermore began to keep a diary,
which he continued to the year of his death. The volume
for 1838 opens with a dedication to his favorite sister; and
at the head of the first page is copied the following stanza : —
“Tllus far the Lord hath led me on,
Thus far I make his mercy known ;
And while I walk this desert land,
New blessings shall new praise command.”
This daily record shows the development of his tastes and
the subjects which took the strongest hold upon him, whether
of a moral, religious, or political nature. We see what books
he read, and what were his opinions of different authors. He
had one of the most active of minds, and the most sensitive
of natures. His interest in the parish, in the Sunday school,
in the Lyceum, in the political meetings of his ward, &c., never
flagged. He was a constant attendant at church, and for
years always recorded the text from which the clergyman
preached, and often gave an account of the discourse. The
sessions of the Sunday school and the teachers' meetings
were also duly noticed in his diary. Through life he had a
great reverence for sacred things — for the Scriptures and the
ordinances of religion. He had a horror of metaphysics, and
all those philosophies which tended, as he thought, to scep-
ticism. His mind was more poetic and aesthetic than logical,
and he was much disturbed by the discussions on “Tran-
scendentalism,” when they first appeared here. He attended
a course of lectures by Mr. Emerson, whose doctrines, so far
as he understood them, much disquieted him. But, with the
12 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
utmost simplicity, he says, that on leaving the lecture-room
he is unable to recall any definite and well-connected ideas
in the lectures of the Concord philosopher.
He is found this year deeply engaged in reading his favor-
ite author, Roscoe. Gray, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Miss Edge-
worth, and Dickens also had charms for him; and the gentle
Charles Lamb he loved as an elder brother.
His love of Nature, and particularly of flowers, was a
striking trait in him. Under the date of Dec. 8, 1838, he
says he received a fine bunch of larch from his sister, in
Leominster, for which he felt very grateful. “There is noth-
ing which gives me more pleasure than these little tokens of
affection. I had rather see an old broken brown pitcher, filled
with natural flowers or foliage, than the most curiously wrought
alabaster vase, with only artificial flowers. My love for flowers
and plants has become almost a passion, — I believe an inno-
cent one.” This love continued through life: in the season of
flowers, he was rarely seen on his way to the city without a
bunch of them in his hand; and he frequently distributed
them among the poor city children that he met, to whom
they were luxuries indeed : he would, if he could, have
strewn flowers in the pathway of every living creature.
These flowers were cultivated on his own grounds, and many
of them were of rare varieties, and of exquisite beauty.
Their fragrance fitly symbolized the aroma of his beautiful
life.
We find him now attending Channing's lecture on Self.
Culture, and paying the expenses of a young man in college.
He is interested in Mr. Gurley and the Colonization Society,
and feels that the Abolitionists are misrepresenting its pur-
poses. With Elliott Cresson, the advocate of Colonization, he
is holding a correspondence. -
In a memorandum of expenses this year, one half the
amount is put down to necessary expenses, “board and cloth-
ing,” about one quarter to the account of “books,” and the
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 13
remainder to “charity and presents.” The library he had col-
lected at this time was comparatively small. In an entry
made September 6th, he says he had to work hard that day,
and felt annoyed by it, as he had five or six new books he
was very desirous of reading. “I moved my books into a new
Secretary, or bookcase, and find they make quite a show.
It seems I have about two hundred volumes of good books;
once this would have seemed quite a library; now I only be-
gin to see how many books I want. On one thing I am deter-
mined, - that is, to buy no more trash; what works I do
have shall be of good editions. I love literature too well
and prize books too highly to have a good author in a mean
dress.” - º
One day an old gentleman reproved him for being always
found with a book in his hand; telling him it was “a bad
sign for a merchant to read in his counting-room *; and he was
“abashed ” by it. -
Mr. Livermore's reading, up to this time, seems to have
been somewhat miscellaneous; that is to say, he appears to
have made no subject a specialty. His range of authors had
been wide, and, as we have already observed, of the best
selection. He thus laid such a foundation in a general knowl-
edge of English literature, as well fitted him for those more
special studies which we shall soon see him entering upon,
and which he pursued with such ardor through life. He was
always interested in the study of the Scriptures, and in the
great themes which they suggest ; and his duties as a Sunday-
School teacher naturally offered a constant inducement to the
pursuit of these studies. But now we find him (21st Novem-
ber, 1838) buying a copy of Coverdale's Bible. It was proba-
bly a reprint by Bagster, issued this year. -
On the 1st of October, 1839, Mr. Livermore was married to
Miss Elizabeth Cunningham Odiorne, of Cambridgeport, — a
connection which opened a new field for the exercise of his
warm and generous nature. In him the domestic virtues had
sº
O
14 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE,
a rare growth, and no one could be more fortunate in the cir-
cumstances which through life tended to hallow the marriage
relation.
He is developing a taste, at this time, for our local his-
tory, and appears to have kept a Record-Book of matters
connected with the annals of his native town. We find him,
in the early part of 1841, owning twenty-six volumes of the
Historical Society’s Collections, almost an entire set, — and
Winthrop's History of New England, and all the Family and
Classical Libraries. “Every day I go to Burnham's and
Drake's and other bookstores, to see something new ; I must
form a resolution to keep away,” as he has yet a number of
books unread, - but he fears he will be unable to abide by it
for any length of time.
The “Life of Josiah Quincy, Jr.,” the ante-Revolutionary
patriot, he reads with great interest. “It is an account of
one who lived long, though he died young.”
Mr. Livermore always felt a deep interest in whatever was
going on around him. On the 29th of January, 1842, he was
present in the saloon of the Tremont Theatre, on the occasion
of the presentation of a piece of plate to Captain Hewitt, by
the passengers of the steamship “Britannia,” as a testimonial
of his skill in the management of his ship during a violent
storm. He there saw Charles Dickens, one of the passengers
in that ship, who made the presentation speech, and whose
appearance disappointed him. “My idea,” he says, “of the
author of Oliver Twist and dear little Nell was quite too
spiritual to be realized in any human form.”
In his business experience, now and through life, there
were, at times, days and months of doubt and anxiety, when
it seemed difficult to see through the dark clouds which over-
spread the financial prospect. He had a high sense of mer-
cantile honor; but he was never ambitious of being a rich
man. Amidst all his anxieties, his books, next to his family,
were his never-failing solace.
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 15
He was gradually adding to his store of Biblical works, as
opportunities and means favored their acquisition. On the
3d of March, 1842, he saw Ón sale, at Little and Brown's, a
copy of Eliot's Indian Bible, the price of which was twenty-
five dollars. He could not think of buying it, but his brother
bought it and generously presented it to him. Copies of the
same book have since been sold for more than a thousand dol-
lars. On the 30th of June he visits the library of Harvard
College, and finds Mr. Sibley very attentive and obliging
showing him many old volumes which make his “eyes open
very wide.” The next month he visits, probably for the first
time, the rooms of the American Antiquarian Society at
Worcester, and receives polite attention from Mr. Haven,
the librarian of that institution, — subsequently one of Mr.
Livermore's most intimate friends.
In the early part of 1843, the library of the Rev. Thaddeus
M. Harris, D.D., was sold at auction, in Boston, and Mr. Liv-
ermore was tempted to buy some of the “antiques” in that
collection. Among the books sold, he speaks of a copy of
Eliot's Indian Bible, which brought thirty-nine dollars.
In February of this year he evinces his growing interest
in those studies which through life were a specialty with
him by writing an article on this Indian Bible for the “Chris-
tian World,” a religious newspaper, edited by George G.
Channing. He afterwards suggests to the editor the devo-
tion of a certain part of his paper to Sunday schools, and
agrees to furnish something to that department for a month.
He is reading with intense delight the Reminiscences of
Thomas Frognall Dibdin. “I love him,” he says. He is also
reading that author’s “AEdes Althorpiamae.”
He now engages to assist a young man to pursue his
studies for the ministry: a case where the principal charge
would be borne by him.
Strange to say, for the first time, he this year (March 10)
visited the library of the Boston Athenaeum. Probably he then
16 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE;
little thought that in a few years he would be chosen one of
the Trustees of that institution, the Chairman of its Library
Committee, and then its Vice-President, and regarded as one
of its most efficient and influential managers.
On the 29th of March we find him attending the meeting
of the Massachusetts Historical Society at the First Church
in Chauncy Place, where he hears the second Centennial Dis-
course of John Quincy Adams, on the Formation of the New-
England Confederacy of 1643.
About this time was started a curious Biblical question,
which Mr. Livermore and the late President of the Historical
Society, the Hon. James Savage, were much interested in
solving. In September of this year, the Rev. Rufus P.
Stebbins delivered a Centennial Discourse before the First
Congregational Society at Leominster, in the course of which
he had occasion to mention the Rogers family residing in that
town, who claimed to be descended from the first Marian
martyr. He referred, also, to an old copy of the Bible in the
possession of a member of the family in Lunenburg, which,
according to tradition, once belonged to the Martyr himself:
indeed, it was said to have been the identical copy which
he carried to the stake ; and it now bears upon its leaves the
marks of fire. The titlepage having disappeared from the
volume, its date could not readily be ascertained. But what
was supposed to be the monogram of the old printer, Cawood,
was found upon the book; and it was stated on respectable
authority that Cawood printed but one edition of the Bible,
namely, in 1549, six years before the Martyr's death. All this
was therefore consistent with the tradition that the book had
belonged to Rogers, and was now in the possession of a de-
scendant.
Previously to publishing his discourse, Mr. Stebbins ap-
plied to Mr. Livermore for information on this subject. Mr.
Livermore showed from unquestionable authority, that Ca-
wood printed a number of editions of the Bible after 1555,
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 17
the year of the Martyr's death ; and therefore, in the absence
of more definite information, which he could not then furnish,
as to the precise edition of the Lunenburg Bible, it must
remain doubtful whether the Martyr could have owned that
copy. Yet as Cawood was said to have printed one edition
before Rogers's death, he felt that the probabilities favored the
family tradition. -
The investigation of the subject, however, did not end here.
Mr. Savage's interest in the matter centred principally on
the genealogical question as to the descent of the Rogerses
in this country (those who came from Nathaniel, of Ipswich,
Mass.) from the Marian Martyr. He had no faith in the
tradition, and was curious to know whether the Lunenburg
Bible furnished any link in the chain of evidence. A frag-
ment of that Bible was therefore procured by Mr. Livermore,
and sent to his correspondent, Mr. Henry Stevens, in London,
who, with Mr. George Offer, the editor of Bagster's reprint
of Tyndale's New Testament, diligently compared it with
copies of Cawood's editions of known date, when it was clearly
ascertained that the Lunenburg copy was of the edition of
1561, six years after the Martyr's death. A sheet of the
Bible of that date was subsequently sent by Mr. Offer to this
country, and a careful collation being instituted with the
Lunenburg copy, the conclusions arrived at in London were
abundantly confirmed. Later investigations into the genea-
logical question, both in this country and in England, have
shown the improbability of the tradition that John Rogers,
of Dedham, England, (the father of Nathaniel, of Ipswich,
Mass.), was a grandson of the Marian Martyr.
In November of this year, the Biblical library of the Rev.
Dr. Homer, of Newton, was placed on sale at Messrs. Little
and Brown's ; and Mr. Livermore bought from it a number of
copies of rare editions of the Bible. Among them was a copy
of the Genevan version, presented by Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin
to Dr. Homer, and supposed by its former owners to have
18 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORF).
been the identical copy presented by the printer to Queen
Elizabeth, – also the Bible which formerly belonged to Adam
Winthrop, the father of the first Governor Winthrop. This gave
further impetus to his studies in this direction. The library
of the Duke of Sussex was sold the next year. This collec-
tion was rich in rare copies of the Bible, some of which were
purchased by Mr. Livermore. Further rarities were subse-
quently added to his collection from the library of the late
Dr. Hawtrey, Provost of Eton, — among which may be no-
ticed an Evangelistarium, for the use of the Church, written
on parchment, and supposed to be of a date as early as the
eighth century. From these sources he laid the foundation
of that large collection of Biblical works which his library now
contains. But his time was not wholly spent, as it often is
with book collectors, in amassing books: he was a careful
student of them.”
In December of this year, Mr. Livermore visited the Rev.
Thomas Robbins, D. D., then living at Mattapoiset, in Roch-
ester, Mass., to inspect his valuable collection of old Bibles.
Dr. Robbins afterwards removed to Connecticut, and became
Secretary of the Historical Society of that State, leaving to it
his library.
He now makes the acquaintance of some who were after-
wards his associates in this Society, including Mr. Longfellow,
Mr. Hillard, and Mr. Norton. Mr. Hillard recalls his early
friendship for Mr. Livermore in some touching remarks made
before this Society at the meeting following his death, which
were printed in the volume of “Proceedings.” Mr. Water-
ston was an earlier friend; Mr. Livermore showing much in-
terest in his library, and adding to it, from time to time, some
curious volume. With Mr. Ticknor he formed an early acquaint-
ance. In the third edition of his “History of Spanish Litera-
* It should be stated that Mr. Livermore could read neither Hebrew nor Greek, though
his Biblical collection contained some books in these languages. In early life he
acquired some knowledge of Latin, which was of service to him in later years.
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE, 19
ture,” Mr. Ticknor acknowledges his indebtedness for the cor-
rection of an error of Navarrete — in referring to the eigh-
teenth Psalm, as containing the prophecy appropriated by
Columbus to himself, instead of the nineteenth, as stated in
the Giustiniani Polyglott Psalter of 1516 — to his friend,
“George Livermore, of Cambridge, who has in his precious
library,” says Mr. Ticknor, a “copy of the Giustiniani Poly-
glott, which, when he pointed out the error to me, I did not
own.” (vol. i. p. 188.)
Between our former associate, the late Rev. Alexander
Young, and Mr. Livermore, there existed the warmest friend-
ship. They had many literary affinities. Dr. Young was a
ripe scholar, and had the tastes and sympathies of an an-
tiquary. He had a true Dibdin eye for a good book, and the
rare art of handling a volume properly, which few persons
possess. He knew how to open a book without breaking its
back, and to turn over its leaves so that its owner would not
tremble while it was in his hand. There is a knack in all
this, known only to the true lover of books, - to him who
reverences not merely the author, or the author's thoughts,
but the concrete object before him. You never would see
him taking up a noble volume, clothed in Bedford's best
Levant, and in his best style, and, balancing it on one hand,
allow one of the covers to swing at an angle of ninety de-
grees, endangering the joint on which it hung; nor find him
leaning on an open page, crumpling the virgin leaves, and
making “dog's ears ” of the corners.
Dr. Young had a great love for such an author, for in-
stance, as Coryat, the great foot-traveller, the “Odcombian
Leggestretcher,” as he styled himself, and would read with de-
light his “Crudities hastily gobled vp in Five Moneths Trauells
in France, Sauoy, Italy,” &c., &c. With what rare pleasure
have we heard him read the passage in this quaint writer,
where, in describing the wines of Venice, he says that the
“Lagryme di Christo . . . is so toothsome and delectable to
20 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
the taste, that a certain stranger, being newly come to the
citie, and tasting of this pleasant wine, was so affected there-
with, that I heard he vºtered this speech out of a passionate
humour: O Domine, Domine, cur non lachrymasti in regionibus
qvost)" is 2 ”
Izaac Walton, too, was an author after his own heart; and the
bit of philosophy contained in his quaint praise of the straw-
berry Dr. Young always thought inimitable, and would cite
the passage with go?t : “Indeed, my good scholar, we may
say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries, “Doubtless
God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never
did.’” But Dr. Young's great book was Boswell's Johnson,
which he used to say a person should read through once a year.
His “Library of Old English Prose Writers” reveals the
“well of English undefiled ” from which he drew; and his
“Chronicles of the Pilgrims” and “Chronicles of Massachu-
setts’ show his thorough knowledge of the early history of
his native State.*
Another friend, afterwards a member of this Society, was
Edward A. Crowninshield. He was a true gentleman, a man
of elegant manners and of a refined and cultivated taste. He
was an ardent lover of books, and had one of the rarest libra-
ries of old English literature in this part of the country. He
had the first edition of Chaucer, the first edition of Shake-
speare's and of Milton's Poems, “The Schoolmaster,” by Roger
Ascham, Coryat’s “Crudities” of the edition of 1611, &c.
His library was also quite rich in early American history
and biography. Seated in his elegant room, with all its lux-
urious appointments, surrounded by his “Strawberry Hills,”
his “Lee Priories,” and his “Dibdins" (all of which told
* Dr. Young died on the 19th of March, 1854. His loss was deeply felt by his friends.
In a note dated 11th April, Mr. Livermore writes: “Thanks for your kind note
of yesterday, and for the perusal of that of Crowninshield. I do not wonder that he
feels so deeply the loss of Dr. Young. For many years, “we three' met daily at Little
and Brown’s. I cannot realize that I shall see his face no more on earth. I think
every day he will call and see me.”
MEMOIR. Oſº GEORGE LIVERMORE, 21
you that their owner regarded the art of bookbinding as one
of the fine arts), he would remind you of some of the pict-
ures of Horace Walpole.*
Mr. Livermore and these two friends, for years, met almost
daily, at noon, at the book-store of Messrs. Little and Brown,
and there held sweet converse among the noble volumes
which surrounded them. No one, it may here be observed,
had a greater love of humor, or had more of fun and frolic in
his nature, than Mr. Livermore himself; and when the proper
time came for its display, it had free course. These meetings
were choice occasions. Books, of course, were the chief theme;
but the conversation took a wide range, and there were free
discussions upon whatever topics of interest came up. As has
been seen, few were more fond of anecdote, or could tell a
better story, than Dr. Young. His wit and humor had the
true flavor, like the bouquet of choice wine. At one time Cot-
ton Mather was the subject of remark. Some one said that
he was born out of time; that, unhappily, he lived at a transi-
tion period in the colony, when clergymen were losing the
influence and authority which had so long been conceded to
them ; and this wounded his vanity. “An influence and au-
thority,” replied Dr. Young, in quiet irony, assuming an air of
gravity and importance, “which the clergy at the present day
are rapidly recovering.” -
The eccentricities of Mr. Dowse, of whom the members of
the Society are constantly reminded by the speaking picture
of him in the Dowse Library, would now and then be the
subject of pleasant remark. “How many volumes have
* Mr. Crowninshield died on the 21st of February, 1859. Mr. Livermore thus writes
on the same day: — “Poor Crowninshield is gone ! He was as well as usual yesterday
afternoon; but in the evening, whilst coughing, he was seized with a severe hemorrhage
of the lungs, ſainted, and passed away! We little thought, whilst speaking of him on
Friday as one of the Standing Committee for mext year, that before we met again he
would be mumbered with the dead. I loved him deeply, and I cannot but mourn his
loss, though I feel that a merciful Providence has saved him from much suffering by
thus suddenly and gently relieving him from his pains.” -
4
22 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
you in your collection ?” was a question often put to him by
impertinent curiosity. “Never counted them,” was the quick
and decisive reply.
Not infrequently two or three other friends would make
their way into this charmed circle; and the cheery presence
of Mr. James Brown, who loved good books not merely
because he dealt in them, was always a benediction.
Sometimes the late John Overton Choules, D. D., whose
rotund figure always recalled a well-remembered line of
Thomson’s, would appear amongst this company of biblio-
philists. The Doctor was a great lover of books, and was
thoroughly orthodox in his tastes. He used to say, that “old
books and old wine " were fit companions. He edited some
of the writings of others, but his labors in this field were not
always regarded with favor by scholars. He never would
acknowledge a suspicion of the authorship of the scathing
criticism which appeared in the “Christian Examiner,” for
January, 1845, on his edition of Neal’s “History of the Puri-
tans,” published by the Harpers the year before; and used,
in apparent simplicity, to ask Mr. Livermore, “who he thought
could have written it.”
In March, 1845, we find Mr. Livermore making corrections
for the new edition of Grahame's “History of the United
States,” published this year, under the supervision of Presi-
dent Quincy. He calls upon Mr. Quincy, who thanks him
for the service rendered, and promises to acknowledge it in
the Preface. This was the beginning of their acquaintance,
and each continued to entertain the highest regard for the
character of the other. Mr. Livermore had an almost romantic
admiration for the heroic qualities of Mr. Quincy. Every
summer or autumn, for ten or twelve of the last years of the
life of the venerable patriot, Mr. Livermore, in company with
the writer of this notice, paid a visit to the family mansion in
Quincy, where a warm welcome always awaited him.
MEMOIR, OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 23
This year Mr. Livermore visited Europe, with his friend,
Mr. James Brown, sailing on the 1st of April. He was
furnished with letters from Mr. Sparks, Mr. Ticknor, and
other well-known gentlemen. His journal, in the form of let-
ters to his family, would make a most interesting volume, and
is worthy of being printed entire. He did not follow the
beaten track of the tourist. He made the acquaintance of
many eminent men, and visited many famous libraries, inspect-
ing, as time permitted, the curious books and manuscripts
which they contained. -
The first object he would seek, on his arrival at Liverpool,
would be some memorial of Roscoe. Under date of the 13th
of April he writes: —
“My first visit in the Old World was to the grave of Roscoe. From
my childhood, when I read in the ‘Sketch-Book’ Irving's glowing
account of Roscoe, I have felt a deep interest in everything relating
to him. I have never read any works of biography or history with
more pleasure and profit than his ‘Lorenzo de Medici' and ‘Leo
X.’ The beautiful style of the composition, the fine taste, correct
views, and pure principles, which are so prominent in these volumes,
quite fascinated me with the author; and since reading his Life by his
son, ten or twelve years ago, I have had for his character the most
profound respect and enthusiastic admiration. He was a ripe scholar,
a pure patriot, and a liberal, humble, consistent Christian. Though
engaged in the active duties and cares of business, he found time to
cultivate a taste for literature, science, and the fine arts; and, in each
department, the world has been benefited by his published works. His
friends in Liverpool have shown in various ways their respect for his
memory. Roscoe's grave is in a remote corner of the burying-ground
connected with the Unitarian Chapel in Renshaw Street. I was dis-
appointed not to find a monument here. There is nothing but a plain
horizontal slab to mark the place of the family tomb. There is no
inscription, but the names and ages of those who are buried beneath,
with the date of their birth and death.”
Of course he did not fail to see the full length statue of
Roscoe by Chantrey, in the Royal Institution.
Through letters from his friend, Mr. Charles Sumner, Mr.
24 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
Livermore became acquainted with members and friends of
the Roscoe family in Liverpool, and afterwards in London,
from whom he received the most flattering attentions. A
dinner-party was made for him at Liverpool, at which he saw
many of the descendants of Roscoe, who had been invited
especially to meet him. Mr. Robert Roscoe, residing in Lon-
don, called on him, invited him to his house, and gave him
several memorials of his father, including a letter relating to
his edition of Pope, a volume of poetry translated from the
Italian, and a beautiful crystal miniature head of him in bas-
'relief.
While in London, Mr. Livermore visited the great bibli-
ographer, Thomas Frognall Dibdin, whose writings he had
so thoroughly studied, and from whom he received a most
hearty welcome. Dibdin was surprised to find that so many
persons in this country were interested in his writings.
Seizing Mr. Livermore's hands, he said, – “My dear sir, I see
you are a genuine bibliomaniac. I thank you for coming to
See me. I will point out to you such treasures in books as
will delight your heart. You must go with me to Mr. Gren-
ville's library; and I will give you an introduction to Oxford,
Althorp, and other places, where you will see such books as
you have never beheld before.””
His account of a visit to the poet Rogers, on the 25th of
April, in company with Mr. Brown, we give entire: —
“Mr. Rogers lives at 22, St. James's Place. The entrance is in a very
quiet and retired situation, but the windows in the parlors and drawing-
room command a fine view of St. James's Park. We sent in our
cards to Mr. Rogers, and were at once very cordially received. He
made many inquiries about affairs in our country, and then invited us
to his library and parlor, where we saw treasures in books and paint-
* Dibdin subsequently proposed to give a dinner-party to Mr. Livermore, where he
could meet some distinguished bibliographers, and kindred spirits; but Mr. Livermore
was obliged, by reason of pressing engagements, to excuse himself, and decline the
honor.
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE, 25
ings which were of themselves worth a long journey to see. Whilst
we were there, Mr. Wordsworth came in, and we were introduced to
him. To see the author of ‘The Excursion’ and the author of ‘The
Pleasures of Memory’ together, to take them both by the hand and
listen to their conversation, was surely “glory enough ' for one day.
The personal appearance of the two poets is quite unlike. Rogers is
over eighty years old, yet not enfeebled by age. His manners are
gentle and graceful, his countenance mild and delicate, and his voice
sweet and remarkably pleasing. Wordsworth is eight or ten years
younger. He is nearly a head taller than Rogers, and looks quite as
old; what little hair remains on his head is quite gray. His manners
are rough, his voice loud, his conversation very rapid and vehement;
his whole soul seems to be thrown into the subject before him. When
he is silent, he looks just like the engraved portrait in his Poems. I
should have known him from the resemblance. But when he talks, the
quiet and gentle look that the engraving indicates is gone. Perhaps
he was unusually excited to-day; for he has come to London to be pre-
sented for the first time to Her Majesty, the Queen, as Poet-Laureate.
He must appear in full court dress, and wear a sword, an unusual
thing for him. Well, we were introduced by Mr. Rogers, to the
Laureate, as from America. His first words were, ‘Gentlemen, are
you from Pennsylvania?' We knew why he asked: he is deeply
interested in the credit of that State, being the holder of its bonds, on
which the interest had not been promptly paid ; and the odious and
shameful doctrine of repudiation was probably associated in his mind
with that State and its citizens. So I promptly answered, - ‘No, from
Boston in New England, where repudiation finds no favor with the
people.’ — ‘Do you think Pennsylvania will pay her debts P’— ‘Yes,’ I
replied, “undoubtedly, principal and interest.’ — ‘So do I,’ said Words-
worth : ‘I have always thought so. I hold a large amount of State
securities; and some of my friends, too, are large holders. I have
always advised them not to sacrifice them ; and I am glad to hear that we
shall not be likely to lose.’ I was glad enough to get through with this
unpleasant matter of repudiation so well. He asked several questions
about our country ; inquired if I knew Professor Ticknor ; when I left
home; how long I proposed to stay; and what route I intended to take.
But before I could answer half his questions, he said, ‘I suppose you will
do as your countrymen generally do, when they come here, — hurry
through some of the most remarkable places in England by railway, and
then be off to Italy to see paintings, and to Germany to see the great
26 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
metaphysicians: for my part, I think we have paintings and works of
art in England, enough to interest one for years; and if you want to
puzzle your brain with the metaphysics of the Germans, you can buy
their works cheap enough.” When I told him that I was to be absent
only three or four months from home, and that all but a fortnight of it
would be passed in England, he said I had decided wisely. ‘Come to
Rydal Mount,” said he, ‘and I will show you some beautiful scenery,
well worth a little trouble to view.’ Mr. Wordsworth left the house
before we did. Mr. Rogers gave us so cordial and pressing an invita-
tion to breakfast with him next Monday [the 28th of April], that
we unhesitatingly accepted. . . .
“Breakfasted with Samuel Rogers the poet. This delightful old
gentleman had invited Mr. Brown and me to come this morning, and
he received us very cordially. It was a great privilege to sit beside
him and listem to his anecdotes, and talk with him about the authors of
England, with whom he had been so long on terms of the closest friend-
ship and intimacy. Mr. Rogers has never been married. He does the
honors of the table with ease and grace. There were numerous
little choice dishes, which he gave an account of, as they were served
up, giving us the history of each. He is constantly receiving presents
from some of his numerous friends. This morning he had plovers' eggs
served up on sea-weed, a present from the South of France; oranges
from Malta, whose fragrance and beauty surpassed any thing of the kind
I had ever seen; sweetmeats from Turkey, marmalade from Scotland,
and Dutch bread. Mr. Rogers spoke very freely of his contemporaries.
Coleridge was an intimate friend. He was a remarkable man in con-
versation, but had a bad temper. He did not live with his wife for
many years before he died. He spoke warmly of Roscoe, with whom
he was acquainted. Byron, Southey, and Campbell were frequent
visitors at Rogers's: I wish I could remember a tithe of what he said
about them. Rogers has always felt a deep interest in our country.
His father was a warm friend of the Colonies at the time of the Revolu-
tion. When the news came to London of the Battle of Lexington, he
sent for his tailor, and ordered a suit of black. On the tailor asking
if he had lost any friend, he answered, - “Yes, many dear American
friends at the Battle of Lexington ; and I shall wear black for them as
long as I live.’
“Rogers said that in 1790 (I think it was, perhaps, 1791 or 2) he was
one of a dinner-party of twelve at Paris, – nine of whom, within a year
or two, died a violent death ! He spoke of our American authors.
MEMOIR, OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 27
Washington Irving was of course at the head of our prose-writers,
Bryant, at the head of the poets. Halleck was held high in his esteem.
He said nothing of Dana the poet, but spoke in the highest terms of
the work of R. H. Dana, Jr., “Two Years before the Mast.” Mr.
Rogers's house is a perfect museum of curiosities, yet all arranged in
good taste. He has some exquisitely beautiful paintings, originals by
the Old Masters. Besides some of the choice works of Sir Joshua Rey-
nolds and Sir Thomas Lawrence, I saw the original bust of Pope, by
Roubilliac, which Flaxman told Rogers his father had seen more than a
century ago in the studio of the artist. Among the autographs were a
letter of Dr. Franklin to Washington, and one from Washington to
Alexander Hamilton. I saw the original drawings from which the
engravings were taken in the “Poems’ and ‘Italy.” In the library were
Some book rarities, – the first Aldus, the first edition of the ‘Faerie
Queene,’ and the first edition of ‘Paradise Lost '; but the chief orna-
ment of the library was a little certificate neatly framed and hung
upon the wall, which is nothing less than the original contract of
Milton with his printer for the copyright of ‘Paradise Lost.’
“Mr. Rogers inquired particularly what places we had visited in Lon-
don, and gave us a memorandum of those worth seeing on account of
their historical associations. We left him between eleven and twelve
o'clock, having had one of the most interesting and delightful visits
imaginable.”
Mr. Livermore also visited Sir Thomas Grenville, and saw
his magnificent library, which has since been transferred to
the British Museum, and now forms one of the greatest at-
tractions of that institution. In the British Museum he saw
many Biblical rarities, which gave new inspiration to his in-
terest in the history of the early publication of the Scriptures,
and in general bibliography.
His visits to Oxford, to Cambridge, and to Althorp, where
he saw the unrivalled collection of Earl Spencer, made more
famous by the description in Dibdin's luxurious volumes, are
all eloquently set forth in his journal.
Mr. Everett was at this time our minister in London; and
he was very attentive in affording Mr. Livermore, by means
28 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
of letters and in other ways, every facility for accomplishing
the objects of his tour.”
The gay city of Paris had fewer attractions for Mr. Liver.
more. He could not speak the language, nor could he
become reconciled to the apparent desecration of the Sabbath,
in the open shops and places of amusement. The brilliant
spectacles which everywhere arrest the eye of the stranger
in that city were not unobserved by him, and were elo-
quently described in his letters to his family; but every-
thing was foreign to his principles, and to his tastes.
England had the greater charm for him, and in after life
he derived the highest satisfaction from the recollection
of this visit to the mother country. He arrived home, on
the 3d of July, after an absence of about three months.
The last thing before embarking at Liverpool, he says, - “I
went to the grave of Roscoe, and brought away a sprig Of
sweetbrier and some ivy leaves.”
The previous year he had ordered from Liverpool two or
three copies of the bust of Roscoe, in plaster. They could
not then be obtained in this country. One of them was placed
in the vestibule of his house, where it has since stood. One
was presented to Harvard College, and it now stands in Gore
Hall. When the committee of the Historical Society were fit-
ting up a room to receive Mr. Dowse's library, and were plac-
ing busts of distinguished authors over the bookcases, Mr.
Livermore requested that a bust of Roscoe might be of the
number. -
Mr. Livermore was deeply interested in the cause of learn-
ing; and the College in his neighborhood was as dear to him
as though he had passed the four years as an undergraduate
*
* While in London, Mr. Livermore had the opportunity, through his friend Mr.
Brown, of seeing the rare private collections of books and manuscripts, belonging to the
eminent booksellers, Mr. Pickering and Mr. Murray; and he describes them at length.
Among the Americans whom he was constantly in the habit of meeting in London
were the late Rev. Henry Colman and Dr. Samuel Parkman; also our present associate,
Mr. Saltonstall.
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 29
within her walls, and could call her Alma Mater. He was
now chosen by the Board of Overseers a member of the Library
Committee, and continued to hold that position, by annual
election, till his death; being most of the time the Secretary
of the Committee. When in England, he had formed the
acquaintance of Mr. Everett; and he regarded it as most
fortunate for Harvard College when that eminent scholar was
called to its Presidency. He was present at the inauguration
services, which took place on the 30th of April, 1846, and
under this date thus writes in his diary : —
“It was a great day for Cambridge, for Harvard University, for the
cause of literature and learning in our country. The inauguration of
Edward Everett as President of Harvard University was an event to
fill every heart with joy; i.e., every heart that beats with the love of ex-
cellence and talent. There was a large audience at the church, every
seat and stand was occupied, and four times as many would have been
present, if the building could have held them. I was very fortunate in
having a comfortable place during all the exercises at the church. As
a member of the Examining Committee on the Library, the place ap-
pointed me in the procession was just after the Overseers; and I had a
seat on the platform at the church, and a good place at the table for
dinner. E. A. Crowninshield was my companion in the procession and
at dinner; I found him by appointment at Owen's, before the procession
was formed. We went to the Library at a little past ten o’clock, and at
eleven the procession started. The services at the church were all of a
high order. They were as follows—Introductory prayer, by Rev. James
Walker, D. D.; address and delivery of the College charter, seal, and
keys, by His Excellency, George N. Briggs; reply to the Governor, by
the President elect; a Latin oration, by George M. Lane, of Cambridge-
port; hymn, by Rev. Dr. Flint ; and then an elegant, profound, and in-
imitable address by the President. I had often heard Mr. Everett
before, but I believe that of to-day surpassed all his previous productions.
Lane's performance was very creditable, and the Governor's marked
by his usual good sense and propriety. There were many distinguished
persons present; when Daniel Webster came forward on the platform,
he was greeted by tremendous applause.* The services at church were
* The sudden appearance of Mr. Webster on the platform on this occasion (in the
First Parish Church), approaching from behind, at the entrance through the pulpit, and
5 sºr
30 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
over a little before two o'clock; at half past two the procession re-
formed at Gore Hall, and proceeded to Harvard Hall for dinner.
About five hundred and fifty sat down to the table. My neighbors were
Crowminshield, Hillard, Bowen, Ellis, and Bowditch.
“Mr. Everett presided with great dignity and grace at the table. A
blessing was asked by the Rev. Dr. Sharp, and thanks returned by the
Rev. Dr. Woods, President of Bowdoin College. Speeches were made by
President Everett, Ex-President Quincy, Daniel Webster, a humorous
poem by Dr. O. W. Holmes, speeches by R. C. Winthrop, J. Quincy,
Jr., President Hitchcock of Amherst, and Professor Silliman of Yale Col-
lege, and George S. Hillard of Boston. At half past five o'clock the
company left the hall. Mr. Everett invited all to visit him at his
house.”
The “Cambridge Chronicle,” a weekly newspaper, WaS
started in Cambridgeport in 1846; and Mr. Livermore, partly
to assist the proprietor, and partly to aid in securing a good
local paper, was a frequent contributor to its columns. He
was a graceful and forcible writer; his opinions on whatever
subject were never doubtfully expressed, and his historical
investigations were thorough and exhaustive. Many of the
the reception given to him, are thus described by our associate, Mr. Dana, in his
“Address on the Life and Services of Edward Everett,” delivered before the muni-
cipal authorities and citizens of Cambridge, Feb. 22, 1865.
“On this occasion, there was an occurrence which put suddenly to the severest test the
equanimity and ready resources of Mr. Everett. The day and place were his, and his only.
The crowded assembly waited for his word. He rose, and advanced to the front of the
platform, and was received with gratifying applause. As he was about to begin, the
applause received a sudden and marked acceleration, and rose higher and higher into
a tumult of cheers. Mr. Everett felt that something more than his welcome had
caused this; and turning, he saw, just at that opening behind your seat, Mr. Mayor,
the majestic presence of Mr. Webster! The reception of Mr. Webster had additional
force given to it from the fact that he had just returned from his conflict in Congress
with Charles Jared Ingersoll, who had made an attack on his character, and that this his
first appearance among us since was altogether unexpected. I had heard Mr. Everett's
readiness of resource called in question. I looked — all must have looked — to see how
he would meet this embarrassment. He turned again to the audience, cast his eyes
slowly round the assembly, with a look of the utmost gratification seemed to gather
their applause in his arms, and, turning about, to lay it ministerially at the feet
of Mr. Webster, said to him, as I remember, “I wish, Sir, that I could at once assert
the authority that has just been conferred upon me, and, auctoritate mihi commissä
declare to the audience, capectatur oratio in linguá vernaculá a Webster. But I suppose,
Sir, your convenience and the arrangements made by others, render it expedient that I
should speak myself, -at least, at first.’”
Arº-
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 31
book-notices which appeared in this journal for a number of
years, were from his pen.
On Monday the 6th of December, 1847, the Hon. R. C. Win-
throp took the chair as Speaker of the House of Representatives
of the United States, to which office he had just been elected;
and in the course of his speech on that occasion, he made
use of the following language: “ May I not reasonably
implore, with something more than common fervency, upon
your labors and upon my own, the blessing of that Almighty
Power, whose recorded attribute it is, that ‘He maketh men
to be of one mind in a house ’7” ” Supposing the concluding
words to be Scriptural, many asked where they were to be
found. The newspapers of New York and Boston inquired
the Speaker's authority for the apt quotation, —some asserting
that it was not in the Bible at all, and not a few learned
divines being greatly puzzled. It was finally found to have
been taken from the Psalter. In an article contributed to
the “Cambridge Chronicle,” of the 23d of December, Mr.
Livermore explained that the passage in the Received Version
(Psalm lxviii. 6), which reads “God setteth the solitary in
families,” is rendered in the Book of Common Prayer as
given by Mr. Winthrop, “God maketh men to be of one
mind in a house.” It is from the Coverdale version of
1535, and appears there in Psalm lxvii. It is substantially
according to the Cranmer Bible, to which the Psalter in
the Prayer-Book generally conforms. Mr. Winthrop took
the passage cited from the Prayer-Book, his eye happening
to rest upon it the day before at church. In the article re-
ferred to, Mr. Livermore gave ten several versions of this
passage.
A good illustration of the accuracy and minuteness of his
knowledge of the various editions of the Scriptures is shown
in some papers which he communicated to the “Boston
Daily Advertiser,” of July 12th, and Oct. 19th, 1849, in reply
* Addresses and Speeches, Boston, 1852, p. 610.
32 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
to Bishop Chase, of Illinois, who had brought the charge
against Cromwell and the Puritans of having corrupted the
sacred text. The allegation was, that Cromwell, having su-
preme power, had authorized the change of the word “we”—in
Acts vi. 3, relating to the appointment of the seven deacons —
to “ye,” in order to favor the views of the Independents. The
Bishop indulged in many other loose statements, by no means
creditable either to his knowledge or to his taste. Among
other things, he said that the “Cambridge Platform of 1648
was based upon this noted error.” Mr. Livermore, in reply to
the Bishop, in the papers referred to, showed, by respectable
Episcopalian authority, that the edition of the Bible in which
this error first appeared was printed in 1638, while Laud and
Charles were ascendant in Church and State, – and that the
next edition known to contain it was printed after the Restora-
tion. It was simply a typographical error. -
In the “Cambridge Chronicle” of the 5th of April, 1849, he
commenced a series of eight articles on the New-England
Primer, which were published over the signature of “The
Antiquary.” These papers were afterwards gathered into a
thin volume (of which twelve copies only were issued as gifts
to friends), with this title: “The Origin, History, and Char-
acter of the New-England Primer.” They showed much
research and curious learning, and attracted considerable at-
tention. This Society has one of these twelve copies in its
Library. -
Among the minor questions discussed in these papers on
the New-England Primer was one concerning the number of
John Rogers's children. The equivocal statement of the
Primer, that there were “nine small children and one at the
breast,” was disputed by Mr. Livermore, who contended that
the number of the Martyr's children at the time of his death
was eleven — citing Fox, the martyrologist, for his authority.
His positions were assailed by some humorous communica-
tions in the “Boston Transcript,” of July 16th and 24th ; to
which he replied.
MEMOIR, OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 33
While a member of the School Committee, Mr. Livermore
contributed to the “Chronicle "an interesting article on the
“Public Schools in Cambridge,” going back to “Master Ea.
ton's Flogging School,” and citing the early colonial laws on
the subject of schools in Massachusetts. This article was
copied into the “Common-School Journal” for Aug. 1, 1848.
The next year he prepared and printed “A Brief Account
of the Dana-Hill Public Schools, Cambridge, 1849.”
A collection of books which formerly belonged to Washing-
ton was offered for sale this year, and was bought by a num-
ber of gentlemen, and presented to the Boston Athenaeum.
Mr. Livermore was not only one of the subscribers to the fund
for the purchase of these books, but he was one of a few
persons who labored persistently for the securing of this
treasure.” Subsequently, as a trustee of Mr. Dowse's estate,
he communicated to the “Athenaeum ” the sum of one thou-
sand dollars to defray the expense of a catalogue for this
collection, and for increasing it. Everything relating to the
history and character of Washington had an interest for Mr.
Livermore. His noble library contains many memorials of the
Father of his Country: and among the latest accessions to
it, not many weeks before his decease, were several sermons
preached on the death of Washington, of which he already
possessed over one hundred.
In November, 1849, Mr. Livermore was elected a member
of this Society; and a most valuable member did he prove,
laboring for its welfare, in season and out of season, to the
last. The first volume of “Proceedings” was issued under
his superintending care, assisted by his friend and associate
on the Committee of Publication, the Rev. Chandler Robbins,
D. D. He continued a member of that Committee till his
death ; and was also for a number of years a most influential
member of the Standing Committee. Other important ser.
* See Quincy's History of the Boston Athenaeum, p. 187, for a description of these
books.
34 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE,
vices which he rendered the Society will be noticed farther
on. The American Antiquarian Society had, the month be-
fore, enrolled him among its members.
The “Christian Examiner” for November, this year, con-
tained an article by Mr. Livermore, written at the request of
Dr. Ellis, one of the editors of that journal, on the “Publication
and Circulation of the Scriptures”; being a review of the Rev.
W. P. Strickland’s “History of the American Bible Society.”
This paper gave abundant evidence of his large information on
the subject of the translation and circulation of the Bible;
and contains a strong protest against “the absurd attempt ''
to adapt a version of the Scriptures to the capacities of the
ignorant and almost barbarous races, which was made by
the British and Foreign Bible Society when they printed a
translation of the New Testament for the English negroes in
Surinam : —
“These negroes,” he says, “ have no distinct language; but speak
what is called “talkee-talkee, a strange lingo, compounded of original
African words, of clipped and softened English words, and of vio-
lently treated Portuguese words. Their missionaries, the Moravians,
instead of attempting to teach the negroes pure English or Dutch,
recommended and urged the Bible Society to print an edition of the
New Testament from a manuscript version which had long been in
use at Surinam, in the abominable patois spoken by the slaves. Great
benefit, it was predicted, would result to the missionaries and their con-
verts from the undertaking, though the Society brought upon itself smart
censures and much ridicule for the seemingly irreverent and ludicrous
character of the volume which they published. It was very elegantly
printed in octavo form, large type, in London, in 1829. Nearly all
the copies were transmitted to the people for whose use they were
prepared, and their arrival and distribution among the negroes caused
great excitement. A very few copies were retained in England, as
bibliographical and philological curiosities, and they have now become
very scarce. One of them was recently offered to the public, in
London, at the sale of the library of the late Duke of Sussex, and was
sold for three pounds ten shillings. Its original cost could not have
exceeded two or three shillings.
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 35
“We have a copy of this extraordinary volume of gibberish before
us, and have looked it over for the purpose of finding a specimen which
shall have in it nothing more offensive than what characterizes the
whole of the work. The reader may form some just idea of what
specimens might be selected, when he is told that the word virgin is
rendered, in this version, “wan njoe wendje.”
“We will take a few verses from the benedictions, Matt. v. : —
“‘1. Ma teh Jesus si da piple, a go na wan bergi tappo, a go sidom, en dem
discipel va hem kom klossibei na hem.
“‘2. En a hoppo hem moeffe, a leri dem, a takki:
“‘3. Boenne heddi va dem, dissi de poti na hatti: bikasi Gadokondre de
vo dem.
“‘4, Boenne heddi va dem, dissi de sari na hatti: bikasi hatti va dem sa
koure.”
“Which we may venture to translate half-way back again into
English, as follows: —
“‘1. But when Jesus see the people, he go after one mountain-top, he go sit
down, and them disciple for him come close by after him.
“‘2. And he open him mouth, and learn them, and talk:
“‘8. Good is it for them, these the pretty in heart, because God’s country is
for them.
“‘4. Good is it for them, these the sorry in heart, because heart for them so
cheery.’”
In a letter to John Allan, of New York, the distinguished
antiquary, in December of this year, Mr. Livermore expressed
his intention of printing, for private distribution, some “Remi-
niscences of a too short, but very pleasant acquaintance with
Thomas Frognall Dibdin.” This purpose, however, was never
fulfilled.
In the “North-American Review,” for July, 1850, Mr. Liv-
ermore contributed an article on Public Libraries, contain-
ing a large amount of curious and valuable information
on the subject, both as regards this country and Europe.
The scheme of international exchanges of books, inaugurated
by M. Wattemare, was also discussed. Mr. Livermore had
no confidence in M. Wattemare, and regarded his scheme as
visionary. The great subject of a catalogue, which had just
36 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
before agitated the minds of the trustees of the British
Museum, is dwelt upon ; and the conflicting views drawn out
by the examining committees of Parliament laid before
the reader. Two of the books reviewed in this article were
the “Report from the Select Committee on Public Libra-
ries,” and the “Report of the Commissioners appointed to
inquire into the Constitution and Government of the British
Museum.”
A few months afterwards, a volume of Chambers’s “Papers
for the People’’ was issued in Edinburgh, containing a paper
on “Public Libraries,” which was made up from Mr. Liver-
more's article, a former article from the “North American,”
written by our Corresponding Member, Professor George
Washington Greene, and a third paper from another source,—
no acknowledgment whatever being made by the Edinburgh
publishers.
This year Mr. Livermore was elected a trustee of the
State Library; and while a member of this board, he had an
opportunity of testing M. Wattemare's system of exchanges.
His views as to the benefit accruing to the State therefrom
were briefly expressed a few years later in the “History of
the State Library,” drawn up by the Librarian, and prefixed
to the Catalogue published in 1858. s
In 1850, Harvard College conferred upon him the honorary
degree of Master of Arts; and, the same year, he was elected
a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
Mr. Livermore’s library at this time had become a most
valuable one; and his thorough habits of investigation had
made him an authority on those subjects that specially
engaged his thoughts. A paper on “Libraries in Boston
and its Vicinity,” in the “Bibliotheca Sacra,” for January,
1850, contains a notice of Mr. Livermore's collection, and
mentions many of its rare works. His library was then
estimated to comprise “about three thousand volumes.” It
was largely increased during the fifteen years following.
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 37
In the early part of the year 1851, there appeared in the
“New-York Evening Post,” under the signature of “Friar
Lupin,” a series of articles commenting on the manner in
which Mr. Sparks had edited the Writings of Washington. He
was charged with not being faithful to the original text
of Washington's letters. The charge was based on a com-
parison of some of the letters as printed by Mr. Sparks with
the same letters as published by Mr. William B. Reed,
of Philadelphia, from the originals in his possession. In
the “Cambridge Chronicle,” of the 20th of February of that
year, Mr. Livermore came out with an article in defence of
Mr. Sparks, quoting largely from his Preface to Washington’s
Writings, to show the plan on which he had prepared
that work. The matter assumed graver proportions when
the charges of the writer in the “New-York Evening Post''
were adopted by Lord Mahon, who accused Mr. Sparks of
“tampering with the truth of History.””
In the “Christian Examiner,” for July, 1851, appeared an
article from Mr. Livermore's pen, entitled “John Wycliffe
and the first English Bible ''; which no one can read without
seeing how thoroughly Mr. Livermore's mind was possessed
of all the curious learning appertaining to a full understand-
ing of the subject.
Mr. Livermore was now becoming well known to our schol-
ars, as a man of large acquirements in certain departments of
learning ; and his simple, frank, and winning manners caused
his acquaintance to be sought by those who sympathized with
his tastes, or who desired to profit by his intimate knowledge
of books, or by his words of counsel. He numbered among
his correspondents many eminent scholars and bibliographers,
both in this country and in England. Among these may be
mentioned Francis Fry, F. S. A., of Cotham, Bristol, the edi-
* An excellent treatment of this whole question, in defence of the editor of Wash-
ington's Writings, may be seen in the Memoir of Mr. Sparks by our associate, Dr. Ellis,
in this volume, at pages 261-267.
6
38 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
tor of the elegant new edition, printed in 1862 in fac-simile,
of Tyndale's New Testament of 1526, in the library of the
Baptist College in Bristol. Mr. Fry was the editor of other
book rarities, and usually had a few copies struck off on parch-
ment or vellum for private distribution.
The late Rev. Christopher Anderson, D.D., of Edinburgh,
author of the “Annals of the English Bible,” London, 1845,
was also a valued correspondent. Mr. Livermore formed his
acquaintance while in London.
With the lamented Professor Jewett, formerly Librarian
of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, and more recently
of the Boston Public Library, Mr. Livermore held the most
agreeable relations. At the time of the controversy respect-
ing the distribution of the income of the Smithsonian fund,
Mr. Livermore entered warmly into the question, sympathiz-
ing entirely with Professor Jewett and his friends, and using
all his influence to prevent what he considered a perversion
of the trust.
Of the late George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted
son of General Washington, who lived at “Arlington House,”
near Alexandria, Va., Mr. Livermore was a frequent corre-
spondent, as he had been his guest.” Mr. Custis was a gran-
diloquent old man, but warm-hearted and hospitable to all
who visited the “shades of Arlington,” where were treasured
with care many interesting memorials of his illustrious rela-
tive. His “Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washing-
ton ’’ was a posthumous publication. f
About this time he is found applying his accurate learning
to the correction of what he regarded as some singular errors
of Mr. Bancroft, relative to the publication of the Scriptures
in this country before the American Revolution. His crit-
* Others, eminent book-collectors, who were also intelligent bibliographers, might
be named, by whom the memory of Mr. Livermore will always be held dear. Mr. James
Lenox, of New York; Mr. John Carter Brown and Mr. John Russell Bartlett, of
Providence; Mr. George Brinley and Mr. J. Hammond Trumbull, of Hartford, – were
among his valued friends and correspondents.
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMOLEE. 39
icism appeared in the “Boston Daily Advertiser,” of the
18th of January, 1853, and relates to some statements in
Chapter XII. Volume V. of the first edition of Bancroft's
“History of the United States.” In subsequent issues of
that volume, large alterations in the foot note will be found at
this place.
Mr. Livermore's health was almost always poor. He
suffered greatly from headache all his life. “I wonder,” he
would say, “if blockheads ever ache.” He remarks that
he has seen somewhere that disease is a crime; and, if it is
so, he must be the greatest of sinners. In 1850, he was so ill
that he contemplated a long voyage. But he had an elastic
spirit, and he commonly soon recovered from his attacks of
illness, – at least, he was enabled to resume his usual avo-
cations.
In the political affairs of his State and of the Nation he
was always deeply interested. But he never sought, nor
would he have accepted, office. He was decided in his
views; his opinions were convictions; and he was sometimes
a little impatient, and not always tolerant, of the opinions of
those who differed from him. He did not reflect at the mo-
ment that the dissent of others from him was the exact
measure of his dissent from others. But he was simple, con-
scientious, and constantly striving for the truth.
He was ever opposed to the system of slavery in this
country, and particularly to its extension ; but, up to this time,
he was equally opposed to the spirit and policy of the Abolition-
ists. He felt that the vehement denunciations in which they
indulged did more harm than good to the cause, and that a
way would be opened by Providence for the peaceable set-
tlement of this agitating question ; and when Mr. Webster
delivered his “Seventh of March Speech '' in the Senate
of the United States, which fell “like a wet sheet” upon
New England, it met Mr. Livermore's approval. Subse-
quently, his views on the subject underwent a change. He
40 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
began to feel that the South, banded together as one man,
were determined to force their peculiar institution upon the
National domain ; that, by stifling freedom of debate in the
National Legislature,” by the repeal of ordinances enacted for
the protection of freedom, by securing decisions in the Su-
preme Court hostile to liberty, and by other acts of a similar
character, they were, with the aid of their Northern allies,
rapidly extending their power in the government, and would
soon bring the whole North under their corrupting influence.
He then felt that the only hope for freedom was in the union
of all manly hearts in an equally firm stand against slavery.
As he felt, so he acted.
During a business tour which he made, in 1852, to the
West, Mr. Livermore visited Blennerhassett’s Island, in the
Ohio River, concerning which, with other matters, he writes
as follows : —
“PARKERSBURG, WA., May 21, 1852.
, — I wish you had been with me here in “Old
Virginny” this pleasant day, and we would have rambled together over
the beautiful island made forever memorable as the scene of Burr's
and Blennerhassett’s conspiracy, and by the eloquence of Wirt made
classic as well as historic ground. It lies in the Ohio just below the
river Kanawha, and between Parkersburg, Va., and Belpré, Ohio. I
hired a boatman to take me in his skiff to the island, and can say from
actual observation, that neither eloquence nor poetry can magnify the
beauties of the situation beyond the reality. But few of the relics of
improvements by its former owner now remain. The house was
destroyed by fire between forty and fifty years ago. The garden is
literally all grown over with thorns. I cut a stick for a cane on the
*
“MY DEAR D
* The attack upon the Massachusetts Senator, in the Capitol at Washington, on the
22d of May, 1856, caused a deep feeling at the North among all political parties. Up
to this time Mr. Livermore had called himself a “Webster Whig,” and had uniformly
voted against his relative, Mr. Burlingame, whenever he had been a candidate for any
political office. But now he caused to be printed, at his own expense, the speech of
Mr. Burlingame, made in the House of Representatives in Washington on the 21st of
June, in “Defence of Massachusetts”; and, in some extra copies, inserted a “Prefa-
tory Note,” not signed, wherein he expresses his conviction that the time had arrived
when “consistency to long cherished principles requir, s that the Conservative utter
and defend the old doctrine of our illustrious statesman,— ‘Liberty and Union, now
and forever, one and inseparable.’” Later events only intensified his convictions.
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE, 41
spot, and gathered a few shells and pebbles from the beach, to bring
home as mementoes of the visit; and I left the place with sad reflections
on the misfortune and folly of those who leave the luxury of a quiet
home for the ambitious purpose of political power.
“It is now the third week of my absence from home, and another
week will elapse before I can return. This has been the first day that
has not been devoted almost exclusively to business. I was detained
here, waiting for a steamboat to take me up the river, and improved the
leisure by a visit to Blennerhassett's Island.
“I procured a copy of “Uncle Tom's Cabin' on my way, and have
read it with great interest. I agree with you entirely that it is a work
of great power, as well as of perfect fairness. It must do much good.
The subject of slavery needs only to be presented in a spirit of candor
and intelligence like this, to bring all who are truly desirous of promot-
ing freedom to common ground. I wish I could circulate ten thou-
sand copies of “Uncle Tom,' in the Old Dominion, where chivalry and
slavery have wrought such a potent spell, and almost reduced to beg-
gary a people possessed of some of the greatest natural advantages of
any in our fair country.
“Remember everything that occurs during my absence, and come
and tell me all when I get home. You can, better than almost any
one else, make up the loss, which I always feel when deprived of the
genial influences of Boston and Cambridge society.
“Yours faithfully,
“GEORGE LIVERMORE.”
Mr. Livermore was continually adding to his store of
Biblical works, and often found occasion to make use of his
curious and accurate learning in this department of bibli-
ography. At the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Bible
Society, in May, 1854, his Excellency, Governor Washburn,
made an address, in the course of which he referred to
the influence of the Bible upon Cromwell's soldiers. “In
the army,” he said, “every man had a Bible in his knapsack,
and daily read it, and sang the praises of God; and the
result was the like of what has been seen in the history of
Puritanism.” In an article in the “Cambridge Chronicle,” of
the 20th of June, Mr. Livermore quoted this passage from the
Governor's speech, saying it was substantially correct, but
42 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE,
not literally so ; that, if Cromwell’s soldiers carried the Bible
in their knapsacks, it was not the whole Bible; that “The
Soldiers' Pocket Bible " consisted of appropriate selections
from the Scriptures, printed in pamphlet form, and was gen-
erally buttoned between the coat and waistcoat, next to the
heart, — “proving, perhaps, sometimes, a defence from the
weapons of the enemies of their bodies, as well as from the
Wicked One who sought to subdue their souls.” He remarked,
that but few copies of this curious Bible had been preserved,
and that probably the copy he possessed was the only one in
the country. He then gives a brief description of it. He had
had it some years, having received it from his friend Mr.
Crowninshield, to whom it had been sent from London. The
book was afterwards reprinted by Mr. Livermore.
To afford some idea of the character of Mr. Livermore's
library at this time, the following description of it is given.
It was written by Mr. Livermore himself, by request.*
“Nearly a quarter part of the entire collection consists of Bibles
and Biblical works, in various languages, versions and forms, from the
ancient Hebrew manuscript roll, to the most modern translation of our
own times. • - gº
“Among the manuscripts of interest is The Pentateuch, carefully writ-
ten on thirty-six skins of parchment, and measuring fifty-eight feet in
length, and one foot in breadth. This fine apograph is rolled upon a
pair of handles, and enclosed in an embroidered silk cover. It was
formerly used in a Jewish synagogue, and is a good specimen of an
ancient volume, or rolled book.
“Two copies of the Bible entire, in the Latin Vulgate version, written
by monks in the Middle Ages upon the most delicate vellum, are elabo-
rately illuminated with beautiful initial letters, figures, and miniatures.
They are of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Each was, perhaps, the
work of a whole life.
“To these may be added an Evangelistarium, or selections from the
Gospels, for the use of the church, written on parchment in the eighth
* It should be stated here, that Mr. Livermore was largely indebted to our country-
man and Corresponding Member, Mr. Henry Stevens, of London, for assistance in pro-
curing many of the valuable books contained in his library. His correspondence with
this eminent bibliographer must have covered a period of nearly twenty years.
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE, 43
century, seven hundred years before the invention of printing, one of
the oldest books, if not the oldest, in this country. It was obtained at
the sale of the library of the Rev. Dr. Hawtrey, Provost of Eton.
“The Book of Job, a metrical version, by George Sandys, is supposed
to be the original autograph copy of the author. It was formerly in
the library of the late Duke of Sussex, and is particularly described by
Dr. Pettigrew, in the ‘Bibliotheca Sussexiana.”
“Next in order to the manuscripts is the BIB L IA PA U-
PERUM, a block book, or series of wood-cuts, representing Scripture
subjects, with a few lines of text coarsely engraved upon the same page.
The precise date is not known, but bibliographers are generally agreed
in the opinion that it was printed as early as the year 1440.
“There is in this library a fragment of the celebrated M A Z A R IN
B I B L E, the first book ever printed. Although the date does not ap-
pear, this work is well known to have been the first that issued from
the press of Gutenberg, and to have been completed in the year 1455.
Mr. L. has also the New Testament printed by Faust in 1462, being
the first in which the date is given, and quite a number of Bibles pub-
lished within the first half-century from the invention of printing.
Servetus's Bible, published in Lyons, 1542, is a very rare work. The
entire edition was ordered to be burnt, by the Roman Catholic authori-
ties, on account of the supposed heretical sentiments contained in the
preface and in some of the notes. The author, in 1553, shared the
same fate with his Bible. He was burned alive for heresy; and as
many of the Bibles as could then be found were used to kindle the
wood at the time of his martyrdom. But very few copies escaped the
flames, and there is probably no other in this country.
“Cromwell's Soldiers' Pocket Bible, of which only one other copy is
known to be extant, is a great curiosity. It consists of selections from
the Scriptures, published in 1643, for the use of the army during the
civil wars. Here are copies of both editions of Eliot's Indian Bible,
the first containing the rare dedication to King Charles II., of which
only twenty copies were printed; and a perfect copy of the Commentary
of Nicholas de Lyra, beautifully printed in black letter, in 1483, being
the first work of the kind ever published.
“Of English versions, Mr. L. has all the editions of Wyclif, several
of Coverdale, Tyndale, Cranmer, the Genevan, the Bishops, the Douay,
and the most remarkable editions of our present authorized version,
from the first black-letter folio of 1611 to the recent revision of the
American Bible Society.
44 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
- - J’
“A splendid unique large-paper copy of Reeves's Bible, with several
hundred original water-color illustrations, by Harris, of London, and a
New Testament printed entirely in letters of gold, were added to the
collection on account of their beauty as works of art.
“A special interest attaches to some copies of the Scriptures in Mr.
Livermore's library, on account of their former ownership. The Venice
edition of the Latin Vulgate, 1478, was once the property of the un-
fortunate Pope Pius VI., and has his arms stamped upon the covers.
On the same shelf stands Melancthon's own copy of the Bible, with
numerous notes on the margins in the handwriting of the Reformer. A
copy of the Geneva version, presented by Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin to
the late Rev. Dr. Homer, of Newton (from whose library it was pur-
chased), was supposed by its former owners to have been the identical
copy presented by the printer to Queen Elizabeth. The royal arms
can still be traced on the covers. It was printed in 1576. But the
Bible of Adam Winthrop, of Groton, England, the father of the first
Governor of Massachusetts, is more highly prized by the present pro-
prietor.
“A manuscript Koran, brought many years ago from Turkey, by
Edward Wortley Montagu, and the Book of Mormon, with the auto-
graph of Joseph Smith, possess an interest of a different kind.
“Mr. L. has, in a large portfolio, T H E L OR D’S P R A YE IR
in more than eight hundred languages and dialects. This remarkable
work was printed at the Imperial Office, in Vienna, and exhibited, as
the contribution of the Emperor of Austria, at the World's Fair in
London. Only a few copies were allowed to be sold.
“It may be mentioned that the only two New-England subscribers to
Halliwell's magnificent edition of Shakespeare, now publishing in Eng-
land, in twenty folio volumes, and limited to one hundred and fifty
copies, are near neighbors to each other, — Mr. Hosmer and Mr.
Livermore.
“Mr. Livermore has from his boyhood been much interested in the
subject of general bibliography; and he has collected a considerable
number of the best works on this subject, including typographical an-
tiquities, and accounts of the most celebrated public and private libra-
ries. In this department may be found nearly all the publications of
Dibdin, several of them presentation copies from the author; works
from the presses of Gutenberg, Faust, Caxton, Wynken de Worde,
Pynson, Baskerville, Stephen Daye, the first American printer, Dr.
Franklin, and nearly all the most famous printers in Europe and
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 45
America; also privately printed books from Strawberry Hill, Lee
Priory, the Roxburghe and other clubs. We might mention many
other curious and rare volumes. The larger part of this library consists
of standard works of English literature, history, biography, poetry, &c.,
&c., - the best editions of the best authors.””
It may here be observed, that, after this brief and neces-
sarily inadequate description of his library was written in
1855, Mr. Livermore made large additions to it, not only of
Biblical works, but of works of history and of general biblio-
graphy. Everything which would illustrate the history of
printing, from the earliest period, interested him. He refers,
we have seen, to a fragment of the celebrated Mazarin Bible
which his library contained, - “the first book ever printed" on
movable types, Three years before his death, he purchased
a beautiful copy of the original edition of Coverdale's Bible,
printed in 1535, the first edition of the entire Bible in English.
It cost him one hundred and forty pounds.
A worthy “Tribute to the Memory of James Johnson,” “a
merchant of the old school,” was contributed by Mr. Liver-
more to the “Boston Daily Advertiser,” of May 4th, 1855.
A few copies of the “Tribute” were subsequently reprinted
by the friends of the deceased, for private distribution.
This year Mr. Livermore was elected a member of the
“American Academy of Arts and Sciences,” and he was
treasurer of that institution at the time of his death.
Many of Mr. Livermore's associates will recall with pleas-
ure the meeting of the Historical Society at his house on the
evening of the 26th of June, 1856. It was in the season of
strawberries; and the prolific gardens of his neighbor, Mr.
Hovey, the well-known horticulturist, furnished for the oc-
casion a most abundant supply of his choicest varieties of
that delicate fruit. The luscious “seedling” which bears his
name, and other rival descriptions of Cambridge growth,
looked as if they had each been prepared for the eye of the
* See “A Glance at Private Libraries,” by Luther Farnham, Boston, 1855.
- 7
46 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
expert, as candidates for a prize. It was, indeed, a “Straw-
berry Festival.” &
Mr. Livermore's love of flowers did not desert him at this
time; and the charming floral adornments which here met
the eye were an eloquent commentary on his exquisite taste,
which was not confined to books alone.
Mr. Savage, then late President of the Society, and now its
Senior member, was not able to be present; but, as a delicate
compliment to his venerated friend, Mr. Livermore caused the
portrait of him, then recently painted by Wight for the So-
ciety's cabinet, to be brought to his house and hung on the
wall of the room in which the business meeting was held.
This served as a pleasant reminder of one whose membership
dates back to the year 1813, and who had for fourteen years
so faithfully served the Society as its chief officer.
As a part of the business of this meeting, “Mr. Livermore
produced a trunk containing a large collection of manuscripts
formerly belonging to the Hon. Judge Davis, and more re-
cently to Isaac P. Davis, Esq., late associates of the Society;
which, in compliance with the expressed wish of the latter,
had been committed to Mr. Livermore's charge by Mrs. Davis
and the Hon. William Sturgis, executor, to be examined and
assorted, previously to their being deposited in the library of
the Society. Mr. Livermore stated that he had partially ex-
amined the papers, and found some of them to be of great
value.”f They were referred to a committee, of which he was
chairman, to be arranged for the library according to the
views of the donor. The volume of “Davis Papers” now
in the cabinet, comprises this collection. r
* For the purpose of illustrating Mr. Livermore's thoughtful care in little things,
which, indeed, make up the staple of every man’s life, we will here recall the circum-
stance, that there was enclosed in the notice of this meeting, to each member, a beauti-
fully printed card, which served not only as a “free pass” over the railway, from “Bow-
doin Square" to his house on “Dana Hill,” but conveyed the information that the
‘Business Meeting ” would be held “at half-past seven o'clock. Strawberries at
nine o'clock. Cars return at ten o'clock.”
f See Proceedings Massachusetts Historical Society for June, 1856, pp. 96, 97.
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 47
This meeting at Mr. Livermore's, the first of a few rural
gatherings of the members as a society, is one of the pleas-
ant things to recall. The recollection of it revives the pic-
ture of one in whom “the graces of purity, sweetness, re-
finement, gentleness, and disinterestedness,” to use the
felicitous language of Mr. Hillard respecting him, were mar-
vellously combined, - in the midst of his books and of his .
flowers, extending his warm and unstinted hospitality to his
associates around him. The silver cord by which he was
bound to us is loosed, but the sweet memories of the occa-
sion will ever remain ;
“The scent of the roses will hang round it still.”
Thomas Dowse, the leather-dresser of Cambridgeport, the
collector of the magnificent Library, estimated to have cost
over forty thousand dollars, was a near neighbor and friend
of Mr. Livermore. He was a bachelor, of a quiet, retiring
disposition, somewhat odd withal, and he admitted few to
his intimacy. Mr. Livermore’s warm-hearted disinterested-
ness won his confidence, and his love and knowledge of
books made him a most desirable companion. As old age
grew upon Mr. Dowse, and his infirmities increased, Mr.
Livermore made it a point to visit him almost daily. The
morning after the meeting of the Historical Society at his
house, Mr. Livermore called on Mr Dowse, taking with him
a dish of strawberries. The conversation naturally turned
on the subject of the meeting the evening before, and Mr.
Dowse was much interested in the account he received of it.
This led him to make further inquiries respecting the Society,
with many of whose members he was already well acquainted.
Soon afterwards Mr. Dowse asked Mr. Livermore if he thought
the Society would accept of his library. He received en-
couragement that they would. He then desired to see a plan
of their building, and the rooms which they occupied; and
when he had fully decided to offer his library to the accept-
48 MEMOIR, OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
ance of the Society, Mr. Livermore conferred with the Presi-
dent, and the matter was soon consummated. The account of
the Special Meeting at which the announcement of the gift
was made, and of that which was held on the transfer of the
books to the rooms of the Society, after the decease of Mr.
Dowse, the following year, are related in the “Proceedings”
for August, 1856, and April, 1857.* -
Mr. Livermore and Mr. Eben. Dale were appointed execu-
tors and trustees under Mr. Dowse's will. By this instru-
ment a considerable sum was left to the trustees, to dispose
of according to their judgment, under certain general instruc-
tions. The charge for fitting up the room now known as
“The Dowse Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society,”
amounting to about three thousand dollars, was defrayed by
the trustees, who in addition gave the Society ten thousand
dollars as a fund, the income of which was to be devoted to
the care and administration of the library. -
The trustees contributed also a fund of ten thousand dollars
for the establishment, in Cambridge, of a “Dowse Institute,”
# Mr. Dowse had had many plans for the disposition of his library, but he could
decide on nothing. When Mr. Quincy was President of the College, a proposal was
made by him to Mr. Dowse, that, if he would present his library to that institution, a
fire-proof building should be constructed to receive it, and other provisions made for
its safe-keeping for ever; but nothing came of it. In September, 1853, early in
the Presidency of Dr. Walker, Mr. Dowse's health seemed to be failing, and he felt
anxious about his library, being at a loss what disposition to make of it, when Mr.
Livermore, on his behalf, informally conferred with Dr. Walker as to the probability
of the College consenting to receive it, if it should be offered, on the terms intimated:
namely, that a separate fire-proof building should be erected for it, that none of the
volumes should be taken from it, &c. Dr. Walker, of course, had no authority, of him-
self, to accept or to decline such an offer, had it been made; and he had no wish to
divert such a gift from the College: but he saw that the terms suggested would involve
a serious expense to the Corporation, without an equivalent. He, however, assured Mr.
Livermore, that, without doubt, if the library should be presented to the College,
arrangements would be made to give it a place by itself in Gore Hall.
There seemed at one time to be danger that this collection of books would come to
the hammer. Mr. Dowse once offered to give it to Mr. Livermore, who, of course,
declined it. Mr. Dowse finally proposed, as stated in the text, to place his library in
the custody of the Society of which his friend, Mr. Livermore, was a prominent mem-
ber. This suggestion was warmly seconded by Mr. Livermore, and to him is the Histori-
cal Society largely indebted for the final disposition made of this noble library.
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 49
for public lectures, &c. This sum was paid over to the city
of Cambridge, which, in return, agreed to pay annually, for-
ever, to the trustees of the Institute, six hundred dollars.
Mr. Dowse's fine collection of paintings in water-colors was
given to the Boston Athenaeum, of which institution Mr. Liv-
ermore was a trustee.
It will not require a reference to the records of the Soci-
ety, to recall a similar meeting of the members to that just de-
scribed, which, two years after, was held, by invitation of Mr.
Longfellow, at his house in Cambridge, – the house which was
for nine months the residence and headquarters of Washing-
ton. The meeting was summoned in the afternoon of the
17th of June, the anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill.
Mr. Livermore was chairman of the Standing Committee this
year, and he used every means, in co-operation with the other
officers of the Society, to make this meeting worthy of the
occasion. On the notices issued to the members he caused to
be printed a wood-cut impression of the ancient mansion
where the meeting was to be held. The following character-
istic note was received from him a few days before the meet-
Ing: —
“WEDNESDAY MORNING, June 9th.
“ DEAR D , --Thinking that you might like to preserve a tint-
ed copy of the notice of our grand meeting to be held on the 17th, I
send you one of each shade. The regular Society’s notice is printed on
White paper, but half a dozen or more of a ‘fancy' character were
struck off to be sent to the ‘Saints.' . . . The meeting is likely to be
the most interesting one ever held by the Society.
“Yours ever affectionately.”
Mr. Livermore's fondest expectations concerning the meet-
ing at Mr. Longfellow's were fully realized. There were
present, among others, Mr. Everett, Judge Shaw, Mr. Adams,
Mr. Willard, Mr. Richard Frothingham, Mr. Paige, and Dr.
Ellis, who severally addressed the meeting. The President,
Mr. Winthrop, called the meeting to order at half-past five
50 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
o'clock, and in his opening remarks alluded to the occasion
and the place, and also to the circumstances under which
General Washington assumed the command of the American
army in 1775. “None could have entered this venerable
mansion,” he said, “without recalling the words which the ac-
complished host once addressed to a child, but which are no less
adapted to stir the feelings of full-grown men: —
“‘ Once, ah once, within these walls,
One whom memory oft recalls,
The Father of his Country, dwelt ;
And yonder meadows, broad and damp,
The fires of the besieging camp
IEncircled with a burning belt.
Up and down these echoing stairs,
Heavy with the weight of cares,
Sounded his majestic tread:
Yes, within this very room
Sat he in those hours of gloom,
Weary both in heart and head.’”
All his remarks were excellent, as were those of the mem-
bers who followed him. During the evening Mr. Livermore
exhibited several most interesting relics associated with
Washington and his times; and Mr. Everett, who at Mr. Liv-
ermore's request had drawn up a statement relative to the
preparation and delivery of his celebrated discourse “On the
Character of Washington,” submitted that statement to the
meeting. After the business was over, the invitation of the
host to partake of strawberries and cream was not declined;
and every one present felt that he had good reason to remem-
ber “the 17th of June,” 1858.
In 1859 Mr. Livermore was elected a member of the
Executive Committee of the “American Unitarian Associa-
tion,” and he almost invariably attended its monthly meetings.
In 1864 he was elected Vice-President of the Association,
a position which he held at his death. Besides giving his
active personal services, he was a liberal contributor to its
funds.
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 51
On the 30th of April, 1860, we find him collecting the sub-
scriptions, which he had before solicited, for the “Quincy
statue,” as the treasurer wishes to remit the first instalment,
of two thousand dollars, by the next Wednesday's steamer.
This refers to the statue of President Quincy by Story, yet
in the studio of the artist in Rome.
The copy of the “Soldiers' Pocket Bible” belonging to Mr.
Livermore, has been already referred to. It was very rare; only
one other copy was known to exist, and that was in the British
Museum. He had for some time thought of reprinting it for
distribution among his friends, – “for the Saints,” as he used
playfully to style those for whom he designed the few copies
of any work privately got up by him. In 1861, Mr. Hough-
ton, of the Riverside Press, printed for him one hundred
copies, in fac-simile. He at the same time had ten copies
printed on parchment, three on vellum, and two on India
paper.” It came from the press about the 1st of June.
The American Tract Society, in both its branches, thinking
it would serve a useful purpose as a religious manual for
the soldiers in our army, reprinted it in large numbers as a
tract. How extensively it was circulated among the soldiers,
and how much good it accomplished, we have no means
of knowing. The book, in the original, is a 12mo, or 16mo,
of 16 pages. It is made up of passages from the Bible, or
rather from the Old Testament, — there being but two cita-
tions from the New Testament. Those passages in which
God’s chosen people are referred to as fighting God’s enemies
are introduced. Cromwell’s soldiers no doubt felt, as did the
Jews, that they were the Lord’s “elect”; and this little volume
may have served to nerve them to the conflict. It may well
be doubted if such a tract would better the condition of our
soldiers at this day, either morally or mentally; or improve
them as fighting men. Its chief value now must be historical.
* Through Mr. Livermore the attention of Mr. Francis Fry had been called to the
Soldiers' Pocket Bible,” and he had an edition in fac-simile printed in England, in
52 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
In 1862 a reprint of the “Bay Psalm Book,” consisting of
fifty copies, on laid paper, was executed by Mr. Houghton,
for Charles B. Richardson, a bookseller in New York. Mr.
Livermore's name appears on the list of subscribers for one
of the fifty copies. But he secured, also, one copy to be
struck off on parchment, — the only one printed. There were
at the same time five copies printed on India paper, of which
Mr. Livermore's library contains one.
The proofsheets of this reprint of the “Bay Psalm Book”
were revised and corrected by our associate, Mayor Shurt-
leff, who, in his introduction to the volume, says, - “In the
reproduction of this quaint volume, every word, every letter,
and indeed every point, has been sedulously collated with a
perfect impression of the original work struck at Cambridge
in the year 1640.” -
At the annual meeting of the American Antiquarian Society,
at Worcester, in October, 1864, Mr. Livermore read the report
of the Council. The principal theme dwelt upon in this
paper was suggested by the recent decease of Mr. Quincy.
He gave an analysis of Mr. Quincy’s writings, and endeavored
to show that each of his works had been the product of his
personal experience in the active duties in which he had been
engaged through life. It was an admirably conceived and
an admirably written paper. A few copies of the remarks
commemorative of Mr. Quincy were struck off separately from
the pamphlet of “Proceedings,” for private distribution.
And here we are reminded that, from the time Mr. Liver-
more was elected a member of our sister society at Worcester,
he rarely failed to attend its meetings, whether held in that
city or in Boston. Nothing but the most imperative engage-
ments ever kept him away from the annual meetings, which
are always held in Worcester. The ride through that beau-
1862, from the only other original copy known, that in the British Museum. He also,
the same year, reproduced in fac-simile an edition of “The Christian Soldier's Penny
Bible,” from a copy of the original edition in his possession, dated London, 1693,-
a little manual of sixteen pages. - t
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 53
tiful part of the State, with his associates, the Boston mem-
bers, in that season of the year when the foliage puts on its
brilliant and varied hue, could not fail to have an attraction
for him in itself. Then the warm greeting he was sure to
receive at “Antiquarian Hall,” from the grave and reverend
seigniors there assembled, including always Governor Lin-
coln and Judge Barton, — “not dead, but gone before ”; then
the mental repast served up to the meeting in the Report of
the Council, of which the Librarian's Report — invariably so
rich in curious learning, and keen and wholesome criticism —
always forms a part; and, finally, the elegant hospitality of
the President of the Society: to share all this, was a rare
treat to our friend; and the 21st of October was a red-letter
day in Mr. Livermore's calendar.
In November, 1864, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes delivered
a lecture before the “Dowse Institute’’ in Cambridge, entitled
“New England’s Master-Key’”; in the course of which he
endeavored to show what had been accomplished by those
who had devoted their literary labors to one special object;
and he instanced among others, as illustrating the truth of his
remark, George Livermore.
Reference was made to Mr. Livermore's copartnership with
his brother Isaac, in 1838. The older brother retired from
the business in 1846; and Mr. Livermore, for the five fol-
lowing years, continued on in company with a nephew. After
remaining alone about a year, he was, in 1852, invited to a
partnership in the Boston branch of the extensive wool busi-
ness of Aaron Erickson, of Rochester, N.Y., which subsisted
until 1857, when the firm of “Livermore & Morse ’’ was
formed, which was dissolved only by his death.
Mr. Livermore took pride in his calling as a merchant, and
for many years devoted his best energies during the hours
of business to its demands. He was conservative and cautious
in his business views, and was uneasy under large º
responsibilities; preferring small gains with correspo


8
54 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
safety to the pursuit of larger acquisitions with the usual at-
tendant risks. He had the satisfaction through life of always
meeting his engagements.
The financial storm which swept over the country in the
autumn of 1857, prostrating almost everything before it, was
of fearful portent to our friend. He felt that all he had
was gone, and that the only thing left was to maintain his
mercantile honor and credit, which was done. The speedy
recurrence, three years later, of a similar crisis, occasioned
by the breaking out of the Rebellion, was another trial, which
taxed the highest energies of every merchant who had accept-
ances to meet, or notes to pay. But when the government
began to call out the troops, which had to be clothed and fed
and provided with all the equipments of war, such a demand
was made upon the raw material and industry of the country,
that, with the added influence of the suspension of specie
payments, and consequent appreciation of merchandise, all
embarrassments were removed, and, in the next few years,
large fortunes were realized by many. Mr. Livermore
shared in this success; and, during the war, acquired an
amount of property such as previously he had been a
stranger to.
On the actual breaking out of the Rebellion, Mr. Livermore
threw himself into the cause of the Union with all his charac-
teristic energy and zeal. With him there was no temporizing,
no “good Lord ” and “good Devil.” His trumpet gave no
uncertain sound. He attended recruiting-meetings, joined a
“Home Guard,” and drilled and marched for miles, at times,
with a musket on his shoulder, which, with his frail and
delicate frame, was almost like bearing his cross. As his
means enabled him, he gave freely; and, throughout the
war, he poured out his money like water for the cause.”
a the second year of the war, when it was proposed to raise a fund for the relief
amilies of the soldiers of Cambridge, the following letter from Mr. Livermore



MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 55
As he could not go to the field, he considered himself bound
to do in other ways all that lay in his power to maintain the
integrity of the Union. One of his sons was in the army, but
that did not absolve him from duty. During the twelve
months which preceded his death he spent for public objects
and for private charities nearly twenty-five thousand dollars.
Not content with all this, when the discussion arose whether
the government should accept colored troops, and there were
strong doubts even among the most loyal as to its expediency,
he prepared with great labor, and published at great expense, a
work of over two hundred pages, which he entitled “An His-
torical Research respecting the Opinions of the Founders of
the Republic, on Negroes as Slaves, as Citizens, and as Sol-
diers.” The substance of this work was read before this Soci-
ety at a stated meeting, 14th August, 1862; and the President
of the Society, Mr. Winthrop, has since said of it, that it would
alone have been “enough to secure for him a reputation
which any of us might envy.” His purpose was to show
was read to a meeting of citizens held for the consideration of this subject at the City
Hall: —
“DANA HILL, Aug. 9, 1862.
“Hon. J. M. S. WILLIAMs.
“MY DEAR SIR, - I cannot be present with you, in person, this evening, as I had in-
tended, but you need not be told that my heart is with you. The more I reflect on the
subject of the proposed fund of twenty-five thousand dollars for the relief of the families
of the soldiers, by the way of insurance on their lives, and in the other manner suggested in
the circular of the Committee, the more I am convinced of the merit and excellence of the
plan; and I ask you to alter my subscription from five hundred dollars to one thousand
dollars. To save the Committee the trouble of collecting this amount, I now enclose a
United-States Treasury-note for the sum, with interest at seven and three-tenths per
cent. I have been much gratified at the readiness of our citizens to respond to this
call. The whole sum of twenty-five thousand dollars will be made up, I am sure, in a
few days, if it is not secured at the meeting this evening. When this subscription is
full, we must all be ready for something else. Until the war is over, we must dedicate
our time, our money, our lives, – and, what may be dearer to us than any of these, our
brothers and sons, – to the service of our country. When we are thoroughly aroused
to the value of the liberty we are defending, we shall feel that no sacrifice is too great
for us to make in its behalf. And when we rise to this point of patriotism, God will
Surely crown our cause with complete success.
“I am, very truly, yours,
“GEORGE LIVERMORF).”
56 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
that the patriots of the Revolution regarded the negro as a
man, capable of bearing arms, and of being a citizen; and
he saw no reason why he should not be allowed to do his part,
side by side with his white brother, in upholding the flag of
his country.
“Among the agencies which swayed the public mind at
that time,” says a distinguished civilian, “this publication
cannot be forgotten.” Attorney-General Bates acknowledged
his obligation to it in making up his opinions on the status of
the negro; and “it is within my own knowledge,” says Sen-
ator Sumner, “that it interested President Lincoln much. The
President expressed a desire to consult it while he was pre-
paring the final Proclamation of Emancipation; * and, as his
own copy was mislaid, he requested me to send him mine,
which I did.” +
This work was issued in five different editions, in a most
luxurious style; fifty copies of two of the editions having
been printed on “large paper.” The most of the copies were
distributed gratuitously. The whole cost of this work, some
three or four thousand dollars, was borne by Mr. Livermore
himself. A pamphlet of eight pages of extracts from it was
published soon after, in Philadelphia, by Henry C. Baird, en-
titled “George Washington and General Jackson on Negro
Soldiers,” of which over one hundred thousand copies were
printed. † &
While declining all official positions, Mr. Livermore was in
frequent correspondence with leading politicians and states-
men, and with some of them maintained the most intimate
and confidential relations.
* The pen with which Mr. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation was
presented to Mr. Livermore by the President, and was treasured among his cherished
memorials.
f See notice of “The Death of George Livermore,” in the “Boston Daily Adver-
tiser,” Sept. 2, 1865. -
f In 1864, there was issued from the “Riverside Press” of Mr. Houghton the first
volume of a new edition of “The Federalist,” edited by Mr. Henry B. Dawson, of
Morrisania, N. Y., and dedicated to Mr. Livermore in warm and flattering terms.
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 57
The following extract of a letter from Mr. Livermore, dated
March 30th, 1863, written in reply to one addressed to him,
containing a memorial of a young gentleman of rare culture
and social position, who enlisted in the army as a common
soldier, and lost his life in the service, shows the same devo-
tion to the cause of his country, - a devotion which con-
tinued to the last. º
“I never had the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with Mr.
H–;* but I knew of his talents, his genius, his patriotism, and his
general worth. I honor his memory more than any poor words at my
command can express. I should value more the honorable record of
such a life, brief though it might be, than the showier demonstrations
which begin and end with popular applause. This wicked war, con-
ceived in sin and slavery, and waged for the destruction of national
liberty, - how costly are the sacrifices which it demands ! You and I,
my dear friend, will yet have to make still greater offerings for our
country, before the strife is ended. But nothing we have or are can be
too much to bestow, be it all our means, our friends, our children, and
our own lives, if we can redeem our nation, and establish it on the sure
foundation of Justice and Liberty. The nation will be saved, and will
rise from its degradation and sorrow. But we must suffer more before
the glorious day shall dawn.”
Mr. Livermore's constitution, as has been already stated,
was feeble, and his health was poor through life. But he
had a strong will, which carried him through difficulties from
which many of more robust constitutions would have shrunk.
During the winter of 1864–65, his health seemed feebler
than usual. The issues of the war, now rapidly culminating,
affected him intensely; and as the spring opened, bringing
with it the joyful events of the downfall of Richmond and
the capture of Lee, so soon followed by the terrible tragedy
of the death of President Lincoln, his delicate organization
received a shock almost beyond what it could bear.
* This was Francis Custis Hopkinson, of the Class of 1859 of Harvard College.
He was a member of the Forty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry. See “Harvard Memorial
Biographies,” ii. 21. -
58 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
A few days after the assassination at Washington, he attend-
ed a meeting of the Historical Society, and in some remarks
relative to that event enjoined upon the members the duty of
self-consecration, anew, to the service of their country. He
was deeply affected, and spoke with intense feeling.
At the following meeting, in May, he was likewise present.
In the latter part of that month he went to West Point on
a brief visit to his son. On Wednesday, the 24th, having
returned, he writes from his residence on Dana Hill, - “I
came home from West Point on Monday with a lame leg,
which is likely to keep me a prisoner in my house for some
time; otherwise, I should call and see you.” ”
He seemed to be getting better during the few weeks fol.
lowing, and received the visits of some of his friends. He
was much interested in the Eulogy on President Lincoln,
pronounced by his friend, Mr. Sumner, on the 1st of June,
at the Music Hall, a copy of which in print was furnished
him on the day of its delivery, - the Eulogy having been
delivered by Mr. Sumner from the printed sheets. But
towards the last of June, he had a relapse from which he
never recovered. On the 28th of July he writes, – “I feel
more comfortable this morning than I have done since my
last relapse, four weeks ago; and although confined to
my bed, and only allowed to read a little each day, and
forbidden to see company, I manage to maintain my faith
and patience thus far. The doctor does not dream that I
write. I would not ask his permission, for fear of being
denied. I have a curious and convenient table, which
projects over my bed; and I can, whilst reclining, use
my pen a few moments each day very comfortably. I thank
you for your kind note of the 15th. It is nearly ten weeks,
now, since I have been shut out from the active duties of
life, and a word from a friend is cheering. Although the
* His infirmity proved to be phlebitis, or inflammation of the veins.
MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 59
doctors say I must not see company, there is hardly a day
when I should not see you for a few moments if you called,
and I should be blest by the sight.” During a brief inter-
view with him, three days after this, though pale and much
emaciated, he seemed in most excellent spirits. He was full
of hope and of gratitude. He probably then had not given up
all thoughts of recovery, and of being restored to his friends
and the active duties of life. But it was otherwise ordered.
Three days before his death he was attacked with paralysis,
and he died on the 30th of August.
In this notice of Mr. Livermore, the purpose has not been
to pronounce a eulogy upon him, but to state some of the
principal facts of his life, agreeably to the custom followed
by the Historical Society in the Memoirs of its deceased
members. The estimation in which Mr. Livermore was held
in the community, - and, indeed, by all who knew him, -
and the great loss sustained in his death, were attempted
to be expressed, at the first meeting of the Society follow-
ing that event, in remarks by the President and some of the
associate members, which were published in the “Proceed-
ings.” ” Other societies and associations with which he was
connected bore a united and willing testimony to his great
worth. Reference may also be made to an admirable dis-
course, entitled “The Consecrated Life,” preached to the
Cambridgeport Parish, on the 3d of September, 1865, by
the pastor, the Rev. Henry C. Badger; likewise to the elo-
quent and appreciative sermon, entitled “The Public Duty
of a Private Citizen,” preached in the South Congregational
Church, Boston, on the same Sunday, by our associate, the
Rev. Edward E. Hale. An interesting article in the “At-
lantic Monthly’ for November, 1865, entitled “The Visible
* A beautiful tribute to the moral and religious traits of Mr. Livermore's character
was at this time paid by his friend, our associate, Mr. Folsom, - now himself prostrated
on a bed of sickness, – in the form of a letter to Admiral Farragut, which was read at
the meeting, and printed in the “Proceedings.”
60 MEMOIR OF GEORGE LIVERMORE.
and Invisible in Libraries,” written by Mrs. Waterston, con-
tains the following passage in reference to our friend and
to his exquisite library: —
“The silent library of George Livermore speaks eloquently of
him. That collection, gathered with a love which increased as years
advanced, includes ancient copies of the Bible of rarest value. His
life was a book, written over with good deeds and pure thoughts, illu-
minated by holy aspirations. That volume is closed, but the spirit
which rendered it precious is not withdrawn : living in many hearts,
it will continue to be a cherished presence in the world, the home,
and the library.” +
Nothing could be added, were it desired, to these tributes
to our loved and lamented associate.
Mr. Livermore left three sons, his only children: the eld-
est, Frank, now a physician, settled in Paris in the practice
of his profession; the second, William Roscoe, a graduate of
West Point, in high standing, connected with the engineer
department of the United-States Army; the third, Charles
Cunningham, residing with his mother in Cambridge.
* Mr. Livermore's residence was on the corner of Dana and Main Streets, on “Dana
Hill,” just within the limits of “Old Cambridge,” where he lived for nearly twenty-five
years. A few years before his death he built an addition to his house, of a library-
room, for the better accommodation of his books. It is a charming apartment, and
everything remains just as he leſt it. By his will, his library was bequeathed to his
Wife.
TRIBUTE
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
wºrs
\,
(ſo the ſilentorg
GEORGE LIVERMOR.E.
B O S T ON :
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
1866.
CAMBRIDGE :
PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SONS.
TIR IB U T. E.
AT a Stated Monthly Meeting of the Massachusetts
Historical Society, held in the Dowse Library, on
Thursday the 14th of September, 1865, after the usual
preliminary business, the President, the Hon. ROBERT
C. WINTHROP, spoke as follows: —
I need not say to you, Gentlemen, that our Society has sus-"
tained a severe loss since our last monthly meeting. Other
names have disappeared of late, in but too rapid succession,
from our rolls, which have enjoyed a wider celebrity from
their association with exalted public service, or with eminent
literary or professional success. But we have been called to
part with no name which has been more immediately and
peculiarly identified with the prosperity and progress of our
own Society, during the golden period of its last ten years,
than that of GEORGE LIVERMORE; and we owe to his memory
the largest measure of respect and gratitude.
We need not look beyond the room in which we are assem-
bled, to find evidence of the leading part which he took in
what may almost be called the reconstruction of our Society.
No one will have forgotten, that it was from his hand, on the
9th of April, 1857, we received the key that unlocked to us
this beautiful library, and that first admitted us to the en-
joyment of privileges which each succeeding year has taught
4
us to value more and more highly. To him, beyond all doubt,
as the tried and trusted friend of our munificent benefactor,
and as one of his chosen executors, – to him more than to
any or all other men except Mr. Dowse himself, are we in-
debted at once for the original possession of these cherished
treasures, and for the rich appointments and liberal endow-
ments by which they were accompanied and followed.
I was myself officially in the way of witnessing his earnest
interest and efficient intervention, from the first confidential
intimation of Mr. Dowse's views, until the final consummation
of the noble gift. And, though his modesty at that day
shrunk from any formal recognition of his own relation to the
transaction, I should be wanting in fidelity to its history, were
I to omit to bear testimony to the controlling influence which
he seemed to exercise in our behalf. Our lamented friend
was accustomed always to speak of this apartment, in which
he justly took so much pride, as finished and completely fur-
nished; nothing to be taken away, and nothing to be added.
And so, indeed, we have all regarded it as long as he lived.
But now that he is gone, and his familiar and welcome pres-
ence may no longer be looked for among us, we cannot but
feel that there is something wanting to these walls; that
there is a void to be supplied, so far as it is in the power of
poor, perishable canvas to supply it; and I trust that at no
distant day a suitable portrait may find its place here, which
may perpetuate the remembrance of that effective interven-
tion, and that thoughtful and constant care, which have enti-
tled the name of George Livermore to be associated with that
of his venerated friend, Thomas Dowse, in connection with
this richest of all our possessions.
Our obligations to Mr. Livermore, however, have by no
means been confined to those resulting from his relations to
our enjoyment of the Dowse Library. From his first admis-
sion on the 22d of November, 1849, he has been among our
most active and useful associates. As a member of our
Standing Committee for many years, and its Chairman for
5
more than one, and as a member of the Publishing Commit-
tee of our beautiful volumes of Proceedings, he has rendered
us most valuable services. Nor has he been wanting in im-
portant contributions to our collections in the cause of history.
The “Historical Research respecting the Opinions of the
Tounders of the Republic on Negroes as Slaves, as Citizens,
and as Soldiers,” which he read at the August monthly meet-
ing in 1862, and which he afterwards printed in so many
attractive forms, and distributed widely at his own cost, would
alone have been enough to secure for him a reputation which
any of us might envy.
Our Society, however, I am aware, can claim no monopoly
in the sorrow which Mr. Livermore's death has occasioned.
Boston has lost in him an upright and intelligent merchant.
Cambridge has lost in him a useful and respected citizen.
The American Antiquarian Society has lost in him an active
associate and trusted counsellor. The Boston Athenaeum and
the Massachusetts State Library have lost in him a faithful
and assiduous trustee. The Sunday-school of his own parish
have lost in him a devoted instructor and superintendent.
Indeed, it would be difficult to name the public institution in
this neighborhood, which has not been directly or indirectly
indebted to him for personal services or valuable contribu-
tions. Ardent, intelligent, laborious, liberal, philanthropic,
he was untiring in his exertions in every field of usefulness
which was opened to him. You all know the zeal he dis-
played in the cause of the Union during the last four years;
and how he labored, in season and out of season, at the risk
and even at the positive sacrifice of his own health, to pro-
mote the raising of troops, to stimulate patriotic action, and
to uphold the flag of his country.
Yet, while he was thus willing to spend and to be spent in
the service of others, Mr. Livermore had special pursuits and
tastes of his own, quite apart from his mercantile connections,
to which he devoted his hours of leisure through a long
course of years, and which were enough of themselves to
6
secure for him an enviable distinction and a cherished re-
membrance. His beautiful library — with its remarkable col-
lection of rare editions of the Sacred Scriptures, including
not a few Bibles which had the special charm of having be-
longed to illustrious persons of other ages and other lands,
and, foremost among them all, the Bible of that loved and
loving disciple and friend of Luther, Philip Melancthon —
was the chief source of his own pleasure, as it was an object
of the deepest interest to all who visited him. Nor can any
one forget that exquisite bibliographical taste of his, which
had been kindled by a personal acquaintance with Dibdin
himself; which had been nurtured and stimulated by familiar
association with the beautiful books in his own library, or in
the libraries of kindred spirits in this or in other States; and
which he so often indulged by preparing a private edition of
some tract of his own, or of some reprint of a rare old book
or pamphlet, in a style which will always render it a gem in
the collections of the many friends whom he delighted to
gratify with a presentation copy.
I will attempt no analysis of Mr. Livermore's personal char-
acter and qualities, in the presence of so many who have
known him longer and better than myself. Admirable trib-
utes have already been paid him, and others are ready to be
paid here and elsewhere. We had all hoped that many more
years of usefulness were still in store for him; but we may
apply to him the exquisite words of Jeremy Taylor: “It must
needs be, that such a man must die when he ought to die;
and be like ripe and pleasant fruit falling from a fair tree, and
gathered into baskets for the planter's use.” I may be per-
mitted to express my regret, that unavoidable absence from
the State prevented me from uniting in the last honors to his
remains. But not a few of our officers and members were
present on the occasion; and you will all concur, I am sure, in
the adoption of the resolutions which the Standing Committee
have instructed me to submit, before proceeding to other
business this morning : —
7
©
Resolved, That it is with deep sorrow we make record of the death
of our esteemed associate, George Livermore, Esq., whose Services
to our Society in many ways, and more especially in connection with
our possession and enjoyment of the Dowse Library, have entitled
him to our most respectful and grateful remembrance.
Resolved, That the President be requested to appoint one of our
number to prepare a memoir of Mr. Livermore, for the next, or an
early, volume of our Proceedings.
CHARLES DEANE, Esq., then addressed the meeting as
follows : —
You kindly asked me, Mr. President, to say a few words
today respecting our dear friend and associate who has de-
parted from us since the last meeting of this Society; and I
certainly thank you for the privilege of doing so. One of our
members, with whom I conferred concerning this meeting,
one who loved our friend most tenderly, said, that he should
desire that over this grave, as over no other, the official eulo-
gium might be dispensed with. And, in some respects, I
sympathize in this feeling. The modest and retiring nature
of Mr. Livermore would have shrunk from the idea of a eulo-
gium of himself. But a moment's reflection would satisfy us
that this omission could not be. Our friend was too import-
ant a member of this Society, his memory is too closely
interwoven with its history and welfare for the past ten or
fifteen years, to warrant us in passing over his name in
silence. We owe it as a duty to ourselves and to the public to
record our testimony here to those rare virtues which should
be held up for the emulation of all. And we have the satis-
faction, Mr. President, to feel, that whatever shall be uttered
here to-day will be uttered as no mere formal eulogy. Every
one will speak from the heart, for all loved Mr. Livermore : —
“None knew thee but to love thee,
Nor named thee but to praise.”
So much has been already said elsewhere, and so well said,
On the character of Mr. Livermore, and so much I know will
8
be contributed from those who will follow me here, — feeling
also, as I do, that I should fail in any attempt to express my
own idea of the man, – that I shall content myself, in the few
words I may now utter, with relating some details of Mr.
Livermore's literary history which have come under my own •
observation. These may not be deemed wholly inappropriate
before this Historical Society.
I formed an acquaintance with Mr. Livermore over twenty
years ago; being attracted towards him by his loving and
genial nature, his general intelligence, his historical tastes,
and his great love of books. He had been for some years
forming his biblical library. About that time, an important
addition was made to his collection of books in this depart-
ment, by the purchase of a number of bibles from the library
of the late Rev. Dr. Homer, of Newton, whose books were
placed on sale at one of the book-stores in Boston, and the
most valuable of them secured by Mr. Livermore. One of
these, I well remember, afterwards proved to have once been
the property of Adam Winthrop, the father of the first Gov-
ernor Winthrop. Soon after, an opportunity was offered by
the sale of the library of the Duke of Sussex, which was
especially rich in biblical literature, to add copies of other
choice editions to his store. In 1845, Mr. Livermore went
to Europe, it being his first and only visit there ; and he
then took advantage of the rich opportunities before him, to
enlarge his collection of books as regards bibles, and to in-
crease his knowledge and gratify his taste on the general
subject of bibliography, of which he had long been fond.
While in London, he formed an acquaintance with Dibdin,
the celebrated bibliographer, who took a great interest in our
friend; and, after his return, I remember seeing, in his library,
copies of some of Dibdin's own works, which had been pres-
ented to him by their author.
Mr. Livermore had early conceived a great admiration of
William Roscoe, whom he thought the true merchant scholar.
9
He named one of his children after him, and always had a
bust of him in his hall; and, when we were selecting suitable
memorials of distinguished men to place over the bookcases
in this room, Mr. Livermore requested that the bust of Ros-
coe might not be forgotten. While in England, he studied
his character anew, on the spot.
His opportunities here of seeing famous men — and
what pleased him better, famous libraries — were well im-
proved. His enthusiasm for bibliography — I may almost
say, his bibliomania — was well illustrated by a letter he
wrote home to a friend from the celebrated Althorp Library,
to which he said he had gained access by a letter from Mr.
Everett, our Minister in London. “I am writing this let-
ter,” he says, “with my arm resting on the “Decameron.’”
This was the famous editio princeps of Waldarfer, 1471, the
only perfect copy known. It was sold at the great Roxburgh
Library sale, in 1812, for the enormous sum of £2,260, or over
$10,000, the highest price ever paid for a book. The Rox-
burgh Club was formed to commemorate the event of its sale.
Dibdin had told the story of the book and of its sale with
great unction. He says that, when Evans's hammer fell, it
resounded throughout the libraries of Europe, and startled
Boccaccio himself from his slumber of five hundred years.
Mr. Livermore was familiar with all this: so, on entering the
library where the famous book now reposes, he seeks it out,
places it on the table, and, resting his arm upon it, writes a
letter to his friend. What can better illustrate his love of
rare books, and his sympathy with a friend in the enjoyment
of them 7
After his return from Europe, Mr. Livermore continued to
add to his library as opportunities and means were afforded.
But he not merely bought books; he read them. On the subject
of the Scriptures,-- his specialty, - his information was exten-
sive and thorough. And, as regards the history of the differ-
ent editions of the Bible since the invention of printing, his
2
10
ambition was to know every thing, — to exhaust the subject.
He carried his inquiries into the by-ways of its history. Al-
though, as I have said, he was not confined to one branch of
historical pursuit, still, on this he became like “the man
of one book,” of whom we are told in the proverb to “be-
ware.” A good illustration of the accuracy and minuteness
of his knowledge here is exhibited in a series of papers which
he contributed to the “Boston Daily Advertiser,” in 1849, in
reply to the charge brought by Bishop Chase, of Ohio, against
Cromwell and the Puritans, of having corrupted the Scrip-
tures. The charge was, that Cromwell, having supreme
power, had authorized his friends to change the word “we”
— in Acts vi. 3, respecting the appointment of the seven
deacons — to “ye,” in order to favor the views of the Inde-
pendents. The Bishop indulged in many other loose state-
ments, neither creditable to his taste nor to his knowledge;
among others, that the “Cambridge Platform * of 1648 was
based upon this noted error.
Mr. Livermore, in answering the Bishop, showed by re-
spectable Episcopalian authority, that the edition of the Bible,
first containing this error, was printed while Laud and Charles
I. were in the ascendant in church and state, and that the
next edition of the Bible which is known to contain the same
error was printed after the Restoration. The truth is it was
simply a typographical error.
About the same time he corrected some errors into which
Mr. Bancroft had inadvertently fallen, respecting the publica-
tion of the Scriptures in this country before the Revolution.
An article also which he wrote in the “Christian Examiner,”
reviewing Strickland’s “History of the American Bible Soci-
ety,” gave abundant evidence of his large information on the
subject of the translation and circulation of the Scriptures.
In 1850, Mr. Livermore wrote a paper for the “North-
American Review,” on Public Libraries; being a review of
some of the Reports of the British Parliament on this subject.
11
In this he showed his thorough acquaintance with the condi-
tion of libraries, both in this country and in Europe. A
curious piece of literary history is connected with this paper.
A few months after it was published, a volume of Chambers's
“Papers for the People” was issued in Edinburgh, containing
an article on “Public Libraries,” which was made up of Mr.
Livermore's article, and another from the “North-American
Review,” — written, I think, by George W. Greene, Esq., -
and a third from some other source ; and no acknowledgment
whatever was made by the Edinburgh publisher.
In 1850, Harvard College acknowledged Mr. Livermore's
claims to scholarship, by conferring upon him the degree of
Master of Arts. I remember, in a note I had from him at the
time, he pleasantly said he thought the degree of “D.D.”
would have been more appropriate.
But Mr. Livermore's claims to be a member of this Histori-
cal Society were always made good. He had a love for our
early history, and had made a respectable collection of books
on this subject; and his library now contains them. He at
one time contemplated writing the history of his native town,
Cambridge, but relinquished it on learning that our associate,
Mr. Paige, was engaged in that work.
You have referred, Sir, to Mr. Livermore's agency or inter-
vention in securing to us this noble library. Mr. Livermore
always disclaimed having suggested to Mr. Dowse such a dis-
position of his library. Perhaps he would have hesitated to
take the responsibility, under the circumstances, of directing
Mr. Dowse's mind in the matter. Mr. Dowse had had many
plans concerning the disposition of his library, but could fix
on nothing. I once thought, —perhaps I was mistaken, -that
there was danger that his books would come to the hammer.
There will be no propriety, I think, in my now stating here,
that Mr. Dowse once offered to present his library to Mr.
Livermore. Mr. Livermore, of course, would not have ac-
cepted of it. He was not the person thus to have taken
12
advantage of the confidential relation between himself and
Mr. Dowse. To some persons of less honor or delicacy, it
might have been a temptation. I will relate some of the cir-
cumstances which led Mr. Dowse to select the Historical So-
ciety to be the recipient of his bounty.
In the latter part of June, 1856, the Historical Society, by
invitation of Mr. Livermore, held a special meeting at his
house. It was in the season of strawberries, and gentlemen
who were present on that occasion will remember the bounti-
ful supply of that fruit which our host had provided for his
guests. We called it a “strawberry festival.” The next
day, Mr. Livermore (as he was in the habit of doing almost
daily) called on Mr. Dowse, who was at that time very
feeble, and gave him some account of the meeting at his
house the evening before, telling him who were present,
&c., at the same time taking to him a dish of the strawberries.
Mr. Dowse was much interested in the account of the meet-
ing of the Historical Society, and he began to make further
inquiries respecting it. He had some general knowledge of
its character and position, and was, of course, personally
acquainted with many of its members. He probably saw that
it was as likely to be a permanent institution as any of the
literary bodies among us. Soon afterward, Mr. Dowse asked
Mr. Livermore if he thought the Historical Society would
accept of his library. He received encouragement that they
would. He wished to see a plan of their building, and the
rooms they occupied ; and, when he had fully decided to offer
his library to the acceptance of the Society, Mr. Livermore
conferred with the President, and the matter was soon con-
summated. On the 3d of August, a special meeting of the
Society was called for congratulation and acknowledgment.
The obligation of this Society to Mr. Livermore, for the
liberal endowment made by him as trustee under Mr. Dowse's
will, has just been duly acknowledged by the President.
But, Sir, I must bring these desultory remarks to a close.
13
I can hardly realize that we shall never again see our friend
in his accustomed seat at our monthly meetings; and I dare
not attempt to express my sense of our great loss. His was,
indeed, a noble nature. I sometimes felt that there was a
depth to it which I could not fathom, and a height I could
not reach. I never saw one who desired more to bring every
act of his life to the touchstone of conscience. The events
of the last four years brought out some traits of his charac-
ter into bold relief. He threw himself into the cause of the
Union with the greatest energy and zeal. If the occasion
had called for it, and his strength had permitted, he would not
have hesitated to shoulder his musket, and to go through the
battles of the Wilderness. His “Historical Research '' was
prepared, I know, under the highest sense of duty. -
The events which came so thickly upon us about the
time of the breaking-up of the rebellion, now so joyous
and then so sad, sounding the very depths of our natures,
were almost too much for the delicate organization of our
friend.
I saw Mr. Livermore during his last illness; the last time,
a few weeks before he died. His mind was in a delightful
frame. I could not but feel, as I left his room, that it was
indeed “the chamber where the good man meets his fate.”
He passed quietly away. A kind Providence granted to him
the blessing of euthanasia.
The Hon. GEORGE S. HILLARD then spoke as fol-
lows : — -
I suppose, that, with the exception of Mr. Deane, I am that
member of the Society whose acquaintance with our departed
friend is of the longest date. I began to know him at about
the same time that Mr. Deane did. Mr. Livermore was at that
time a young man, newly started in business, and beginning
the collection of that library which was to him through life
a source of such high pleasure. I remember well the visit to
14
Europe which has been alluded to. He was the bearer of a
letter of introduction from Mr. Sumner to a surviving mem-
ber of Mr. Roscoe's family, by whom he was received with a
kindness due to his cultivation and attractive manners. He
spoke to me, upon his return, with peculiar animation of the
pleasure he had had in seeing the treasures of the Spencer
collection, under the guidance of Dr. Dibdin, and how much
the veteran bibliographer was surprised and gratified to learn
that here in this remote America we were familiar with his
name and writings.
What you have said, Mr. President, what Mr. Deane has
said, do no more than justice to Mr. Livermore's worth. I rec-
ognize no exaggeration anywhere. In looking back upon his
life and character, I see prominently in him the graces of pu-
rity, sweetness, refinement, gentleness, and disinterestedness.
There was something of feminine delicacy in his organiza-
tion and the nature of his tastes. He was born with the
appetites and the apprehension of a scholar. He loved his
books, and he read them carefully and conscientiously. All
his researches were conducted in a very thorough manner,
and guided by a genuine love of truth.
But Mr. Livermore was not merely a student, a scholar, a
lover of books, the collector of a large and precious library :
he was at once a man of business and a man of letters; a com-
bination not indeed peculiar to our country, but found here,
I think, in higher perfection than anywhere else. He lived
in two worlds, one of which was his library, and the other
was his counting-room ; and, when he was in his counting-
room, he did not permit any thoughts of his library to fetter
his movements. He was an energetic and accomplished man
of business. In the course of a business life of a quarter of
a century, he encountered his share of struggles and difficul-
ties; but he met these with a resolute and manly spirit. I
have no doubt that he sometimes chafed under the necessity
of going every day to his counting-room; I have no doubt
15
that he often looked forward with longing to the time when
he could give himself up, unreservedly and exclusively, to
his beloved studies; and yet I have no question that this en-
forced discipline was salutary to the growth alike of his mind
and his character. I think that his struggle with life, his
daily contact with material interests, gave tone to his moral
and intellectual fibre. He was a better scholar, a better
writer, on account of the training which his counting-room
gave him. Had he been born to wealth, had he been at
liberty to indulge his fine and delicate tastes without inter-
ruption, he might have degenerated into an intellectual
voluptuary. His life was wisely ordered for him.
The Rev. ANDREW P. PEABODY, D.D., paid an affection-
ate and touching tribute to Mr. Livermore's character,
which he had always regarded with the highest rever-
ence. He was followed by RICHARD II. DANA, Jr., Esq.,
who alluded to the days when he and Mr. Livermore
went to the same school together at Cambridgeport;
his pleasant recollections of him there; and the high
respect he had ever felt for him since.
CHARLEs Folsom, Esq., read the following letter which
he had just written to a friend on the death of Mr.
Livermore : —
MY DEAR SIR,- I have to announce to you the death of
that dear friend I have so often spoken to you of, and whom I
had fondly hoped to bring you acquainted with. Know that
it was a source of deep regret to him that he could not wel-
come you to his house, as he had long been prepared to
welcome you to his heart. His constitution gave way in the
struggle, and paralysis gently closed the scene. A thousand
ties are suddenly loosened ; and you will see many tokens of
profound public as well as private sorrow.
But, you will say, who, after all, was Mr. George Livermore
16
that your whole community seems so moved by his loss 2 Eſe
was a middle-aged gentleman, a merchant by profession; he
was an elegant scholar, through self-culture; but, above all,
he was a ripe Christian man. However subsidiary to his in-
fluence may have been a competent fortune, and the charm of
a cultivated taste adorning a wealth of lore in some depart-
ments of letters, it was chiefly what he was in himself, - his
high principles in fine action never intermitted,—that consti-
tuted his strength in the affections of his fellow-men. It was
as if, in his case too, in his early youth, some kind relative had
said to him, “Never be mean, never be false, never be cruel:
avoid these vices, and I shall have good hope of you; ”—
and that on this he had at once rushed towards the opposite
moral heights, becoming the very soul of honor, placing a win-
dow in his bosom, and making his life one continual stream
of active beneficence, — brotherly kindness to the lowliest,
gentle and manly courtesy to his equals, modest deference to
those he counted his superiors, of whom indeed he had few,
except in some of the advantages of early scholastic train-
ing. -
It would be in vain for me to attempt to represent him to
you in the multiplied relations he held to this community. I
have not words now to denote him fitly; but it will always
be, that “those who paint him truest, praise him most.”
You would at once have been friends. Your very di-
versities would have knit you together. Your tempera-
ments were unlike. The sensitiveness of his nature denied
to him your perennial sunshine. For long years, like you, he
was subject to serious physical discomfort, which is so apt to
tend to selfish results, but, as you both knew, when it takes
the other turn, finds its greatest alleviation in promoting, and
thus sharing, the happiness of others. -
His life was a poem. I never read those noble lyrics of
Wesley without seeing him as the embodiment of them; –“A
charge to keep I have ; ”—“I want a principle within ; ” ––
“Quick as the apple of an eye, O God my conscience
make ; ”—“A spirit still prepared, for ever standing on its
guard;— A single, steady aim, unmoved by threatening or
reward.” And, in the spirit of another strain, how often have
I seen him in the morning start from his home, eager
“To crowd the narrow span of life
With wise designs and virtuous deeds”.
It was true of him, if ever of any man, that “in simplicity and
godly sincerity he had his conversation in the world.”
Dr. OLIVER WENDELL HolMEs made the following
remarks: —
Mr. Dana’s allusion to the school which he attended with
Mr. Livermore leads me to recall a few facts relating to that
school, and to my own association with our lamented col-
league.
It was about the year 1819 that the school in question was
established, by the efforts of the late Dr. James P. Chaplin,
and some others. The first instructor was Edward S. Dickin-
son, a graduate of Harvard College, then a student of medi-
cine. Other instructors, for a longer or shorter time, were
the Rev. Samuel Barrett, the Rev. Ezra Stiles Gannett, Mr.
John Frost, Mr. Edward Frost, the Rev. Nathaniel Gage, Mr.
Thaddeus Bowman Bigelow. I remember attending under all
these ; but I cannot be sure of the order in which they
became masters.
This school was limited to thirty students, and was consid-
ered a decided advance upon the previously existing educa-
tional establishments of Cambridge. I used to hear it called
the “Academy,” occasionally, by natives of the region. The
place where it was kept, during most of the time while I
attended it, was on the left-hand side of Prospect Street
turning from Main Street, of which Mr. Dowse's house forms
3
18
the corner. I attended this school about five years, leaving
it in 1824.
Of the members of it during this period, several have been
widely known. Mr. Dana must allow me to mention his name
among these, and, with his, those of Margaret Fuller and
George Livermore. .
The boys were a somewhat fighting set; and our champion,
a nephew of the most celebrated of American painters, had at
least two regular pitched battles with outside fellows, who
challenged the pretensions of the young gentlemen of the
“Academy.”
George Livermore came among this rather rough crowd,
the mildest and quietest of boys; slight, almost feminine in
aspect, quite alien to all such doings. I do not remember
him as conspicuous in any active play, still less as ever
quarrelling with anybody. He was a lamb-like creature, who
made us all feel kindly to him, - this I can remember, and
his looks, so delicate and gentle; but I am afraid I have noth-
ing more to tell of that period of his life. -
Since those early days, I have seen too little of my old
schoolmate. But there are many friends whose presence we
feel always about us, though we too rarely look upon their
faces, or listen to their voices. Perhaps we never know how
true this is of them until death takes them away. Then we
find that there is less light in the day, less life in the air, than
while they were with us. How many there are who feel, that
the two cities between which his life was shared, that our
New England, that the commonwealth of learning, are sensi-
bly poorer for the loss of one such life as that of our sweet
scholar ! Loving books and letters so dearly, he had yet love
enough left over to make him the warmest-hearted of friends
and of citizens.
Our colleague, Mr. Dana, has spoken of the value of such
an example in a community like our own I may be per-
mitted to mention, that, in a lecture delivered during the last
19
winter, I took the liberty to hold up the course of Mr. Liver-
more as a pattern to a class of American citizens, our success-
ful men of business. When a plain suburban settlement like
Cambridgeport can set before the world two such examples
as those of Thomas Dowse and George Livermore, — men
whô in their different spheres illustrated their every-day
working lives with the light of literary culture, — what may
we not hope from the growth of institutions which can
give us such citizens, when they shall have carried educa-
tion with freedom, through freedom, and for freedom, over
all our land 7
I regret that I can add so little to what has been elo-
Quently and sincerely spoken. Yet this glance at the
benches of the little school-room, where I first met the gen-
tle boy who became the honored citizen and distinguished
scholar, might excuse my claiming a few moments of your
time. To me it is delightful to recall that loving, innocent
face of my early schoolmate, which had lost no trace of its
purity and sweetness when forty years later I looked upon
it, still in death, but graven with the record of a life which
was filled with good deeds and beautiful thoughts.
The Rev. Rob ERT C. WATERSTON, the Hon. RICHARD
FROTHINGHAM, and the Rev. EDWARD E. HALE, each paid
brief but warm tributes to the many virtues of their
lamented friend and associate.
The Resolutions were unanimously adopted, and Mr.
Deane was appointed to write the customary Memoir for
the Proceedings of the Society.

THE CONSECRATED LIFE:
DISCOURSE
OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF
MR. GEORGE LIVERMORE.
preachel to the Cambridgeport parish,
SUNDAY, 3D SEPTEMBER, 1865,
BY
icº
H.E. N. R. Y o'àing ER,
PASTOR OF THE PAIRISH.
CAMIB RIDG E :
PRINTED FOR THE FAMILY.
. MDCCCLXV.
THE CONSECRATED LIFE :
D IS C. O U R S E
OCC ASIONED BY THE DEATH OF
MR. GEORGE LIVERMORE.
§reatbed to the Cambridgeport #arish,
SUNDAY, 3D SEPTEMBER, 1865,
BY
HENRY C. BAD GER,
*
FASTOR OF THE PARISH.
CAMIB RID G E :
PRINTED FOR THE FAMILY.
MDCCCLXV.
GE OR GE LIVER, MO R. E.
Born 10th JULY, 1809.
DIED 30th AUG., 1865.
SCRIPTURE LESSON.
LESS the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within
me, bless his holy name !
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his
benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy
diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction ; who crown-
eth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies;
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy
youth is renewed like the eagle's
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and
plenteous in mercy.
He hath not dealt with us after our sins ; nor rewarded
us according to our iniquities.
For he knoweth our frame ; he remembereth that we
are dust.
4
As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the
field so he flourisheth :
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the
place thereof shall know it no more :
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to ever-
lasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness
unto children's children :
To such as keep his covenant, and to those who remem-
ber his commandments to do them.
The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and
his kingdom ruleth over all.
Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his
dominion : bless the Lord, O my soul | – PSALM ciii.
Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest :
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am
meek, and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your
souls:
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. —
MATT. xi.
Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God,
believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not
so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, ye
may be also.
5
And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
I am the way and the truth and the life : no man cometh
unto the Father but by me. — JOHN xiv.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of
darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthern vessels, that the
excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed ; we
are perplexed, but not in despair ;
Persecuted, but not forsaken ; cast down, but not
destroyed; y
Always bearing about in the body the dying of the
Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made
manifest in our body.
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall
raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
For which cause we faint not ; but though our outward
man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory :
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at
the things which are not seen : for the things which are
seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are
eternal.
6
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle
be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens. º
Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst
we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be ab-
sent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
2 COR. iv., v.

THE CONSECRATED LIFE.
ROMANS xii. 11, 12:
NOT SLOTHFUL IN BUSINEss; FERVENT IN SPIRIT ; SERVING
THE LORD ;
REJorcing IN HOPE ; PATIENT IN TRIBULATION ; CONTINUING
INSTANT IN PRAYER.
HIS is part of Paul's exhortation to the
Romans, wherein he sets forth his con-
ception of the Christian, taking and imparting
to others the divine life of the Lord.
Every day repeats to us the lesson, that our
life is a tissue of personal relations, – souls
weak in themselves being strong in the strength
of others; men depending on fellow-men; Chris-
tendom looking up to its Lord; mankind resting
in God. *
We cannot subsist our spirits on principles,
truths, divorced from the persons of those who
embody and illustrate them. Virtue, holiness,
8
—they are but vanishing phantoms till incar-
nated in some holy woman or virtuous man.
Faith, Hope, Charity, sweet names, they are
yet empty names of viewless spirits till we see
these virtues walking beside us, embodied in
the faithful, the hopeful, and the loving.
It seems to be a simple law which controls
this derived, dependent life. The great forces
in our nature are love and reverence. They
are nobler and mightier affections than hope
and fear. Hope and fear have a selfish root.
They seek or shun some individual gain or
loss. But love and reverence are self-forgetful:
they look only to others, to persons greater
and better than we, whose holiness rebukes
our evil. They contemplate recognition and
response; they impress our spirits with all that
is lovely in those to whom we look up; they
impart the true inspiration to our life.
Principles guide us; but they cannot rouse
the great feelings which urge us on. These are
kindled only when some other spirit touches
ours, – some one who is what man should be,
who becomes himself our ideal of manly noble-
9
ness, who wakes a nobler aspiration in us, and
moves us to more strenuous endeavor, −thus
bringing us, through our love to him, to the
knowledge of that Master whose life has so
quickened his, and who, in turn, shall lead our
love and reverence to One who is greater
than he.
Heaven has set such ministering spirits all
along our path, – those who make our faith
brighter and our trust more complete, – who
prolong the heavenly ministry of Jesus upon
earth, passing the living torch from hand to
hand, - who serve mankind in a thousand ways,
but render their greatest service by merely
living amidst their fellow-men, suffering them-
selves to be seen, and their beautiful influence to
be felt.
More than by any deeds or words, they work
by that perpetual ministry, the ceaseless, un-
conscious influence of a consecrated life; and,
when they die, their power dies not with them;
a thousand loving memories treasure it up, and
make it even greater than before; the grief that
mourns them is tempered by great joy and grati-
2
10
tude in remembering all they were; Heaven is
praised that they have been permitted to live,
and we to know them in life; while their own
cheerful faith and perfect trust remain to com-
fort us, to make our sorrow more tender, to
take away its pain.
It is with such mingled and chastened feel-
ings, with such grateful sorrow, that we recog-
nize the great loss Heaven has called us to
Sustain.
Not that the loss is ours alone. A whole
community mourns with us: a familiar presence
is wanting in the walks of business he so digni-
fied and adorned: the societies and associations
for charity, for graceful culture, for every good
work, mourn for a member or a generous friend:
the cause of temperance, of universal freedom,
of education, — every good cause, – has lost a
counsellor and a patron: the State has lost an
eminent citizen; the mercantile community, One
of its representative men, a Christian merchant
indeed; as we here have lost a pillar from our
church, an object of proud affection from our
society; while one of our households has lost a
11
husband and a father, and all a brother and a
friend. -
There was something in our departed brother
which forbids our passing by, with ordinary
reference, an event so important to us as his
loss. And, for once, we must disregard what
would have surely been his wish, and say some-
thing in his praise where he would have wished
us to be silent; for all our thoughts have been
full of him, and no theme of meditation could
be more fruitful than such a life.
He was conspicuously one of those who have
a ministry greater than they know, greater than
their conscious purposes and endeavors, how-
ever great those may be. Men have a varied
work, - a multiform beneficence. Some build
enduring institutions, or shape new instruments
to lighten human toil; some rear the imperish-
able creations of Art, refining the spirit; some
flash new truth across the horizon of mankind,
lighting the path far onward; while some, with a
ministry as rare, but more important still, become
pre-eminent in holiness, in consecration of life:
they become an ideal and an inspiration to their
12
fellows, working in a ministry kindred with that
of Jesus himself, whose truest followers they
are. Such was he whose loss we mourn, whose
memory we inherit and cherish, whose presence
has been a blessing to us all. That which won
our love was no single deed or habit, quality or
power, so much as that spirit of consecration
which prompted all his deeds and sanctified
every power, — which made him more gracious
and winning than any of his manifestations,
beautiful as they were.
And, apart from that spirit, where have we
seen a life more satisfactory in all those outward
manifestations, – one that has left a nobler
record? Forty years ago, a young man began
his independent life, rich only in a pure heart
and a lovely nature. Our schools were not
then what they are now, nor was the training of
young men the same. But there was in many
a home a faith which brought human life clearly
under the eye of God, and made it a scene of
heroic struggle that good might master evil.
When that young man began his separate life,
in humble circumstances, in an obscure place,
13
situated as hundreds are to-day who have seen
his beautiful maturity, what chances there were
that he would come short of the possible noble-
ness of his career, become sunk in worldliness,
consumed by the love of gain, not consecrating
his gains, conformed to this world instead of
being transformed by the renewing of his mind!
Consider those chances; think how common it
is for men to obscure all that is delicate and
beautiful in their early life, being hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin; — then remem-
ber this exceptional life; that successful business
career, so refined by courtesy and guarded by
a sensitive conscience, and never permitted to
encroach with its cares on the calm life of his
spirit, which kept its untroubled upward way.
Remember his varied relations with so many
worthy organizations, – our Unitarian Associa-
tion, the Antiquarian Society, the Academy of
Arts and Sciences, the Historical Society, the
thenaeum, the Library of the State, the Col-
lege, or the town.
Remember, too, his literary life, making him,
despite constant engagements and delicate health,
14
despite the want of early training, a scholar and
an author; gathering about him a library of rare
value and beauty, - the finest private biblical
library, indeed, on the Christian earth; mak-
ing his name known the world round amongst
scholarly men; he discovering here, and send-
ing back to Europe, the pocket Bible printed by
Cromwell for his soldiers, and lost from the
knowledge of men till his quick eye identified it
here, and recovered it; serving our country also,
in her hour of need, by giving the world his
essay — one of the most valuable and timely
publications of the war — on the opinions and
practice of our country’s fathers as to making
negroes soldiers and citizens as well as slaves.
Remember all his varied service as a true pa-
triot, and friend of liberty, - whether he spoke
for the rights of humanity; or ministered to suf-
fering man; or maintained his curious labors in
treasuring the mementoes of the great contest,
keeping now a bit of the bunting first torn down
from Fort Sumter, and at last so triumphantly
set back again, or now the pen which signed
the immortal Proclamation, and lifted millions
15
into manhood and womanhood who had lived
like beasts before, — a relic Secured to him by
the kindness of his eminent friend in the Sen-
ate, – or now snatching from destruction the
sermons on the death of the first President, sent
by their authors to Martha Washington, bound
in two volumes by her, and now, by the chances
of war, thrown into his hands.
Remember also his social and domestic life,
so gentle, so refined, and, despite the reserve in
which such sensitive natures must always shield
themselves, so cordial, too, simply republican,
heartily affectionate and humble, so unselfish,
so thoughtful in courtesy, so tender in all minis-
trations.
And, more than all, remember that spirit-
ual life which underlay all these manifestations,
and made him what he was, not slothful in
business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, re-
joicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continu-
ing instant in prayer; which made it such a
pleasure and a help to meet him anywhere, at
home or on the street, - causing all who saw
him to feel lifted up, to feel that life is more
16
beautiful and divine than they had known it;
which made his charity so great, so genuine, SO
unostentatious; which made him so patient to
endure suffering; which gave him so cheerful a
view of death; which filled him with such hope
and living faith on his death-bed, making it need-
less or impossible for anybody to minister to him;
his stronger faith, his more perfect consecration
and trust, so ministered to all about him.
Remember all this, – recall the consequent
love he won from that group of scholarly and
eminent men whose affection brought them to his
coffin-side, – and we shall see that this life was
One of exceptional richness and beauty, conse-
crating itself as not one in many millions does,
— the most precious thing we have ever been
permitted to see; a sad loss to us now, a hal-
lowed and beautiful memory hereafter.
We contemplate our great loss thus, with such
mingled feelings of grief and of gratitude. He
has done much for us in this society. Others
know better than I how largely we have been
wont to depend on his judgment and his gener-
Osity. His fine taste, his delicate manner, his
17
discreet conduct of affairs, how often, in one way
or another, they have served us! We know, too,
that his mind was full of projects for future
benevolence and service to us. I need not men-
tion them, for he hardly spoke of them himself;
but we shall sorely feel his loss. Missed from
the community and from his home, and from
that great circle of friends that grew up with
him, how will he be missed from our fellowship
here! How will he be missed from our social
gatherings; from our Sabbath service, week by
week; from beside the table of our Communion;
and especially, by old and young, from Our Sun-
day school, in which he was purposing to take a
yet more prominent place, and with which he
was so identified through all his life, that it
must seem as though the very light of the
school had gone out! How shall we miss, too,
his counsel and his leading in all good works;
and, more than all, his hearty and simple wel-
come to that home so sanctified by his presence,
and the unspeakable beauty of his smile and
kindliness of his greeting wherever he was
met !
18
For it was not his deeds, I repeat, his thought-
ful charity, his eminent services, which made
him so dear; but rather the fact that he was in
himself the embodiment of all that is lovely and
of good report; a nature gentle, not because of
absence of force, but from the consecration
of it; one in whom the profoundest feelings, the
heartiest indignation against wrong, were tem-
pered with the sweetness of a divine charity.
He was one who could be angry, and sin not ;
one who could be in the world, but not of the
world. He joined, in a rare combination, that fas-
tidious delicacy of taste and feeling which tends
to make a man over-critical, a recluse, or a cynic,
with that heartiness of sympathy and genuine
interest in every thing human which keeps one
in close relations of affection and service with
his fellow-men. This beautiful nature and life
won the love of all, - alienated the regard of
none. And his greatest deed, the one which
did most for his fellow-men, was his making
himself, by divine help, what he was, – the fill-
ing of his spirit, not with wordliness and evil,
but with faith and hope and charity, his making
19
himself, through life-long endeavors, that Chris-
tian gentleman, who, as an eminent fellow-
townsman has said, shows us what man may
be.
Who can stand in the presence of such a life,
and not feel its rebuke and exhortation? Here
were the Christian virtues in action, showing all
their loveliness, shutting out evil from his spirit,
shaming the evil in ours. Here was a fountain
of good impulse and encouragement for all who
saw him. None could meet him without being
stimulated and lifted up. And this is a power
which cannot die: while memory keeps in any
mind his image, or any that know of him sur-
vive, he, being dead, shall yet speak, maintain-
ing this perpetual ministry.
Nor can we fail to see, while being grateful
that such an one has been given to our love, that
there are lessons in his death as well as in his
life. To contemplate the scene of his death-bed
must either greatly strengthen or weaken our
faith. How mysterious, how untimely, seems the
stroke which takes away such an one as hel
20
When, on the first Sunday of the year, I stood
here for the first time as pastor in this pulpit,
there was much in my heart which I deemed it
unseasonable to speak. I thought how many of
you would soon be visited by sorrow; how many
abodes of affliction I should be called to enter;
how many of you, indeed, would soon pass
away, calling me perchance to your bedsides, or
to speak the words of hope above your open
graves. But, while many here were trembling
with infirmity or age, could we have thought
that he should precede us all, - he who seemed
so young and full of life, he who had so much to
live for, he on whom all our hearts were so
depending, whose work seemed so far from being
done?
But, ah! the thoughts of God are not our
thoughts, nor his ways our ways. What mat-
tered the many noble purposes our friend had
yet to carry out; the treasures of literature and
art he hoped many years to enjoy; the families
he so loved, and blessed with his love; the beau-
tiful ministry of his daily life? Disease touches
him, and he must relinquish them all: his plans
21
are broken up : he must resign his treasures, and
bid farewell to his friends; the scene of his la-
bors and joys — his library — stands empty and
lonely, never again to be made bright by his
Smile. “As for man, his days are as grass; as
the flower of the field, so he flourisheth: for the
wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the
place thereof shall know it no more!”
What can we make of such a scene,— nature
so regardless of human life; remorseless in sun-
dering the closest relations; Smiting down the
strong and sparing the weak; not asking whe-
ther one's tasks be done on earth, but snatching
him away blindly? Or how worse than blind
and aimless it is, if Nature deludes her victim
by a false hope while she slays him!
There is but one answer to the riddle. Our
friend, on his death-bed, kept his thought up-
on that life whose glory eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard. “I am as sure of it,” he said, “as
that I lie here now.” His faith was so buoyant
that it seemed rather sight than faith. No
shadow of doubt dimmed the brightness of his
spirit. And that made all things clear. He
22
would gladly have lived longer here; but this
life was so full of joy to him as to fill him with
the conviction that greater joys await us beyond
the veil.
He did not fly to the immortal life, as some
do, because this life is a scene of trouble and of
sorrow, -reviling one gift of God’s love, while
seeking another; but the joys and privileges of
this life so filled him with faith in the love of
God, in his inexhaustible bounty, that he looked
toward another life as towards a new banquet, a
new scene of enjoyment, a new field of glori-
ous privilege and opportunity.
Suffering, too, he welcomed as a messenger
sent to prepare him for that blest companionship.
After great and long-continued pain, he said,
“My sufferings are nothing, — mere nothing: I
wouldn’t have spared a single pang: I needed
them all.” He felt that sorrow and suffering
are true blessings; that —
“Weary hours of woe and pain
Are earnests of serener years.”
And what must death have been to him, with
such a faith and trust, but a thing of joy and
23
#
hope? Death was to him, indeed, no unnatural
or unwelcome thing. It was but the going-down
of the sun, sure to rise again to-morrow; the
close of a toilsome but cheerful day. It was but
the uncovering of new glories; the lifting-up of
the everlasting doors, that the beloved of the
Lord might enter in. It came to him but as a
messenger of our Father's bounty, - for whose
viewless footsteps we may watch and wait, —
bidding him to the feast of love in that new life
whose glory eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man conceived! Death had for
him no sting, the grave no victory; “ the funeral
anthem was a glad evangel;” his spirit was
prepared to go forth with thanksgiving and
triumphal songs!
When we consider such a death-bed scene,
such a man, after such a life, led forth with such
hopes, must not the scene itself become the
strongest evidence to our hearts of the reality
of those things in which he trusted?
If any thing unreal or delusive mingles with
those cherished consolations, must not that trust
seem to us a cruel, mocking deceit, — making
24
life, not blessed, as it is, full of the love of God,
but a scene of horror, where our hopes are all
hollow-hearted, our joys treacherous, our whole
existence a maze of delusions?
Every such death-bed scene must quicken our
faith, must become a crowning evidence to us,
must deepen our conviction, must brighten our
vision of the “house of God, not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens.”
When we laid away his sacred ashes to their
rest, we saw not the unsightly mound of
earth, – some thoughtful hand like his own had
buried it in flowers, – our thoughts rested not
in that abiding-place of his honored dust, flower-
crowned, and full of fragrance as it was, -but
we gazed upward; we stood, as the disciples
stand in a picture of the Ascension, looking up-
ward after one who had gone before, vanishing
into heaven.
There seemed, too, to bend from above, others
of a newly divided household,—those who have
renewed their youth, welcoming to their heaven-
ly re-union one new-born into that blessed life,
into unbroken communion with all that host
25
of friends, and of the great and good gone be-
fore.
We must suppose that he was welcomed there
by many a friend who has preceded him, by that
father and mother whose rare life he inherited
and prolonged, and by him who was the inspira-
tion of all their lives, who could give him the
heavenly greeting, WELL DONE, GOOD AND
FAITH FUL SERVANT, ENTER THOU INTO THE
JOY OF THY LORD !
While our faith is quickened by contemplating
such a scene, we must be admonished also, that
our hands are loosing their grasp of earthly
things; that this is not our abiding-place; that
our feet are drawing nearer, day by day, to that
river which nothing mortal can pass, – where
we must put on immortality.
Many here walk already with feeble and
trembling steps. They need no outward admo-
nition to set the house in order, to make ready
for the gentle summons: they already wait. They
sit, as it were, in the door, at the close of the
well-spent day, and await the going-down of
the sun. Their tasks are done; they have made
4 -
26
them ready; they await the gracious messenger
who shall lead them forth by the still waters,
through the valley of shadow.
The warning of our brother's loss is not for
these. It is rather for us, who, younger and less
expectant of death, are less ready than they. It
is for us who are still cumbered with serving, —
whose tasks are all undone, who contemplate a
long life on earth, who have much to do and
much to enjoy, who will be amazed when the
summons comes, – to whom it will be unwelcome -
and unexpected, – who will struggle with the
Angel of Death. For few of us shall live to
feel the gentle Snow of age descending On Our
heads. Heaven does not wait our willingness.
The first of us to fall may be the youngest here
to-day. Death stands as near to the young as
to the old: all times are his. As the poet has
said: —
“Leaves have their time to fall,
And flowers to wither at the north wind's breath,
And stars to set; but all,
Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death !
“We know when moons shall wane,
When summer birds from far shall cross the sea,
When autumn hues shall tinge the golden grain:
But who shall tell us when to look for thee ?”
27
We may be called suddenly, in the midst of
life, as was our much-loved friend. And while
our hearts follow him with a grateful sorrow,
thanking Heaven for all he did and all he was,
let them strengthen themselves with a faith like
his, and make themselves ready with a similar
preparation. The consecrated life is the only
fit preparation for death. His was not merely a
death-bed readiness: no utterances were there
but those of gratitude and trust. There was no
need, in those last days, to create the clean heart
or renew the right spirit within him. He bore
himself, through life, as one always ready. And,
while he ascends from amongst us, let his mantle
fall upon us with his blessing, inspiring us to
make a kindred preparation -
The tasks he left undone in Our midst are
committed unto our hands. It is Ours to prolong
his ministry, and rear his monument. It is ours
to perpetuate his gracious influence in this com-
munity; in our church and in our Sunday school
to make his abiding presence felt. So shall we
receive the benediction of Our Sorrow, and make
true to our hearts the utterance of that hymn we
have already sung: —
28
“With silence only as their benediction
God’s angels come,
Where, in the shadow of a great affliction,
The soul sits dumb.
“Yet would we say, what every heart approveth,
Our Father's will,
Calling to him the dear ones whom he loveth,
Is mercy still.
“Not upon us or ours the solemn angel
- Hath evil wrought:
The funeral anthem is a glad evangel;
The good die not
“God calls our loved ones; but we lose not wholly
What he has given:
They live on earth in thought and deed, as truly
As in his heaven.”

29
NoTE, page 24.
“A NEWLY DIVIDED HOUSEHOLD.”
Miss SARAH GLEASON LIVERMORE, sister of George
Livermore, died in Cambridge, Aug. 1, 1865, aged sixty-
four years. For thirty years and over, she had been an
invalid, and, at times, a great sufferer. Still, she was
able to render service, most grateful and prompt, to her
aged father and mother, with whom she resided till their
death. Especially was her care tender and constant of
her father during the six years he survived the death
of his wife. He leaned upon her, weak as she was, and
found strength and comfort. It was a great trial for her
to leave her home, to which she had been almost wholly
confined for some years, and become a member of another
family, although that of her only sister. Yet she ac-
cepted her new condition with a resolution which soon
made new surroundings seem like home, and in a gentle
spirit of patience which almost relieved the impression
that she was an invalid and sufferer.
Deprived of the use of her eyes for the most part of
the time, and often compelled to sit alone in a darkened
room, she still meekly bore the trial, and received with
gratitude every expression of sympathy from her kindred
and friends. Though not able to be abroad, she retained
her interest in all good objects and causes, and gave freely
of her moderate competency for their support. Her in-
30
terest in the church of which she was a member, though
for many years unable to attend public worship, did not
fail to the last. Her refined taste was employed in such
simple arrangement in her room, as her strength per-
mitted. Her acts, like her virtues, were all private. She
was sensitive to the least notority or publicity, and shrank
from notice. A devoted daughter, a loving sister, a true
Christian woman, has departed. This tribute, modest
like herself, is due to her memory.

Çbe public Juty of a pribate Citizen:
S E R M O N
PRICACHED IN THE
SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, BOSTON,
SEPT. 3, 1865,
THE SUNDAY FOLLOWING THE DEATH
OF
M. R. G E O R. G E L IV E R M O R. E.
BY EDWARD E. HALE.
CAMBRIDGE :
PRESS OF JOIIN WILSON AND SONS,
1865.
S E. R. M. O. N.
R O M A N S xiv. 7 :
FOR NO MAN LIVETH TO HIMSELF, AND NO MAN DIETH TO
IIIMSELF.
WAS present, yesterday afternoon, among a
throng of sincere mourners, at the funeral
of Mr. GEORGE LIVERMORE. This gentleman,
without ever holding, so far as I know, any
political position, had so distinguished himself
by his historical attainments, by his broad gen-
erosity, and, in general, by his public spirit, that
he filled, in the midst of this community, some
very distinguished and important positions. His
sweet simplicity and modesty of life made him
troops of friends. Among these friends I had
the honor to be. There were, indeed, few men
with whom I stood on quite the same intimate
relations when we met, though we met too sel-
dom for my wish and good. But it is not
4
because he was my friend that I speak of him;
but because here is an illustration of public duty
performed in private life, which seems to me too
important to be passed neglected by.
Here is a man who seems to me still a young
man, who dies at the age of fifty-six, and is
mourned sincerely by a circle of men which
includes the most distinguished leaders of the
community. The University, the Academy, the
Historical and Antiquarian Societies, our own
Unitarian Association, and I know not how
many more of our most valuable institutions,
lose in him a confidential officer or friend, and
all of them are represented by their most distin-
guished members at his grave.
He has been known in this city as an upright,
successful, and honorable man of business, – one
of the recognized leaders, if I am right, in the
line of business which he pursued. In the midst
of its demands upon him, he has found time to
pursue two or three distinct and very recondite
branches of literary inquiry. He has prosecuted
these with such care as to be the acknowledged
authority among us on the history of printing in
A-
•)
America, on the history of the English Bible,
and more generally to be recognized as one of
the very few persons thoroughly versed in the
difficult passages of our early history. He has
made his business relationships with the rest of
the world serve him in the collection of a unique
library; the most valuable, by far, in its special
departments, of any collection we have. And
all of his acquisitions, all of his collections, in
his memory or in his books, were made literally
the property of all men. If he could serve any
one from the results of his studies or his pur-
chases, that was all he asked for. The teachers
of the Sunday School, and the members of my
own class, will remember, I am sure, the evening
which we spent at his house, so few months ago,
when he showed us the treasures in his col-
lection illustrating the history of our Bible.
That sort of eagerness to make others enjoy
what he had of profit to any, was in precise
illustration of his daily life.
Such a man is, of course, surrounded by
friends. Yet this man never cared to use his
deserved popularity in seeking any of the tokens
6
of public favor. I do not know that he held any
public office but that of a private in the reserve
corps of militia, formed to give spirit to the
Cambridge enlistments. He would have been
glad to call himself a private in every thing, —
only a private who was to the utmost fulfilling
every duty. And the precise point to which I
am calling your attention is his assiduous, his
religious devotion in private life to public duty,
— the public duty of a private citizen
The last time I heard him speak in public,
many of you heard him. It was at the teachers’
meeting in the vestry of the Church of the
Unity, when he said with such pride, that he had
been for more than fifty years connected with
one Sunday school. Here was a way in which
a private citizen could serve the Church and
State: that was the reason he was in it. The
last time I was in his office, while we sat there,
it appeared, by one or another successive inci-
dent transpiring of pure accident, that he had
that day six subscription-papers in his hands, –
to all of which he was among the largest con-
tributors, – which had been intrusted to him
7
because his deserved influence with other men
was so high that he could present such claims as
few other men could do. Nor did he shrink
from that service. I pass by a hundred such
instances, among which I might allude to his
service as Vice-president of the Unitarian Asso-
ciation. But you must let me refer to what he
said himself, on this very point, in speaking
of the impression which the death of the Presi-
dent made upon him last April. “That man,”
said he, “ has given his life to his country. And
I— am I giving mine to her? I retired,” he
told me, “into my private room; I spent most
of the day in such exercises of consecration as
- I thought might fit me better for serving the
country. How could I better consecrate myself
to serve my fellow-men?” And, on the next
meeting of the Historical Society, - which owes,
I think, more to him than to any living man, –
he addressed that distinguished body—the most
distinguished body, perhaps, of Our men of
letters — on that subject, “ Consecration of our-
selves to the service of our land, - of man-
kind.” “ How,” he asked with the intensity of
8
a prophet's appeal — “ how shall we gain that
consecration?”
I am told that his income was large. But,
when he spoke of consecration, he made no
exception here. “I am as rich,” said he, “ as I
ever shall be. I shall leave nothing to those
who come after me but what is now my property.
I have devoted — and they know I have devoted
— all my income, beyond my family expenditure,
to the demands which the public service, from
day to day, may make upon me.”
I do not allude to the character of a man thus
consecrated to the service of God, because he
was my friend, nor because this is a great loss to
me personally: I speak of him because I have
here an illustration so remarkable of the public
life of a private citizen. The last time we met
here, I attempted to show how our Saviour, for
the service of his Church, literally calls on all
who have ever known any blessing in life from
his help, and bids all work with him and for him.
In such a life as Mr. Livermore's is a very pre-
cise illustration of the way in which one not in
public station can give his life for the benefit of
the whole.
9
I need not say again, that such work of the
private man for the public welfare is not under-
stood in all lands or under all systems. The
theory, indeed, of Russia, of Egypt, of all pure
monarchies, is, that the citizen is not to interfere
in the service of the public; and you find, in
fact, that in such countries he does not so inter-
fere. The emperor or king and his officers are
expected to do every thing for the public that
is done. Not only is this so, but there is a
school of writers in free countries who tell us
that government must be administered on the
principle of selfishness; that it must be taken
for granted, that every man lives only for him-
self, - for his own wealth, ease, and other
creature-comfort. It is this fallacy, which, for
our advantage, is specially exposed and refuted
in such a life as that of which I have spoken.
In my summer vacation, I have been study-
ing one of the latest manifestoes of this theory.
The writer, Mr. Herbert Spencer, is a professed
radical in politics. He does not mean to flinch
at any consequences. He writes, too, not on the
theory of an imperfect, but of a perfect world.
2
1()
He treats only of upright beings, he says, who
shall do exactly what they ought to do. And
then this “ought to,” alas! is the duty of man,
according to the school-boy’s ribald catechism,
“Man is to keep what he gets, and to get what
he can.” All this theory of the State is, God
be praised, wholly wrong. We do not live for
ourselves, even the humblest of us. We live,
all of us, for each other. “If one member
suffer, all the members suffer,” — by a law
stronger, indeed, than we can manage; and “if
one member rejoices,” thank God, “all the mem-
bers rejoice; ” and we cannot change that law,
as of course we do not ask to do. All this war
has shown, in countless noble instances, how the
meanest slave, how the honest exile, could die
for the nation; and, in more than a thousand
lives, – in more than a million, — it has shown
how all of us can live for the nation ; how there
is no nation worth having, unless millions of her
sons and millions of her daughters are willing to
live for her and to die for her.
How shall I live for her? How can I help the
world? Do not ask questions, but do the best
11
thing you can; and God sees to the issue. Our
friend here, of whom I have spoken, sent his sons
to the army, paid his money for its charities, but
was not satisfied so. In his study, in the regu-
lar discharge of the duties which he was best
fitted for, he worked out a historical statement,
of curious value to the most conservative minds,
On the employment of black troops by Wash-
ington and his associates. That treatise was
circulated in the Middle States as I think no
pamphlet of the war has been circulated.” I
have it on very high authority, that that work
of a summer of a modest, retired student, added
thousands of men, at a critical moment, to the
recruits of the national army.
That a man should live for the people, — that
is the law; and, if he lives for them, he is ready
to die for them. I have told you how he con-
Secrated his life again to such service, on that
solemn Easter Sunday, when all of us had the
lesson of duty and consecration so solemnly
* Besides the editions published by Mr. Livermore himself, three
editions were issued by Recruiting Societies in Philadelphia, amounting
to more than a hundred thousand copies.
12
forced home upon us, when our great martyr
died. “Tell me,” said an artist, at that season—
“tell me what brief inscription we can place
under a likeness of the President, which shall
remind all who look, that this man died for all
the people. Think of something in the classics,
which in the shortest phrase shall say that upon
the marble.”
I told him that I knew nothing better than
the words he had used himself. I told him, that
unconsciously he had quoted the classic of all
classics, and had spoken of the life of all lives.
“Write on your marble,” I said, “ the words
which St. John said of his Master, that ‘ one
man should die for the people.” In that death
was the signal for every death of sacrifice, as in
his life was the signal for every life of love.”
And that, my friends, is the centre of the lesson
of consecration. It is a great thing to die for
the nation; but it is only truly great when One
has done the greater thing also, and has truly
lived for the nation. And in this Life of Lives,
in which the Master lived and died for the
nation, and, as St. John says, not for that nation
13
Only, but for those that were scattered every-
where abroad, is the principle of common life
which makes self-surrender easy, which uplifts
government into being the mutual effort of men
loving each other, and gives to all of us the
noble consciousness, that, in struggle and in
victory, we are all of us living for all who are
around us. Love of country comes into that
life of His. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem l’ he
cries, “if thou hadst known in this thy day the
things that belong to thy peace!” Love of men
comes into it; the outlaw from society is wel-
comed in it; Edomite, Syrian, and Greek share
the tenderness which welcomes the Galilean vil-
lager. Love of children, love of strangers, love
of the poor, love of the rich, all appear in that
divine self-consecration by which one lives for
all.
That life introduces a new current into men's
systems.” In that life, we do not live each for
his own purse, his own strength, his own cun-
ning, his own success. In that life, we con-
* This sermon was preached as an introduction to the Communion.
14
secrate ourselves to the common weal; and,
whether one lives or dies, he lives for all. He
lives for the nation; and not for that nation only,
but he does so much to gather together in one all
the children of God who are scattered abroad.

Tº ; ; a j . . .
•) A A !..' .. r S.W., 2 * : …
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to dº','!'.
THE
SOLDIER'S P0CKET-BIBLE:
ISSUED
FOR THE USE OF THE ARMY
OLIVER OROMWELL.
PU. BLISHED BY THE
AMERICAN TRACT sociFTY,
150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK,
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.
OLIVER CROMWELL, Lord Protector of the
English Commonwealth from 1653 to his death
in 1658, began his military career in 1642.
In 1643 appeared this little manual for the
army. Though not prepared by Cromwell,
it undoubtedly had his approbation, and was
in general use among his soldiers. Cromwell's
success was due in no small degree to the strict
morals and rigid discipline of his army, and to
the inspiring power of religion. He declared,
“Truly I think he that prays best, fights best.
I know nothing that will give like courage
and confidence as the knowledge of God in
Christ will; and I bless God to see any even
in this army able and willing to impart the
knowledge they have for the good of others.”
“Accordingly,” he says, “I raised such men as
had the fear of God before them, and made some
conscience of what they did. And from that
day forward they never were beaten, but when-
ever they were engaged against the enemy,
6 PREF A GI2.
they boat continually.” Cromwell's IRONSIDEs,
as they are usually called, fed their faith upon ,
God’s word, went into battle with psalm-sing-
ing and prayer; and fearing God only, were
the best soldiers perhaps the world has ever
seen. Their watchword was, “The Lord of
hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our ref.
uge.” Whitelocke, describing them to Chris-
tima, queen of Sweden, said, “The officers and
soldiers of the Parliament held it not unlaw-
ful, when they carried their lives in their hands,
and were going to adventure them in the high
places of the field, to encourage one another
out of His word who commands over all : and
this had more weight and impression with it
than any other word could have.”
The original Souldier's Pocket-Bible is in very
quaint and antique print and spelling. Only
two copies are known to be extant: one in the
British Museum, the other in the possession of
George Livermore, Esq. of Cambridge, by whose
courtesy the annexed copy is printed, quoting
the Scripture passages from the received ver-
Sl OI).
THE
SOLDIER'S P () ()KET-BIBLE.
A SOLDIER MUST NOT DO WICE EDLY.
WHEN the host goeth forth against thine
enemies, then keep thee from any wicked thing.
Deut. 23:9.
The soldiers likewise demanded of him, say-
ing, And what shall we do? And he said unto
them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse
any falsely, and be content with your wages.
Luke 3: 14.
And if ye will not for all this hearken unto
me, ye shall have no power to stand before
your enemies. Lev. 26:27, 37.
The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten
before thine enemies; thou shalt go out one
8 SOLDIER 'S PO C RET. BIBLE,
way against them, and flee seven ways before
them. Deut. 28:25.
A SOLDIER MUST BE VALIANT FOR GoD'S CAUSE.
Be thou valiant for me, and fight the Lord's
battles. 1 Sam. 18:17. .
Be of good courage, and let us play the man
for our people, and for the cities of our God,
and the Lord do that which seemeth him good.
2 Sam. 10:12.
For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give
you into our hands. 1 Sam. 17:47.
A SOLDIER MUST NOT RELY ON HIS OWN WISDOM, HIS
ow N STRENGTH, OR ANY PROVISION FOR WAR.
Lean not unto thine own understanding.
Prov. 3 : 5.
By strength shall no man prevail. 1 Sam.
2 : 9.
I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my
sword save me. Psa. 44:6.
There is no king saved by the multitude of
a host; a mighty man is not delivered by much
strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety,
neither shall he deliver any by his great
strength. Psa. 33:16, 17.
There is no man that hath power over the
SO L DIER,” S P O C K P T - B IP LE. 9
spirit to retain the spirit, neither hath he power
in the day of death. Eccles. 8:8.
We have no might against this great com-
pany that cometh against us, neither know we
what to do; but our eyes are upon thee.
2 Chron. 20:12.
A SOLDIER MUST PUT HIS CONFIDENCE IN GOD 'S
WISD O M AND STR ENGTH.
Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of
his might. Eph. 6:10.
With him is wisdom and strength, he hath
counsel and understanding. Job 12:13.
The God of Israel is he that giveth strength
and power unto his people. Psa. 68:35.
God is our refuge and strength; a very pres-
ent help in trouble. Psa. 46:1.
God hath power to help, and to cast down. --
2 Chron. 25: 8.
I will go in the strength of the Lord God.
Psa. 71: 16.
Then said David to the Philistine, Thou com-
est to me with a sword, and with a spear, and
with a shield; but I come to thee in the name
of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of
Israel. 1 Sam. 17:45. - -
*
J.0 SOLDIER'S PO CIXET-BIBLE,
A SOLDIER MUST PRAY BEFORE HE GOES TO FIG IIT.
Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our
God, and set a watch against them day and
night, because of them. Neh. 4:9.
And Samson called unto the Lord, and said,
Oh Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and
strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once.
Judg. 16:28.
And David said, Oh Lord, I pray thee, turn
the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.
2 Sam. 15:31.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.
James 1 : 5. -
Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy
law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole
heart. Psa. 119:34. -
Give thy strength unto thy servant, and gave
the son of thy handmaid. Psa. 86: 16.
Plead my cause, Oh Lord, with them that
strive with me; fight against them that fight
against me; take hold of shield and buckler,
and stand up for my help. Psa. 35: 1, 2.
And the children of Israel said unto the
Lord, We have sinned; do thou unto us what- -
soever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us
only, we pray thee, this day. Judg. 10:15.
SOLDIER'S PO CRET-BIBLE. 11
A SOLDIER MUST CONSIDER AND BELIEVE GOD 'S
G R A CIO US PROMISES.
And they arose early in the morning, and
went forth to the wilderness of Tekoa. : and as
they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said,
Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Je-
rusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, so
shall ye be established; believe his prophets,
So shall ye prosper. 2 Chron. 20:20.
For the Lord your God is he that goeth
with you, to fight for you against your enemies,
to Save you. Deut. 20:4.
The Lord shall fight for you. Exod. 14:14.
The Lord your God ye shall fear, and he
shall deliver you out of the hand of all your
enemies. 2 Kings 17 : 39.
Our God whom we serve is able to deliver
us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will
deliver us out of thy hand, O king. Dan.
3 : 17.
I will subdue all thine enemies. 1 Chron.
17 : 10. -
Thou shalt seek them and shalt not find
them, even them that contended with thee;
they that war against thee shall be as nothing,
and as a thing of naught. Isa. 41 : 12.
19 SOLI) IER'S PO C R. ET - B I BI, E.
No weapon that is formed against thee shall
prosper. Isa. 54: 17.
A SOLDIER MUST NOT FEAR HIS EN EMIES.
When thou goest out to battle against thine
enemies, and seest horses and chariots and a
people more than thou, be not afraid of them,
for the Lord thy God is with thee. Deut.
20 : 1. e *
Ye shall not fear them; for the Lord your
God he shall fight for you. Deut. 3 : 22.
Be strong and courageous; be not afraid nor
dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all
the multitude that is with him; for there be
more with us than with him. With him is an
arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God
to help us, and to fight our battles. 2 Chron.
32 : 7, 8. *
Fear not, neither be faint-hearted for the
iwo tails of these smoking firebrands. Isa. 7:4.
And fear not them which kill the body.
Matt. 10 : 28.
A SOI, DIER MUST LOVE HIS EN EMIES AS THEY ARE
HIS ENEMIES, AND HATE THEM AS THEY ARE GOD's
EN EMIES.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies,
Matt. 5:44.
S () I, DIER 'S PO C ſº ET - B IIBLE, 13
Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love
them that hate the Lord 7 2 Chron. 19: 2.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee,
and am I not grieved with those that rise up
against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred,
I count them mine enemies. Psa. 139 : 21, 22.
A SOLDIER MUST CRY UN TO GOD IN HIS HEART IN
THE VERY INSTANT OF BATTLE,
When Judah looked back, behold, the battle
was before and behind; and they cried unto
the Lord. 2 Chron. 13:14.
And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and
said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help with
many, or with them that have no power.
2 Chron. 14 : 11. º
When the captains of the chariots saw Je-
hoshaphat, they said, It is the king of Israel.
Therefore they compassed about him to fight;
but Jehoshaphat cricd out, and the Lord help-
ed him; and God moved them to depart from
him. 2 Chron. 18:31.
A SOLDIER MUST CONSIDER THAT SOMETIMES GOD 'S
PEQPLE HAVE THE WORST IN BATTLE AS WELL AS
GOI) S EN EMIES.
The Sword devoureth one as well as anoth-
er. 2 Sam. 11:25.
14 SOLDIER'S PO CIKET-BIBLE.
All things come alike to all: there is one .
event to the righteous and to the wicked, to
the good and to the clean, and to the unclean;
to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacri-
ficeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and
he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
Eccles. 9 : 2. •
So there went up thither of the people
about three thousand men; and they fled before
the men of Ali. Josh. 7 : 4.
And the hand of Midian prevailed against
Israel. Judg. 6: 2.
And the Philistines fought, and Israel was
smitten, and they fled every man into his tent;
and there was a very great slaughter, for there
fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. 1 Sam.
4 : 10.
But when he (Moses) let down his hand,
Amalek prevailed. Exod. 17: II.
My children are desolate, because, the enemy
prevailed. Lam. 1: 16.
SOLDIERS AND ALL OF US MUST CONSIDER THAT
THough GoD's PEOPLE HAVE THE worst, YET IT
COMETH OF THE LORD. w
Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to
the robbers? did not the Lord 7 Isa. 42: 24.
SOLDIER'S PO C KET-BIBLE. 15
Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord
hath not done it 7 Amos 3:6.
And the Lord Bold them into the hands of
Jabin, king of Canaan. Judg. 4:2.
The Lord hath delivered me into their hands,
from whom I am not able to rise up. Lam.
1 : 14.
The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath ab-
horred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the
hand of the cnemy the walls of her palaces.
Lam. 2: 7.
IFOR THE INIQUITIES OF GOD’S PEOPLE, THEY ARE
SOMETIMES DELIWERED IN TO THE HAND'S OF THEIR
EN EMIES,
Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath
the Lord done thus unto this land? what mean-
eth the heat of this great anger ? Then men
shall say, Because they have forsaken the cov-
enant of the Lord God of their fathers. Deut.
24 : 25.
And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee
up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?
Israel hath sinned, and they also have trans-
gressed my covenant which I commanded them.
Josh. 7 : 10, 11.
The Lord thy God hath pronounced this evil
16 SOLDIER'S DOC KET-BIE LE.
upon this place: now the Lord hath brought
it, and done according as he hath said, bo-
cause ye have sinned against the Lord. Jor.
40 : 2, 3.
My people have been lost sheep : all that
found them have devoured them; and their ad-
versaries said, We offend not, because they have
sinned against the Lord. Jer. 50 : 6, 7. *
Wherefore doth a living man complain, a
man for the punishment of his sins? Lam.
3 : 39.
THEREFoRE BOTH sold IERS AND ALL GoD's PEOPLE
UPON SUCH OCC ASIONS MUST SEARCH O UT THEIR
SINS.
Let us search and try our ways, and turn
again to the Lord. Lam. 3:40. *
Up, Sanctify the people, and Say, Sanctify
yourselves against to-morrow ; for thus saith
the Lord God of Israel: There is an accursed
thing in the midst of thee, O Israel; thou canst
not stand before thine enemies, until ye take
away the accursed thing from among you.
Josh. 7:13.
SOLDIER,” S P O C KIST - B). BLE. 17
ESPECIALLY LIET SOLDIERS AND AI, L OF US UPON
SUCH () CCASIONS SEARCH WIIIST HER WE HAVE NOT
PUT TO O LITTLE CONI"IDEN CIC IN THE ARM OF THE
LORD, AND TOO MUCH IN THE ARM OF FLESH.
For my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me the fountain of living
waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken
cisterns, that can hold no water. Yea, thou
shalt go forth from him with thy hands upon
thy head; for the Lord hath rejected thy con-
fidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.
Jer. 2 : 13, 37.
Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man
that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm,
and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
Jer. 17 : 5.
AND LET SOLDIERS AND ALL OF US CONSIDER, THAT
TO PREVENT THIS SIN, AND FOR THE COMMITTING
OF THIS SIN, THE LORD HATH MANY TIMES GIVEN
THE VICTORY TO A FEW.
And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people
that are with thee are too many for me to give
the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel
Vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own
hand hath saved me. And the Lord said unto
Gideon, By these three hundred men that lap-
18 SOI, DIER,” S P O C R. ET - BIBLE.
ped will I save you, and deliver the Midian-
ites into thy hand. Judg. 7 : 2, 7.
And the children of Benjamin were num-
bered at that time out of the cities twenty
and six thousand men that drew sword. And
the children of Benjamin came forth out of
Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of
the Israelites that day twenty and two thou-
Sand men. And Benjamin went forth against
them out of Gibeah the second day, and de-
stroyed down to the ground of the children
of Israel again eighteen thousand men. And
the children of Israel went up against the chil-
dren of Benjamin on the third day. They
enclosed the Benjamites round about, and
chased them, and trod them down with ease;
and there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand
men. And they gleaned of them in the high-
ways five thousand men; and pursued hard
after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand
men of them. So that all which fell that day
of Benjamin were five and twenty thousand
men that drew the sword. Judg. 20:15, 17,
21, 25, 30, 43, 44–46.
And Abijah set the battle in array with an
army of valiant men of war, even four hundred
SOLDIER'S PO CKET-BIBLE, 19
thousand chosen men; Jeroboam also set the
battle in array against him with eight hun-
dred thousand chosen men, being mighty men
of valor. And Abijah stood up upon mount
Zemaraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam
and all Israel. Ye think to withstand the
kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of
David; and ye be a great multitude, and there
are with you golden calves, which Jerobo-
am made you for gods. But as for us, the
Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken
him; and behold, God himself is with us for
our captain. O children of Israel, fight ye
not against the Lord God of your fathers, for
ye shall not prosper. But Jeroboam caused
an ambushment to come about behind them.
And when Judah looked back, behold, the
battle was before and behind; and they cried
unto the Lord, and the priests sounded with
the trumpets. Then the men of Judah gave
a shout ; and as the men of Judah shouted, it
came to pass that God Smote Jeroboam and all
Israel before Abijah and Judah. And Abijah
and his people slew them with a great slaugh-
ter; so that there fell down slain of Israel five
20 SOLDIER,” S P O C KET-BIBLE.
hundred thousand chosen men. 2 Chron. 13:
3, 4, 8, 10–17.
And Asa had an army of men that bare targets
and spears, out of Judah three hundred thou-
sand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields
and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thou-
sand: all these were mighty men of valor. And
there came out against them Zerah the Ethio-
pian, with a host of a thousand thousand, and
three hundred chariots. Then Asa went out
against him, and they set the battle in array in
the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa.
cried unto the Lord his God, and Said, Lord, it
is nothing with thee to help, whether with many,
or with them that have no power: help us, O
Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy
name we go against this multitude. O Lord,
thou art our God; let not man prevail against
thee. 2 Chron. 14:8–11.
AND LET sold IERS AND ALL OF US KNOW, THAT THE
VERY NIC K OF TIME THAT GOD HATH PROMISED US
HELP, Is WHEN WE SEE NO HELP IN MAN
In the mount of the Lord it shall be secn.
Gen. 22:14.
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye
not; stand still, and see the Salvation of the
SOLDIER'S PO C.I. ET- BIBLE. 2].
Lord, which he will show to you to-day. The
Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your
peace. Exod. 14:13. -
O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we
have no might against this great company that
cometh against us; neither know we what to
do: but our eyes are upon thee. 2 Chr. 20:12.
Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set
yourselves, stand ye still, and see the Salvation
of the Lord with you. Wer. 17.
To me belongeth vengeance and recompense:
their foot shall slide in due time; for the day
of their calamity is at hand, and the things that
shall come upon them make haste. For the
Lord shall judge his people, and repent him-
self for his servants, when he seeth that their
power is gone, and there is none shut up or left.
Deut. 32:35, 36.
For my strength is made perfect in weak-
ness. 2 Cor. 12:9.
Not by might, nor by power, but by my
Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Zech. 4:6.
For the oppression of the poor, for the sigh-
ing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the
Lord; I will set him in Safety from him that
puffeth at him. Psa. 12:5.
22 SOLDIER,” S P O C KET-B IBLE.
Now will I rise, saith the Lord; now will I
be exalted; now will I lift up myself. Isa.
33 : 10.
WHEREFORE, IF OUR FORCES BE WEAKENED, AND THE
ENEMY STRENGTHENED, THEN LET SOLDIERS AND
ALL OF Us KNOW THAT NOW WB HAVE A PROMISE
OF GOD 2S HELP W HICH WIE HAD NOT WHEN WE
WERE STRONGER ; AND THEREFORE LET US PRAY
MORE CONFIDENTI, Y.
O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have wait-
ed for thee: be thou their arm every morning,
our Salvation also in the time of trouble. Isa.
33: 2.
Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring
him unto his people; let his hands be sufficient
for him, and be thou a help to him from his
enemies. Deut. 33: 7.
I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but
there was no man that would know me: refuge
failed me; no man cared for my soul. I cried
unto thee, O Lord; I said, Thou art my refuge.
Psa. 142:4, 5. w - -
Be not far from me, for trouble is near; there
is none to help. Psa. 22:11. -
Remember not against us former iniquities:
let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us; for
we are brought very low. Psa. 79:8.
SOLDIER,” S P O C KET- B IIBLE. 23
Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand
up for my help. Psa. 35:2.
Help us, O God of our salvation, for the
glory of thy name. Psa. 79:9.
AND LET SOLDIERS AND ALL OF US KNOW, THAT II?
WE OBTAIN ANY VICTORY OVER OUR ENEMIES, IT Is
OUR DUTY TO GIVE ALL THE GLORY TO THE LORD,
AND SAY :
The Lord is a man of war; JEHOVAH is his
name. Thy right hand, O Lord, is become
glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord,
hath dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the
greatness of thine excellency thou hast over-
thrown them that rose up against thee. Exod.
15:3, 6, 7.
This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous
in our eyes. Psa. 118:23.
For the Lord fought for Israel. Josh. 10:14.
Therefore I will look unto the Lord. Micah
7 : 7.
Who delivered us from so great a death.
2 Cor. 1:10.
Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and
praise thy glorious name. 1 Chron. 29:13.
Seeing that thou our God hast punished us
less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given
*
24 SOLDIER'S PO C R. ET-BIBLE.
us such deliverance as this, should we again
break thy commandments? Ezra 9:13, 14.
I will walk before the Lord in the land of
the living. Psa. 116:9. -
I have sworn, and I will perform it, that
I will keep thy righteous judgments. PEa.
119 : 106. -

AN
HISTORICAL RESEARCH
RESPECTING THII.
OPINIONS OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE REPUBLIC
ON, NEGROES AS SLAVES, AS CITIZENS,
AND AS SOLDIERs.
READ BEFORE THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
AUGUST 14, 1862.
BY
GEORGE LIVERMORE.
B O S T O N :
PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON.
1862.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
AUGUST MEETING, 1862.
I} X 'I' R A C T I'I& O M T H E IR I. C. O R D S.
A stated monthly meeting was held this day, Thursday, August
14th. In the absence of the President (the Hon. Robert C.
WINTHROP), Colonel THOMAS ASPINWALL, one of the Vice-Presi-
dents, took the chair.
Mr. LIVERMORE communicated a paper (portions of which he
had read at the July meeting) “On the Opinions of the Founders
of the Republic respecting Negroes as Slaves, as Citizens, and as
Soldiers.” - -
Mr. Norton moved, That the thanks of the Society be presented
to Mr. Livermore, and that a special Committee be appointed to
print the paper at the expense of the Society.
Defore this motion was put, Mr. LIVERMORE remarked, that he
began his research as an individual effort, intending to print a few
copies only, for private distribution. He had brought the subject
before the Society at the July meeting, that he might receive aid
or suggestions from members who were present. At the request of
many members of the Society he had extended his investigations;
and, as they desired, had now offered the results of his researches.
He hoped he might be permitted to carry out his original purpose
of printing the paper, at his own expense, for gratuitous distribu-
tion. He should, if such was the pleasure of the meeting, print it
as a paper read before the Massachusetts Historical Society.
He would take this occasion to mention, that, being in New
York a few weeks since, he had made known his plan and pur-

iv. EXTRACT FROM THE RECORDS OF
pose to his friend, George H. Moore, Esq., the Librarian of the
New-York Historical Society, who was so much impressed with
the importance of the subject at the present time, and the duty
of historical students to aid in informing the public mind
thereon, that he immediately prepared and published a pamphlet
entitled “Historical Notes on the Employment of Negroes in the
Army of the Revolution,” which has attracted much attention.
Mr. EVERETT expressed the gratification with which he had lis-
tened to a paper containing so much valuable information, and
hoped that it might be printed in the manner most agreeable to
Mr. Livermore. He suggested that the motion of Mr. Norton be
so modified as to obviate the objections raised by Mr. Livermore.
He hoped, if consistent with his plan, that Mr. Livermore would
extend his researches so as to include the services of colored sea-
men in the American Navy. Mr. Everett related an anecdote of
an aged slave, the last of his class, showing the mildness of slavery
in Massachusetts before its final extinction. -
Mr. WATERSTON, Secretary pro tempore of the July meeting,
said he had made known the proceedings of that meeting to
the venerable senior member of the Society, the Hon. Josiah
Quincy, who, though unable at present to attend the meetings,
retains a deep interest in all the Society’s transactions. He had
just received from him a letter, which he begged leave to present
to the Society : —
“QUINCY, Aug. 9, 1862.
“Rev. R. C. WATERSTON,
“DEAR SIR,-Your letter of this date communicates to me the
purpose of Mr. Livermore to collect and publish documents on the
subject of Slavery and Negro Soldiers, originating from the great
men who were guides of public affairs at the time of the American
Revolution. I should regard such a publication as useful and
desirable, and I heartily wish Mr. Livermore success; and I shall be
happy, according to my means, in aiding him in his purpose.
“In respect to the general subject of slavery, I apprehend he will
find very little favorable to the institution among the relics of the
great men of that period.
“Disgust at it was so general, as to be little less than universal.
Among slaveholders, the language and hope of putting an end
THE MASSA CHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. V
to the evil as soon as possible was on all their tongues; but, alas !
it was far from being in all their hearts. Some of the leaders saw
the advantages derived from it by the unity and identity of action
and motive to which it tended, and its effect in making five States
move in phalanx over the Free States. They clung to the insti-
tution for the sake of power over the other States of the Union ;
and, while they were open in decrying it, they were assiduous in
promoting its interests and extending its influence.
“By constantly declaring a detestation of slavery, they threw
dust into the eyes of the people of the Free States; while they never
ceased to seize every opportunity to embarrass the measures which
would advance the interests of the Free States, and at the same
time to strengthen and extend the interests of the Slave States.
We can trace their policy in history. We now realize the result.
“With all their pretensions, the leading slaveholders never
lost sight, for one moment, of perpetuating its existence and its
power.
“Truly and respectfully yours,
“JosLAH QUINCY.”
Mr. WASHIBURN spoke with interest of the letter which had
just been read, remarkable as coming from a gentleman of such
experience, and at so advanced a period of life. He then gave
several historical facts which had come to his knowledge when
writing his “History of Leicester,” corroborating the statement of
Mr. Livermore respecting the common practice of using negroes
as soldiers during the war of the American Revolution.
The vote thanking Mr. Livermore for his paper, and commit-
ting the manuscript to him, to be printed in the manner most
agreeable to him, was unanimously adopted.
RICHARD FROTHINGHAM,
Secretary pro tem.
N O T F.
IN the reading of the following paper before the
Massachusetts Historical Society, many of the docu-
ments now printed were necessarily omitted, or but
briefly alluded to. In order to make room for these
without unduly increasing the size of this pamphlet,
some of the remarks in the original paper have been
left out. Though the special object of this research
was to ascertain the views of the Founders of our
Republic, it has been thought pertinent, in relation
to the employment of negroes as soldiers, to present
also some evidence of the opinions and practice of
contemporary British officers in America. Many ap-
propriate documents, equally illustrative of the whole
subject, have been passed by ; but it is believed that
what are given will suffice to show impartially the
general state of public sentiment at the time when
our Government was established.
G. L.
BOSTON, October, 1862.
(; O N T E N T S.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS . . . . . . . . . . . . 1–3
I.
OPINIONS OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE REPUBLIC RESPECTING
NEGROES AS SLAVES AND AS CITIZENS.
INTRODUCTION, SHOWING THE PRESENT STATE OF THE QUES-
TION e º e º º G e e © º - - * e - º e º º 3–18
Views of Mr. Jefferson Davis . . . . . . . . . . . 4–5
Differing views of Mr. Alexander H. Stephens . . . . . 5–6
Chief-Justice Taney's assertions . . . . . . . . . . 7–8
Mr. Justice McLean’s reply to them . . . . . . . . . 9–10
Ground maintained by Mr. Justice Curtis . . . . . . . 10–12
Judge Gaston of North Carolina cited by him . . . . 11–12
Mr. George Bancroft's comments on Chief-Justice Taney's
assertions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13–15
Mr. Edward Everett's strictures on the views of Mr. Jefferson
Davis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15–18
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN 1776 . . . 19–32
Contemporary opinion on slavery, as shown from the history of
the Declaration of Independence, 19–28.
Mr. Jefferson, 21–24. — Mr. Adams, 24. — Lord Mahon's error
as to the Southern Colonies, proved by Mr. Force from the history
of the Continental Association of 1774, 25–28.
Doctrine of the Declaration of Independence re-affirmed in the
Constitutions, and acted upon in the Courts, of several of the States
before the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 28–32.
b
X CONTENTS.
THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION IN 1778 . . . . . 33–34
Free negroes regarded in them as citizens, 33. – Representation
by New Jersey to Congress on the subject, 34.
THE FEDERAL CONVENTION AND THE CONSTITUTION . . 35–78
Opinions on slavery with which some of the framers of the Consti-
tution came to their work, 36–61. —Opinion of Washington before
as well as after the Convention, 36–39; he sympathizes with Lafayette
in his views of slavery, 40–42; his last will, 42–44. — Opinion of
Franklin, 44–54. — Opinion of John Adams, 54. — Mr. Jefferson's
opinion, 55–60. — Mr. Gadsden's opinion, 60. — Mr. Henry Laurens's
opinion, 61.
Opinions of the framers of the Constitution expressed in debate in
the Federal Convention, 62–78. — Mr. Pinckney of South Carolina,
64. — Mr. Sherman, 64. — Mr. Ellsworth, 65. — Mr. Gouverneur
Morris, 66–68. — Mr. Rufus King, 68, 69. — Mr. Sherman, 69. —
Mr. Luther Martin, 69. — Mr. John Rutledge, 70. — Mr. Ellsworth,
70. — Mr. Charles Pinckney, 70. — Mr. Sherman, 70, 71. — Colonel
George Mason, 71, 72. — Mr. Ellsworth, 72. — Mr. Charles Pinck-
ney, 72. — General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 72, 73. — Mr.
Abraham Baldwin, 73. — Mr. James Wilson, 73, 74. — Mr. Gerry, 74.
— Mr. Dickinson, 74. — Mr. Williamson, 74. — Mr. King, 74, 75. —
Mr. Langdon, 75. — General Pinckney, 75. — Mr. Rutledge, 75. —
Mr. Gouverneur Morris, 75. — Mr. Butler, 75. — Mr. Sherman, 75.
— Mr. Read, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Randolph, General Pinckney, Mr.
Gorham, Mr. Madison, 76. — Messrs. Morris, Mason, Sherman,
Clymer, Williamson, Morris, Dickinson, 77.
STATE CONVENTIONS FOR RATIFYING THE CONSTITUTION, 78–106
Debates in the Massachusetts Convention, 78–86. — New-Hamp-
shire Convention, 86–88. — Pennsylvania Convention, 88, 89. —
Maryland Legislature, 90–94. — Virginia Convention, 94-100. —
North-Carolina Convention, 100–104. — South-Carolina Legislature,
104–106.
- Two letters concerning the Constitution, written in 1788: one by
Dr. Ramsay of Charleston, S.C.; and the other by the Rev. Dr.
Hopkins of Newport, R.I., 106–108.
Opinion of Dr. Paley, in 1785, on slavery, and the probable effect
upon it of “the great Revolution which had taken place in the
Western World,” 110.
CONTENTS. Xi
II.
OPINIONS OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE REPUBLIC RESPECTING
NEGROES AS SOLDIERS.
The practical importance of this branch of the subject at the
present time, 113, 114.
In Massachusetts, in the earlier stages of the Revolution, negroes
appear as acting with white citizens against the British, 114, 132. –
The “Boston Massacre” and Crispus Attucks, 115–118. — Peter
Salem fights at the battle of Bunker Hill, and is commemorated by
the artist, the historian, and the orator, 118–121. — Petition of Colo-
nel Prescott and other officers to the General Court of Massachusetts
for a reward to another “negro man,” Salem Poor, as “a brave and
gallant soldier,” who “behaved like an experienced officer” at Bun-
ker Hill, 121, 122. — Major Lawrence commands “a company, whose
rank and file are all negroes,” and who “fight with the most deter-
mined bravery,” 122–124. — Free negroes, and sometimes slaves,
took their place in the ranks with white men; afterwards, slaves must
be manumitted before becoming soldiers, 124, 125.
Opinion of the Rev. Dr. Hopkins in 1776, on the employment of
negroes as soldiers, 125, 126.
South Carolina, in 1775, enrols slaves in her militia as “pioneers
and laborers,” 126. —Belief, in South Carolina and Georgia, that the
negroes would join the British regular troops, 128. — General Gates
forbids the recruiting of negroes, 129. — Southern delegates to Con-
gress move in vain the discharge of negroes from the army, 129, 130.
— The Committee of Conference determine to reject them in the new
enlistment, 130. —Washington afterwards decides to license the en-
listment of the free negroes who had served faithfully, 131. – His
decision approved by Congress, 131. — General Thomas's praise of
the negro soldiers in the Massachusetts regiments, 132.
Account of Lord Dunmore's celebrated Proclamation in Virginia
in 1775, and its effect, 132–140. — Public appeal to the negroes to
stand by their masters, 136–138. — The Virginia Convention answer
the Proclamation, and declare pardon to slaves who had taken up
arms, 138, 139.
(1776.) The British form a negro regiment at Staten Island, 141.
— The Massachusetts Legislature forbid the sale of negroes taken
prisoners from the British, 142.
xii
CONTENTS.
(1777.) Testimony of a Hessian officer, that there was “no
regiment to be seen in which there were not negroes in abundance,”
142, 143. — Capture of the British Major-General Prescott by Colonel
Barton, with the help of the negro man Prince, 143, 144. Dr.
Thacher’s account of it, 144, 145.
(1777.) Account of the employment of negro soldiers by the
State of Connecticut, 145–150.
(1778.) Account of their employment by the State of Rhode
Island, 150–159. — Act for raising a negro regiment, 152–154. —
Distinguished services rendered by Colonel Greene's black regiment
in the battle of Rhode Island, 158. — Chastellux’s account of this
regiment in 1781, 159. — Its subsequent heroic defence of Colonel
Greene, 159.
(1778.) Action of the State of Massachusetts on the subject,
159–162. — Precedent in her early legislation, negroes having been
obliged to train in the militia with white men in 1652, 159. — Propo-
sal of Thomas Kench to raise a separate corps of negroes in the
spring of 1778, 160–162. — Referred to a joint committee of the
General Court, together with a copy of the Rhode-Island act, 162. —
Their report favorable, embodying the draught of a law, 162. — The
subject of a separate corps allowed to subside, and the usage conti-
nued of having negroes “intermixed with white men,” 162.
Action of the State of Maryland on the subject, 163.
Action of the State of New York, 163.
(1779.) The employment of negroes as soldiers almost everywhere
prevailed, except in the States of Georgia and South Carolina, 164.—
Why they were exceptions, 164–167. — A vigorous effort in Congress
to secure the enrolment of black troops in those States, 167. — The
measure advocated by Colonel John Laurens, and by his father, Henry
Laurens, 167. Henry Laurens's letter to Washington, 167, 168. —
Washington, in reply, suggests doubts as to the policy of arming the
slaves at the South, unless the enemy set the example; but says he
has never given much thought to the subject, 168.
(1779.) Alexander Hamilton heartily supports the measure, 168.
— His strong letter to John Jay, President of Congress, 169, 170. —
Congress refers the matter to a special committee; afterwards passes
resolutions, recommending to South Carolina and Georgia to raise a
force of “three thousand able-bodied negroes; ” and commissions
Colonel Laurens to repair to the South on this business, 170–173. —
He writes to Washington that General Prevost, at Savannah, is
“re-enforced by a corps of blacks,” 174.
CONTENTS. xiii
(1779.) Sir Henry Clinton's Proclamation in consequence of
“the enemy's having adopted the practice of enrolling negroes among
their troops,” 175.
Lord Cornwallis issues a proclamation, encouraging slaves to
join the British army, 175. — Mr. Jefferson's account of Cornwallis's
cruelty to those who joined his army, 175, 176.
(1780.) General Lincoln seconds Colonel Laurens in urging the
government of South Carolina to raise black troops, 177. — Mr.
Madison advocates the policy of “liberating and making soldiers at
once of the blacks themselves,” instead of “making them instru-
ments for enlisting white soldiers,” 178.
(1781.) General Greene writes to Washington, that in South Caro-
lina “the enemy have ordered two regiments of negroes to be imme-
diately embodied,” 178.
(1782.) Colonel Laurens, on his return from France, renews his
efforts to induce South Carolina and Georgia to raise black troops,
178–181. — His letters to Washington on the subject, and Washing-
ton's reply, 179–181.
(1782.) Colonel Humphreys continued to the end of the war to
be the nominal captain of a company of colored infantry, raised in
Connecticut by his influence before he became aid-de-camp to Wash-
ington, 181.
(1782.) Letter to Lord Dunmore from Mr. Cruden, proposing a
plan for raising ten thousand black troops, 182–186. — Letter of
Lord Dunmore to Sir Henry Clinton, approving the scheme, vouch-
ing for the excellence of such troops, and declaring his perfect
willingness “to hazard his reputation and person in the execution of
the plan,” 187–189.
(1782.) Lord Dunmore writes to England, that the raising of a
brigade of negroes was negatived by a few voices in the Assembly of
South Carolina, and would probably be carried at a future day,
189, 190.
(1782.) General Greene proposes to the Governor of South
Carolina a plan for raising black regiments, 190, 191. — Judge John-
son's remarks on this plan, and on negroes as soldiers, 192, 193. —
Importance of the mature opinions of the preceding British and
American military authorities, 193.
(1783.) Washington's scrupulous regard for the rights of his
negro soldiers on their leaving the service, 194.
xiv.
CONTENTS.
(A.)
(B.)
(C.)
(D.)
(E.)
(1783.) The State of Virginia passes an act securing the freedom
of all slaves who had served in the army, 195, 196.
(1786.) Virginia passes a special act to pay for and emancipate a
slave who had “faithfully executed important commissions intrusted
to him by the Marquis Lafayette,” 197.
Later testimonies to the competency of negroes to become good
soldiers, 197–199. — Dr. Eustis, a surgeon throughout the war of the
Revolution, 198, 199. — Charles Pinckney of South Carolina, 199.
Concluding remarks, 200.
A P P E N D IX.
Negroes in the Navy .
Flag of a Negro Military Company in Boston.
Negro Regiments in the State of New York .
General Jackson's Proclamation to the Negroes .
Negro Soldiers under Monarchical Governments.
203
206
207
210
213
NEGROES AS SLAVES AND AS CITIZENS.
“We cannot put the negro out. This remark serves as a complete stopper to all
the crimination and recrimination so freely indulged in between parties on the sol-
emn point, — which of the two first brought the negro in. Let them rest quiet here-
after on this topic. The negro was in before they began to talk about him at all.
He will stay in, whether they choose to talk about him or not. He will grow in
more and more, even while they are sleeping. To deprecate the misfortune is as
idle as to complain of the force of the waters of Niagara. The subject is before us;
and it is our duty to face the consideration of its proportions like statesmen, and
not to imagine, that, if we will only shut our eyes to it, it is not there; still less to
Suppose that either lamentation or anger, agitation or silence, will in any respect
materially change the nature of the great problem which North America is inevi-
tably doomed to solve. From the decree of Divine Providence there is no appeal.” —
Speech of the Hon. Charles Francis Adams, May 31, 1860, in the U. S. House of Rep-
resentatives. -
HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
IN this time of our country's trial, when its Consti-
tution, and even its continued national existence, is
in peril, and the people are beginning to be aroused
to the magnitude of the work to be done, all other
subjects dwindle into comparative insignificance.
Loyal men, of every calling in life, are laying aside
their chosen and accustomed private pursuits, and
devoting themselves, heart and hand, to the common
cause. As true patriots, then, we, members of the
MAssACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, should do some-
thing more than comply, as good citizens, with all
the requirements of the Constitution and the laws:
we must study, in the light of history, and by the
traditions of those who originally founded and at
first administered the Government, the fundamental
principles on which it was based, and the paramount
objects for which it was established. Having done
this, it may not be amiss for us to offer the results of
our historical researches to others not having the
leisure or the opportunity to investigate for them-
selves. All partisan and personal prejudice should
1
2 - HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
now be abjured, and all sectional sentiments and
views should yield to the broad and patriotic purpose
of ascertaining, asserting, and doing our whole duty
as citizens of the United States, desirous of restoring
the Union to its original completeness for its true
purpose. †
This will not be the first time that our Society
has endeavored, from the records of the past, to
throw light on the path of the Government in the
legislative and military action of the present. We
were not long since called together specially to
contribute, from an historical point of view, our aid
in guiding public opinion; and the publication of
the “Report on the Exchange of Prisoners during
the American Revolution,” read at that meeting,
was warmly welcomed, as a timely and serviceable
act. -
Although there is a wide difference of opinion as
to the cause of the rebellion, or rather as to the
persons on whom rests the responsibility of having
brought on this terrible civil war, yet all are agreed,
that, if negro slavery had not existed in this country,
we should now be in a condition of peace and pros-
perity.
I have thought that I could not, at this time,
perform a more useful duty, as a member of the
Society, than by preparing a documentary paper of
carefully edited authorities, relating to NEGROEs as
slaves, as citizens, and as soldiers, – in order to show
what were the principles and the practice of the Foun-
SLAVERY THE CAUSE OF THE REBELLION. 3
ders of the Republic, and thus to ascertain who have
been unfaithful to the “compromises of the Consti-
tution,” and to the principles upon which the Union
was based, and for which the Government was esta-
blished.
In doing this, I shall endeavor to act simply as an
historical inquirer, without any attempt to enforce
sentiments or theories of my own. It is my purpose
to present the simple records of the opinion and ac-
tion of persons who have acknowledged claims to be
considered as authorities.
As an appropriate introduction to the task I have
proposed to myself, of producing some of the re-
corded opinions of those who were eminently the
Founders of the Republic, I proceed to set forth,
by authentic citations, the modern doctrine which has
given occasion for this research, and also the most
important refutations of that doctrine which have yet
appeared. These, taken together, will exhibit the
present state of the great question as to its first two
branches; namely, the opinions held in relation to
negroes as slaves and as citizens before, during, and
some time after, the formation of the Government of
the United States.
It is a noticeable fact, that, while the Southern
leaders of the rebellion uniformly denounce the North
for having denied to them their guarantied rights
under the Constitution, they are widely at variance
when they come to specify their grievances.
4. HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Jefferson
Davis.
Mr. Jefferson Davis, on the 29th of April, 1861, in
his Message, says: —
“When the several States delegated certain powers to
the United-States Congress, a large portion of the laboring
population were imported into the colonies by the mother-
country. In twelve out of the fifteen States, negro slavery
existed; and the right of property existing in slaves was
protected by law. This property was recognized in the
Constitution ; and provision was made against its loss by
the escape of the slave.
“The increase in the number of slaves by foreign
importation from Africa was also secured, by a clause for-
bidding Congress to prohibit the slave-trade anterior to a
certain date; and in no clause can there be found any
delegation of power to the Congress to authorize it in any
manner to legislate to the prejudice, detriment, or discour-
agement of the owners of that species of property, or ex-
cluding it from the protection of the Government.
“The climate and soil of the Northern States soon proved
unpropitious to the continuance of slave-labor ; while the
reverse being the case at the South, made unrestricted free
intercourse between the two sections unfriendly.
“The Northern States consulted their own interests, by
selling their slaves to the South, and prohibiting slavery
between their limits. The South were willing purchasers
of property suitable to their wants; and paid the price of
the acquisition, without harboring a suspicion that their
quiet possession was to be disturbed by those who were not
only in want of constitutional authority, but by good faith
as vendors, from disquieting a title emanating from them-
selves. -
“As soon, however, as the Northern States that prohi-
bited African slavery within their limits had reached a
number sufficient to give their representation a controlling
vote in the Congress, a persistent and organized system of
ANTISLAVERY SENTIMENT IN 1776.
5
hostile measures against the rights of the owners of slaves
in the Southern States was inaugurated, and gradually
extended. A series of measures was devised and prose-
cuted for the purpose of rendering insecure the tenure of
property in slaves.
“With interests of such overwhelming magnitude imper-
illed, the people of the Southern States were driven by
the conduct of the North to the adoption of some course of
action to avoid the dangers with which they were openly
menaced. With this view, the Legislatures of the several
States invited the people to select delegates to conventions
to be held for the purpose of determining for themselves
what measures were best to be adopted to meet so alarm-
ing a crisis in their history.”—Moore's Rebellion Record,
vol. i. ; Documents, pp. 168, 169.
It is not necessary for us to go out of the so-called
Southern Confederacy, nor far from the presence of
its pretended President, to refute this accusation of
change in principle or in policy on the part of the
North.
The associate of Mr. Davis, Mr. Alexander H.
Stephens (Vice-President, as he is called,) thus frankly
avows his sentiments in a speech, delivered at Savan-
nah, on the 21st of March, 1861 : —
Jefferson
3.VIS.
“The new Constitution has put at rest for ever all the Alex. H.
agitating questions relating to our peculiar institutions, -
African slavery as it exists among us, the proper status of
the negro in our form of civilization. This was the imme-
diate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. JEF-
FERSON, in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the ‘rock
upon which the old Union would split.’ He was right.
Stephens.
(; HISTORICAL IRESEARCH.
Alex. II.
Stevens.
What was conjecture with him is now a realized fact. Dut
whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which
that rock stood and Stands, may be doubted. The prevailing
ideas entertained by him, and most of the leading statesmen
at the time of the formation of the old Constitution, were, that
the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of
anature; that it was wrong in principle, Socially, morally, and
politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal
with ; but the general opinion of the men of that day was,
that, somehow or other, in the order of Providence, the
institution would be evanescent, and pass away. This idea,
though not incorporated in the Constitution, was the pre-
vailing idea at the time. The Constitution, it is true,
secured every essential guarantee to the institution while
it should last ; and hence no argument can be justly used
against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because
of the common sentiment of the day. Those ideas, how-
ever, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the
assumption of the equality of races. This was an error.
It was a sandy foundation; and the idea of a government
built upon it, — when the ‘storm came and the wind blew,
it ſell.’ -
“Our new government is ſounded upon eacactly the oppo-
site ideas : its foundations are laid, its corner-Stone rests,
wpon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white
man ; that slavery, Subordination to the Superior race, is his
matural and moral [normal?] condition. [Applause.] This,
our mew government, is the first, in the history of the world,
based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.
This truth has been slow in the process of its development,
like all other truths in the various departments of science.
It is so, even amongst us. Many who hear me, perhaps,
can recollect well that this truth was not generally admitted,
even within their day.”— Moore's Rebellion. Itecord, vol. i.;
Documents, p. 45.
HAD NEGROES FORMERLY ANY RIGHTS 7 7
This ought to be sufficient to put at rest for ever the
accusation of change of opinion, and of unfaithful-
ness to the original compromises of the Constitution
and to the spirit of the founders of our Government.
But it is a lamentable fact, that there are not wanting
amongst us men, claiming to be friends of the Union
and the Constitution, who yet, through ignorance or
recklessness, continue to violate the truth of history
on this subject. §
Without referring more particularly to political
writers and speakers of this class, I would call atten-
tion to the well-known words of the Chief-Justice of
the United-States Supreme Court, in the celebrated
case of Dred Scott, at the December Term, 1856.
Judge Taney's language is as follows : —
“Can a negro, whose ancestors were imported into this Ghieſ.ºu.
country, and sold as slaves, become a member of the politi-
cal community formed and brought into existence by the
Constitution of the United States, and as such become
entitled to all the rights, and privileges, and immunities
guarantied by that instrument to the citizen? One of which
rights is the privilege of suing in a court of the United
States in the cases specified in the Constitution.
“The question before us is, whether the class of persons
described in the plea in abatement compose a portion of
this people, and are constituent members of this sovereign-
ty ? We think they are not, and that they are not included,
and were not intended to be included, under the word
‘citizens’ in the Constitution, and can therefore claim
none of the rights and privileges which that instrument
tice Tamey.
8 HISTORICAI, RESEARCH.
§.º. provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.
On the contrary, they were at that time considered as a
subordinate and inferior class of beings, who had been sub-
jugated by the dominant race, and, whether emancipated
or not, yet remained subject to their authority, and had no
rights or privileges but such as those who held the power
and the Government might choose to grant them.
“They had for more than a century before been re-
garded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit
to associate with the white race, either in social or political
relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which
the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro
might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his
benefit. He was bought and sold, and treated as an Ordi-
nary article of merchandise and traffic, whenever a profit
could be made by it. This opinion was at that time fixed
and universal in the civilized portion of the white race. It
was regarded as an axiom in morals as well as in politics,
which no one thought of disputing, or supposed to be open
to dispute; and men, in every grade and position in society,
daily and habitually acted upon it in their private pursuits,
as well as in matters of public concern, without doubting
for a moment the correctness of this opinion.”— Howard's
Reports, vol. xix. pp. 403-405, 407. sº
* This remarkable assertion is in direct violation
of historic truth. It shocked the moral sentiment of
our own community, and excited the indignant rebuke
of some of the most eminent Jurists and Statesmen of
Europe, who declared the sentiments to be “so ea-
ecrable as to be almost incredible.” It was promptly
met and answered by Judge McLean of Ohio, and
Judge Curtis of Massachusetts, Associate Justices of
the United-States Supreme Court.
SLAVERY SECTIONAL, NOT NATIONAL. 9
Mr. Justice McLean, in his elaborate opinion,
says: —
ninth section of the first article of the Constitution, it is
provided ‘ that the migration or importation of such per-
sons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to
admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the
year 1808; but a tax, or duty, may be imposed on such
importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.’
“In the Convention, it was proposed by a committee of
eleven to limit the importation of slaves to the year 1800,
when Mr. Pinckney moved to extend the time to the year
1808. This motion was carried, - New Hampshire, Mas-
sachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, South
Carolina, and Georgia voting in the affirmative; and New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, in the negative. In
opposition to the motion, Mr. Madison said: “Twenty years
will produce all the mischief that can be apprehended from
the liberty to import slaves. So long a term will be more
dishonorable to the American character than to say nothing
about it in the Constitution.” (Madison Papers.)
“We need not refer to the mercenary spirit which in-
troduced the infamous traffic in slaves, to show the degra-
dation of negro slavery in our country. This system was
imposed upon our colonial settlements by the mother
country; and it is due to truth to say, that the commercial
colonies and States, were chiefly engaged in the traffic.
But we know as a historical fact, that James Madison, that
great and good man, a leading member in the Federal Con-
vention, was solicitous to guard the language of that
instrument so as not to convey the idea that there could be
property in man.
“I prefer the lights of Madison, Hamilton, and Jay, as a
means of construing the Constitution in all its bearings,
“Slavery is emphatically a State institution. In the #.
€3.Il.
2
10 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Judge
McLean.
Judge
Curtis.
rather than to look behind that period into a traffic which
is now declared to be piracy, and punished with death by
Christian nations. I do not like to draw the sources of our
domestic relations from so dark a ground. Our independ-
ence was a great epoch in the history of freedom ; and
while I admit the Government was not made especially for
the colored race, yet many of them were citizens of the
New-England States, and exercised the rights of suffrage,
when the Constitution was adopted; and it was not doubted
by any intelligent person that its tendencies would greatly
ameliorate their condition.
“Many of the States, on the adoption of the Constitu-
tion, or shortly afterward, took measures to abolish slavery
within their respective jurisdictions; and it is a well-known
fact, that a belief was cherished by the leading men, South
as well as North, that the institution of slavery would grad-
ually decline, until it would become extinct. The in-
creased value of slave labor, in the culture of cotton and
sugar, prevented the realization of this expectation. Like
all other communities and States, the South were influenced
by what they considered to be their own interests.
“But, if we are to turn our attention to the dark ages of
the world, why confine our view to colored slavery 7 On
the same principles, white men were made slaves. All
slavery has its origin in power, and is against right.”—
Howard's Reports, vol. xix. pp. 536–538.
The following is a part of the conclusive dissenting
opinion of Mr. Justice Curtis: —
“To determine whether any free persons, descended from
Africans held in slavery, were citizens of the United States
under the Confederation, and consequently at the time of
the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, it is
only necessary to know whether any such persons were
citizens of either of the States under the Confederation, at
the time of the adoption of the Constitution.
NEGROES REGARDED AS CITIZENS. 11
“Of this there can be no doubt. At the time of the rati.
fication of the Articles of Confederation, all free native-born
inhabitants of the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina, though de-
scended from African slaves, were not only citizens of
those States, but such of them as had the other necessary
qualifications possessed the franchise of electors, on equal
terms with other citizens.
“The Supreme Court of North Carolina, in the case of
the State vs. Manuel (4 Dev. and Bat., 20), has declared
the law of that State on this subject, in terms which I be-
lieve to be as sound law in the other States I have enume-
rated, as it was in North Carolina.
“‘According to the laws of this State,’ says Judge Gas-
ton, in delivering the opinion of the court, ‘all human
beings within it, who are not slaves, fall within one of two
classes. Whatever distinctions may have existed in the
Roman laws between citizens and free inhabitants, they are
unknown to our institutions. Before our Revolution, all
free persons born within the dominions of the King of
Great Britain, whatever their color or complexion, were
native-born British subjects, – those born out of his alle-
giance were aliens. Slavery did not exist in England, but
it did in the British colonies. Slaves were not in legal
parlance persons, but property. The moment the incapa-
city, the disqualification of slavery, was removed, they
became persons; and were then either British subjects, or
not British subjects, according as they were or were not
born within the allegiance of the British King. Upon the
Revolution, no other change took place in the laws of
North Carolina than was consequent on the transition from
a colony dependent on a European King, to a free and
sovereign State. Slaves remained slaves. British subjects
in North Carolina became North Carolina freemen. For-
eigners, until made members of the State, remained aliens.
Slaves, manumitted here, became freemen ; and therefore,
Judge
Curtis.
Judge
Gaston
cited.
12 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Judge
Curtis.
if born within North Carolina, are citizens of North Caro-
lina; and all free persons born within the State are born
citizens of the State. The Constitution extended the
elective franchise to every freeman who had arrived at
the age of twenty-one, and paid a public tax; and it is a
matter of universal notoriety, that, under it, free persons,
without regard to color, claimed and exercised the fran-
chise, until it was taken from free men of color a few years
since by our amended Constitution.’
“It has been often asserted, that the Constitution was
made exclusively by and for the white race. It has already
been shown, that, in five of the thirteen original States,
colored persons then possessed the elective franchise, and
were among those by whom the Constitution was ordained
and established. If so, it is not true, in point of fact, that
the Constitution was made exclusively by the white race.
And that it was made exclusively for the white race is, in
my opinion, not only an assumption not warranted by any
thing in the Constitution, but contradicted by its opening
declaration, that it was ordained and established by the
people of the United States, for themselves and their pos-
terity. And, as free colored persons were then citizens.of
at least five States, and so in every sense part of the peo-
ple of the United States, they were among those for whom
and whose posterity the Constitution was ordained and es-
tablished.”— Howard's Reports, vol. xix. pp. 572, 573, 582.
The Hon. George Bancroft, in his “Oration before
the Mayor, Common Council, and Citizens of New
York, on the 22d of February, 1862,” alluding to the
opinion of Judge Taney, notwithstanding his affini-
ties with the political party through which the Chief-
Justice was raised to his high station, thus speaks:–
JUDGE TANEY's OPINION REVIEWED. 13
“During all these convulsions, the United States stood
unchanged, admitting none but the slightest modifications
in its charter, and proving itself the most stable govern-
ment of the civilized world. But at last “we have fallen
on evil days.’ ‘The propitious smiles of Heaven,' such
are the words of Washington, ‘ can never be expected on
a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and
right.’ During eleven years of perverse government, those
rules were disregarded; and it came to pass that men who
should firmly avow the sentiments of Washington, and Jef.
ferson, and Franklin, and Chancellor Livingston, were
disfranchised for the public service; that the spotless Chief-
Justice whom Washington placed at the head of our Su-
preme Court could by no possibility have been nominated
for that office, or confirmed. Nay, the corrupt influence
invaded even the very home of justice. The final decree
of the Supreme Court, in its decision on a particular case,
must be respected and obeyed: the present Chief-Justice
has, on one memorable appeal, accompanied his decision
with an impassioned declamation, wherein, with profound
immorality, which no one has as yet fully laid bare, treat-
ing the people of the United States as a shrew to be tamed
by an open scorn of the facts of history, with a dreary
industry collecting cases where justice may have slum-
bered or weakness been oppressed, compensating for want
of evidence by confidence of assertion, with a partiality
that would have disgraced an advocate neglecting hu-
mane decisions of colonial courts and the enduring me-
morials of colonial statute-books, in his party zeal to prove
that the fathers of our country held the negro to have “no
rights which the white man was bound to respect,”. he has
not only denied the rights of man and the liberties of man-
kind, but has not left a foothold for the liberty of the white
man to rest upon.
“That ill-starred disquisition is the starting-point of this
rebellion, which, for a quarter of a century, had been
George
Bancroft.
14 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
George
Bancroft.
vainly preparing to raise its head. “When courts of jus-
tice fail, war begins.’ The so-called opinion of Taney,
who, I trust, did not intend to hang out the flag of dis.
union, that rash offence to the conscious memory of the
millions, upheaved our country with the excitement which
swept over those of us who vainly hoped to preserve a
strong and sufficient though narrow isthmus that might
stand between the conflicting floods. No nation can adopt
that judgment as its rule, and live : the judgment has in it
no element of political vitality. I will not say it is an invo-
cation of the dead past : there never was a past that
accepted such opinions. If we want the opinions received
in the days when our Constitution was framed, we will not
take them second-hand from our Chief-Justice: we will let
the men of that day speak for themselves. How will our
American magistrate sink, when arraigned, as he will be,
before the tribunal of humanity How terrible will be the
verdict against him, when he is put in comparison with
Washington's political teacher, the great Montesquieu,
the enlightened magistrate of France, in what are es-
teemed the worst days of her monarchy The argu-
ment from the difference of race which Taney thrusts
forward with passionate confidence, as a proof of complete
disqualification, is brought forward by Montesquieu as a
scathing satire on all the brood of despots who were
supposed to uphold slavery as tolerable in itself. The
rights of MANKIND — that precious word which had no equiv-
alent in the language of Hindostan, or Judaea, or Greece,
or Rome, or any ante-Christian tongue — found their sup-
porter in Washington and Hamilton, in Franklin and
Livingston, in Otis, George Mason, and Gadsden ; in all
the greatest men of our early history. The one rule from
which the makers of our first Confederacy, and then of our
national Constitution, never swerved, is this: to fix no
constitutional disability on any one. Whatever might
stand in the way of any man, from opinion, ancestry, weak-
THE SOUTH FORMERLY OPPOSED To SLAVERY. 15
ness of mind, inferiority or inconvenience of any kind, was
itself not formed into a permanent disfranchisement. The
Constitution of the United States was made under the
recognized influence of ‘the eternal rule of order and
right;" so that, as far as its jurisdiction extends, it raised at
once the numerous class who had been chattels into the
condition of persons: it neither originates nor perpetuates
inequality.”—Pulpit and Rostrum, 1862, pp. 104–107.
In refutation of the common charge, that the
North has changed its position on the subject of
slavery, I cannot forbear adding an extract from the
“Address of the Hon. Edward Everett, delivered in
New York, on the 4th of July, 1861.” In his own
matchless manner, Mr. Everett thus disposes of the
whole matter : —
“The Southern theory assumes, that, at the time of the
adoption of the Constitution, the same antagonism prevailed
as now between the North and South, on the general sub-
ject of slavery; that although it existed, to some extent, in
all the States but one of the Union, it was a feeble and
declining interest at the North, and mainly seated at the
South; that the soil and climate of the North were soon
found to be unpropitious to slave labor, while the reverse
was the case at the South ; that the Northern States, in
consequence, having from interested motives abolished sla-
very, sold their slaves to the South ; and that then, although
the existence of slavery was recognized, and its protection
guarantied, by the Constitution, as soon as the Northern
States had acquired a controlling voice in Congress, a per-
sistent and organized system of hostile measures against
the rights of the owners of slaves in the Southern States
was inaugurated, and gradually extended, in violation of the
compromises of the Constitution, as well as of the honor
George
Bancroft.
Edward
Everett.
16 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
#. and good faith tacitly pledged to the South by the manner
in which the North disposed of her slaves.
“Such, in substance, is the statement of Mr. Davis, in
his late message; and he then proceeds, seemingly as if
rehearsing the acts of this Northern majority in Congress,
to refer to the anti-slavery measures of the State Legisla.
tures, to the resolutions of abolition societies, to the passion-
ate appeals of the party press, and to the acts of lawless
individuals, during the progress of this unhappy agita-
tion. •
“Now, this entire view of the subject, with whatever
boldness it is affirmed, and with whatever persistency it is
repeated, is destitute of foundation. It is demonstrably
at war with the truth of history, and is contradicted by
facts known to those now on the stage, or which are mat-
ters of recent record. At the time of the adoption of the
Constitution, and long afterwards, there was, generally
speaking, no sectional difference of opinion between North
and South, on the subject of slavery. It was in both parts
of the country regarded, in the established formula of the
day, as ‘a social, political, and moral evil.” The general
feeling in favor of universal liberty and the rights of man,
wrought into fervor in the progress of the Revolution, nat-
urally strengthened the anti-slavery sentiment throughout
the Union. It is the South which has since changed, not the
North. The theory of a change in the Northern mind,
growing out of a discovery made Soon after 1789, that our
soil and climate were unpropitious to slavery (as if the
soil and climate then were different from what they had
always been), and a consequent sale to the South of the
slaves of the North, is purely mythical, - as groundless in
fact as it is absurd in statement. I have often asked for
the evidence of this last allegation, and I have never found
an individual who attempted even to prove it. But how-
ever this may be, the South at that time regarded slavery
as an evil, though a necessary One, and habitually spoke of
THE SOUTH FORMERLY OPPOSED TO STAVERY. 17
it in that light. Its continued existence was supposed to #.
º * > 3Verett.
depend on keeping up the African slave-trade; and South
as well as North, Virginia as well as Massachusetts, passed
laws to prohibit that traffic: they were, however, before
the Revolution, vetoed by the Royal Governors. One of
the first acts of the Continental Congress, unanimously
subscribed by its members, was an agreement neither to
import, nor purchase any slave imported, after the first of
December, 1774. In the Declaration of Independence, as
originally draughted by Mr. Jefferson, both slavery and the
slave-trade were denounced in the most uncompromising
language. In 1777, the traffic was forbidden in Virginia,
by State law, no longer subject to the veto of Royal Gover-
nors. In 1784, an ordinance was reported by Mr. Jeffer.
son to the old Congress, providing that after 1800 there
should be no slavery in any Territory ceded or to be ceded
to the United States. The ordinance failed at that time to
be enacted; but the same prohibition formed a part, by
general consent, of the ordinance of 1787 for the organiza-
tion of the North-western Territory. In his “ Notes on Vir-
ginia,’ published in that year, Mr. Jefferson depicted the
evils of slavery in terms of fearful import. In the same
year, the Constitution was framed. It recognized the ex-
istence of slavery; but the word was carefully excluded
from the instrument, and Congress was authorized to abol-
ish the traffic in twenty years. In 1796, Mr. St. George
Tucker, law-professor in William and Mary College, in
Virginia, published a treatise entitled ‘A Dissertation on
Slavery, with a Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it in
the State of Virginia.’ In the preface to the essay, he
speaks of the ‘abolition of slavery in this State as an ob-
ject of the first importance, not only to our moral character
and domestic peace, but even to our political salvation.’
In 1797, Mr. Pinkney, in the Legislature of Maryland,
maintained, that, ‘by the eternal principles of justice, no
man in the State has a right to hold his slave a single
3 -
18 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Edward
Everett.
hour.” In 1803, Mr. John Randolph, from a committee on
the subject, reported that the prohibition of slavery by the
ordinance of 1787 was “a measure wisely calculated to
promote the happiness and prosperity of the North-western
States, and to give strength and security to that extensive
frontier.” Under Mr. Jefferson, the importation of slaves
into the territories of Mississippi and Louisiana was pro-
hibited in advance of the time limited by the Constitution
for the interdiction of the slave-trade. When the Missouri
restriction was enacted, all the members of Mr. Monroe's
Cabinet — Mr. Crawford of Georgia, Mr. Calhoun of South
Carolina, and Mr. Wirt of Virginia — concurred with Mr.
Monroe in affirming its constitutionality. In 1832, after
the Southampton massacre, the evils of slavery were ex-
posed in the Legislature of Virginia, and the expediency
of its gradual abolition maintained, in terms as decided as
were ever employed by the most uncompromising agitator.
A bill for that object was introduced into the Assembly by
the grandson of Mr. Jefferson, and warmly supported by
distinguished politicians now on the stage. Nay, we have
the recent admission of the Vice-President of the seceding
Confederacy, that what he calls ‘the errors of the past
generation,” meaning the anti-slavery sentiments enter-
tained by Southern statesmen, “still clung to many as late
as twenty years ago.’” — pp. 31–33.
These extracts from the recorded opinions of the
learned associates of the Chief-Justice, the eminent
Historian, and the illustrious Statesman and Orator,
would seem to furnish a complete refutation of the
charges brought against the North for having changed
its policy or action, and violated some expressed or
implied agreement respecting the supposed sacred
and paramount rights of slavery.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 19
But, as historical inquirers, we should not impli-
citly receive the opinions or assertions of any author,
however eminent in position or however impartial in
judgment and truthful in statement he may be re-
garded, without referring to the original records, and
comparing the contemporary authorities. It is my
purpose to do this, to some extent, at the present
time.
The primal American Magna Charta, by which the Pºlº-
Founders of the Republic asserted the right of the ºpend-
people to form a constitution and government of
their own, was proclaimed on the 4th of July, 1776.
Its language is clear and explicit. The authors were
men of sense and of learning. They knew the mean-
ing of the words they used. Was it for “glittering
generalities” that they pledged their lives, their for-
tumes, and their sacred honor, or did they regard the
sentiments of that immortal document as solemn veri-
ties? In those times which tried men's souls, were
they guilty of attempting to amuse the fancy by a
rhetorical flourish, or, what is worse, to delude their
fellow-citizens by the merest cant, or did they in-
tend deliberately and reverently to publish to the
world their Political Confession of Faith, and to en-
deavor to show that faith by their works :
Happily for us and for the fair fame of those patri-
ots, they have left, in the record of their actions and
in their published correspondence, the clearest and
most comprehensive commentary on the instrument
they signed.
20 - HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Declara-
tion of
Independ-
CllC6.
The first article in the National Creed is so broad
and universal in its sentiments, that attempts have
often been made to narrow its meaning, and limit its
application : —
“We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men
are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life,
Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness; that, to secure these
rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
It has been truly said by Mr. Bancroft, “The heart
of Jefferson in writing the Declaration, and of Con-
gress in adopting it, beat for all humanity: the asser-
tion of right was made for all mankind and all coming
generations, without any exception whatever ; for
the proposition which admits of exceptions can never
be self-evident.”
The author, it is said, could never have intended
to have this language received in its literal signifi-
cance, for then it would have included in the Decla-
ration persons of African descent; while, at the time of
the writing of this document, negro slavery existed
in the Colonies, and the author of the paper was him-
self a slave-holder. Did Mr. Jefferson intend to con-
demn his own conduct, and that of his associates, by
announcing doctrines at variance with their lives
In Christian morals, the first step towards reforma-
tion is a conviction of sin ; and the second is con-
fession, and promise of amendment. The patriots
and sages who framed our form of government, in
CAPACITY AND RIGHTS OF NEGROES. 21
declaring their principles as political philosophers,
acted in like manner. They did not ignore the
fact, that colored men were held in bondage. They
did not attempt to conceal, much less to justify, the
offence. As, in the popular religious creed of their
day, all men, through Adam, had fallen from inno-
cence, and were guilty; so they felt, that, by the act
of their ancestors, they were themselves then acting in
violation of the natural and immutable laws of politi-
cal justice.
It should be borne in mind, that the Declaration of
Independence is not an ethnological essay, or a dis-
quisition on the physical or intellectual capacity of
the various races of men, but a grave announcement
of Human Rights.
Mr. Jefferson, in his “ Notes on Virginia,” has given
very fully his views of the physical, moral, and mental
capacities of negroes.
“The opinion that they are inferior in the faculties of Thºmas
reason and imagination must be hazarded with great diffi-
dence. To justify a general conclusion, requires many ob-
servations, even where the subject may be submitted to
the anatomical knife, to optical glasses, to analysis by fire
or by solvents. How much more, then, where it is a
faculty, not a substance, we are examining; where it eludes
the research of all the senses; where the conditions of its
existence are various, and variously combined; where the
effects of those which are present or absent bid defiance
to calculation ; let me add, too, as a circumstance of great
tenderness, where our conclusion would degrade a whole
race of men from the rank in the scale of beings which
efferson.
22 PHISTORICAL RESEARCHI.
Thomas
Jefferson.
their Creator may perhaps have given them To our re-
proach it must be said, that, though for a century and a half
we have had under our eyes the races of black and of red
men, they have never yet been viewed by us as subjects of
natural history. I advance it, therefore, as a suspicion
only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race,
or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to
the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.” —
Jefferson's Works, vol. viii. p. 386.
Alluding to these opinions several years after-
wards, the author, in a letter addressed to “ M. Gré-
goire, Evêque et Sémateur,” says, –
“My doubts were the result of personal observation on
the limited sphere of my own State, where the opportuni-
ties for the development of their genius were not favorable,
and those of exercising it still less so. I expressed them,
therefore, with great hesitation; but, whatever be their de-
gree of talent, it is no measure of their rights. Because Sir
Isaac Newton was superior to others in understanding, he
was not, therefore, lord of the person or property of others.
On this subject they are gaining daily in the opinions
of nations, and hopeful advances are making towards
their re-establishment on an equal footing with the other
colors of the human family. I pray you, therefore, to ac-
cept my thanks for the many instances you have enabled
me to observe of respectable intelligence in that race of
men, which cannot fail to have effect in hastening the day
of their relief.” – Jefferson's Works, vol. v. p. 429.
How slavery was regarded at the time is clearly
stated in the instructions prepared by Mr. Jefferson
for the first delegation of Virginia to Congress, in
August, 1774, and printed in a pamphlet form, under
THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY DESIRED, 23
the title of “A Summary View of the Rights of #.
British America.” I have Italicized a few lines as
worthy of particular attention : —
“For the most trifling reasons, and sometimes for no con-
ceivable reason at all, his Majesty has rejected laws of the
most salutary tendency. The abolition of domestic slavery
is the great object of desire in those Colonies, where it was,
unhappily, introduced in their infant state. But, previous
to the enfranchisement of the slaves we have, it is neces.
sary to exclude all further importations from Africa. Yet
our repeated attempts to effect this by prohibitions, and
by imposing duties which might amount to a prohibition,
have been hitherto defeated by his Majesty's negative :
thus preferring the immediate advantages of a few British
corsairs to the lasting interests of the American States,
and to the rights of human nature, deeply wounded by this
infamous practice.”—Jefferson's Works, vol. i. p. 135.
It is well known that some passages in the original
draught of the Declaration of Independence were
omitted when the paper was finally adopted by Com-
gress. One of these passages shows so strikingly the
feelings of the author on this subject, that it may
well be cited here : —
“He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, ...;
omitted
violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the from the
persons of a distant people who never offended him ; capti- *
vating and carrying them into slavery in another hemi-lº":
sphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation
thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of Infidel
powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Brit-
ain. Determined to keep open a market where men should
be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for
24 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Passage
omitted
from the
Declara-
tion of
Independ-
€Il CG.
Suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to re-
strain this execrable commerce. And, that this assemblage
of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is
now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us,
and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived
them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtrud-
ed them; thus paying off former crimes committed against
the liberties of one people with crimes which he urges
them to commit against the lives of another.” — Jefferson's
Works, vol. i. pp. 23, 24.
John Adams, who was associated with Jefferson
on the sub-committee for framing the Declaration,
thus expresses his feelings on seeing Mr. Jefferson's
first draught: “I was delighted with its high tone, and
the flights of oratory with which it abounded, espe-
cially that concerning negro slavery; which, though
I knew his Southern brethren would never suffer to
pass in Congress, I certainly would never oppose.” —
Works, ii. 514. -
The foresight of Mr. Adams, concerning the re-
jection of the passage relating to slavery, was not
founded on a belief that the sentiments contained in
it were at variance with the general views of the
people both at the South and at the North (for the
history of the times is full of evidence to the contrary),
but from his knowledge that a few bold and persever-
ing pro-slavery men would be able then—as they have
been ever since — to induce timid and time-serving,
and even honest but less strong-willed, public ser-
vants, to concede to them, for the sake of peace and
harmony, all they demanded.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 25
Lord Mahon asserts that the rejected clause, “it was º.º.,
found, would displease the Southern Colonies, who “"
had never sought to prohibit the importation of slaves,
but, on the contrary, desired to continue it.”
Our worthy Corresponding Member, the Hon. Peter
Force, of Washington, (in two communications to
the “National Intelligencer,” January 16 and 18, 1855,
— republished in London in the form of a pamphlet,)
has completely refuted this error; and has produced
abundant evidence that the “ Southern Colonies,
jointly with all the others, and separately each for
itself, did agree to prohibit the importation of slaves,
voluntarily and in good faith.” He calls attention
to the Continental Association, adopted and signed by
all the members of the Congress on the 20th of Oc-
tober, 1774.
“The second Article of the Association is in these
words : —
“‘That we will neither import nor purchase any slave ºnal
imported after the first day of December next; after which tion.
we will wholly discontinue the slave-trade, and will neither
be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our vessels
nor sell our commodities or manufactures to those who are
concerned in it.’
“This was signed by all the Delegates of the
twelve Colonies represented in it. -
“As Georgia was not represented in the Congress
of 1774, the Association could have no signatures
from that Colony. But the people of Georgia, as
soon as they could speak by their Representatives,
4
26 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Provincial
Congress
of Georgia.
expressed themselves as distinctly on this point as
any of their brethren of the Southern Colonies. The
following are among the resolutions adopted by the
Provincial Congress of Georgia, on Thursday, July 6,
1775 : —
“‘1. Resolved, That this Congress will adopt, and carry
into execution, all and singular the measures and recom-
mendations of the late Continental Congress.
“‘4. Resolved, That we will neither import or purchase
any slave imported from Africa or elsewhere after this
day.”
“The Continental Association was also adopted by
the Maryland Convention on the 8th of December,
1774; by the South-Carolina Provincial Congress on
the 11th of January, 1775; by the Virginia Conven-
tion on the 22d of March, 1775; and by the North-
Carolina Provincial Congress on the 23d of August,
1775. The Assembly of Delaware, on the 25th of
March, 1775, passed a bill to prohibit the importation
of slaves into that Government; but this was returned
by the governor, John Penn, who refused to give it
his assent.
“Thus the Southern Colonies, as far as was possi-
ble, besides giving their assent to the Association of
the Congress by the signatures of their delegates to
that compact, each, in their several Congresses and
Conventions, separately expressed their approval of
it, and their determination to support it.”
The articles of the Continental Association were not
allowed to remain a dead letter. The enforcement of
NO DEALINGS WITH SLAVE-TRADERS. 27
the rules was intrusted to committees in the several
Colonies. The action of one of these committees, in
the case of the violation of the second article by Mr.
John Brown, a merchant of Norfolk, in Virginia, is
seen in the following address : —
“‘TO THE FREEMEN OF VIRGINIA :
“‘COMMITTEE CHAMBER, NORFOLK, March 6, 1775.
“‘Trusting to your sure resentment against the enemies
of your country, we, the committee, elected by ballot for
the Borough of Norfolk, hold up for your just indignation
Mr. John Brown, merchant of this place.
“‘On Thursday, the 2d of March, this committee were
informed of the arrival of the brig Fanny, Capt. Watson,
with a number of slaves for Mr. Brown; and, upon inquiry,
it appeared they were shipped from Jamaica as his prop-
erty, and on his account; that he had taken great pains to
conceal their arrival from the knowledge of the committee;
and that the shipper of the slaves, Mr. Brown's correspond-
ent, and the captain of the vessel, were all fully apprised
of the Continental prohibition against that article.
“‘From the whole of this transaction, therefore, we, the
committee for Norfolk Borough, do give it as our unani-
mous opinion, that the said John Brown has wilfully and
perversely violated the Continental Association, to which
he had with his own hand subscribed obedience; and that,
agreeable to the eleventh article, we are bound forthwith
to publish the truth of the case, to the end that all such
foes to the rights of British America may be publicly
known and universally contemned as the enemies of Ameri-
can liberty, and that every person may henceforth break
off all dealings with him.’
“This decision of the Norfolk Committee,” con-
tinues Mr. Force, “on the importation of the slaves by
Continental
Associa-
tion.
28 HISTORICAL RESEARCHI.
L ord
Mahon's
€l'l’Ol".
Mr. Brown, in violation of the Continental Association,
told the whole story as to who were, and who were
not, in favor of continuing it. The importers of the
negroes were the supporters of the Crown; the im-
portation was opposed by the friends of the Colo-
nies.”— Notes on Lord Mahon's History of the Ameri-
can Declaration of Independence, pp. 43–46.
Lord Mahon's error arose from applying to “the
Southern Colonies” in general the remarks of Mr.
Jefferson (“Writings,” vol. i. p. 19) relating to the
delegates from South Carolina and Georgia. In the
same passage in which these Colonies are mentioned
with discredit, the pro-slavery men at the North,
whose mercenary spirit was to be met, are equally
censured. Still, there cannot be any doubt that the
prevailing sentiment of the people at the South, as
well as at the North, was decidedly opposed to slavery.
The evil was almost universally regarded as tempo-
rary, and no one openly advocated its perpetuation.
Before passing from the consideration of the Decla-
ration of Independence, let us look, for a moment, at
the practical interpretation of its language, as fur-
nished by the early legislation of some of the States.
The declaration that all men are born equal, and
that they possess the unalienable right of liberty, was
re-affirmed by several of the States, and adopted as a
part of their Constitutions. The action of our own
Commonwealth, in this respect, was clearly shown by
the Rev. Dr. Belknap, the founder of our Society, in
his “ Answers to Queries respecting Slavery,” pro-
MASSACHUSETTS ABOLISHES SLAVERY. 29
posed to him by the Hon. Judge Tucker of Virginia,
January 24th, 1795.
“The present Constitution of Massachusetts was esta- º
blished in 1780. The first article of the Declaration of"
Rights asserts that “all men are born free and equal.” This
was inserted not merely as a moral or political truth, but
with a particular view to establish the liberation of the
negroes on a general principle ; and so it was understood
by the people at large; but some doubted whether this
were sufficient.
“Many of the blacks, taking advantage of the public
opinion and of this general assertion in the Bill of Rights,
asked their freedom, and obtained it. Others took it with.
out leave. Some of the aged and infirm thought it most
prudent to continue in the families where they had always
been well used, and experience has proved that they acted
right. -
“In 1781, at the Court in Worcester County, an indictment
was found against a white man for assaulting, beating, and
imprisoning a black. He was tried at the Supreme Judi-
cial Court in 1783. His defence was, that the black was
his slave; and that the beating, &c. was the necessary
restraint and correction of the master. This was answered
by citing the aforesaid clause in the Declaration of Rights.
The judges and jury were of opinion, that he had no right
to beat or imprison the negro. He was found guilty, and
fined forty shillings. This decision was a mortal wound to
slavery in Massachusetts.”— Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series,
vol. iv. p. 203.
The Hon. Emory Washburn, in his admirable pa-
per on the “Extinction of Slavery in Massachusetts,”
communicated to our Society at the regular meeting
in May, 1857, and published in the Proceedings for
that year, gives a pretty full account of this trial.
30 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Brief
of Mr.
Lincoln.
The brief used by Mr. Lincoln, the counsel for the
negro, was placed in the hands of Mr. Washburn by
the son of the eminent counsellor, our venerable and
respected associate, the Hon. Levi Lincoln of Wor-
cester, for many years Governor of this Common-
wealth. Every word of it, and of the whole paper
of Mr. Washburn, ought to be carefully read and
pondered at the present time. A few extracts will
give some idea of the character of the arguments so
effectively used at that period, when the authors of the
Declaration of Independence and the founders of
the Republic were still struggling to establish our
Government on the firm basis of equal and eternal
justice. A solemn appeal to the “higher law” was
not, in those days, denounced as moral or political
heresy.
“When a fellow-subject is restrained of his liberty, it is
an attack upon every other subject; and every one has a
right to aid him in regaining his liberty. -
“What, in this respect, are to be the consequences of
your verdict 7 Will it not be tidings of great joy to this
community? It is virtually opening the prison-doors, and
letting the oppressed go free
“Could they expect to triumph in their struggle with
Great Britain, and become free themselves, until they let
those go free who were under them 2 Were they not act-
ing like Pharaoh and the Egyptians, if they refused to set
these free ? &
“But the plaintiff insists that it is not true, as stated in
the Constitution, that all men are born free; for children
are born and placed under the power and control of their
parents.
SLAVE TRIAL IN MASSA CHUSETTS. 31
“This may be. But they are not born as slaves: they ºf
are under the power of their parents, to be nursed and Lincoln.
nurtured and educated for their good.
“And the black child is born as much a free child in this
sense as if it were white.
“In making out that negroes are the property of their
masters, the counsel for the plaintiff speak of lineage, and
contend that the children of slaves must be slaves in the
same way that, because our first parents fell, we all fell
with them.
“But are not all mankind born in the same way 7 Are
not their bodies clothed with the same kind of flesh 7 Was
not the same breath of life breathed into all 2 We are
under the same gospel dispensation, have one common Sa-
viour, inhabit the same globe, die in the same manner; and
though the white man may have his body wrapped in fine
linen, and his attire may be a little more decorated, there
all distinction of man's making ends. We all sleep on the
same level in the dust. We shall all be raised by the sound
of one common trump, calling unto all that are in their
graves, without distinction, to arise ; shall be arraigned at
one common bar; shall have one common Judge, and be
tried by one common jury, and condemned or acquitted by
one common law, - by the gospel, the perfect law of li-
berty.
“This cause will then be tried again, and your verdict
will there be tried. Therefore, gentlemen of the jury, let
me conjure you to give such a verdict now as will stand
this test, and be approved by your own minds in the last
moments of your existence, and by your Judge at the
last day.
“It will then be tried by the laws of reason and revela-
tion.
“Is it not a law of nature, that all men are equal and
free ?
32 HISTORICAL RESEARCHI.
Brief
of Mr.
Lincoln.
Constitu-
tion of
Vermont.
“Is not the law of nature the law of God?
“Is not the law of God, then, against slavery 7
“If there is no law of man establishing it, there is no
difficulty. If there is, then the great difficulty is to deter-
mine which law you ought to obey; and, if you shall have
the same ideas as I have of present and future things, you
will obey the former.
“The worst that can happen to you for disobeying the
former is the destruction of the body; for the last, that of
your souls.” – Proceedings of the Mass. Hist. Soc., 1855–58,
pp. 198–201.
Other contemporary documents might be cited to
show how such language as that used in the Declara-
tion of Independence was interpreted by the legisla-
tive and legal action of the day. I will only give the
first article in the Constitution of Vermont : —
“All men are born equally free and independent, and
have certain natural, inherent, and inalienable rights ;
among which are the enjoying and defending life and lib-
erty; acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; and
pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety: therefore no
male person, born in this country or brought from over sea,
ought to be holden by law to serve any person as a servant,
slave, or apprentice, after he arrives to the age of twenty-
one years; nor female, in like manner, after she arrives to
the age of eighteen years; unless they are bound by their
own consent after they arrive to such age, or bound by
the law for the payment of debts, damages, fines, costs, or
the like.”
The Articles of Confederation — which constituted
the Law of the Land from the time of their passage
in 1778 to the adoption of the Federal Constitution —
recognized and granted to free negroes the same
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 33
privileges of citizenship which belonged to white in-
habitants. The fourth article is as follows : —
“ART. 4. — The better to secure and perpetuate mutual Free
friendship and intercourse among the people of the differ- #ºn 3.S.
ent States in this Union, the free inhabitants of each of *
these States — paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from
justice excepted — shall be entitled to all privileges and
immunities of free citizens in the several States; and the
people of each State shall have free ingress and regress to
and from any other State, and shall enjoy therein all the
privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same
duties, impositions, and restrictions as the inhabitants there-
of, respectively; provided that such restrictions shall not
extend so far as to prevent the removal of property im-
ported into any State from any other State, of which the
owner is an inhabitant; provided, also, that no imposition,
duty, or restriction, shall be laid by any State on the pro-
perty of the United States, or either of them.”— Elliot's
Debates, vol. i. p. 79.
It was not by accident or oversight that negroes
were included in the phrase “free inhabitants’’;
for, when this article was under consideration, the
delegates from South Carolina moved to amend, by
inserting between the words “free” and “inhabit-
ants” the word “white.” The proposed amendment
was lost; only two States voting in the affirmative.
In the ninth article, the word “white ” was re-
tained. The State of New Jersey, although a slave-
holding State, objected to this, and made a repre-
sentation to Congress on the subject; an extract from
which is pertinent here : —
5
34 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
New Jersey
objects to
the omis-
sion of
negroes.
“The ninth article also provides that the requisition
for the land forces, to be furnished by the several States,
shall be proportioned to the number of white inhabitants in
each. In the act of Independence, we find the following
declaration: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that
all men are created equal; that they are endued by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Of this doctrine
it is not a very remote consequence, that all the inhabitants
of every society, be the color of their complexion what it
may, are bound to promote the interest thereof, according
to their respective abilities. They ought, therefore, to be
brought into the account, on this occasion. But admitting
necessity or expediency to justify the refusal of liberty, in
certain circumstances, to persons of a particular color, we
think it unequal to reckon upon such in this case. Should
it be improper, for special local reasons, to admit them in
arms for the defence of the nation, yet we conceive the
proportion of forces to be embodied ought to be fixed ac-
cording to the whole number of inhabitants in the State,
from whatever class they may be raised. If the whole
number of inhabitants in a State, whose inhabitants are all
whites, both those who are called into the field and those
who remain to till the ground and labor in mechanical arts
and otherwise, are reckoned in the estimate for striking
the proportion of forces to be furnished by that State, ought
even a part of the latter description to be left out in an-
other? As it is of indispensable necessity, in every war,
that a part of the inhabitants be employed for the uses of
husbandry and otherwise at home, while others are called
into the field, there must be the same propriety that own-
ers of a different color, who are employed for this purpose
in one State, while whites are employed for the same pur.
pose in another, be reckoned in the account of the inhabit-
ants in the present instance.”— Elliot's Debates, vol. i.
p. 89.
PRINCIPLES OF THE TREVOLUTIONARY PATRIOTS. 35
The opinions of the founders of the Republic re-ºpiºns
Founders
specting the slavery and the citizenship of negroes, "...
as expressed in some of the most important of their "
public acts, from the commencement to the close of
their struggle for National Independence, and during
the period of the Confederation, may be gathered
from the documents already cited. They had pro-
claimed to the world the Universal Magna Charta
which the Creator and Governor of men had granted
to his subjects. This charter of natural and unalien-
able rights had been timidly read and faintly spoken,
by now and then a friend of liberty, in earlier times.
Our patriot Fathers were the first boldly to publish
it to “mankind”; to adopt these “self-evident truths”
as their National Creed; and, “appealing to the Su-
preme Judge of the universe for the rectitude of their
intentions,” to announce their solemn purpose of es-
tablishing a Government, with these principles for
its chief corner-stone.
With such principles and motives to stimulate their
patriotism and nerve their courage, they could not
fail. The mighty power of the mother-country was
impotent when wielded against the cause of Liberty.
The Independence of the United States was acknowl-
edged by Great Britain, and we took our place
among the nations of the earth.
The Articles of Confederation served their purpose
during the war, but were found inadequate to the
growing wants of the Government. A Convention
was accordingly called, to meet in Philadelphia on
36 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
the second Monday in May in 1787, to frame a Con-
stitution.
Before considering particularly the language of the
Constitution, “the palladium of our liberties,” let us
look for a moment at some of the men to whom was
intrusted this important work, and see with what
minds they came to the performance of the duty
assigned them.
Among the delegates, we find the names of George
Washington of Virginia, and Benjamin Franklin of
Pennsylvania. The former was unanimously elected
President of the Convention. Dr. Franklin was the
only man who could have been thought of as a com-
petitor for the place. He was to have made the
nomination of Washington: but, owing to the state
of the weather and of his health, he was confined to
his house ; and his colleague, Robert Morris, in be-
half of the delegation from Pennsylvania, proposed
“George Washington, Esq., late Commander-in-chief.”
for President of the Convention.
The character and position of these two pre-eminent
patriots, from different States, one a slave-holder and
the other not, give the greatest weight to their opin-
ions. They have both left distinct records of their
views on the subject of slavery. -
Though, by inheritance and other circumstances
entirely beyond his control, Washington found himself
a slave-holder, yet he never defended the institution
of slavery, or desired its perpetuity. On the contrary,
we find, that, before he had drawn his sword in defence
WASHINGTON'S OPINIONS ON SLAVERY. 37
of the independence of his country, he had uttered
his testimony against slavery in the fullest manner;
and, through his whole life, his desire to clear himself
and his country from the foul blot was sincere and
constant.
It had become quite common, during the year pre- § R.
ceding the commencement of hostilities between the *
colonists and the mother-country, for the people to
meet in their respective counties or towns, to express,
through addresses and resolutions, their sentiments
and views respecting the condition of affairs. Such
a meeting was held on the 18th of July, 1774, at
the Fairfax County Court House, in Virginia; and a
series of twenty-four resolutions, prepared by a Com-
mittee of which Washington was chairman, was
adopted.
Three of these resolves are here given : —
“17. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting, that,
during our present difficulties and distress, no slaves ought to be
imported into any of the British colonies on this continent; and
we take this opportunity of declaring our most earnest wishes to
See an entire stop for ever put to such a wicked, cruel, and un-
natural trade.
“21. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting, that
this and the other associating colonies should break off all trade,
intercourse, and dealings with that colony, province, or town,
which shall decline, or refuse to agree to, the plan which shall be
adopted by the General Congress.
“24. Resolved, That George Washington and Charles Broad-
Water, lately elected our representatives to serve in the General
Assembly, be appointed to attend the Convention at Williamsburg
on the first day of August next, and present these resolves, as the
38 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
º: sense of the people of this county upon the measures proper
ounty -> e e º
Resolves. to be taken in the present alarming and dangerous situation of
America.”
Respecting these resolutions, Mr. Sparks observes:
“The draught, from which the resolves are printed,
I find among Washington's papers, in the handwriting
of George Mason, by whom they were probably drawn up;
yet, as they were adopted by the Committee of which
Washington was chairman, and reported by him as modera-
tor of the meeting, they may be presumed to express his
opinions, formed on a perfect knowledge of the subject, and
after cool deliberation. This may indeed be inferred from
his letter to Mr. Bryan Fairfax, in which he intimates a
doubt only as to the article favoring the idea of a further
petition to the king. He was opposed to such a step,
believing enough had been done in this way already; but
he yielded the point in tenderness to the more wavering
resolution of his associates.
“These resolves are framed with much care and ability,
and exhibit the question then at issue, and the state of
public feeling, in a manner so clear and forcible as to give
them a special claim to a place in the present work, in
addition to the circumstance of their being the matured
views of Washington at the outset of the great Revolution-
ary struggle, in which he was to act so conspicuous a
part. e - e. e. g.
“Such were the opinions of Washington, and his asso-
ciates in Virginia, at the beginning of the Revolutionary
contest. The seventeenth resolve merits attention, from
the pointed manner in which it condemns the slave-trade.”
— Sparks's Washington, vol. ii. pp. 488, 494, 495.
Washington not only condemned the slave-trade,
but expressed in the most decided terms his disap-
probation of domestic slavery. He discountenanced
WASHINGTON'S OPINIONS ON SLAVERY. 39
the interference of non-slaveholders in attempting to
liberate slaves without the consent of their masters;
but at the same time, in a letter on the subject to
Robert Morris, 12th April, 1786, he was careful to
add : —
“I hope it will not be conceived from these observations
that it is my wish to hold the unhappy people, who are the
subject of this letter, in slavery. I can only say, that there
is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to
see some plan adopted for the abolition of it: but there is
only one proper and effectual mode by which this can be
accomplished, and that is by legislative authority; and this,
as far as my suffrage will go, shall never be wanting.” —
Sparks's Washington, vol. ix. p. 159.
On the 9th of September of this same year, Washing-
ton wrote to Mr. John F. Mercer, of Maryland:—
“I never mean, unless some particular circumstance
should compel me to it, to possess another slave by pur-
chase; it being among my first wishes to see some plan
adopted by which slavery in this country may be abolished
by law.” — Ibid.
That Washington believed his wishes with regard
to the abolition of slavery would at no distant day be
realized, is evident from a letter to Sir John Sin-
clair, 11th December, 1796 : —
“The present prices of lands in Pennsylvania are higher
than they are in Maryland and Virginia, although they
are not of superior quality; [among other reasons] because
there are laws here for the gradual abolition of slavery,
which neither of the two States above mentioned have
at present, but which nothing is more certain than they
must have, and at a period not remote.” — Sparks's Wash.
&ngton, vol. xii. p. 326.
40 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Lafayette.
Washing-
ton.
Lafayette, the bosom friend, who shared so fully
the confidence and sympathy of Washington, was in
frequent correspondence with him on the subject of
slavery.
No sooner had hostilities ceased, than he set about
devising some practical plan for ridding the country,
which his valor had helped to free from the yoke of
British oppression, of an evil which he declared to be
“a crime much blacker than any African face.”
The 5th of February, 1783, Lafayette writes: —
“Now, my dear General, that you are going to enjoy
some ease and quiet, permit me to propose a plan to you,
which might become greatly beneficial to the black part of
mankind. Let us unite in purchasing a small estate, where
we may try the experiment to free the negroes, and use
them only as tenants. Such an example as yours might
render it a general practice; and, if we succeed in America,
I will cheerfully devote a part of my time to render the
method fashionable in the West Indies. If it be a wild
scheme, I had rather be mad in this way, than to be thought
wise in the other task.” — Correspondence of the American
Jēevolution, vol. iii. pp. 547.
To this letter, Washington replies, April 5th,
1783 : —
“The scheme, my dear Marquis, which you propose as a
precedent to encourage the emancipation of the black
people in this country from that state of bondage in which
they are held, is a striking evidence of the benevolence of
your heart. I shall be happy to join you in so laudable a
work, but will defer going into a detail of the business till
I have the pleasure of seeing you.” — Sparks's Washington,
vol. viii. pp. 414, 415.
WASEIINGTON AND LAFAYETTE. 41
Three years later, and after Lafayette had put his
plan into practice, Washington wrote to him in a tone
of mingled approval of what he had done, and
despondency as to any immediate action on the sub-
ject in this country: —
“MOUNT VERNoN, 10th May, 1786.
“The benevolence of your heart, my dear Marquis, is Mºhing.
so conspicuous upon all occasions, that I never wonder `"
at any fresh proofs of it; but your late purchase of an
estate in the colony of Cayenne, with a view of emanci-
pating the slaves on it, is a generous and noble proof of
your humanity. Would to God a like spirit might diffuse
itself generally into the minds of the people of this coun-
try ! But I despair of seeing it. Some petitions were
presented to the Assembly, at its last session, for the aboli-
tion of slavery; but they could scarcely obtain a reading.
To set the slaves afloat at once, would, I really believe, be
productive of much inconvenience and mischief; but by
degrees it certainly might, and assuredly ought to be
effected, and that, too, by legislative authority.”—Sparks's
Washington, vol. ix. pp. 163, 164.
The following note on this subject is added by Mr.
Sparks : —
“In a remarkable and very interesting letter, written Lafayette.
by Lafayette in the prison of Magdeburg [March 15,
1793, to the Princess d'Hénin ||, he said, ‘I know
not what disposition has been made of my plantation at
Cayenne; but I hope Madame de Lafayette will take care
that the negroes, who cultivate it, shall preserve their
liberty.’”
To John Adams, also, Lafayette wrote from Paris
in 1786 : —
42 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Lafayette.
Washing-
ton's Will.
“In the cause of my black brethren, I feel myself warmly
interested, and most decidedly side, so far as respects them,
against the white part of mankind. Whatever be the com-
plexion of the enslaved, it does not, in my opinion, alter the
complexion of the crime which the enslaver commits, – a
crime much blacker than any African face. It is to me a
matter of great anxiety and concern, to find that this trade
is sometimes perpetrated under the flag of liberty, our dear
and noble stripes, to which virtue and glory have been
constant standard-bearers.”— Life and Works of John
Adams, vol. viii. p. 376.
The opinions with regard to slavery which Wash-
ington held before the adoption of the Federal Con-
stitution were never relinquished. Only two years
before he died (as we learn from Mr. Irving, who had
the original letter before him), he said, writing to his
nephew, Lawrence Lewis, “I wish from my soul
that the Legislature of this State could see the policy
of a gradual abolition of slavery. It might prevent
much future mischief.”
“On opening the will which he had handed to Mrs.
Washington shortly before his death, it was found to have
been carefully drawn up by himself in the preceding July;
and, by an act in conformity with his whole career, one of
its first provisions directed the emancipation of his slaves
on the decease of his wife. It had long been his earnest
wish, that the slaves held by him in his own right should
receive their freedom during his life; but he had found
that it would be attended with insuperable difficulties, on
account of their intermixture by marriage with the ‘dower
negroes,’ whom it was not in his power to manumit under
the tenure by which they were held. .
“With provident benignity, he also made provision in
WASHINGTON FREES ALL HIS SLAVES. 43
his will for such as were to receive their freedom under ..";
this devise, but who, from age, bodily infirmities, or infancy, tº
might be unable to support themselves; and he expressly
forbade, under any pretence whatsoever, the sale or trans-
portation out of Virginia, of any slave of whom he might
die possessed. Though born and educated a slave-holder,
this was all in consonance with feelings, sentiments, and
principles which he had long entertained.”—Irving's Wash-
ington, vol. v. pp. 316, 317.
The second item of that long will, coming imme-
diately after the bequest to his “dearly beloved wife,”
is here given: —
“Item. — Upon the decease of my wife, it is my will and
desire that all the slaves whom I hold in my own right shall
receive their freedom. To emancipate them during her
life, would, though earnestly wished by me, be attended
with such insuperable difficulties, on account of their in-
termixture by marriage with the dower negroes, as to
excite the most painful sensations, if not disagreeable con-
sequences to the latter, while both descriptions are in the
occupancy of the same proprietor; it not being in my
power, under the tenure by which the dower negroes are
held, to manumit them. And whereas, among those who
will receive freedom according to this devise, there may
be some, who, from old age or bodily infirmities, and others,
who, on account of their infancy, will be unable to support
themselves, it is my will and desire, that all who come
under the first and second description shall be comfortably
clothed and fed by my heirs while they live; and that such
of the latter description as have no parents living, or, if
living, are unable or unwilling to provide for them, shall
be bound by the court until they shall arrive at the age of
twenty-five years; and in cases where no record can be
produced, whereby their ages can be ascertained, the judg-
44 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Washing; ment of the court, upon its own view of the subject, shall
ton’s Wi
Franklin.
be adequate and final. The negroes thus bound, are (by
their masters or mistresses) to be taught to read and write,
and to be brought up to some useful occupation, agreeably
to the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia providing
for the support of orphan and other poor children. And I
do hereby expressly forbid the sale or transportation out of
the said Commonwealth, of any slave I may die possessed
of, under any pretence whatsoever. And I do, moreover,
most pointedly and most solemnly enjoin it upon my execu-
tors hereafter named, or the survivors of them, to see that
this clause respecting slaves, and every part thereof, be
religiously fulfilled at the epoch at which it is directed to
take place, without evasion, neglect, or delay, after the
crops which may then be on the ground are harvested,
particularly as it respects the aged and infirm ; seeing that
a regular and permanent fund be established for their sup-
port, as long as there are subjects requiring it; not trusting
to the uncertain provision to be made by individuals. And
to my mulatto man, William, calling himself William Lee, I
give immediate freedom; or, if he should prefer it (on ac-
count of the accidents which have befallen him, and which
have rendered him incapable of walking or of any active
employment), to remain in the situation he now is, it shall
be optional in him to do so: in either case, however, I
allow him an annuity of thirty dollars, during his natural
life, which shall be independent of the victuals and clothes
he has been accustomed to receive, if he chooses the last
alternative; but in full with his freedom, if he prefers the
first. And this I give him as a testimony of my sense of
his attachment to me, and for his faithful services during
the revolutionary war.” — Sparks's Washington, vol. xii.
pp. 569–570. -
Although slavery was tolerated in the Colony
where he was born, and also where he afterwards
FRANKLIN ON SLAVERY. - 45
became a resident, Franklin never owned a slave. Franklin.
His opinions on the subject agreed substantially with
those entertained by Washington; and, like “the
Father of his Country,” this great philosopher, pa-
triot, and statesman not only denounced negro slavery
when struggling for national liberty, but left, among
his last legacies to his countrymen, the most emphatic
testimony against the institution.
In a letter to John Wright of London, he gives an
account of the early endeavors of the Friends in this
country to abolish slavery; and, at the same time,
expresses incidentally his own views on the sub-
ject: — -
“I wish success to your endeavors for obtaining an .
abolition of the slave-trade. The epistle from your Yearly against
Meeting, for the year 1758, was not the first sowing of the slavery.
good seed you mention; for I find, by an old pamphlet in
my possession, that George Keith, near a hundred years
since, wrote a paper against the practice, said to be ‘given
forth by the appointment of the meeting held by him at
Philip James's house, in the city of Philadelphia, about the
year 1693 '; wherein a strict charge was given to Friends,
‘that they should set their negroes at liberty, after some
reasonable time of service, &c. &c.’ And, about the year
1728 or 1729, I myself printed a book for Ralph Sandy-
ford, another of your Friends in this city, against keeping
negroes in slavery; two editions of which he distributed
gratis. And, about the year 1736, I printed another book
on the same subject, for Benjamin Lay, who also professed
being one of your Friends; and he distributed the books
chiefly among them. By these instances, it appears that
the seed was indeed sown in the good ground of your
profession, though much earlier than the time you mention;
46 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Franklin.
and its springing up to effect at last, though so late, is
some confirmation of Lord Bacon's observation, that a good
motion never dies; and it may encourage us in making such,
though hopeless of their taking immediate effect.” —
Sparks's Franklin, vol. x. p. 403.
In a letter to Dean Woodward, dated London,
April 10, 1773, Dr. Franklin says, –
. . “I have since had the satisfaction to learn that a
disposition to abolish slavery prevails in North America;
that many of the Pennsylvarfians have set their slaves at
liberty; and that even the Virginia Assembly have peti-
tioned the king for permission to make a law for preventing
the importation of more into that Colony. This request,
however, will probably not be granted, as their former
laws of that kind have always been repealed, and as the
interest of a few merchants here has more weight with
Government than that of thousands at a distance.” —
Sparks's Franklin, vol. viii. p. 42.
In 1789 was issued an address to the public, bear-
ing the signature of this venerable man, then in his
eighty-fourth year, the last of his life. This address
is here reprinted entire : —
“AN ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC.
“From the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of
Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes unlawfully held in
Bondage.
“It is with peculiar satisfaction we assure the friends
of humanity, that, in prosecuting the design of our asso-
ciation, our endeavors have proved successful, far beyond
our most sanguine expectations.
“Encouraged by this success, and by the daily progress
#.
PENNSYLVANIA, ABOLITION SOCIETY. 47
of that luminous and benign spirit of liberty which is Franklin.
diffusing itself throughout the world, and humbly hoping
for the continuance of the divine blessing on our labors,
we have ventured to make an important addition to our
original plan; and do therefore earnestly solicit the support
and assistance of all who can feel the tender emotions of
sympathy and compassion, or relish the exalted pleasure
of beneficence. •
“Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human
nature, that its very extirpation, if not performed with
solicitous care, may sometimes open a source of serious
evils.
“The unhappy man, who has long been treated as a
brute animal, too frequently sinks beneath the common
standard of the human species. The galling chains that
bind his body do also fetter his intellectual faculties, and
impair the social affections of his heart. Accustomed to
move like a mere machine, by the will of a master, reflection
is suspended; he has not the power of choice; and reason
and conscience have but little influence over his conduct,
because he is chiefly governed by the passion of fear. He
is poor and friendless; perhaps worn out by extreme labor,
age, and disease.
“Under such circumstances, freedom may often prove
a misfortune to himself, and prejudicial to society.
“Attention to emancipated black people, it is therefore
to be hoped, will become a branch of our national police;
but, as far as we contribute to promote this emancipation,
so far that attention is evidently a serious duty incumbent
on us, and which we mean to discharge to the best of our
judgment and abilities.
“To instruct, to advise, to qualify those who have been
restored to freedom, for the exercise and enjoyment of civil
liberty; to promote in them habits of industry; to furnish
them with employments suited to their age, sex, talents,
and other circumstances; and to procure their children an
48 HISTORICAI, RESEARCH.
Franklin.
Memorial
to Con-
gress, 1790.
education calculated for their future situation in life, – these
are the great outlines of the annexed plan, which we have
adopted, and which we conceive will essentially promote
the public good, and the happiness of these our hitherto
too much neglected fellow-creatures.
“A plan so extensive cannot be carried into execution
without considerable pecuniary resources, beyond the
present ordinary funds of the Society. We hope much
from the generosity of enlightened and benevolent free-
men, and will gratefully receive any donations or sub-
scriptions for this purpose which may be made to our
Treasurer, James Starr, or to James Pemberton, Chairman
of our Committee of Correspondence.
“Signed by order of the Society,
“B. FRANKLIN, President.
“PHILADELPHIA, 9th of November, 1789.”
The last public act of Dr. Franklin was the signing,
as President of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society,
of the following memorial to Congress : —
“The memorial respectfully showeth, –
“That, from a regard for the happiness of mankind, an
association was formed several years since in this State,
by a number of her citizens, of various religious denomi-
nations, for promoting the abolition of slavery, and for the
relief of those unlawfully held in bondage. A just and
acute conception of the true principles of liberty, as it
spread through the land, produced accessions to their num-
bers, many friends to their cause, and a legislative co-opera-
tion with their views, which, by the blessing of Divine
Providence, have been successfully directed to the relieving
from bondage a large number of their fellow-creatures of
the African race. They have also the satisfaction to ob-
serve, that, in consequence of that spirit of philanthropy
and genuine liberty which is generally diffusing its bene-
MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS. 49
ficial influence, similar institutions are forming at home Mºrial
and abroad. gress, 1790.
“That mankind are all formed by the same Almighty
Being, alike objects of his care, and equally designed for
the enjoyment of happiness, the Christian religion teaches
us to believe, and the political creed of Americans fully
coincides with the position. Your memorialists, particu-
larly engaged in attending to the distresses arising from
slavery, believe it their indispensable duty to present this
subject to your notice. They have observed, with real
satisfaction, that many important and salutary powers are
vested in you for ‘promoting the welfare and securing the
blessings of liberty to the people of the United States’;
and as they conceive that these blessings ought rightfully
to be administered, without distinction of color, to all
descriptions of people, so they indulge themselves in the
pleasing expectation, that nothing which can be done for
the relief of the unhappy objects of their care, will be
either omitted or delayed.
“From a persuasion that equal liberty was originally
the portion, and is still the birth-right, of all men ; and
influenced by the strong ties of humanity, and the prin-
ciples of their institution, your memorialists conceive them-
selves bound to use all justifiable endeavors to loosen the /
bands of slavery, and promote a general enjoyment of the
blessings of freedom. Under these impressions, they earn-
estly entreat your serious attention to the subject of
slavery; that you will be pleased to countenance the resto-
ration of liberty to those unhappy men, who alone, in this
land of freedom, are degraded into perpetual bondage, and
who, amidst the general joy of surrounding freemen, are
groaning in servile subjection ; that you will devise means
for removing this inconsistency from the character of the
American people; that you will promote mercy and justice
towards this distressed race; and that you will step to
the very verge of the power vested in you for discoura-
7
50 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Franklin.
ging every species of traffic in the persons of our fellow-
IſlGI]. p
“BENJ. FRANKLIN, President.
“PHILADELPHIA, February 3, 1790.”
(Annals of Congress, vol. ii. p. 1197.)
The memorial occasioned a debate, in which some
of the members attempted to justify slavery. This
gave rise to a characteristic paper, communicated by
Dr. Franklin to the “Federal Gazette" of March 25,
1790, and dated only twenty-four days before his
death. By way of parody, he exposes the absurdity
of the reasoning adopted by those who opposed the
memorial : — -
“To the Editor of the “Federal Gazette.’
“MARCH 23, 1790.
“SIR,- Reading last night in your excellent paper the
speech of Mr. Jackson in Congress against their meddling
with the affair of slavery, or attempting to mend the con-
dition of the slaves, it put me in mind of a similar one,
made about one hundred years since, by Sidi Mehemet
Ibrahim, a member of the Divan of Algiers, which may be
seen in Martin's Account of his Consulship, anno 1687. It
was against granting the petition of the sect called Erika,
or Purists, who prayed for the abolition of piracy and
slavery as being unjust. Mr. Jackson does not quote it:
perhaps he has not seen it. If, therefore, some of its rea-
sonings are to be found in his eloquent speech, it may only
show that men's interests and intellects operate, and are
operated on, with surprising similarity in all countries and
climates, whenever they are under similar circumstances.
The African's speech, as translated, is as follows: —
FRANKLIN's PARODY ON MR. JACKSON'S SPEECH. 51
“‘Allah Bismillah, dºc. God is great, and Mahomet is his Prophet.
“‘Have these Erika considered the consequences of ...
granting their petition ? If we cease our cruises against nº on
the Christians, how shall we be furnished with the commod- †.
ities their countries produce, and which are so necessary
for us? If we forbear to make slaves of their people, who,
in this hot climate, are to cultivate our lands? Who are to
perform the common labors of our city, and in our families 7
Must we not then be our own slaves 7 And is there not
more compassion and more favor due to us as Mussulmen
than to these Christian dogs 2 We have now above fifty
thousand slaves in and near Algiers. This number, if not
kept up by fresh supplies, will soon diminish, and be gra-
dually annihilated. If we, then, cease taking and plunder-
ing the infidel ships, making slaves of the seamen and
passengers, our lands will become of no value for want of
cultivation; the rents of houses in the city will sink one.
half; and the revenue of government, arising from its share
of prizes, be totally destroyed. And for what? To gratify
the whims of a whimsical sect, who would have us not only
forbear making more slaves, but even manumit those we
have.
“‘But who is to indemnify their masters for the loss?
Will the State do it? Is our treasury sufficient? Will the
Erika do it? Can they do it? Or would they, to do what
they think justice to the slaves, do a greater injustice to
the owners? And, if we set our slaves free, what is to be
done with them 7 Few of them will return to their coun-
tries; they know too well the greater hardships they must
there be subject to ; they will not embrace our holy reli-
gion; they will not adopt our manners; our people will
not pollute themselves by intermarrying with them. Must
we maintain them as beggars in our streets, or suffer our
properties to be the prey of their pillage 2 For men accus-
tomed to slavery will not work for a livelihood when not
52 . HISTORICAL RESEARCII.
Fºliº's compelled. And what is there so pitiable in their present
parody on .
a pro-" condition ? Were they not slaves in their own countries”
slaver * * - g
j. “‘Are not Spain, Portugal, France, and the Italian States,
governed by despots, who hold all their subjects in slavery,
without exception ? Even England treats its sailors as
slaves : for they are, whenever the government pleases,
seized, and confined in ships of war; condemned not only
to work, but to fight, for small wages, or a mere subsist-
ence, not better than our slaves are allowed by us. Is
their condition, then, made worse by their falling into our
& hands? No: they have only exchanged one slavery for
another, and I may say, a better; for here they are brought
into a land where the sun of Islamism gives forth its light,
and shines in full splendor; and they have an opportunity
of making themselves acquainted with the true doctrine,
and thereby saving their immortal souls. Those who
remain at home have not that happiness. Sending the
slaves home, then, would be sending them out of light into
darkness. -
“‘I repeat the question, What is to be done with them 2
I have heard it suggested that they may be planted in the
wilderness, where there is plenty of land for them to sub-
sist on, and where they may flourish as a free State ; but
they are, I doubt, too little disposed to labor without com-
pulsion, as well as too ignorant to establish a good govern-
ment, and the wild Arabs would soon molest and destroy or
again enslave them. While serving us, we take care to
provide them with every thing, and they are treated with
humanity. The laborers in their own country are, as I am
well informed, worse fed, lodged, and clothed.
“‘The condition of most of them is, therefore, already
mended, and requires no further improvement. Here their
lives are in safety. They are not liable to be impressed for
soldiers, and forced to cut one another's Christian throats,
as in the wars of their own countries. If some of the reli-
gious mad bigots, who now tease us with their silly peti-
FRANKLIN’s PARODY ON MR. JACKSON'S SPEECH. 53
tions, have, in a fit of blind zeal, freed their slaves, it was
not generosity, it was not humanity, that moved them to
the action: it was from the conscious burthen of a load of
sins, and a hope, from the supposed merits of so good a
work, to be excused from damnation. -
“‘How grossly are they mistaken to suppose slavery to
be disallowed by the Alcoran | Are not the two precepts,
to quote no more, ‘Masters, treat your slaves with kindness;
slaves, serve your masters with cheerfulness and fidelity,'
clear proofs to the contrary 2 Nor can the plundering of
infidels be in that sacred book forbidden, since it is well
known from it that God has given the world, and all that it
contains, to his faithful Mussulmen, who are to enjoy it of
right as fast as they conquer it. Let us, then, hear no more
of this detestable proposition, — the manumission of Chris-
tian slaves; the adoption of which would, by depreciating
our lands and houses, and thereby depriving so many good
citizens of their properties, create universal discontent,
and provoke insurrections, to the endangering of govern-
ment, and producing general confusion. I have, therefore,
no doubt but this wise council will prefer the comfort and
happiness of a whole nation of true believers to the whim
of a few Erika, and dismiss their petition.’
“The result was, as Martin tells us, that the Divan came
to this resolution : ‘The doctrine that plundering and
enslaving the Christians is unjust, is, at best, problematical;
but that it is the interest of this State to continue the prac-
tice, is clear: therefore let the petition be rejected.’
“And it was rejected accordingly.
“And since like motives are apt to produce in the minds
of men like opinions and resolutions, may we not, Mr.
Brown, venture to predict, from this account, that the peti-
tions to the Parliament of England for abolishing the slave-
trade, to say nothing of other Legislatures, and the debates
Franklin’s
parody on
a pro-
slavery
speech.
54 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
John
Adams.
upon them, will have a similar conclusion? I am, sir, your
constant reader and humble servant, HISTORICUs.”
(Sparks's Franklin, vol. ii. pp. 517–521.)
It is not necessary now to produce the opinions of
other members of the Convention : some of them
expressed their views fully during the debates, and
specimens of their speeches will presently be given.
But it is not out of place here to inquire whether the
leading statesmen of the country at that time, who
were not members of the Convention, held opinions
substantially the same as those of Washington and
Franklin.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson — among the
foremost men in founding the Republic — were, at
the time the Convention was held, serving their
country abroad; the former as ambassador to Eng-
land; the latter, to France. The opinions of Mr.
Adams on slavery may be briefly given in an extract
from a letter written only a few years before his
death : —
“I have, through my whole life, held the practice of
slavery in such abhorrence, that I have never owned a
negro or any other slave: though I have lived for many
years in times when the practice was not disgraceful;
when the best men in my vicinity thought it not incon-
sistent with their character; and when it has cost me
thousands of dollars for the labor and subsistence of free
men, which I might have saved by the purchase of negroes
at times when they were very cheap.”— Works of John
Adams, vol. x. p. 380.
JEFFERSON ON SLAVERY. 55
Mr. Jefferson's sentiments before and at the time of Jefferson.
the Declaration of Independence have already been
given. They were still more strongly expressed in
his “ Notes on Virginia,” in 1782 : —
“The whole commerce between master and slave is a Notes on
perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions; the most Virginia.
unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading sub-
missions on the other. Our children see this, and learn
to imitate it; for man is an imitative animal. This quality
is the germ of all education in him. From his cradle to
his grave, he is learning to do what he sees others do. If
a parent could find no motive, either in his philanthropy
or his self-love, for restraining the intenperance of passion
towards his slave, it should always be a sufficient one that
his child is present. But generally it is not sufficient.
The parent storms; the child looks on, catches the linea-
ments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller
slaves, gives a loose to the worst of passions; and thus
nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot
but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities. The man
must be a prodigy who can retain his manners and morals
undepraved by such circumstances. And with what exe-
cration should the statesman be loaded, who, permitting
one-half the citizens thus to trample on the rights of the
other, tranforms those into despots, and these into enemies;
destroys the morals of the one part, and the amor patriae
of the other For, if a slave can have a country in this
world, it must be any other in preference to that in which
he is born to live and labor for another; in which he must
lock up the faculties of his nature, contribute as far as
depends on his individual endeavors to the evanishment
of the human race, or entail his own miserable condition
on the endless generations proceeding from him. With
the morals of the people, their industry also is destroyed.
For in a warm climate, no man will labor for himself who
56 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Jefferson.
can make another labor for him. This is so true, that, of
the proprietors of slaves, a very small proportion indeed
are ever seen to labor. And can the liberties of a nation
be thought secure when we have removed their only firm
basis, – a conviction in the minds of the people that these
liberties are of the gift of God?—that they are not to be vio-
lated but with his wrath 2 Indeed I tremble for my coun-
try, when I reflect that God is just ; that his justice cannot
sleep for ever; that considering numbers, nature, and na-
tural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an
exchange of situation, is among possible events; that it
may become probable by supernatural interference. The
Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in
such a contest. But it is impossible to be temperate, and
to pursue this subject through the various considerations
of policy, of morals, of history natural and civil. We must
be contented to hope they will force their way into every
one's mind. I think a change already perceptible, since
the origin of the present revolution. The spirit of the
master is abating, — that of the slave rising from the dust;
his condition mollifying; the way, I hope, preparing, under
the auspices of Heaven, for a total emancipation; and that
this is disposed, in the order of events, to be with the con-
sent of the masters, rather than by their extirpation.” —
Jefferson's Writings, vol. viii. pp. 403, 404.
In a letter to Dr. Price, dated at London on the
7th of August, 1785, Mr. Jefferson thus tells him
what will be the probable effect of his late pamphlet,
in which the abolition of slavery is strenuously
urged : —
“From the mouth to the head of the Chesapeake, the
bulk of the people will approve it in theory, and it will find
a respectable minority ready to adopt it in practice; a
minority, which, for weight and worth of character, prepon-
JEFFERSON ON STAVERY. 57
derates against the greater number, who have not the Jefferson.
courage to divest their families of a property, which, how-
ever, keeps their conscience unquiet. Northward of the
Chesapeake, you may find here and there an opponent to
your doctrine, as you may find here and there a robber
and murderer; but in no greater number. In that part of
America, there being but few slaves, they can easily disen-
cumber themselves of them ; and emancipation is put into
such a train, that in a few years there will be no slaves
northward of Maryland. In Maryland, I do not find such a
disposition to begin the redress of this enormity, as in Vir-
ginia. This is the next State to which we may turn our
eyes for the interesting spectacle of justice in conflict with
avarice and oppression; a conflict wherein the Sacred side
is gaining daily recruits, from the influx into office of
young men grown, and growing up. These have sucked
in the principles of liberty, as it were, with their mothers’
milk; and it is to them I look with anxiety to turn the fate
of this question. Be not therefore discouraged. What
you have written will do a great deal of good; and, could
you still trouble yourself with our welfare, no man is more
able to give aid to the laboring side.”— Jefferson's Writ-
ings, vol. i. p. 377.
While Mr. Jefferson was in France, in 1786, he
furnished M. Démeunier with many materials for his
copious article on the United States, about to appear
in the great “Encyclopédie Méthodique”; and he
revised the manuscript of the whole article with great
care. The following is part of a mote to the author,
most of which he translated into French, and incor-
porated in his own work, where it stands as a
perpetual record of Mr. Jefferson's sentiments at
that time : —
58 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Jefferson.
“M. de Meusnier, where he mentions that the slave-law
has been passed in Virginia without the clause of eman-
cipation, is pleased to mention, that neither Mr. Wythe
nor Mr. Jefferson was present to make the proposition
they had meditated: from which, people, who do not give
themselves the trouble to reflect or inquire, might conclude
hastily, that their absence was the cause why the proposition
was not made ; and, of course, that there were not, in the
Assembly, persons of virtue and firmness enough to propose
the clause for emancipation. This supposition would not
be true. There were persons there, who wanted neither
the virtue to propose nor talents to enforce the proposi-
tion, had they seen that the disposition of the Legislature
was ripe for it. These worthy characters would feel
themselves wounded, degraded, and discouraged by this
idea. Mr. Jefferson would therefore be obliged to M. de
Meusnier to mention it in some such manner as this :
“Of the two commissioners, who had concerted the amen-
datory clause for the gradual emancipation of slaves, Mr.
Wythe could not be present, he being a member of the
judiciary department; and Mr. Jefferson was absent on the
legation to France. But there were not wanting, in that
Assembly, men of virtue enough to propose, and talents to
vindicate, this clause. But they saw that the moment of
doing it with success was not yet arrived, and that an
unsuccessful effort, as too often happens, would only rivet
still closer the chains of bondage, and retard the moment
of delivery to this oppressed description of men. What
a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man,
who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment, and
death itself, in vindication of his own liberty, and, the
next moment, be deaf to all those motives whose power
supported him through his trial, and inflict on his fellow-
men a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with
more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion
to oppose ! But we must await with patience the workings
JEFFERSON ON SLAVERY. 59
of an overruling Providence, and hope that that is pre-Jefferson.
paring the deliverance of these our suffering brethren.
When the measure of their tears shall be full; when their
groans shall have involved heaven itself in darkness, –
doubtless a God of justice will awaken to their distress,
and, by diffusing light and liberality among their oppress-
ors, or, at length, by his exterminating thunder, manifest
his attention to the things of this world, and that they are
not left to the guidance of a blind fatality.’” — Jefferson's
Writings, vol. ix. pp. 278, 279.
In his “Autobiography,” written only a few years
before his death, alluding to the above-mentioned
slave-law, he says, –
“The bill on the subject of slaves was a mere digest of
the existing laws respecting them, without any intimation
of a plan for a future and general emancipation. It was
thought better that this should be kept back, and attempted
only by way of amendment, whenever the bill should be
brought on. The principles of the amendment, however,
were agreed on ; that is to say, the freedom of all born
after a certain day, and deportation at a proper age. But
it was found that the public mind would not yet bear the
proposition, nor will it bear it even at this day. Yet
the day is not distant when it must bear and adopt it, or
worse will follow. Nothing is more certainly written in
the book of fate, than that these people are to be free; nor
is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot
live in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion, have
drawn indelible lines of distinction between them. It is
still in our power to direct the process of emancipation and
deportation peaceably, and in such slow degree as that the
evil will wear off insensibly, and their place be, pari passu,
filled up by free white laborers. If, on the contrary, it is
left to force itself on, human nature must shudder at the
60 IHISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Christo-
pher
Gadsden.
prospect held up. We should in vain look for an example
in the Spanish deportation or deletion of the Moors. This
precedent would fall far short of our case.” — Jefferson's
Writings, vol. i. pp. 48, 49. -
The eminent South-Carolina patriots, Christopher
Gadsden and Henry Laurens, have left their testimony
on this subject in no ambiguous terms. -
Mr. Gadsden was one of the most prominent public
servants of the South, both in the Continental and
Colonial Legislatures. In a letter to Fr. S. Johnson,
in Connecticut, dated at Charleston, S.C., 16th April,
1766, he says, –
“We are a very weak province, a rich growing one, and
of as much importance to Great Britain as any upon the
continent; and great part of our weakness (though at the
same time ’tis part of our riches) consists in having such
a number of slaves amongst us; and we find in our case,
according to the general perceptible workings of Provi-
dence, where the crime most commonly though slowly, yet
surely, draws a similar and suitable punishment, that sla-
very begets slavery. Jamaica and our West India Islands
demonstrate this observation, which I hope will not be our
case now, whatever might have been the consequences
had the fatal attempts been delayed a few years longer,
when we had drank deeper of the Circean draught, and the
measure of our iniquities were filled up.” — M.S. Letter
(printed in the Hist. Mag., Sept. 1861, p. 261) in posses.
sion of the Hon. George Bancroft.
Mr. Laurens was for two years President of the
Continental Congress, and afterwards appointed minis-
ter to Holland. He was a commissioner, with Frank-
lin and Jay, for negotiating a peace with Great
Britain.
SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 61
Mr. Laurens wrote to his son, from Charleston,
S.C., 14th August, 1776: —
“You know, my dear son, I abhor slavery. I was born #.
in a country where slavery had been established by British
kings and parliaments, as well as by the laws of that coun-
try, ages before my existence. I found the Christian reliº
gion and slavery growing under the same authority and
cultivation. I nevertheless disliked it. In former days,
there was no combating the prejudices of men supported
by interest: the day, I hope, is approaching, when, from
principles of gratitude as well as justice, every man will
strive to be foremost in showing his readiness to comply
with the golden rule. Not less than twenty thousand
pounds sterling would all my negroes produce, if sold at
public auction to-morrow. I am not the man who enslaved
them; they are indebted to Englishmen for that favor:
nevertheless, I am devising means for manumitting many
of them, and for cutting off the entail of slavery. Great
powers oppose me, – the laws and customs of my country,
my own and the avarice of my countrymen. What will
my children say if I deprive them of so much estate 7
These are difficulties, but not insuperable. I will do as
much as I can in my time, and leave the rest to a better hand.
“I am not one of those who arrogate the peculiar care
of Providence in each fortunate event; nor one of those
who dare trust in Providence for defence and security of
their own liberty, while they enslave, and wish to continue
in slavery, thousands who are as well entitled to freedom
as themselves. I perceive the work before me is great.
I shall appear to many as a promoter, not only of strange,
but of dangerous doctrines: it will therefore be necessary
to proceed with caution. You are apparently deeply in-
terested in this affair; but, as I have no doubts concerning
your concurrence and approbation, I most sincerely wish
for your advice and assistance, and hope to receive both
in good time.” – Collection of the Zenger Club, pp. 20, 21.
($2 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Constitu-
tional
Conven-
tion.
Such were the prevailing principles of the people,
as expressed by their leading representatives, when
the Convention for framing the Federal Constitution
assembled in Philadelphia, in May, 1787. It is highly
proper that a constant regard should be had to these
principles in interpreting the language of the Con-
stitution.
The position and purpose of the Convention were
unprecedented. It was the first time in the history of
the world that an assemblage of men had been called
together, with delegated power from the people, to
prepare an instrument which was to establish a Go-
vernment, and to be the source and test of all their
laws. -
Some of the delegates to this Convention had been
members of the Continental Congress of 1776; and,
as was said by John Quincy Adams at the Jubilee of
the Constitution in New York, “this act was the
complement to the Declaration of Independence;
founded upon the same principles, carrying them
out into practical execution, and forming with it one
entire system of national government.”
The Articles of Confederation proved an unsuccess-
ful experiment. When the exigencies of the war were
over, and the Government fully assumed the functions
of an independent nation, it was seen that an error had
been committed in “the substitution of State sove-
reignty, instead of the constituent sovereignty of the
people, as the foundation of the Revolution and of the
Union.” It is a significant fact, that, in the Preamble
to the Constitution, this departure from the principles
CONVENTION FOR FORMING THE CONSTITUTION. 63
of the Declaration of Independence is tacitly recog- ºr
stitution
tº † a & tº * * $ a *.* *Y are * § d th
nized, and is rectified by a recurrence to the truth, that .
g º g ~. -- * & ti f
to secure the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit ºn-
of happiness, governments are instituted among men, dence.
deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed.
This preamble, of only a single sentence, is the
key to the Constitution. Without considering and
comprehending it, no one should attempt to interpret
any of the separate articles of that instrument.
“WE, THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, IN ORDER TO FORM A
MORE PERFECT UNION, ESTABLISHI JUSTICE, INSUIRE DOMIESTIC TRAN-
QUILLITY, PROVIDE FOR THE COMMON DEFENCE, PROMOTE THE GENERAL
wiºr FARE, AND SECURE TIII BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY TO OURSELVES AND
OUR POSTERITY, DO ORDAIN AND ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION FOR
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”
The Constitution is, and was intended to be, the
people's document, — the palladium of their liberty.
It was to defend and to bless the negro as well as the
white man: for negroes had fought side by side with
our white soldiers in the common struggle for liberty;
and, in several of the States, they, as citizens, had
voted for the delegates to the Convention, and after-
wards on the adoption of the Constitution.
It was established for the purpose of securing
liberty; and nothing can be clearer to a careful stu-
dent of the history of that period, than that the
authors of the Declaration of Independence and of
the Constitution of the United States, “parts of one
consistent whole, founded on one and the same theory
of government,” believed and intended, that, under
64 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
The Con-
stitution
and Sla-
QI'V.
their influence and operation, slavery would soon be
abolished. - •
It had been declared by Lord Mansfield, in the
Court of King's Bench, in England, that slavery was
“so odious, that nothing can be suffered to support
it but positive law.” At the time the Federal Consti-
tution was adopted, there was not, in the State
Constitutions, any thing to warrant or justify slavery.
Every thing of that kind has come by later amend-
ments. As in the preparation of the Declaration of
Independence, so in the formation of the Constitution,
the authors did not ignore the existence of slavery.
It was an evil that had been forced upon them by
Great Britain, against their consent; and was one of
the moving causes for the separation from the mother-
country. They had, in the most emphatic manner,
by resolutions and otherwise, expressed their abhor-
rence of slavery, and their determination to emanci-
pate the negroes without unnecessary delay. All
that the slaveholders asked of the Convention was a
temporary protection for what they regarded, in one
sense, their property, until they could, in their own
time and in their own way, bring about this desirable
result. t :*
Mr. Pinckney declared, “If the Southern States
were let alone, they will probably of themselves stop
importations. He would himself, as a citizen of
South Carolina, vote for it.”
Mr. Sherman observed that “the abolition of sla-
very seemed to be going on in the United States, and
THE CONSTITUTION AND SILAVERY. 65
that the good sense of the several States would proba-
bly by degrees complete it.” Mr. Ellsworth added,—
and no one expressed dissent from this opinion, —
“Slavery, in time, will not be a speck in our country.”
It was an eminent Virginian, Mr. Madison, who
declared that “he thought it wrong to admit in the
Constitution the idea of property in men.” That idea
was accordingly everywhere scrupulously avoided.
But still, in three separate clauses, the Constitution
recognizes the existence of slavery, although it does
not permit the word “slave” anywhere to tarnish its
text.
“ART. T. SECT. 2. . . . . . Representatives and 3.
direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States Ünited
which may be included within this Union, according to States.
their respective numbers; which shall be determined by
adding to the whole number of free persons, including
those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding
Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons.
“ART. T. SECT. 9. The migration or importation of
such persons as any of the States now existing shall think
proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress
prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight;
but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation,
not exceeding ten dollars for each person.
“ART. IV. SECT. 2. . . . . . No person held to
service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escap-
ing into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regula-
tion therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but
shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such
service or labor may be due.”
9
66 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
In considering these articles in the Convention, the
whole subject of slavery was thoroughly discussed.
No language of radical reformers in recent times
surpasses in severity the honest utterances of the
patriots and statesmen who were then assembled.
No friendly voice was raised to defend this barbarous
crime against humanity. Let us look at some of the
speeches.
Mr. Gouverneur Morris, of Pennsylvania, was the
member to whom was finally committed the Constitu-
tion, to give finish to the style and arrangement of
that instrument. He may properly be regarded as
the author of its text. In the debate on the 8th of
August, 1787, he uses the following language : —
* “He never would concur in upholding domestic slavery.
Morris. It was a nefarious institution. It was the curse of Heaven on
the States where it prevailed. Compare the free regions
of the Middle States, where a rich and noble cultivation
marks the prosperity and happiness of the people, with the
misery and poverty which overspread the barren wastes of
Virginia, Maryland, and the other States having slaves.
Travel through the whole continent, and you behold the
prospect continually varying with the appearance and dis-
appearance of slavery. The moment you leave the Eastern
States, and enter New York, the effects of the institution
become visible. Passing through the Jerseys, and enter-
ing Pennsylvania, every criterion of superior improvement
witnesses the change. Proceed southwardly, and every
step you take through the great regions of slaves presents
a desert, increasing with the increasing proportion of these
wretched beings. Upon what principle is it that the slaves
shall be computed in the representation ? Are they men?
DEBATE IN THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. 67
Then make them citizens, and let them vote. Are they ºver
property? Why, then, is no other property included ? Morris.
The houses in this city (Philadelphia) are worth more
than all the wretched slaves who cover the rice-swamps of
South Carolina. The admission of slaves into the repre-
sentation, when fairly explained, comes to this, – that the
inhabitant of Georgia and South Carolina, who goes to the
coast of Africa, and, in defiance of the most sacred laws of
humanity, tears away his fellow-creatures from their dear-
est connections, and damns them to the most cruel bondage,
shall have more votes in a government instituted for the
protection of the rights of mankind than the citizen of
Pennsylvania or New Jersey, who views with a laudable
horror so nefarious a practice. He would add, that do-
mestic slavery is the most prominent feature in the aris-
tocratic countenance of the proposed Constitution. The
vassalage of the poor has ever been the favorite offspring
of aristocracy. And what is the proposed compensation
to the Northern States for a sacrifice of every principle
of right, of every impulse of humanity ? They are to bind
themselves to march their militia for the defence of the
Southern States, for their defence against those very
slaves of whom they complain. They must supply vessels
and seamen in case of foreign attack. The Legislature
will have indefinite power to tax them by excises and
duties on imports, both of which will fall heavier on them
than on the Southern inhabitants; for the bohea tea used
by a Northern freeman will pay more tax than the whole
consumption of the miserable slave, which consists of
nothing more than his physical subsistence and the rag
that covers his nakedness. On the other side, the Southern
States are not to be restrained from importing fresh sup-
plies of wretched Africans, at once to increase the danger
of attack and the difficulty of defence: may, they are to be
encouraged to it by an assurance of having their votes in
the National Government increased in proportion; and are,
68 - HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Gouver-
In Cllr
Morris.
Rufus
King.
at the same time, to have their exports and their slaves
exempt from all contributions for the public service. Let
it not be said that direct taxation is to be proportioned to
representation. It is idle to suppose that the General
Government can stretch its hand directly into the pockets
of the people scattered over so vast a country. They can
only do it through the medium of exports, imports, and
excises. For what, then, are all the sacrifices to be made 7
He would sooner submit himself to a tax for paying for all
the negroes in the United States than saddle posterity
with such a Constitution.”— Madison Papers, Elliot, vol. v.
pp. 392, 393.
Mr. Rufus King, of Massachusetts, in the same
debate, said : —
“The admission of slaves was a most grating circum-
stance to his mind, and he believed would be so to a great
part of the people of America. He had not made a strenu-
Ous opposition to it heretofore, because he had hoped that
this concession would have produced a readiness, which
had not been manifested, to strengthen the General Go-
vernment, and to mark a full confidence in it. The report
under consideration had, by the tenor of it, put an end to
all those hopes. In two great points, the hands of the
Legislature were absolutely tied. The importation of
slaves could not be prohibited. Exports could not be
taxed. Is this reasonable 7 What are the great objects of
the general system 7 First, defence against foreign inva-
sion ; secondly, against internal sedition. Shall all the
States, then, be bound to defend each 7 and shall each be at
liberty to introduce a weakness which will render defence
more difficult 2 Shall one part of the United States be
bound to defend another part, and that other part be at
liberty, not only to increase its own danger, but to with-
hold the compensation for the burden 7 If slaves are to
DEBATE IN THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. 69
be imported, shall not the exports produced by their labor º
supply a revenue, the better to enable the General Govern-"
ment to defend their masters ? There was so much in-
equality and unreasonableness in all this, that the people
of the Northern States could never be reconciled to it.
No candid man could undertake to justify it to them. He
had hoped that some accommodation would have taken
place on this subject; that, at least, a time would have
been limited for the importation of slaves. He never could
agree to let them be imported without limitation, and then
be represented in the National Legislature. Indeed, he
could so little persuade himself of the rectitude of such a
practice, that he was not sure he could assent to it under
any circumstances. At all events, either slaves should not
be represented, or exports should be taxable.”
Mr. Roger Sherman, of Connecticut, —
“Regarded the slave-trade as iniquitous : but, the Roger
point of representation having been settled after much Sherman.
difficulty and deliberation, he did not think himself bound
to make opposition ; especially as the present article,
as amended, did not preclude any arrangement whatever
on that point, in another place of the report.” — Madison
Papers, Elliot, vol. v. 391, 392.
S.
Mr. Luther Martin, of Maryland, in the debate,
Tuesday, Aug. 21, -
“Proposed to vary Art. 7, Sect. 4, so as to allow a Luther
prohibition or tax on the importation of slaves. In the Martin.
first place, as five slaves are to be counted as three free
men in the apportionment of representatives, such a clause
would leave an encouragement to this traffic. In the
second place, slaves weakened one part of the Union, which
the other parts were bound to protect : the privilege of
importing them was therefore unreasonable. And, in the
70 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Debate in third place, it was inconsistent with the principles of the
the Con-
vention.
John
Rutledge.
Oliver
, Ellsworth.
Charles
Pinckney.
Roger
Sherman.
Revolution, and dishonorable to the American character,
to have such a feature in the Constitution.
“Mr. RUTLEDGE did not see how the importation of
slaves could be encouraged by this section. He was not
apprehensive of insurrections, and would readily exempt
, the other States from the obligation to protect the Southern
against them. Religion and humanity had nothing to do
with this question : interest alone is the governing princi-
ple with nations. The true question at present is, whether
the Southern States shall or shall not be parties to the
Union. If the Northern States consult their interest, they
will not oppose the increase of slaves, which will increase
the commodities of which they will become the carriers.
“Mr. ELLSWORTH was for leaving the clause as it stands.
Let every State import what it pleases. The morality or
wisdom of slavery are considerations belonging to the
States themselves. What ēnriches a part enriches the
whole, and the States are the best judges of their particu-
lar interest. The old Confederation had not meddled with
this point; and he did not see any greater necessity for
bringing it within the policy of the new one.
“Mr. PINCKNEY. South Carolina can never receive the
plan if it prohibits the slave-trade. In every proposed
extension of the powers of Congress, that State has ex-
pressly and watchfully excepted that of meddling with the
importation of negroes. If the States be all left at liberty
on this subject, South Carolina may perhaps, by degrees, do
of herself what is wished, as Virginia and Maryland already
have done.
“Adjourned.
© “WEDNESDAY, Aug. 22.
“In Convention. — Art. 7, Sect. 4, was resumed.
“Mr. SHERMAN was for leaving the clause as it stands.
He disapproved of the slave-trade ; yet, as the States were
now possessed of the right to import slaves, as the public
DEBATE IN THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. 71
good did not require it to be taken from them, and as it §:
was expedient to have as few objections as possible to the
proposed scheme of government, he thought it best to leave
the matter as we find it. He observed, that the abolition of
slavery seemed to be going on in the United States, and that
the good sense of the several States would probably by degrees
complete it. He urged on the Convention the necessity of
despatching its business.
ger
©III) 2.Il.
“Col. MASON. This infernal traffic originated in the George
º • * * tº s - M
avarice of British merchants. The British Government
constantly checked the attempts of Virginia to put a stop
to it. The present question concerns, not the importing
States alone, but the whole Union. The evil of having
slaves was experienced during the late war. Had slaves
been treated as they might have been by the enemy, they
would have proved dangerous instruments in their hands.
But their folly dealt by the slaves as it did by the Tories.
He mentioned the dangerous insurrections of the slaves in
Greece and Sicily, and the instructions given by Crom-
well to the commissioners sent to Virginia, to arm the
servants and slaves, in case other means of obtaining its
submission should fail. Maryland and Virginia, he said,
had already prohibited the importation of slaves expressly.
North Carolina had done the same in substance. All
this would be in vain, if South Carolina and Georgia be
at liberty to import. The Western people are already
calling out for slaves for their new lands; and will fill
that country with slaves, if they can be got through
South Carolina and Georgia. Slavery discourages arts and
manufactures. The poor despise labor when performed
by slaves. They prevent the emigration of whites, who
really enrich and strengthen a country. They produce the
most permicious effect on manners. Every master of slaves
is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of Heaven
on a country. As nations cannot be rewarded or punished
in the meat world, they must be in this. By an inevitable
Iason.
72 HISTORICAL RESEARCHI.
Debate in
the Com-
vention.
Oliver
Ellsworth.
Charles
Pinckney.
Charles
Cotes worth
Pinckney.
chain of causes and effects, Providence punishes national
Sims by national calamities. He lamented that some of our
Eastern brethren had, from a lust of gain, embarked in this
nefarious traffic. As to the States being in possession of
the right to import, this was the case with many other
rights, now to be properly given up. He held it essential,
in every point of view, that the General Government should
have power to prevent the increase of slavery.
“Mr. ELLSWORTH, as he had never owned a slave, could
not judge of the effects of slavery on character. He said,
however, that, if it was to be considered in a moral light,
we ought to go further, and free those already in the
country. As slaves also multiply so fast in Virginia and
Maryland, that it is cheaper to raise than import them,
whilst in the sickly rice-swamps foreign supplies are
necessary, if we go no further than is urged; we shall be
unjust towards South Carolina and Georgia. Let us not
intermeddle. As population increases, poor laborers will
be so plenty as to render slaves useless. Slavery, in time,
will not be a speck in our country. Provision is already
made in Connecticut for abolishing it; and the abolition
has already taken place in Massachusetts. As to the
danger of insurrections from foreign influence, that will
become a motive to kind treatment of the slaves.
“Mr. PINCKNEY. If slavery be wrong, it is justified by
the example of all the world. He cited the case of Greece,
Rome, and other ancient States; the sanction given by
France, England, Holland, and other modern States. In
all ages, one-half of mankind have been slaves. If the
Southern States were let alone, they will probably of them-
selves stop importations. He would himself, as a citizen of
South Carolina, vote for it. An attempt to take away
the right, as proposed, will produce serious objections
to the Constitution, which he wished to see adopted.
“Gen. PINCKNEY declared it to be his firm opinion, that
if himself and all his colleagues were to sign the Constitu-
DEBATE IN THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. 73
tion, and use their personal influence, it would be of no gharles
& e G º & Cotesworth
avail towards obtaining the assent of their constituents. Pinckney.
South Carolina and Georgia cannot do without slaves.
As to Virginia, she will gain by stopping the importations.
Her slaves will rise in value, and she has more than she
wants. It would be unequal to require South Carolina
and Georgia to confederate on such unequal terms. He
said, the royal assent, before the Revolution, had never
been refused to South Carolina as to Virginia. He con-
tended, that the importation of slaves would be for the
interest of the whole Union. The more slaves, the more
produce to employ the carrying-trade; the more consump-
tion also ; and, the more of this, the more revenue for the
common treasury. He admitted it to be reasonable, that
slaves should be dutied like other imports; but should
consider a rejection of the clause as an exclusion of South
Carolina from the Union. r
“Mr. BALDWIN had conceived national objects alone to Abraham
be before the Convention; not such as, like the present, Baldwin.
were of a local nature. Georgia was decided on this point.
That State has always hitherto supposed a General Gov-
ernment to be the pursuit of the Central States, who
wished to have a vortex for every thing; that her distance
would preclude her from equal advantage ; and that she
could not prudently purchase it by yielding national pow-
ers. From this it might be understood in what light she
would view an attempt to abridge one of her favorite
prerogatives. If left to herself, she may probably put a stop
to the evil. As one ground for this conjecture, he took
notice of the sect of , which, he said, was a respecta-
ble class of people, who carried their ethics beyond the
mere equality of men, – extending their humanity to the
claims of the whole animal creation.
“Mr. WILSON observed, that if South Carolina and James
Georgia were themselves disposed to get rid of the importation ilson.
of slaves in a short time, as had been suggested, they would
10
74. HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Debate in
the Com-
vention.
never refuse to unite because the importation might be pro-
hibited. As the section now stands, all articles imported
are to be taxed. Slaves alone are exempt. ' This is, in
fact, a bounty on that article.
“Mr. GERRY thought we had nothing to do with the
conduct of the States as to slaves, but ought to be careful
not to give any sanction to it.
“Mr. DICKINSON considered it as inadmissible, on every
principle of honor and safety, that the importation of slaves
should be authorized to the States by the Constitution.
The true question was, whether the national happiness
would be promoted or impeded by the importation; and
this question ought to be left to the National Government,
not to the States particularly interested. If England and
France permit slavery, slaves are, at the same time, ex-
cluded from both those kingdoms. Greece and Rome were
made unhappy by their slaves. He could not believe that
the Southern States would refuse to confederate on the
account apprehended ; especially as the power was not
likely to be immediately exercised by the General Govern-
ment.
“Mr. WILLIAMSON stated the law of North Carolina on
the subject; to wit, that it did not directly prohibit the
importation of slaves. It imposed a duty of £5 on each
slave imported from Africa, É10 on each from elsewhere,
and £50 on each from a State licensing manumission. He
thought the Southern States could not be members of the
Union, if the clause should be rejected; and it was wrong
to force any thing down not absolutely necessary, and which
any State must disagree to.
“Mr. KING thought the subject should be considered in
a political light only. If two States will not agree to the
Constitution, as stated on one side, he could affirm with
equal belief, on the other, that great and equal opposition
would be experienced from the other States. He remarked
on the exemption of slaves from duty, whilst every other
DEBATE IN THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. 75
import was subjected to it, as an inequality that could not ºn
fail to strike the commercial sagacity of the Northern and º:
Middle States.
“Mr. LANGDON was strenuous for giving the power to
the General Government. He could not, with a good con-
science, leave it with the States, who could then go on
with the traffic, without being restrained by the opinions
here given, that they will themselves cease to import slaves.
“Gen. PINCKNEY thought himself bound to declare can-
didly, that he did not think South Carolina would stop her
importations of slaves in any short time ; but only stop
them occasionally, as she now does. He moved to commit
the clause, that slaves might be made liable to an equal
tax with other imports; which he thought right, and which
would remove one difficulty that had been started.
“Mr. RUTLEDGE. If the Convention thinks that North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia will ever agree to
the plan, unless their right to import slaves be untouched,
the expectation is vain. The people of those States will
never be such fools as to give up so important an interest.
He was strenuous against striking out the section, and
seconded the motion of Gen. Pinckney for a commitment.
“Mr. GouvBRNEUR MoRRIS wished the whole subject to
be committed, including the clauses relating to taxes
on exports and to a navigation act. These things may
form a bargain among the Northern and Southern States.
“Mr. BUTLER declared, that he never would agree to
the power of taxing exports.
“Mr. SHERMAN said it was better to let the Southern
States import slaves than to part with them, if they made
that a sine qué mom. He was opposed to a tax on slaves
imported, as making the matter worse, because it implied
they were property. He acknowledged, that, if the power
of prohibiting the importation should be given to the
General Government, it would be exercised. He thought
it would be its duty to exercise the power.
76 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Debate in
the Con-
vention.
“Mr. READ was for the commitment, provided the clause
concerning taxes on exports should also be committed.
“Mr. SHERMAN observed, that that clause had been
agreed to, and therefore could not be committed.
“Mr. RANDOLPH was for committing, in order that some
middle ground might, if possible, be found. He could
never agree to the clause as it stands. He would sooner
risk the Constitution. He dwelt on the dilemma to which
the Convention was exposed. By agreeing to the clause,
it would revolt the Quakers, the Methodists, and many
others in the States having no slaves. On the other hand,
two States might be lost to the Union. Let us then, he
said, try the chance of a commitment.”— Madison Papers,
Elliot, vol. v. pp. 457–461.
Three days later (Saturday, Aug. 25th), the debate
on this subject was resumed, and the Report of the
Committee of Eleven was taken up. It was in the
following words : —
“Strike out so much of the fourth section as was re-
ferred to the Committee, and insert “The migration or
importation of such persons as the several States, now
existing, think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by
the Legislature prior to the year 1800; but a tax or duty
may be imposed on such migration or importation, at a rate
not exceeding the average of the duties laid on imports.’”
“Gen. PINCKNEY moved to strike out the words ‘the
year eighteen hundred' as the year limiting the importa-
tion of slaves, and to insert the words ‘the year eighteen
hundred and eight.”
“Mr. GoRHAM seconded the motion.
“Mr. MADISON. Twenty years will produce all the mis-
chief that can be apprehended from the liberty to import
slaves. So long a term will be more dishonorable to the
DEBATE IN THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. 77
American character than to say nothing about it in the Pºin
- e C UOI)-
Constitution. vention.
“On the motion, which passed in the affirmative, –
“New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, ay, -7; New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, no, -4.
“Mr. GOUVERNEUR MoRRIS was for making the clause
read at once, —
“‘The importation of slaves into North Carolina, South Caro-
lina, and Georgia, shall not be prohibited,’ &c.
This, he said, would be most fair, and would avoid the
ambiguity by which, under the power with regard to natu-
ralization, the liberty reserved to the States might be
defeated. He wished it to be known, also, that this part
of the Constitution was a compliance with those States.
If the change of language, however, should be objected
to by the members from those States, he should not
urge it.
“Col. MASON was not against using the term “slaves,”
but against naming North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Georgia, lest it should give offence to the people of those
States.
“Mr. SHERMAN liked a description better than the terms
proposed, which had been declined by the old Congress,
and were not pleasing to some people.
“Mr. CLYMER concurred with Mr. Sherman.
“Mr. WILLIAMSON said, that, both in opinion and prac-
tice, he was against slavery; but thought it more in favor
of humanity, from a view of all circumstances, to let in
South Carolina and Georgia on those terms, than to exclude
them from the Union.
“Mr. GOUVERNEUR MoRRIs withdrew his motion.
“Mr. DICKINSON wished the clause to be confined to the
States which had not themselves prohibited the importa-
78 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
º, tion of slaves; and, for that purpose, moved to amend the
ll) LI10 UOI)- ... - * r -
vention, clause so as to read, -
“‘The importation of slaves into such of the States as shall
permit the same shall not be prohibited by the Legislature of the
United States until the year 1808; ” –
which was disagreed to, nem, con. -
“The first part of the Report was then agreed to,
amended as follows: —
“‘The migration or importation of such persons as the several
States now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be prohib-
ited by the Legislature prior to the year 1808.’
“New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, ay, -7; New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, no, -4.” — Madison Papers,
Elliot, vol. v. pp. 477, 478.
These specimens of the debates are sufficient to
show the various shades of opinion as expressed by
members of the Convention from different States.
The Constitution, with the articles on slavery, as
amended and finally adopted by the Federal Conven-
tion, was submitted to the people, to be ratified by
them through State Conventions of delegates elected
for that special purpose. In these State Conven-
tions, the various articles were again thoroughly
discussed.
In Massachusetts, the delegates assembled in Bos-
ton, Jan. 9, 1788. It is hardly too much to say, that
the fate of the Federal Constitution was to be de-
cided by the action of this State Convention. By the
final vote of three hundred and fifty-five members, a
majority of only nineteen votes was obtained in its
MASSACHUSETTS CONVENTION. 79
favor ; one hundred and eighty-seven being in the ºn-
affirmative, and one hundred and sixty-eight in the ne-º.
gative. Had the vote been taken without discussion *
on the first meeting of the members, there can be no
doubt that the Constitution would have been rejected
by a considerable majority.
Elbridge Gerry, one of our delegates to the Fede-
ral Convention, had declined to sign the Constitution,
and addressed a letter to the State Legislature, giving
his reasons for so doing. He was invited to take a
seat with the delegates in the State Convention.
John Hancock and Samuel Adams, the two most
eminent members of the State Convention, were both
opposed to the adoption of the Constitution. Mr.
Hancock, on account of his position and from mo-
tives of policy, was elected President; but he excused
himself from attending until towards the close of the
session, on account of illness. The circumstances
connected with the change of purpose on the part of
the President are related by Professor Parsons in the
admirable “Memoir” of his father, Chief-Justice The-
ophilus Parsons. Amongst the many reasons assigned
by the opponents of the Federal Constitution for
their desire to defeat its adoption, the articles on the
subject of slavery were brought forward. The discus-
sion on this subject deserves our notice.
In the second week of the Convention, Jan. 17,
the subject of taxation and representation being
under debate, “Mr. Wedgery asked, if a boy of six
years of age was to be considered as a free person.”
80 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Conven-
tion to
ratify the
Constitu-
tion.
Rufus
King.
Francis
Dana.
Thomas
Dawes.
The Hon. Rufus King, in answer, said, –
“All persons born free were to be considered as free-
men; and, to make the idea of taxation by numbers more
intelligible, said that five negro children of South Carolina
are to pay as much tax as the three governors of New
Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.”
On the same occasion, Judge Dana spoke:–
“In reply to the remark of some gentlemen, that the
Southern States were favored in this mode of apportion-
ment, by having five of their negroes set against three
persons in the Eastern, the honorable Judge observed, that
the negroes of the Southern States work no longer than
when the eye of the driver is on them. ‘Can,’ asked he,
‘that land flourish like this, which is cultivated by the hands
of freemen 7 And are not three of these independent
freemen of more real advantage to a State than five of
those poor slaves?” As a friend to equal taxation, he re-
joiced that an opportunity was presented in this Constitu-
tion to change this unjust mode of apportionment. ‘Indeed,’
concluded he, “from a survey of every part of the Consti-
tution, I think it the best that the wisdom of man could
suggest.’”
The discussion was continued ; and, on the next
day, Thomas Dawes, Esq., expressed his views on
the subject: —
“Mr. DAWES said, he was sorry to hear so many objec-
tions raised against the paragraph under consideration.
He thought them wholly unfounded ; that the black
inhabitants of the Southern States must be considered
either as slaves, and as so much property, or in the char-
acter of so many free men. If the former, why should
they not be wholly represented 7 Our own State laws and
Constitution would lead us to consider those blacks as free
MASSACEIUSETTS CONVENTION. 81
men; and So, indeed, would our own ideas of natural jus-Thomas
tice. If then, they are freemen, they might form an equal”
basis for representation, as though they were all white
inhabitants. In either view, therefore, he could not see
that the Northern States would suffer, but directly to the
contrary. He thought, however, that gentlemen would do
well to connect the passage in dispute with another article
in the Constitution, that permits Congress, in the year
1808, wholly to prohibit the importation of slaves, and, in
the mean time, to impose a duty of ten dollars a head on
such blacks as should be imported before that period. Be-
sides, by the new Constitution, every particular State is
left to its own option totally to prohibit the introduction of
slaves into its own territories. What could the Convention
do more ? The members of the Southern States, like our-
selves, have their prejudices. It would not do to abolish
slavery by an act of Congress in a moment, and so destroy
what our Southern brethren consider as property; but
we may say, that although slavery is not Smitten by an apo-
pleaſy, yet it has received a mortal wound, and will die of a
consumption.” – Debates and Proceedings, pp. 135–139.
From the minutes of the debates, kept by Chief-
Justice Parsons, and printed with the last edition of
the “Debates and Proceedings,” we learn that George
Cabot on this occasion remarked: “The Southern
States have the slave-trade, and are sovereign States.
This Constitution is the best way to get rid of it.”
During the next week (Friday, Jam. 25), the clause
relating to “the migration or importation of such
persons as any of the States now existing shall think
proper to admit" was under consideration; when
“Mr. NEAL (from Kittery) went over the ground of James
objection to this section, on the idea that the slave-trade Neal.
11
82 HISTORICAL RESEARCHI.
Conven-
tion to
ratiſy the
Constitu-
tion.
General
Thompson.
was allowed to be continued for twenty years. His pro-
fession, he said, obliged him to bear witness against any
thing that should favor the making merchandise of the
bodies of men; and, unless his objection was removed, he
could not put his hand to the Constitution. Other gentle-
men said, in addition to this idea, that there was not even
a provision that the negroes ever shall be free; and
“Gen. THOMPSON exclaimed: ‘Mr. President, Shall it be
said, that, after we have established our own independ-
ence and freedom, we make slaves of others? 0 Washing-
ton | What a name has he had How he has immortalized
himself! But he holds those in slavery who have as good
right to be free as he has. He is still for self; and, in my
Opinion, his character has sunk fifty per cent.’
“On the other side, gentlemen said, that the step taken
in this article towards the abolition of slavery was one of
the beauties of the Constitution. They observed, that, in
the Confederation, there was no provision whatever for its
ever being abolished: but this Constitution provides that
Congress may, after twenty years, totally annihilate the
slave-trade ; and that, as all the States, except two, have
passed laws to this effect, it might reasonably be expected
that it would then be done. In the interim, all the States
were at liberty to prohibit it.
“SATURDAY, Jan. 26, 1788.
“The debate on the ninth section still continued desul-
tory, and consisted of similar objections and answers thereto
as had before been used. Both sides deprecated the slave-
trade in the most pointed terms. On one side, it was pathet-
ically lamented by Mr. Nasson, Major Lusk, Mr. Neal, and
others, that this Constitution provided for the continuation
of the slave-trade for twenty years; on the other, the Hon.
Judge Dana, Mr. Adams, and others, rejoiced that a door
was now to be opened for the annihilation of this odious,
abhorrent practice, in a certain time.” – Debates and Pro-
ceedings, pp. 208, 209.
MASS ACHUSETTS CONVENTION. 83
On Wednesday, Jan. 30, General Heath, who had
been detained by indisposition from attending many
of the meetings, was present, and participated in the
debate. A part of his remarks were as follows : —
“The paragraph respecting the migration or importa- §ººl
tion of such persons as any of the States now existing
shall think proper to admit, &c., is one of those considered
during my absence; and I have heard nothing on the sub-
ject, save what has been mentioned this morning. But I
think the gentlemen who have spoken have carried the
matter rather too far on both sides.
“I apprehend that it is not in our power to do anything.
for or against those who are in slavery in the Southern
States. No gentleman within these walls detests every
idea of slavery more than I do. It is generally detested
by the people of this Commonwealth ; and I ardently hope
that the time will soon come, when our brethren in the
Southern States will view it as we do, and put a stop to it:
but to this we have no right to compel them. Two ques-
tions naturally arise : If we ratify the Constitution, Shall
we do any thing by our act to hold the blacks in slavery 2 or
shall we become partakers of other men's sins 2 I think, nei-
ther of them. Each State is sovereign and independent to
a certain degree; and they have a right, and will regulate
their own internal affairs as to themselves appears proper.
And shall we refuse to eat or to drink or to be united with
those who do not think or act just as we do º Surely not.
We are not, in this case, partakers of other men's sins; for
in nothing do we voluntarily encourage the slavery of our
fellow-men. A restriction is laid on the Federal Govern-
ment, which could not be avoided and a union take place.
The Federal Convention went as far as they could. The
migration, or importation, &c., is confined to the States
now eacisting only : new States cannot claim it. Congress,
84 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Convention
to ratify
the Consti-
tution.
Isaac
Backus.
by their ordinance for erecting new States, some time since
declared that the new States shall be republican, and that
there shall be no slavery in them; but, whether those in
slavery in the Southern States will be emancipated after
the year 1808, I do not pretend to determine: I rather
doubt it.”—Debates and Proceedings, pp. 216–217.
One of the longest speeches in the Convention, on
the subject of slavery, was made by the Rev. Isaac
Backus of Middleborough, on the 4th of February,
just before the debates were finally closed. A part of
this speech will show its character: —
“Much, Sir, hath been said about the importation of
slaves into this country. I believe, that, according to my
capacity, no man abhors that wicked practice more than I
do, and would gladly make use of all lawful means toward
the abolishing of slavery in all parts of the land. But let
us consider where we are, and what we are doing. In
the Articles of Confederation, no provision was made to hin-
der the importation of slaves into any of these States; but a
door is now opened hereafter to do it, and each State is at
liberty now to abolish slavery as soon as they please. And
let us remember our former connection with Great Britain,
from whom many in our land think we ought not to have
revolted. How did they carry on the slave-trade 7 I know
that the Bishop of Gloucester, in an annual sermon in Lon-
don in February, 1766, endeavored to justify their tyran-
nical claims of power over us by casting the reproach of
the slave-trade upon the Americans; but, at the close of the
war, the Bishop of Chester, in an annual sermon in Febru-
ary, 1783, ingenuously owned that their nation is the most
deeply involved in the guilt of that trade of any nation in
the world, and also that they have treated their slaves
in the West Indies worse than the French or Spaniards have
done theirs. Thus slavery grows more and more odious
MASSA CHUSETTS CONVENTION. 85
through the world; and, as an honorable gentleman said ºn
º | C UOI)-
some days ago, ‘Though we cannot say that Slavery is struck vention.
with an apople.cy, yet we may hope it will die with a consump-
tion.’
“The American Revolution was built upon the principle,
that all men are born with an equal right to liberty and
property, and that officers have no right to any power but
what is fairly given them by the consent of the people.
And, in the Constitution now proposed to us, a power is
reserved to the people constitutionally to reduce every
officer again to a private station; and what a guard is this
against their invasion of others’ rights, or abusing of their
power Such a door is now opened for the establishing of
righteous government, and for securing equal liberty, as
never was before opened to any people on earth.”— De-
bates and Proceedings, pp. 251, 253.
The final vote on the ratification of the Constitu- lºng
On the
tion was taken on the 6th of February, 1788; and ...;
resulted, as has been already stated, in the affirmative, ".
by the small majority of nineteen votes. Notwith-
standing the strong opposition to it which was mani-
fested whilst the subject was under discussion, there
was a general acquiescence in the result. The joy of
the people was expressed by enthusiastic public de-
monstrations. An extract from one of the newspa-
pers of the day will give a good idea of the popular
sentiment at the time : —
“The citizens of Boston have ever shown themselves
advocates for freedom : therefore, when a motion had
obtained, one of the greatest objects of which is ‘to secure
the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity,'
86 HISTORICAI, RESEARCH.
º they could not resist the strong impulse they must have
Boston. had, publicly to testify their gratitude for the pleasing
event. Nor have they. On the decision being declared,
the bells in the several public buildings communicated the
happy intelligence to every part of the town by a peal,
which continued for several hours; and which has been
continued, with short intervals, ever since. The discharge
of cannon, and other demonstrations of joy, took place on
Wednesday and Thursday; but it was left to yesterday to
produce an exhibition, to which America has never before
witnessed an equal, and which has exceeded any thing of
the kind Europe can boast of.” – Columbian Centinel,
Feb. 9, 1788.
iºniº The published account of the Convention in New
C - º e º s
...” Hampshire is very brief and imperfect. The only
speech known to have been preserved is here printed
entire.
The Hon. Joshua Atherton, from Amherst, spoke
as follows: —
Joshua “Mr. President, I cannot be of the opinion of the ho-
Atherton, norable gentlemen who last spoke, that this paragraph is
either so useful or so inoffensive as they seem to imagine,
or that the objections to it are so totally void of foundation.
The idea that strikes those, who are opposed to this clause,
so disagreeably and so forcibly, is, hereby it is conceived
(if we ratify the Constitution) that we become consenters
to, and partakers in, the sin and guilt of this abominable
traffic, at least for a certain period, without any positive
stipulation that it should even then be brought to an end.
We do not behold in it that valuable acquisition so much
boasted of by the honorable member from Portsmouth,
‘ that an end is them to be put to slavery.’ Congress may be
as much or more puzzled to put a stop to it then than we
are now. The clause has not Secured its abolition.
NEW-HAMPSHIRE CONWIENTION. 87
“We do not think ourselves under any obligation to %.
perform works of supererogation in the reformation of man-
kind; we do not esteem ourselves under any necessity to
go to Spain or Italy to suppress the Inquisition of those
countries, or of making a journey to the Carolinas to
abolish the detestable custom of enslaving the Africans:
but, Sir, we will not lend the aid of our ratification to this
cruel and inhuman merchandise, not even for a day. There
is a great distinction in not taking a part in the most bar-
barous violation of the sacred laws of God and humanity,
and our becoming guaranties for its exercise for a term of
years. Yes, Sir, it is our full purpose to wash our hands
clear of it; and however unconcerned spectators we may
remain of such predatory infractions of the laws of our
nature, however unfeelingly we may subscribe to the ratifi-
cation of man-stealing, with all its baneful consequences,
yet I cannot but believe, in justice to human nature, that
if we reserve the consideration, and bring this claimed
power somewhat nearer to our own doors, we shall form a
more equitable opinion of its claim to this ratification. Let
us figure to ourselves a company of these man-stealers,
well equipped for the enterprise, arriving on our coast.
They seize and carry off the whole or a part of the in-
habitants of the town of Exeter. Parents are taken, and
children left; or possibly they may be so fortunate as to
have a whole family taken and carried off together by these
relentless robbers. What must be their feelings in the
hands of their new and arbitrary masters ? Dragged at
once from every thing they held dear to them ; stripped
of every comfort of life, like beasts of prey, -they are
hurried on a loathsome and distressing voyage to the coast
of Africa, or some other quarter of the globe, where the
greatest price may await them ; and here, if any thing can
be added to their miseries, comes on the heart-breaking
scene. A parent is sold to one, a son to another, and a
daughter to a third | Brother is cleft from brother, sister
hua
CrtOn.
88 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Joshua
Atherton.
James
Wilson.
from sister, and parents from their darling offspring ! :
Broken with every distress that human nature can feel,
and bedeved with tears of anguish, they are dragged into
the last stage of depression and slavery, never, never to
behold the faces of one another again The scene is too
affecting. I have not fortitude to pursue the subject.”—
I'lliot's Debates, vol. ii. pp. 203, 204.
Pennsylvania was the second State to adopt the
Constitution. The remarks of James Wilson, in the
Ratification Convention, must not be omitted. Mr.
Wilson was one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, and was for several years a member
of Congress. He was not only an eloquent orator and
ready debater, but may be regarded as one of the first
jurists in the country. Washington appointed him a
Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States the
year after the adoption of the Constitution; and he
held the office until his death, which occurred in
1798. The opinions of such a man are entitled to
great consideration.
“With respect to the clause restricting Congress from
prohibiting the migration or importation of such persons as
any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit
prior to the year 1808, the honorable gentleman says that
this clause is not only dark, but intended to grant to
Congress, for that time, the power to admit the importa-
tion of slaves. No such thing was intended. But I will
tell you what was done, and it gives me high pleasure that
so much was done. Under the present Confederation, the
States may admit the importation of slaves as long as they
please; but by this article, after the year 1808, the Con-
gress will have power to prohibit such importation, notwith-
standing the disposition of any State to the contrary. I
PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTION. 89
consider this as laying the foundation for banishing slavery James
out of this country; and though the period is more distant Wilson.
than I could wish, yet it will produce the same kind, gradual
change which was pursued in Pennsylvania. It is with
much satisfaction I view this power in the General Gov-
ernment, whereby they may lay an interdiction on this
reproachful trade. But an immediate advantage is also
obtained : for a tax or duty may be imposed on such impor-
tation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person; and this,
Sir, operates as a partial prohibition. It was all that could
be obtained. I am sorry it was no more; but from this I
think there is reason to hope, that yet a few years, and
it will be prohibited altogether; and, in the mean time, the
new States which are to be formed will be under the control
of Congress in this particular, and slaves will never be in-
troduced amongst them.
“I recollect, on a former day, the honorable gentleman
from Westmoreland (Mr. Findley), and the honorable gen-
tleman from Cumberland (Mr. Whitehill), took exceptions
against the 1st clause of the 9th sect., art. 1, arguing, very
unfairly, that, because Congress might impose a tax or
duty of ten dollars on the importation of slaves within
any of the United States, Congress might therefore permit
slaves to be imported within this State, contrary to its
laws. I confess, I little thought that this part of the
system would be excepted to.
“I am sorry that it could be extended no farther; but,
so far as it operates, it presents us with the pleasing pros-
pect, that the rights of mankind will be acknowledged and
established throughout the Union.
“If there was no other lovely feature in the Constitu-
tion but this one, it would diffuse a beauty over its whole
countenance. Yet the lapse of a few years, and Congress
will have power to eacterminate slavery from within our
borders.”— Elliot's Debates, vol. ii. pp. 452, 484.
• 12
90 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Constitu-
tion rati-
fied by
Maryland.
Luther
Martin.
Maryland adopted the Constitution in opposition
to the strong remonstrance of Luther Martin. The
address which he made to the State Legislature has
been published, and fills between forty and fifty closely
printed pages. The part pertinent to this paper is
here copied entire : —
“By the ninth section of this article, the importation of
such persons as any of the States now existing shall think
proper to admit shall not be prohibited prior to the year
one thousand eight hundred and eight; but a duty may be
imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars each
person.
“The design of this clause is to prevent the General
Government from prohibiting the importation of slaves; but
the same reasons which caused them to strike out the word
‘national,” and not admit the word “stamps,’ influenced
them here to guard against the word “slaves.' They anx-
iously sought to avoid the admission of expressions which
might be odious in the ears of Americans, although they
were willing to admit into their system those things which
the expressions signified: and hence it is that the clause
is so worded as really to authorize the General Government
to impose a duty of ten dollars on every foreigner who
comes into a State to become a citizen, whether he comes
absolutely free, or qualifiedly so as a servant; although
this is contrary to the design of the framers, and the duty
was only meant to extend to the importation of slaves.
“This clause was the subject of a great diversity of sen-
timent in the Convention. As the system was reported by
the committee of detail, the provision was general, that
such importation should not be prohibited, without confin-
ing it to any particular period. This was rejected by eight
States; Georgia, South Carolina, and, I think, North Caro-
lina, voting for it.
LEGISLATURE OF MARYLAND. 91
“We were then told by the delegates of the two first Luther
of those States, that their States would never agree to a
system which put it in the power of the General Govern-
ment to prevent the importation of slaves; and that they,
as delegates from those States, must withhold their assent
from such a system.
“A committee of one member from each State was
chosen by ballot to take this part of the system under
their consideration, and to endeavor to agree upon some
report which should reconcile those States. To this com-
mittee also was referred the following proposition, which
had been reported by the committee of detail; viz., “No
navigation act shall be passed without the assent of two-
thirds of the members present in each house,” — a pro-
position which the staple and commercial States were
solicitous to retain, lest their commerce should be placed
too much under the power of the Eastern States, but
which these last States were as anxious to reject. This
committee, of which also I had the honor to be a member,
met, and took under their consideration the subjects com-
mitted to them. I found the Eastern States, notwithstand-
ing their aversion to slavery, were very willing to indulge
the Southern States at least with a temporary liberty to
prosecute the slave-trade, provided the Southern States
would, in their turn, gratify them by laying no restriction
on navigation acts; and, after a very little time, the com-
mittee, by a great majority, agreed on a report, by which
the General Government was to be prohibited from pre-
venting the importation of slaves for a limited time, and
the restrictive clause relative to navigation acts was to be
omitted.
“This report was adopted by a majority of the Conven-
tion, but not without considerable opposition. It was said
that we had just assumed a place among independent
nations, in consequence of our opposition to the attempts
of Great Britain to enslave us; that this opposition was
artin.
92 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Luther grounded upon the preservation of those rights to which
* God and nature had entitled us, not in particular, but in
common with the rest of all mankind; that we had appealed
to the Supreme Being for his assistance, as the God of
freedom, who could not but approve our efforts to preserve
the rights which he had thus imparted to his creatures;
that now, when we scarcely had risen from our knees, from
supplicating his aid and protection in forming our govern-
ment over a free people, – a government formed pretend-
edly on the principles of liberty, and for its preservation,
— in that government to have a provision not only putting
it out of its power to restrain and prevent the slave-trade,
but even encouraging that most infamous traffic by giving
the States power and influence in the Union in proportion
as they cruelly and wantonly sport with the rights of their
fellow-creatures, ought to be considered as a solemn mock-
ery of, and insult to, that God whose protection we had
then implored; and could not fail to hold us up in detesta-
tion, and render us contemptible to every true friend of
liberty in the world. It was said, it ought to be consid-
ered that national crimes can only be, and frequently are,
punished in this world by national punishments; and that
the continuance of the slave-trade, and thus giving it a
national sanction and encouragement, ought to be consid-
ered as justly exposing us to the displeasure and ven-
geance of Him who is equally Lord of all, and who views
with equal eye the poor African slave and his American
master.
“It was urged, that, by this system, we were giving the
General Government full and absolute power to regulate
commerce; under which general power it would have a
right to restrain, or totally prohibit, the slave-trade. It
must therefore appear to the world absurd and disgraceful,
to the last degree, that we should except from the exercise
of that power the only branch of commerce which is un-
justifiable in its nature, and contrary to the rights of
LEGISLATURE OF MARYLAND. 93
mankind; that, on the contrary, we ought rather to prohib-Luther
it expressly, in our Constitution, the further importation Martin.
of slaves, and to authorize the General Government, from
time to time, to make such regulations as should be thought
most advantageous for the gradual abolition of slavery, and
the emancipation of the slaves which are already in the
States; that slavery is inconsistent with the genius of re-
publicanism, and has a tendency to destroy those principles
on which it is supported, as it lessens the sense of the
equal rights of mankind, and habituates us to tyranny and
oppression. It was further urged, that, by this system of
government, every State is to be protected both from for-
eign invasion and from domestic insurrections; that, from
this consideration, it was of the utmost importance it
should have a power to restrain the importation of slaves,
since, in proportion as the number of slaves was increased
in any State, in the same proportion the State is weakened,
and exposed to foreign invasion or domestic insurrection,
and by so much less will it be able to protect itself against
either; and therefore will, by so much the more, want aid
from, and be a burden to, the Union. It was further said,
that as, in this system, we were giving the General Gov-
ernment a power, under the idea of national character or
national interest, to regulate even our weights and meas-
ures, and have prohibited all possibility of emitting paper
money, and passing insolvent laws, &c., it must appear still
more extraordinary that we should prohibit the govern-
ment from interfering with the slave-trade, than which
nothing could so materially affect both our national honor
and interest. These reasons influenced me, both on the
Committee and in Convention, most decidedly to oppose
and vote against the clause, as it now makes a part of the
system.
“You will perceive, Sir, not only that the General Gov-
ernment is prohibited from interfering in the slave-trade
before the year eighteen hundred and eight, but that there
94. HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Luther is no provision in the Constitution that it shall afterwards
Martin be prohibited, nor any security that such prohibition will
ever take place; and I think there is great reason to be-
lieve, that, if the importation of slaves is permitted until
the year eighteen hundred and eight, it will not be prohib-
ited afterwards. At this time, we do not generally hold
this commerce in so great abhorrence as we have done.
When our liberties were at stake, we warmly felt for the
common rights of men. The danger being thought to be
past which threatened ourselves, we are daily growing
more insensible to those rights. In those States which
have restrained or prohibited the importation of slaves, it
is only done by legislative acts which may be repealed.
When those States find that they must, in their national
character and connection, suffer in the disgrace, and share
in the inconveniences, attendant upon that detestable and
iniquitous traffic, they may be desirous also to share in the
benefits arising from it; and the odium attending it will be
greatly effaced by the sanction which is given to it in the
General Government.”— Elliot's Debates, vol. i. pp. 372–
375.
º: Virginia was the tenth State to ratify the Constitu-
º, tion. Nowhere were the debates more able and
thorough than there. It was not till June that the
Convention was held. The proceedings occupy the
whole of the third volume of Elliot's “Debates.”
George Mason, Patrick Henry, and James Madison
were among the most important speakers. Let us
look at their speeches.
“TUESDAY, June 15, 1788.
George “Mr. GEORGE MASON. Mr. Chairman, this is a fatal sec-
Mason. tion, which has created more dangers than any other. The
first clause allows the importation of slaves for twenty
VIRGINIA CONVENTION. 95
years. Under the Royal Government, this evil was looked :
upon as a great oppression, and many attempts were made º
to prevent it; but the interest of the African merchants
prevented its prohibition. No sooner did the Revolution
take place than it was thought of. It was one of the great
causes of our separation from Great Britain. Its exclusion
has been a principal object of this State, and most of the
States in the Union. The augmentation of slaves weakens
the States; and such a trade is diabolical in itself, and dis-
graceful to mankind : yet, by this Constitution, it is contin-
ued for twenty years. As much as I value a union of all
the States, I would not admit the Southern States into the
Union, unless they agree to the discontinuance of this dis-
graceful trade, because it would bring weakness, and not
strength, to the Union. And, though this infamous traffic be
continued, we have no security for the property of that
kind which we have already. There is no clause in this
Constitution to secure it; for they may lay such a taa: as
will amount to manumission. And should the Government
be amended, still this detestable kind of commerce can-
not be discontinued till after the expiration of twenty years;
for the fifth article, which provides for amendments, ex-
pressly excepts this clause. I have ever looked upon this as
a most disgraceful thing to America. I cannot express my
detestation of it. Yet they have not secured us the pro-
perty of the slaves we have already : so that “they have
done what they ought not to have done, and have left
undone what they ought to have done.’ -
“Mr. MADISON. Mr. Chairman, I should conceive this James
clause to be impolitic, if it were one of those things which Madison.
could be excluded without encountering greater evils. The
Southern States would not have entered into the Union of
America, without the temporary permission of that trade;
and, if they were excluded from the Union, the conse-
quences might be dreadful to them and to us. We are not
in a worse situation than before. That traffic is prohibited
Q
96 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
James
Madison.
by our laws, and we may continue the prohibition. The
Union in general is not in a worse situation. Under the
Articles of Confederation, it might be continued for ever;
but, by this clause, an end may be put to it after twenty
years. There is, therefore, an amelioration of our circum-
stances. A tax may be laid in the mean time: but it is
limited; otherwise Congress might lay such a tax as would
amount to a prohibition. From the mode of representation
and taxation, Congress cannot lay such a tax on slaves as
will amount to manumission. Another clause secures us
that property which we now possess. At present, if any
slave elopes to any of those States where slaves are free,
he becomes emancipated by their laws; for the laws of the
States are uncharitable to one another in this respect. But,
in this Constitution, “no person held to service or labor in
one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another,
shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be
discharged from such service or labor; but shall be deliv-
ered up on claim of the party to whom such service or
labor shall be due.” This clause was expressly inserted to
enable owners of slaves to reclaim them. -
“This is a better security than any that now exists. No
power is given to the General Government to interpose
with respect to the property in slaves now held by the
States. The taxation of this State being equal only to its
representation, such a tax cannot be laid as he supposes.
They cannot prevent the importation of slaves for twenty
years; but, after that period, they can. The gentlemen
from South Carolina and Georgia argued in this manner:
‘We have now liberty to import this species of property;
and much of the property now possessed had been pur-
chased, or otherwise acquired, in contemplation of improv-
ing it by the assistance of imported slaves. What would
be the consequence of hindering us from it? The slaves
of Virginia would rise in value, and we should be obliged
to go to your markets.' I need not expatiate on this sub-
VIRGINIA CONVENTION. 97
ject. Great as the evil is, a dismemberment of the Union
would be worse. If those States should disunite from the
other States for not indulging them in the temporary con-
tinuance of this traffic, they might solicit and obtain aid
from foreign powers.
“Mr. TYLER warmly enlarged on the impolicy, iniquity,
and digracefulness of this wicked traffic. He thought the
reasons urged by gentlemen in defence of it were incon-
clusive and ill-founded. It was one cause of the complaints
against British tyranny, that this trade was permitted. The
Revolution had put a period to it; but now it was to be
revived. He thought nothing could justify it. This tem-
porary restriction on Congress militated, in his opinion,
against the arguments of gentlemen on the other side, that
what was not given up was retained by the States; for
that, if this restriction had not been inserted, Congress
could have prohibited the African trade. The power of
prohibiting it was not expressly delegated to them ; yet
they would have had it by implication, if this restraint had
not been provided. This seemed to him to demonstrate
most clearly the necessity of restraining them, by a Bill of
Rights, from infringing our unalienable rights. It was im-
material whether the Bill of Rights was by itself, or included
in the Constitution. But he contended for it one way or
the other. It would be justified by our own example and
that of England. His earnest desire was, that it should be
handed down to posterity that he had opposed this wicked
clause.”— Elliot's Debates, vol. iii. pp. 452–454.
Patrick Henry was the most distinguished opponent
of the Federal Constitution in the whole country.
He had been appointed a delegate to the Convention
at Philadelphia, but declined to attend. In the Vir-
ginia State Convention he persistently endeavored to
defeat its adoption. When he found his efforts
James
Madison.
John
Tyler.
13
98 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Patrick
Henry.
unsuccessful, like a true patriot, he ceased his oppo-
sition. Although he detested slavery, he was un-
willing to grant to the United-States Congress the
power of abolishing it without the consent of the
States. This power he thought he saw in the Con-
stitution, though not directly expressed in its lan-
guage.
“Among ten thousand implied powers which they may
assume, they may, if we be engaged in war, liberate every
one of your slaves, if they please; and this must and will
be done by men, a majority of whom have not a common
interest with you. They will, therefore, have no feeling
of your interests. It has been repeatedly said here, that
the great object of a National Government was national
defence. That power which is said to be intended for
security and safety may be rendered detestable and op-
pressive. If they give power to the General Government
to provide for the general defence, the means must be com-
mensurate to the end. All the means in the possession of
the people must be given to the Government which is in-
trusted with the public defence. In this State, there are
236,000 blacks, and there are many in several other States:
but there are few or none in the Northern States; and yet,
if the Northern States shall be of opinion that our slaves
are numberless, they may call forth every national resource.
May Congress not say that every black man must fight?
Did we not see a little of this last war 7 We were not
so hard pushed as to make emancipation general; but acts
of Assembly passed, that every slave who would go to
the army should be free. Another thing will contribute
to bring this event about: slavery is detested’; we feel its
fatal effects; we deplore it with all the pity of humanity.
Let all these considerations, at some future period, press
with full force on the minds of Congress, -let that ur-
VIRGINIA CONVENTION. 99
banity, which I trust will distinguish America, and the #:
necessity of national defence, — let all these things operate
on their minds: they will search that paper, and see if they
have power of manumission. And have they not, Sir 7
Have they not power to provide for the general defence
and welfare? May they not think that these call for the
abolition of slavery 2 May they not pronounce all slaves
free ? and will they not be warranted by that power? This
is no ambiguous implication or logical deduction. The
paper speaks to the point. They have the power, in clear,
unequivocal terms, and will clearly and certainly exercise
it. As much as I deplore slavery, I see that prudence for-
bids its abolition. I deny that the General Government
ought to set them free, because a decided majority of the
States have not the ties of sympathy and fellow-feeling for
those whose interest would be affected by their emancipa-
tion. The majority of Congress is to the North, and the
slaves are to the South.”— Elliot's Debates, vol. iii. pp.
589, 590.
Governor Randolph had been a member of the
Federal Convention; but he had refused to sign the
Constitution, wishing to be left free to oppose or to
advocate its adoption when it came before his State
for consideration. He afterwards, however, saw, that
on the ratification of the Constitution hung all hopes
of preserving the Union, and he now gave it his hearty
support. He thus replied to Mr. Henry: —
“That honorable gentleman, and some others, have in- Edmund
sisted that the abolition of slavery will result from it, and Randolph.
at the same time have complained that it encourages its
continuation. The inconsistency proves, in some degree,
the futility of their arguments. But, if it be not conclu-
sive to satisfy the committee that there is no danger of
100 . HISTORICAL RESEARCHI.
Edmund
Randolph.
enfranchisement taking place, I beg leave to refer them
to the paper itself. I hope that there is none here, who,
considering the subject in the calm light of philosophy,
will advance an objection dishonorable to Virginia, – that,
at the moment they are securing the rights of their citizens,
an objection is started that there is a spark of hope that those
wnfortunate men now held in bondage may, by the operation
Qf the General Government, be made free. But, if any gen-
tleman be terrified by this apprehension, let him read the
system. I ask, and I will ask again and again, till I be
answered (not by declamation), Where is the part that has
a tendency to the abolition of slavery 2 Is it the clause
which says that ‘the migration or importation of such
persons as any of the States now existing shall think
proper to admit shall not be prohibited by Congress prior
to the year 1808 ' ' This is an exception from the power
of regulating commerce, and the restriction is only to con-
tinue till 1808. Then Congress can, by the exercise of
that power, prevent future importations. But does it
affect the existing state of slavery 7 Were it right here
to mention what passed in convention on the occasion, I
might tell you that the Southern States, even South Carolina.
herself, conceived this property to be secure by these words.
I believe, whatever we may think here, that there was not
a member of the Virginia delegation who had the smallest
Suspicion of the abolition of slavery. Go to their meaning.
Point out the clause where this formidable power of eman-
cipation is inserted.” — Elliot's Debates, vol. iii. pp. 598,
599.
In North Carolina, a Convention, “for the purpose
of deliberating and determining on the proposed
Constitution,” was called by the Legislature. It as-
sembled in Hillsborough on the 21st of July, 1788;
and continued its session till Aug. 2d, when it adjourned
without either adopting or rejecting the Constitution.
NORTH-CAROLINA CONVENTION. 101’
A few extracts from the debates will show how
slavery was regarded in its connection with the Fede-
ral Constitution.
“Mr. DAVIE. . . . The gentleman does not wish to William R.
be represented with negroes.’ This, Sir, is an unhappy
Species of population ; but we cannot at present alter their
situation. The Eastern States had great jealousies on this
Subject. They insisted that their cows and horses were
equally entitled to representation; that the one was prop-
erty as well as the other. It became our duty, on the
other hand, to acquire as much weight as possible in the
legislation of the Union; and, as the Northern States were
more populous in whites, this only could be done by insist-
ing that a certain proportion of our slaves should make a
part of the computed population. It was attempted to
form a rule of representation from a compound ratio of
wealth and population: but, on consideration, it was found
impracticable to determine the comparative value of lands
and other property, in so extensive a territory, with any
degree of accuracy; and population alone was adopted as
the only practicable rule or criterion of representation.
It was urged by the deputies of the Eastern States, that a
representation of two-fifths would be of little utility, and
that their entire representation would be unequal and bur-
densome ; that, in a time of war, slaves rendered a coun-
try more vulnerable, while its defence devolved upon its
free inhabitants. On the other hand, we insisted, that, in
time of peace, they contributed, by their labor, to the gene-
ral wealth, as well as other members of the community;
that, as rational beings, they had a right of representation,
and, in Some instances, might be highly useful in war. On
these principles, the Eastern States gave the matter up, and
consented to the regulation as it has been read. I hope
these reasons will appear satisfactory.”— Elliot's Debates,
vol. iv. p. 30, 31.
&l V16.
102 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Richard D.
Spaight.
Joseph
M“Dowall.
James
Iredell.
When the ninth section was under discussion, Mr.
M-Dowall wished to hear the reasons of the restric-
tion on Congress in regard to prohibiting the impor-
tation of slaves before the year 1808.
“Mr. SPAIGHT answered, that there was a contest between
the Northern and Southern States; that the Southern States,
whose principal support depended on the labor of slaves,
would not consent to the desire of the Northern States to
exclude the importation of slaves absolutely; that South
Carolina and Georgia insisted on this clause, as they were
now in want of hands to cultivate their lands; that, in the
course of twenty years, they would be fully supplied ; that
the trade would be abolished then ; and that, in the mean
time, some tax or duty might be laid on.
“Mr. M'DOWALL replied, that the explanation was just
such as he expected, and by no means satisfactory to him ;
and that he looked upon it as a very objectionable part of
the system. -
“Mr. IREDELL. Mr. Chairman, I rise to express senti-
ments similar to those of the gentleman from Craven. For
my part, were it practicable to put an end to the importa-
tion of slaves immediately, it would give me the greatest
pleasure ; for it certainly is a trade utterly inconsistent
with the rights of humanity, and under which great cruel-
ties have been exercised. When the entire abolition of
slavery takes place, it will be an event which must be
pleasing to every generous mind and every friend of human
nature ; but we often wish for things which are not
attainable. It was the wish of a great majority of the
Convention to put an end to the trade immediately; but
the States of South Carolina and Georgia would not agree
to it. Consider, then, what would be the difference between
our present situation in this respect, if we do not agree to
the Constitution, and what it will be if we do agree to it.
If we do not agree to it, do we remedy the evil? No, Sir :
NORTHI-CAROLINA CONVENTION. 103
we do not; for, if the Constitution be not adopted, it will #.
be in the power of every State to continue it for ever.
They may or may not abolish it at their discretion. But,
if we adopt the Constitution, the trade must cease after
twenty years, if Congress declare so, whether particular
States please so or not : Surely, then, we can gain by it.
This was the the utmost that could be obtained. I heartily
wish more could have been done; but, as it is, this Gov-
ernment is nobly distinguished above others by that very
provision. Where is there another country in which such
a restriction prevails 2 We therefore, Sir, set an example
of humanity, by providing for the abolition of this inhuman
traffic, though at a distant period. I hope, therefore, that
this part of the Constitution will not be condemned because
it has not stipulated for what was impracticable to ob-
tain.
“Mr. GALLOWAY. Mr. Chairman, the explanation given James
to this clause does not satisfy my mind. I wish to see this Galloway.
abominable trade put an end to. But in case it be thought
proper to continue this abominable traffic for twenty years,
yet I do not wish to see the tax on the importation extend-
ed to all persons whatsoever. Our situation is different
from the people to the North. We want citizens: they do
not. Instead of laying a tax, we ought to give a bounty
to encourage foreigners to come among us. With respect
to the abolition of slavery, it requires the utmost consider-
ation. The property of the Southern States consists
principally of slaves. If they mean to do away slavery
altogether, this property will be destroyed. I apprehend
it means to bring forward manumission. If we must manu-
mit our slaves, what country shall we send them to ? It
is impossible for us to be happy, if, after manumission,
they are to stay among us.
“Mr. IREDELL. . . . . There is another circumstance James
to be observed. There is no authority vested in Congress”
104 HISTORICAL RESEARCHI.
Rawlins
Lowndes.
to restrain the States, in the interval of twenty years, from
doing what they please. If they wish to prohibit such
importation, they may do so.”— Elliot's Debates, vol. iv.
pp. 100–102.
In South Carolina, the Constitution was discussed
in the Legislature before the Convention was called.
Two or three extracts from the speeches made before
that body will end these specimens of the Debates.
“Mr. LOWNDES remarked, that we had a law prohibit-
ing the importation of negroes for three years, – a law he
greatly approved of; but there was no reason offered why
the Southern States might not find it necessary to alter
their conduct, and open their ports. Without negroes, this
State would degenerate into one of the most contemptible in the
Union; and he cited an expression that fell from General
Pinckney on a former debate, that, whilst there remained
One acre of swamp-land in South Carolina, he should raise
his voice against restricting the importation of negroes.
Even in granting the importation for twenty years, care
had been taken to make us pay for this indulgence; each
negro being liable, on importation, to pay a duty not ex-
ceeding ten dollars; and, in addition to this, they were
liable to a capitation tax. Negroes were our wealth, our
only natural resource ; yet behold how our kind friends in
the North were determined soon to tie up our hands, and
drain us of what we had The Eastern States drew their
means of subsistence, in a great measure, from their ship-
ping; and, on that head, they had been particularly careful
not to allow of any burdens. They were not to pay tonnage
or duties; no, not even the form of clearing out: all ports
were free and open to them Why, then, call this a recip-
rocal bargain, which took all from one party, to bestow it
on the other 7”— Elliot's Debates, vol. iv. pp. 272, 273.
SOUTII-CAROLINA, T,EGISLATURE. T 05
General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney had been a
member of the Federal Convention, and was an ear-
nest and able supporter of the rights of the State he
represented. He was undoubtedly sincere in his
belief that he had made for his constituents pretty
good terms in regard to their special interests, and
that they ought to be satisfied with the Constitution,
and vote for its adoption.
“You have so frequently heard my sentiments on this
subject, that I need not now repeat them. It was alleged
by some of the members who opposed an unlimited impor-
tation, that slaves increased the weakness of any State who
admitted them ; that they were a dangerous species of
property, which an invading enemy could easily turn
against Ourselves and the neighboring States; and that, as
we were allowed a representation for them in the House of
Representatives, our influence in government would be
increased in proportion as we were less able to defend our-
selves. ‘Show some period,” said the members from the
Eastern States, “when it may be in our power to put a stop,
if we please, to the importation of this weakness, and we
will endeavor, for your convenience, to restrain the reli-
gious and political prejudices of our people on this subject.’
The Middle States and Virginia made us no such proposi-
tion : they were for an immediate and total prohibition.
We endeavored to obviate the objections that were made,
in the best manner we could, and assigned reasons for our
insisting on the importation; which there is no occasion to
repeat, as they must occur to every gentleman in the
house. A Committee of the States was appointed, in order
to accommodate this matter; and, after a great deal of
difficulty, it was settled on the footing recited in the Con-
stitution.
“By this settlement, we have secured an unlimited im-
Gen. C. C.
Pinckney.
14
106 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Gen. C. C.
Pinckney.
, Doctor
Ramsay.
portation of negroes for twenty years. Nor is it declared
that the importation shall be then stopped : it may be
continued. We have a security that the General Govern-
ment can never emancipate them; for no such authority is
granted: and it is admitted, on all hands, that the General
Government has no powers but what are expressly grant-
ed by the Constitution, and that all rights not expressed
were reserved by the several States. We have obtained a
right to recover our slaves in whatever part of America
they may take refuge; which is a right we had not before.
In short, considering all circumstances, we have made the
best terms for the security of this species of property it
was in our power to make. We would have made better,
if we could ; but, on the whole, I do not think them
bad.” — Elliot's Debates, vol. iv. pp. 285, 286.
Outside, also, of the State Conventions, opinions in
regard to the effect of the Federal Constitution on
slavery were divided. Two letters, written on the same
day, in different parts of the country, by persons of
high character and great influence in their respective
States, will exhibit these differing views.
Dr. Ramsay, the historian of South Carolina, in a
letter to General Lincoln, dated Charleston, Jan. 29,
1788, says, –
“Our Assembly is now sitting, and have unanimously
agreed to hold a convention. By common consent, the
merits of the Federal Constitution were freely discussed
on that occasion, for the sake of enlightening our citizens.
Mr. [Rawlins] Lowndes was the only man who made direct,
formal opposition to it. His objections were local, and
proceeded from an illiberal jealousy of New-England men.
He urged that you would raise freights on us, and, in
short, that you were too cunning for our honest people ;
OPINIONS RESPECTING THE CONSTITUTION. 107
that your end of the Continent would rule the other; and Doctor
that the sun of our glory would set when the new Consti-
tution operated. He has not one Federal idea in his head.
He is said to be honest, and free from debt : but he was
an enemy to independence; and, though our President in
1778, he was a British subject in 1780. His taking pro-
tection was rather the passive act of an old man than
otherwise. He never aided or abetted the British Govern-
ment directly ; but his example was mischievous. His op-
position has poisoned the minds of some.
“I fear the numerous class of debtors more than any
other. On the whole, I have no doubt the Constitution
will be accepted by a very great majority in this State.
The sentiments of our leading men are, of late, much more
Federal than formerly. This honest sentiment was avowed
by the first characters: ‘New England has lost, and we
have gained, by the war; and her suffering citizens ought
to be our carriers, though a dearer freight should be the
consequence.’ Your delegates never did a more politic
thing than in standing by those of South Carolina about
negroes. Virginia deserted them, and was for an imme-
diate stoppage of further importation. The [Old] Do-
minion has lost much popularity by the conduct of her
delegates on this head. The language now is, ‘The East-
ern States can soonest help us in case of invasion; and it is
more our interest to encourage them and their shipping
than to join with or look up to Virginia.’
“In short, Sir, a revolution highly favorable to union
has taken place: Federalism, and liberality of sentiment,
have gained great ground. Mr. Lowndes still thinks you
are a set of sharpers, and does not wonder that you are for
the new Constitution ; as, in his opinion, you will have all
the advantage. He thinks you begrudge us our negroes.
But he is almost alone.” – Bowen's Life of Gen. Lincoln,
(Sparks's Amer. Biogr., 2d Series, vol. xiii.,) pp. 410–412.
Ramsay.
108 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Rev. Dr.
Hopkins.
In a letter to Dr. Hart of Preston, dated 29th Jan- +
uary, 1788, the Rev. Dr. Hopkins of Newport, R.I.,
writes thus : —
“The new Constitution, you observe, guarantees this
trade for twenty years. I fear, if it be adopted, this will
prove an Achan in our camp. How does it appear in the
sight of Heaven and of all good men, well informed, that
these States, who have been fighting for liberty, and consi-
der themselves as the highest and most noble example of
zeal for it, cannot agree in any political Constitution, unless
it indulge and authorize them to enslave their fellow-men I
I think if this Constitution be not adopted as it is, without
any alteration, we shall have none, and shall be in a state
of anarchy, and probably of civil war. Therefore I wish
to have it adopted ; but still, as I said, I fear. And per-
haps civil war will not be avoided, if it be adopted. Ah
these unclean spirits, like frogs, – they, like the Furies of
the poets, are spreading discord, and exciting men to con-
tention and war, wherever they go; and they can spoil the
best Constitution that can be formed. When Congress
shall be formed on the new plan, these frogs will be there;
for they go forth to the kings of the earth, in the first place.
They will turn the members of that august body into devils,
so far as they are permitted to influence them. Have they
not already got possession of most of the men who will or
can be chosen and appointed to a place in that assembly 7
I suppose that even good Christians are not out of the reach
of influence from these frogs. ‘Blessed is he that watcheth
and keepeth his garments.’” — Park's Memoir of Hopkins,
pp. 158, 159.
I have thus attempted to give a fair representation
of the different shades of opinion on the Constitution
in its relations to slavery, as expressed by the leading
statesmen at the North and at the South. In the ample
PURPOSE OF THE CONSTITUTION. 109
extracts from the Debates which have been presented,
an apparent lack of harmony may be discovered
among the arguments used in various parts of the
country, whether in urging its adoption or its rejec-
tion. With an earnest zeal to secure for their country
so great a boon as a firmly established Constitutional
Government, its advocates may have pressed a little
too strongly the arguments in favor of the views most
acceptable to the particular State which at the time
had the matter under consideration. On the other
hand, the opponents of the Constitution undoubtedly
exaggerated the evils which, it was supposed, it would
entail upon the States, and perhaps unconsciously
misrepresented the effects of the different clauses
referring to slavery.
One thing is certain, that whilst the delegates from
Georgia and South Carolina asked only a temporary
toleration of the slave-trade, and non-interference with
their local arrangements respecting domestic slavery,
(declaring that, if let alone, they might themselves,
as soon as it was practicable, stop the importation
of slaves,) the common sentiment, in the Convention
and throughout the country, was, that the letter and
the spirit of the Constitution, fairly interpreted and
faithfully applied, afforded a full guaranty of uni-
versal freedom throughout the Union at no distant
day. The purpose of the Constitution was put into
the preamble in no equivocal language, and for no
doubtful purpose. It was “To SECURE LIBERTY,” and
not to protect slavery : for liberty had been declared
110 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
to be a natural, national, and unalienable right; while -
slavery was known to be an unnatural, sectional, tem-
porary evil. It was intended, that, under the Con-
stitution, slavery should, and it was expected that it
would, at no distant day, be abolished.
The distinguished English moralist, Dr. Paley,
published his “Moral and Political Philosophy” two
years after our National Independence had been
acknowledged. In his chapter on Slavery, he placed
permanently on record his view of the effect of the
principles promulgated by the American patriots, in
these words: “The great Revolution which has taken
place in the Western World may probably conduce
(and who knows but that it was designed ) to accele-
rate the fall of this abominable tyranny.”
Half a century later, in the Senate of the United
States, Daniel Webster, the great defender of the
Constitution, re-affirmed the principles of the Found-
ers of the Republic in an immortal sentence, which
it would be well for his countrymen now to heed.
It is applicable in a broader sense than its author on
that occasion intended : “LIBERTY AND UNION, Now
AND FOR EVER, ONE AND INSEPARABLE.”
II.
NEGROES AS SOLDIER.S.
II.
N E G R O E S A S S O L DIE R. S.
A QUESTION of much importance is presented to
our National Government at this time, respecting
the employment of negroes as soldiers. Those on
whom devolves the responsibility of suppressing
this monstrous Rebellion, must ultimately, and at no
distant day, decide the matter. In their decision, they
will undoubtedly be influenced by a regard to the
usage and experience, in this respect, of those who
directed our military affairs in the war of Independ-
ence, as well as by a consideration of the probable
effect of their action on our loyal soldiers, and on the
armed traitors who are arrayed against them.
It is not strange that the President, on whom, more
than on all others, rests the responsibility of taking
the final step in this direction, should pause a while
to consider the subject in all its bearings, and to allow
public opinion to shape itself more distinctly, that his
decision, when made, shall have from the Nation a
cordial and general support.
15
114 HISTORICAL RESEARCHI.
Public opinion heretofore has been divided on this
Question. In one direction, whenever the subject of
negro soldiers is mentioned, there is an outcry, as if an
atrocious and unheard-of policy were now about to be
inaugurated, - something at variance with the prac-
tice of our Revolutionary leaders, and abhorrent to
the moral sentiment and the established usage of
civilized and Christian warriors.
On the other hand, the gallant Governor of Rhode
Island, a conservative of the first degree, but con-
vinced that there is something more worthy of conser-
vation than treacherous timidity or popular prejudice,
calls upon the colored people of his own patriotic
State to follow the example of their fathers in the
war of Seventy-six, and form themselves into a regi-
ment, which he proposes, at the proper time, to lead
to the field in person : —
“For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother: be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition.”
To throw some light from the history of the past,
I propose, by a reference to the annals of the
American Revolution and a citation of competent
authorities, to exhibit the opinions of the patriot
statesmen and soldiers of that period, and their action
in regard to negroes as soldiers, as well as the result
of their experiment.
Two or three incidents in the earliest conflicts with
the British troops will show how little prejudice
there was against negroes at the commencement of
THE BOSTON MASSACRE. 115
the war, and how ready the citizens generally were,
not only to secure their services as fellow-soldiers,
but to honor them for their patriotism and valor, be-
fore there had been any specific legislation or any
particular policy on the subject proposed.
In the “Boston Gazette, or Weekly Journal,” of
Tuesday, Oct. 2, 1750, there was published the fol-
lowing advertisement : —
66 AN-away from his Master William Brown of Framingham,
on the 30th of Sept. last, a Molatto Fellow, about 27 Years
of Age, named Crispas, 6 Feet 2 Inches high, short curl’d
Hair, his Knees nearer together than common ; had on a light
colour’d Bearskin Coat, plain brown Fustian Jacket, or brown all-
Wool one, new Buckskin Breeches, blue Yarn Stockings, and a
checked woolen Shirt.
“Whoever shall take up said Run-away, and convey him to his
abovesaid Master, shall have ten Pounds, old Tenor Reward,
and all necessary Charges paid. And all Masters of Vessels and
others, are hereby cautioned against concealing or carrying off
said Servant on Penalty of the Law. Boston, October 2, 1750.”
The “Molatto Fellow,” it seems, did not speedily
return to his master, notwithstanding the reward
which was offered; for, on the 13th and 20th of No-
vember, another advertisement, similar to the above,
was published in the same Journal.
The next time that his name appeared in a Boston
newspaper, twenty years later, it was under very dif-
ferent circumstances. He was no longer a fugitive
slave, but a hero and a martyr.
The Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770, may be
regarded as the first act in the drama of the Ameri- .
Boston
Massacre,
March 5,
1770.
116 HISTORICAL RESEARCHI.
Boston
Massacre,
March 5,
177
0.
Funeral
Of the
martyrs.
can Revolution. “From that moment,” said Daniel
Webster, “we may date the severance of the British
Empire.” The presence of the British soldiers in
Ring Street excited the patriotic indignation of the
people. The whole community was stirred, and sage
counsellors were deliberating and writing and talk-
ing about the public grievances. But it was not
for “the wise and prudent” to be the first to act
against the encroachments of arbitrary power. “A
motley rabble of saucy boys, negroes and mulat-
toes, Irish Teagues, and outlandish Jack tars,” (as
John Adams described them in his plea in defence
of the soldiers,) could not restrain their emotion, or
stop to inquire if what they must do was according
to the letter of any law. Led by Crispus Attucks,
the mulatto slave, and shouting, “The way to get
rid of these soldiers is to attack the main guard;
strike at the root; this is the nest,” with more valor
than discretion they rushed to King Street, and were
fired upon by Captain Preston's Company. Crispus
Attucks was the first to fall: he and Samuel Gray
and Jonas Caldwell were killed on the spot. Samuel
Maverick and Patrick Carr were mortally wounded.
The excitement which followed was intense. The
bells of the town were rung. An impromptu town-
meeting was held, and an immense assembly was
gathered.
Three days after, on the 8th, a public funeral of
the martyrs took place. The shops in Boston were
closed; and all the bells of Boston and the neighbor-
THE BOSTON MASSACRE. 117
ing towns were rung. It is said that a greater ºl
number of persons assembled on this occasion than *
were ever before gathered on this continent for a
similar purpose. The body of Crispus Attucks, the
mulatto slave, had been placed in Faneuil Hall, with
that of Caldwell; both being strangers in the city.
Maverick was buried from his mother's house in
Union Street; and Gray, from his brother's in Royal
Exchange Lane. The four hearses formed a junction
in King Street; and there the procession marched in
columns six deep, with a long file of coaches belong-
ing to the most distinguished citizens, to the Middle
Burying-ground, where the four victims were deposited
in one grave; over which a stone was placed with
this inscription : —
“Long as in Freedom’s cause the wise contend,
Dear to your country shall your fame extend;
While to the world the lettered stone shall tell
Where Caldwell, Attucks, Gray, and Maverick fell.”
The anniversary of this event was publicly com-
memorated in Boston by an oration and other exer-
cises every year until after our national Independence
was achieved, when the Fourth of July was substituted
for the Fifth of March as the more proper day for a
general celebration. Not only was the event com-
memorated, but the martyrs who then gave up their
lives were remembered and honored. Dr. Joseph
Warren, in his Oration in March, 1775, only two
months before he showed the sincerity of his senti-
ments by sealing them with his own precious blood,
118 HISTORICAL RESãARCH.
gave utterance to the following bold and timely
words : —
Joseph “That personal freedom is the natural right of every
Warren. & e g
man, and that property, or an exclusive right to dispose of
what he has honestly acquired by his own labor, necessarily
arises therefrom, are truths which common sense has placed
beyond the reach of contradiction. And no man, or body of
men, can, without being guilty of flagrant injustice, claim a
right to dispose of the persons or acquisitions of any other
man, or body of men, unless it can be proved that such a
right has arisen from some compact between the parties,
in which it has been explicitly and freely granted.”—Ora-
tion, p. 5.
1775, At the battle of Bunker Hill, on the memorable
i.” 17th of June, 1775, negro soldiers stood side by side,
# * and fought bravely, with their white brethren. If
on the monument which commemorates that event
were inscribed the names of those most worthy of
honor for their heroic deeds on that day, high up on
the shaft, with the names of Warren and Prescott,
we should find that of PETER SALEM, a negro soldier,
once a slave. -
Major Pitcairn, of the British Marines, it is well
known, fell just as he mounted the redoubt, shout-
ing “The day is ours l’” The shot which laid him
low was fired by Peter Salem.
Although the shaft does not bear his name, the
pencil of the artist has portrayed the scene, the pen
of the impartial historian has recorded his achieve-
ment, and the voice of the eloquent orator has re-
sounded his valor.
Peter
Salem.
BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 119
Colonel Trumbull, in his celebrated historic picture ºf
rumbull's
of this battle, introduces conspicuously the colored picture.
patriot. At the time of the battle, the artist, then act-
ing as adjutant, was stationed with his regiment in
Roxbury, and saw the action from that point. The
picture was painted in 1786, when the event was
fresh in his mind. It is a significant historical fact,
pertinent to our present research, that, among the
limited number of figures introduced on the canvas,
more than one negro soldier can be distinctly seen.
And here I may venture to publish an extract from
a letter written to me recently by Aaron White, Esq.,
of Thompson, in Connecticut, in answer to an in-
quiry on this subject: —
“With regard to the black hero of Bunker Hill, I never Aarºn
knew him personally, nor did I ever hear from his lips the W.
story of his achievements; but I have better authority. ..."
About the year 1807, I heard a soldier of the Revolution,
who was present at the Bunker-Hill battle, relate to my
father the story of the death of Major Pitcairn. He said
the Major had passed the storm of our fire without, and
had mounted the redoubt, when, waving his sword, he
commanded, in a loud voice, the “rebels’ to surrender. His
sudden appearance and his commanding air at first startled
the men immediately before him. They neither answered
nor fired; probably not being exactly certain what was
next to be done. At this critical moment, a negro soldier
stepped forward, and, aiming his musket directly at the
major's bosom, blew him through. My informant declared
that he was so near, that he distinctly saw the act. The
story made quite an impression on my mind. I have fre-
quently heard my father relate the story, and have no doubt
of its truth. My father, on the day of the battle, was a
120 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Account
of Peter
Salem.
Enno
Washburn.
mere child, and witnessed the battle and the burning of
Charlestown from Roxbury Hill, sitting on the shoulders
of the Rev. Mr. Jackson, who said to him as he replaced
him on the ground, “Now, boy, do you remember this.'
Consequently, after such an injunction, he would necessa-
rily pay particular attention to anecdotes concerning the
first and only battle he ever witnessed.”
The Rev. William Barry in his excellent “History
of Framingham,” and the Hon. Emory Washburn in
his valuable “History of Leicester,” give pretty full
accounts of the colored patriot, who acted so impor-
tant a part on that memorable occasion. Mr. Wash-
burn says, –
“That shot was undoubtedly fired by Peter; and the
death of Major Pitcairn, with its accompanying circum-
stances, formed one of the most touching incidents of this
eventful day. . . . . . After the war, he came to
Leicester, and continued to reside there till a short time
before his death. The history of the town would be in-
complete without giving him a place. . . . . . He
was born in Framingham, and was held as a slave, probably
until he joined the army; whereby, if not before, he be-
came free. This was the case with many of the slaves in
Massachusetts, as no slave could be mustered into the
army. If the master suffered this to be done, it worked a
practical emancipation. Peter served faithfully as a soldier,
during the war, in Col. Nixon's regiment. A part of the
time, he was the servant of Col. Nixon, and always spoke
of him in terms of admiration.” — History of Leicester,
pp. 266, 267, 308.
When the statue of General Joseph Warren was
inaugurated on the 17th of June, 1857, the Honorable
BATTLE OF BUNIKER HILL. 121
Edward Everett, in his Address, did not forget to
mention the colored patriot, and thus to secure for
his act perpetual record. Such an honor far ex-
ceeds that of any sculptured stone. Pointing to the
obelisk, Mr. Everett said: —
“It commemorates no individual man or State. It łº,
stands, indeed, on the soil of Massachusetts, where the honorabie
battle was fought; but there it stands equally for Con-º.
necticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, and the *
younger sisters of the New-England family, Vermont
and Maine, whose troops shared with ours the dangers and
honors of the day. It stands for Prescott and Warren,
but not less for Putnam and Stark and Greene. No name
adorns the shaft; but ages hence, though our alphabets
may become as obscure as those which cover the monu-
ments of Nineveh and Babylon, its uninscribed surface (on
which monarchs might be proud to engrave their titles)
will perpetuate the memory of the 17th of June. It is the
monument of the day of the event of the battle of Bunker
Hill; of all the brave men who shared its perils, — alike of
Prescott and Putnam and Warren, the chiefs of the day,
and the colored man, Salem, who is reported to have shot
the gallant Pitcairn, as he mounted the parapet. Cold as
the clods on which it rests, still as the silent heavens to
which it soars, it is yet vocal, eloquent, in their undivided
praise.” — Orations and Speeches, vol. iii. p. 529.
Another colored soldier, who participated in the
battle of Bunker Hill, is favorably noticed in a peti-
tion to the General Court, signed by some of the
principal officers, less than six months after the event.
It is printed from the original manuscript in our State
Archives.
16
122 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
“To the Honorable General Court of the Massachusetts Bay.
“The subscribers beg leave to report to your Honora-
ble House (which we do in justice to the character of so
brave a man), that, under our own observation, we declare
that a negro man called Salem Poor, of Col. Frye's regi-
ment, Capt. Ames’ company, in the late battle at Charles-
town, behaved like an experienced officer, as well as an
excellent soldier. To set forth particulars of his conduct
would be tedious. We would only beg leave to say, in the
person of this said negro centres a brave and gallant
soldier. The reward due to so great and distinguished a
character, we submit to the Congress.
“JONA. BREWER, Col. ELIPHALET BoDwDLL, Sgt.
THOMAS NIXON, Lt.-Col. JosLAH FostER, Lieut.
W.M. PRESCOTT, Col”. IEBENR. WARNUM, 2d Lieut.
|FPH" Corey, Lieut. WM. HUDSON BALLARD, Cpt.
JOSEPH BAKER, Lieut. WILLIAM SMITH, Cap.
JOSHUA ROW, Lieut. John MoRTON, Sergt. [?]
JoNAS RICHARDSON, Capt. Lieut. RICHARD WELSH.
“CAMBRIDGE, Dec. 5, 1775.
“In Council, Dec. 21, 1775. – Read, and sent down.
“PEREZ MoRTON, Dep’y Sec'y.”
(Massachusetts Archives, vol. clxxx. p. 241.)
Here I cannot forbear calling attention to the
opinion of one who was a brave soldier, not only in
this battle, but from the commencement to the close
of the Revolution; and whose name continues to be
honored in his children and his children's children in
our own city.
}º. “Samuel Lawrence was born in Groton, April 24, 1754;
“” and was, therefore, in his early manhood when our Revo.
lutionary struggle commenced. In common with all the
hardy, intelligent, liberty-loving yeomanry of New England,
he espoused the cause of the Colonies, and devoted himself
BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 123
to it with a courage that never failed, a constancy that \º
ſº º * e 3, Wren CC.
never faltered, till his country had passed ‘from impending
servitude to acknowledged independence.’ At work in the
field, ploughing his paternal acres, when the news of
the attack upon Concord reached Groton, he immediately
unloosed a horse from his team, and, mounting, rode rapidly
through Groton and some of the adjoining towns, spreading
the alarm, and summoning the militia to assemble. He
returned in season to join his own company at the church
at Groton, at twelve o’clock; where, after prayer offered by
the pastor of the town, they started for Concord, helped to
swell that impetuous tide of resistance which drove back
the invaders, and slept that night on Cambridge Common,
after a forced march of thirty miles, and hot skirmishes
with the retreating foe. From that time to the peace of
1783, he was ‘a soldier of the Revolution '; and, with the
exception of one or two brief visits to his family and friends
at Groton, he was in actual service throughout the whole
war. He rose to the rank of major, and for a considerable
period was attached to Gen. Sullivan's staff as adjutant;
an office for which his powerful lungs and sonorous voice,
which could be heard throughout a long line of troops,
peculiarly fitted him. He was in many of the severest
battles of the Revolution.
“At Bunker Hill, where he was slightly wounded, his
coat and hat were pierced with the balls of the enemy, and
were preserved in the family for many years. At one
time he commanded a company whose rank and file were
all negroes, of whose courage, military discipline, and
fidelity, he always spoke with respect. On one occasion,
being out reconnoitring with this company, he got so far
in advance of his command, that he was surrounded, and
on the point of being made prisoner by the enemy. The
men, soon discovering his peril, rushed to his rescue, and
fought with the most determined bravery till that rescue
was effectually secured. He never forgot this circum-
124 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
George
Bancroft.
stance, and ever after took especial pains to show kind.
ness and hospitality to any individual of the colored race
who came near his dwelling.” – Memoir of William Law-
Tence, by Rev. S. K. Lothrop, D.D., pp. 8, 9.
A single passage from Mr. Bancroft's History will
give a succinct and clear account of the condition of
the army, in respect to colored soldiers, at the time
of the battle of Bunker Hill —
“Nor should history forget to record, that as in the
army at Cambridge, so also in this gallant band, the free
negroes of the Colony had their representatives. For the
right of free negroes to bear arms in the public defence
was, at that day, as little disputed in New England as their
other rights. They took their place, not in a separate
corps, but in the ranks with the white man; and their
names may be read on the pension-rolls of the country, side
by side with those of other soldiers of the Revolution.” —
Bancroft's Hist. of the U. S., vol. vii. p. 421. Q
At the commencement of the war, it appears to
have been customary for the free negroes to be
enrolled with white citizens in the militia. In many
instances, slaves also stood in the ranks with freemen.
The inconsistency, however, in using as soldiers, in
an army raised for establishing National Liberty,
those who were held in bondage, was too gross for
the practice long to continue. This was virtually
acknowledged in a Resolution which was adopted
before the first great battle had been fought.
On the 20th of May, the Committee of Safety
“Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, as
the contest now between Great Britain and the Colonies
NEGRO SOLDIERS NO LONGER SLAVES. 125
respects the liberties and privileges of the latter, which º:
the Colonies are determined to maintain, that the admission
of any persons, as Soldiers, into the Army now raising, but
only such as are Freemen, will be inconsistent with the
principles that are to be supported, and reflect dishonor on
this Colony; and that no Slaves be admitted into this army
upon any consideration whatever.” — Force's American
Archives, Fourth Series, vol. ii. p. 762.
The celebrated divine, the Rev. Dr. Hopkins of
Newport, R.I., soon after the commencement of hos-
tilities, published a “Dialogue concerning the Slavery
of the Africans,” which he dedicated to “The Honor-
able Continental Congress.” As this tract was re-
issued in New York by the Manumission Society, of
which Robert R. Livingston, Alexander Hamilton, and
John Jay were active members, and a copy of it sent,
by their direction, to each member of Congress, the
views it contains are quite important as illustrating
the sentiment of some of the ablest men of that
time. The following extract is from a note to the
“Dialogue: ” —
“God is so ordering it in his providence, that it seems Rev. Dr.
absolutely necessary something should speedily be done *
with respect to the slaves among us, in order to our safety,
and to prevent their turning against us in our present
struggle, in order to get their liberty. Our oppressors
have planned to gain the blacks, and induce them to take
up arms against us, by promising them liberty on this con-
dition ; and this plan they are prosecuting to the utmost of
their power, by which means they have persuaded numbers
to join them. And should we attempt to restrain them by
force and severity, keeping a strict guard over them, and
126 HISTORICAL RESEARCHI.
Rev. Dr.
Hopkins.
South
Carolina
Provincial
Congress.
punishing them severely who shall be detected in attempt-
ing to join our opposers, this will only be making bad
worse, and serve to render our inconsistence, oppression,
and cruelty more criminal, perspicuous, and shocking, and
bring down the righteous vengeance of Heaven on our
heads. The only way pointed out to prevent this threaten-
ing evil is to set the blacks at liberty ourselves by some
public acts and laws, and then give them proper encourage-
ment to labor, or take arms in the defence of the American
cause, as they shall choose. This would at once be doing
them some degree of justice, and defeating our enemies in
the scheme that they are prosecuting.” — Hopkins's Works,
vol. ii. p. 584.
Many slaves were manumitted that they might be-
come soldiers. They served faithfully to the close of
the war. Their skill and bravery were never called
in question, but, on the contrary, were frequently com-
mended. There, does not, however, appear to have
been, at that time, any special legislation sanctioning
the employment of Negroes as soldiers. Authority
was given by the Provincial Congress of South Caro-
lina, Nov. 20, 1775, for military officers to use slaves
for certain purposes, as will be seen by the following
resolution : —
“On motion, Resolved, That the colonels of the several
regiments of militia throughout the Colony have leave to
enroll such a number of able male slaves, to be employed
as pioneers and laborers, as public exigencies may require ;
and that a daily pay of seven shillings and sixpence be
allowed for the service of each such slave while actually
employed.” — American Archives, Fourth Series, vol. iv.
p. 61. -
NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 127
This resolution must not be regarded as a general
sanction, on the part of South Carolina, of the employ-
ment of slaves as soldiers. Such was far from being
the case. Although some of her ablest statesmen and
bravest soldiers on several occasions advocated strong-
ly in the Continental Congress, and in the Provincial
Legislature, such a use of Negroes, there was a
strong, successful, and disastrous opposition to the
IQ68,SUll'C,
The first general order issued by Ward, the com-
manding officer, required a return of the “complex-
ion ” of the soldiers. It would be interesting, and
not very difficult for any one who has access to the
early rolls of the army, and leisure to examine them,
to ascertain the number of negroes who became sol-
diers. It would also be interesting, and perhaps not
wholly unprofitable, to trace the progress of opinion
on this subject, from the time when the opposition to
negro soldiers first commenced, until it was so far
overcome, that nearly every State, by legislative act
or by practice, sanctioned their employment. The
most that I can do, in this paper, is to produce some
specimens of the opinions, laws, and action of that
period. It may be well to observe, that what has
caused so much complaint in the management of the
present civil war — the apparently vacillating action
and unsettled policy of the administration and the
army with regard to the use of negroes as soldiers—
is not without a precedent, “an historic parallel,” in
the annals of the Revolutionary War.
IJnsettled
policy
respecting
negroes as
soldiers.
128 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Although slavery existed throughout the country,
it is a significant fact, that the principal opposition to
negro soldiers came from the States where there was
the least hearty and efficient support of the principles
of Republican Government, and the least ability or
disposition to furnish an equal or fair quota of white
soldiers.
South Carolina and Georgia contained so many
Tories, at one time, that it was supposed the British
officers, who elsewhere would, by proclamation, free
all negroes joining the Royal Army, might hesitate to
meddle with them in these Colonies, lest “the king's
friends” should suffer thereby.
John Adams, in his “Diary,” under the date of
28th of September, 1775, gives an account of an inter-
view with Mr. Bullock and Mr. Houston, of Georgia;
in which the following statement occurs : —
:* “The question was, whether all America was not in a
Carolina. state of war, and whether we ought to confine ourselves to
act upon the defensive only 2 He was for acting offen-
sively next spring or this fall, if the petition was rejected
or neglected. If it was not answered, and favorably
answered, he would be for acting against Britain and
Britons, as, in open war, against French, and Frenchmen;
fit privateers, and take their ships anywhere. These
gentlemen give a melancholy account of the state of
Georgia and South Carolina. They say, that if one thou-
sand regular troops should land in Georgia, and their
commander be provided with arms and clothes enough,
and proclaim freedom to all the negroes who would join
his camp, twenty thousand negroes would join it from
the two Provinces in a fortnight. The negroes have a
OPPOSITION TO NEGRO SOLDIERS. 129
wonderful art of communicating intelligence among them-
Selves: it will run several hundreds of miles in a week or
fortnight. They say their only security is this: that all
the king's friends, and tools of government, have large
plantations, and property in negroes; so that the slaves of
the Tories would be lost, as well as those of the Whigs.”—
Works of John Adams, vol. ii. p. 428.
On the 10th of July, 1775, there was issued at
Cambridge, by General Gates, an order determining
what persons were to be excluded by the recruiting
officers, who were immediately to go upon that ser-
WICG.
“You are not to enlist any deserter from the Ministerial Order .
Army, nor any stroller, negro, or vagabond, or person sus-it"
pected of being an enemy to the liberty of America, nor *
any under eighteen years of age.
“As the cause is the best that can engage men of
courage and principle to take up arms, so it is expected
that none but such will be accepted by the recruiting
officer. The pay, provision, &c., being so ample, it is not
doubted but that the officers sent upon this service will,
without delay, complete their respective corps, and march
the men forthwith to camp.
“You are not to enlist any person who is not an Ameri-
can born, unless such person has a wife and family, and is
a settled resident in this country. The persons you enlist
must be provided with good and complete arms.” —
From Gaines's Mercury, July 24, (in Frank Moore's Diary
of the American Revolution, vol. i. p. 110.)
On the 26th of September following, according to
Mr. Bancroft, “Edward Rutledge, of South Carolina,
moved the discharge of all the negroes in the army,
and he was strongly supported by many of the
17 -
130 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Qºdºo Southern delegates; but the opposition was so power-
exclude
2 2.7
* ful and so determined, that “he lost his point.
On the 18th of October, a Committee of Conference,
consisting of Dr. Franklin, Benjamin Harrison, and
Thomas Lynch, met at Cambridge, with the Depu-
ty-Governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island, a
Committee of the Council of Massachusetts Bay, and
General Washington, to consider the condition of the
army, and to devise means for its improvement. On
the 23d October, the subject of negro soldiers came
before them for action, and was thus decided : —
“Ought not negroes to be excluded from the new en-
listment, especially such as are slaves? All were thought
improper by the council of officers.
“Agreed, That they be rejected altogether.” — Force's
American Archives, Fourth Series, vol. iii. p. 1161.
The following extract from the Orderly Book,
under the date of Nov. 12th, indicates the spirit that
prevailed in enlisting the new army : —
“The officers are to be careful not to enlist any person
suspected of being unfriendly to the liberties of America,
or any abandoned vagabond, to whom all causes and coun-
tries are equal and alike indifferent. The rights of man-
kind and the freedom of America will have numbers
sufficient to support them, without resorting to such
wretched assistance. Let those who wish to put shackles
upon freemen fill their ranks with such miscreants, and
place their confidence in them. Neither negroes, boys
unable to bear arms, nor old men unfit to endure the fa-
tigues of the campaign, are to be enlisted.” — Sparks's
Washington, vol. iii. p. 155. . &
NEGRO SOLDIERS TO BE ENLISTED. 131
On the 31st of December, 1775, Washington wrote Negroes to
from Cambridge to the President of Congress in re-
gard to the army, in which he thus alludes to negro
soldiers : —
“It has been represented to me, that the free negroes
who have served in this army are very much dissatisfied at
being discarded. As it is to be apprehended that they
may seek employ in the Ministerial Army, I have presumed
to depart from the resolution respecting them, and have
given license for their being enlisted. If this is disap-
proved of by Congress, I will put a stop to it.”— Sparks's
Washington, vol. iii. p. 218, 219.
Mr. Sparks appends to this letter the following
note : —
“At a meeting of the general officers, previously to the
arrival of the committee from Congress in camp, it was
unanimously resolved, that it was not expedient to enlist
slaves in the new army; and, by a large majority, ne-
groes of every description were excluded from enlistment.
When the subject was referred to the committee in con-
ference, this decision was confirmed. In regard to free
negroes, however, the resolve was not adhered to, and
probably for the reason here mentioned by General Wash-
ington. Many black soldiers were in the service during
all stages of the war.” — Sparks's Washington, vol. iii.
pp. 218, 219.
On the 16th of January, 1776, Congress thus de:
cided the question submitted by Washington: —
“That the free negroes, who have served faithfully in
the army at Cambridge, may be re-enlisted therein, but no
others.” –Journals of Congress, vol. ii. p. 26.
be enlisted.
132 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Account of
the army
in 1775.
Lord
Dunmore's
Proclama-
tion.
An extract from a letter of General Thomas to
John Adams gives a true picture of the army by one
fully competent to describe it: —
“I am sorry to hear that any prejudices should take
place in any Southern colony, with respect to the troops
raised in this. I am certain the insinuations you mention
are injurious, if we consider with what precipitation we
were obliged to collect an army. In the regiments at Rox-
bury, the privates are equal to any that I served with in
the last war; very few old men, and in the ranks very few
boys. Our fifers are many of them boys. We have some
negroes; but I look on them, in general, equally service-
able with other men for fatigue; and, in action, many of
them have proved themselves brave.
“I would avoid all reflection, or any thing that may tend
to give umbrage; but there is in this army from the south-
ward a number called riflemen, who are as indifferent men
as I ever served with. These privates are mutinous, and
often deserting to the enemy; unwilling for duty of any
kind; exceedingly vicious; and, I think, the army here
would be as well without as with them. But to do justice
to their officers, they are, some of them, likely men.” –
MS. Letter, dated 24th October, 1775.
While the question of employing negroes as sol-
diers was producing a troublesome controversy in
the Army and in Congress, our enemies boldly met the
matter in a practical manner. Lord Dunmore, the
Royal Governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation
in November, 1775, promising freedom to all slaves
who would join the army of the British. In a recent
“ History of England,” this act is thus described:—
“In letters which had been laid before the English Par-
liament, and published to the whole world, he had repre-
LORD DUNMORE'S PROCLAMATION. 133
sented the planters as ambitious, selfish men, pursuing their Fº
own interests and advancement at the expense of their of Lord
poorer countrymen, and as being ready to make every *
sacrifice of honesty and principle ; and he had said more
privately, that, since they were so anxious for liberty, -
for more freedom than was consistent with the free institu-
tions of the mother-country and the charter of the Colony,
— that since they were so eager to abolish a fanciful slavery
in a dependence on Great Britain, he would try how they
liked an abolition of real slavery by setting free all their
negroes and indentured servants, who were, in fact, little
better than white slaves. This, to the Virginians, was like
passing a rasp over a gangrened place : it was probing a
wound that was incurable, or which has not yet been
healed. Later in the year, when the battle of Bunker’s
Hill had been fought, when our forts on Lake Champlain
had been taken from us, and when Montgomery and Arnold
were pressing on Our possessions in Canada, Lord Dunmore
carried his threat into execution. Having established his
head-quarters at Norfolk, he proclaimed freedom to all the
slaves who would repair to his standard and bear arms for
the king. The summons was readily obeyed by most of the
negroes who had the means of escaping to him. He, at
the same time, issued a proclamation, declaring martial
law throughout the Colony of Virginia; and he collected a
number of armed vessels, which cut off the coasting-trade,
made many prizes, and greatly distressed an important part
of that Province. If he could have opened a road to the
slaves in the interior of the Province, his measures would
have been very fatal to the planters. In order to stop the
alarming desertion of the negroes, and to arrest his Lord-
ship in his career, the Provincial Assembly detached against
him a strong force of more than a thousand men, who ar-
rived in the neighborhood of Norfolk in the month of
December. Having made a circuit, they came to a village
called Great Bridge, where the river Elizabeth was trav-
134 HISTORICAL RESEARCHI.
Lord
Dunmore's
Proclama-
tion.
ersed by a bridge; but, before their arrival, the bridge
had been made impassable, and some works, defended
chiefly by negroes, had been thrown up.”— Pictorial His-
tory of England, George III, vol. i. pp. 224, 225.
The Proclamation of Lord Dunmore was as fol-
lows: —
“By his Ea:cellency the Right Honorable JoHN, Earl of DUNMORE,
his Majesty's Lieutenant and Governor-General of the Colony
and Dominion of Virginia, and Vice-Admiral of the same, –
“A PROCLAMATION.
“As I have ever entertained hopes that an accommoda-
tion might have taken place between Great Britain and this
Colony, without being compelled by my duty to this most
disagreeable but now absolutely necessary step, remdered
so by a body of armed men, unlawfully assembled, firing on
his Majesty's tenders; and the formation of an army, and
that army now on their march to attack his Majesty's troops,
and destroy the well-disposed subjects of this Colony, - to
defeat such treasonable purposes, and that all such traitors
and their abettors may be brought to justice, and that the
peace and good order of this Colony may be again restored,
which the ordinary course of the civil law is unable to
effect, I have thought fit to issue this my Proclamation;
hereby declaring, that, until the aforesaid good purposes
can be obtained, I do, in virtue of the power and authority
to me given by his Majesty, determine to execute martial
law, and cause the same to be executed, throughout this
Colony. And, to the end that peace and good order may
the sooner be restored, I do require every person capable
of bearing arms to resort to his Majesty's standard, or be
looked upon as traitors to his Majesty's Crown and Govern-
ment, and thereby become liable to the penalty the law
inflicts upon such offences, – such as forfeiture of life, con-
LORD DUNMORE'S PROCLAMATION. 135
fiscation of lands, &c., &c. And I do hereby further declare
all indented servants, negroes, or others, (appertaining to
rebels,) free, that are able and willing to bear arms, they
joining his Majesty's troops, as soon as may be, for the
more speedily reducing this Colony to a proper sense of
their duty to his Majesty's crown and dignity. I do further
order and require all his Majesty's liege subjects to retain
their quit-rents, or any other taxes due, or that may become
due, in their own custody, till such time as peace may
be again restored to this at present most unhappy country,
or demanded of them, for their former salutary purposes,
by officers properly authorized to receive the same.
“Given under my hand, on board the ship ‘William,'
off Norfolk, the seventh day of November, in the sixteenth
year of his Majesty's reign. “DUNMORE.
“God save the King !”
(Force's “American Archives,” Fourth Series, vol. iii. p. 1385.)
This Proclamation created great consternation in
Virginia. It will be seen by the following extract
from a letter written Nov. 27th, 1775, by Edmund
Pendleton to Richard Henry Lee, that many slaves
flocked to the British standard.
“The Governor, hearing of this, marched out with three Letter from
hundred and fifty soldiers, Tories and slaves, to Kemp's #.
Landing; and after setting up his standard, and issuing º *
his proclamation, declaring all persons rebels who took up ...”
arms for the country, and inviting all slaves, servants, and
apprentices to come to him and receive arms, he proceeded
to intercept Hutchings and his party, upon whom he came
by surprise, but received, it seems, so warm a fire, that the
ragamuffins gave way. They were, however, rallied on
discovering that two companies of our militia gave way;
and left Hutchings and Dr. Reid with a volunteer company,
who maintained their ground bravely till they were over-
136 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Edmund
Pendleton.
Caution
to the
negroes.
come by numbers, and took shelter in a swamp. The
slaves were sent in pursuit of them ; and one of Col. Hutch-
ings's own, with another, found him. On their approach,
he discharged his pistol at his slave, but missed him ; and
was taken by them, after receiving a wound in his face
with a sword. The numbers taken or killed, on either side,
is not ascertained. It is said the Governor went to Dr.
Reid's shop, and, after taking the medicines and dressings
necessary for his wounded men, broke all the others to
pieces. Letters mention that slaves flock to him in abun-
dance ; but I hope it is magnified.” — Force's American
Archives, Fourth Series, vol. iv. p. 202.
In a paper published in Williamsburgh, Virginia, on
the 23d of November, the Proclamation is severely
commented on ; and an urgent appeal is made to the
negroes to stand by their masters, – their true friends,
— who would, “were it in their power, restore free-
dom to such as have unhappily lost it.”
“The second class of people for whose sake a few re-
marks upon this proclamation seem necessary is the negroes.
They have been flattered with their freedom, if they be
able to bear arms, and will speedily join Lord Dunmore's
troops. To none, then, is freedom promised, but to such as
are able to do Lord Dunmore service. The aged, the in-
firm, the women and children, are still to remain the prop-
erty of their masters, – of masters who will be provoked
to severity, should part of their slaves desert them. Lord
Dunmore's declaration, therefore, is a cruel declaration to
the negroes. He does not pretend to make it out of any
tenderness to them, but solely upon his own account; and,
should it meet with success, it leaves by far the greater
number at the mercy of an enraged and injured people.
But should there be any amongst the negroes weak enough
LORD DUNMORE'S PROCLAMATION. - 137
to believe that Lord Dunmore intends to do them a kind- Appeal to
ness, and wicked enough to provoke the fury of the Ameri- tºº
cans against their defenceless fathers and mothers, their “
wives, their women and children, let them only consider
the difficulty of effecting their escape, and what they must
expect to suffer if they fall into the hands of the Ameri-
cans. Let them further consider what must be their fate
should the English prove conquerors. If we can judge of
the future from the past, it will not be much mended. Long
have the Americans, moved by compassion and actuated by
sound policy, endeavored to stop the progress of slavery.
Our Assemblies have repeatedly passed acts, laying heavy
duties upon imported negroes; by which they meant alto-
gether to prevent the horrid traffic. But their humane
intentions have been as often frustrated by the cruelty and
covetousness of a set of English merchants, who prevailed
upon the King to repeal our kind and merciful acts, little,
indeed, to the credit of his humanity. Can it, then, be
supposed that the negroes will be better used by the Eng-
lish, who have always encouraged and upheld this slavery,
than by their present masters, who pity their condition ;
who wish, in general, to make it as easy and comfortable
as possible ; and who would, were it in their power, or were
they permitted, not only prevent any more megroes from losing
their freedom, but restore it to such as have already unhappily
lost it 2 No: the ends of Lord Dunmore and his party
being answered, they will either give up the offending ne–
groes to the rigor of the laws they have broken, or sell
them in the West Indies, where every year they sell many
thousands of their miserable brethren, to perish either by
the inclemency of weather or the cruelty of barbarous
masters. Be not then, ye negroes, tempted by this pro-
clamation to ruin yourselves. I have given you a faithful
view of what you are to expect; and declare before God,
in doing it, I have considered your welfare, as well as that
of the country. Whether you will profit by my advice, I
18
138 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
cannot tell; but this I know, that, whether we suffer or
not, if you desert us, you most certainly will.” — Force's
American Archives, Fourth Series, vol. iii. p. 1387.
Answer The Virginia Convention appointed a Committee to
to Lord
P. prepare a Declaration in answer to Lord Dunmore's
roclama- -
tion. Proclamation. This was adopted on the 13th of De-
cember, when the same Committee was instructed to
report another Declaration, “offering pardon to such
slaves as shall return to their duty within ten days
after the publication thereof.” This also was adopted
the next day, in the following terms: —
“By the Representatives of the People of the Colony and Dominion
of Virginia, assembled in General Convention,
“A DECLARATION.
Declaration “Whereas Lord Dunmore, by his Proclamation dated on
º: * board the ship ‘William,' off Norfolk, the seventh day of
November, 1775, hath offered freedom to such able-bodied
slaves as are Willing to join him, and take up arms against
the good people of this Colony, giving thereby encourage-
ment to a general insurrection, which may induce a neces-
sity of inflicting the severest punishments upon those
unhappy people, already deluded by his base and insidious
arts; and whereas, by an act of the General Assembly now
in force in this Colony, it is enacted, that all negro or other
slaves, conspiring to rebel or make insurrection, shall suf-
fer death, and be excluded all benefit of clergy;-we think
it proper to declare, that all slaves who have been or shall
be seduced, by his Lordship's Proclamation, or other arts,
to desert their masters' service, and take up arms against
the inhabitants of this Colony, shall be liable to such pun-
ishment as shall hereafter be directed by the General Con-
vention. And to the end that all such who have taken this
unlawful and wicked step may return in Safety to their
*
LORD DUNMORE's PROCLAMATION. 139
duty, and escape the punishment due to their crimes, we ºn
hereby promise pardon to them, they surrendering them- ... ."
selves to Colonel William Woodford or any other commander
of our troops, and not appearing in arms after the publica-
tion hereof. And we do further earnestly recommend it to
all humane and benevolent persons in this Colony to explain
and make known this our offer of mercy to those unfortu-
nate people.”— American Archives, Fourth Series, vol. iv.
pp. 84, 85.
Washington saw what an element of strength Lord
Dunmore had called to his aid, and the importance
of acting promptly and with energy against him.
On the 15th of December, he thus wrote to Joseph
Reed: —
“If the Virginians are wise, that arch-traitor to the Lord Dun-
ge * * more to be
rights of humanity, Lord Dunmore, should be instantly crushed.
crushed, if it takes the force of the whole army to do it;
otherwise, like a snow-ball in rolling, his army will get
size, some through fear, some through promises, and some
through inclination, joining his standard: but that which
renders the measure indispensably necessary is the ne-
groes; for, if he gets formidable, numbers of them will be
tempted to join who will be afraid to do it without.”—
Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, vol. i. 135.
Although many of the slaves responded to the pro-
clamation by joining the army of the enemy, the
greater part of them were too shrewd to be caught
by such wily arts. They were unwilling to trust
their freedom to the officers of a government which
had persistently encouraged the slave-trade against
the remonstrances of their masters, who had not only
140 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Lord
Dunmore.
declared that traffic to be a wrong against humanity,
but had expressed their desire to abolish domestic
slavery as soon as it was practicable for them to do so.
The inconsistency and atrocity of Lord Dunmore's
conduct justly met with very general indignation.
Subsequent events proved that the distrust and fears,
felt by the slaves, were well founded.
It will be seen by letters written several months
after the Proclamation was issued, that his Lordship
attributed the limited success which attended it to
another than the true cause.
“Lord Dunmore to the Secretary of State.
“[No. 1.] “SHIP ‘DUNMORE,’ IN ELIZABETH RIVER, WA.,
30th March, 1776.
“Your Lordship will observe by my letter, No. 34, that I
have been endeavoring to raise two regiments here, — one
of white people, the other of black. The former goes on
very slowly; but the latter very well, and would have been
in great forwardness, had not a fever crept in amongst
them, which carried off a great many very fine fellows.”
“[No. 3..] “SHIP ‘DUNMORE,’ IN GWIN's ISLAND HARBOR, WA.,
June 26, 1776.
“I am extremely sorry to inform your Lordship, that that
fever, of which I informed you in my letter No. 1, has
proved a very malignant one, and has carried off an incred-
ible number of our people, especially the blacks. Had it
not been for this horrid disorder, I am satisfied I should
have had two thousand blacks; with whom I should have
had no doubt of penetrating into the heart of this Col-
ony.”
(Force's “American Archives,” Fifth Series, vol. ii. pp. 160, 162.)
NEGRO SOLDIERS AND NEGRO PRISONERS. 141
During the years 1776 and 1777, not much was §r.
done by way of legislation towards settling a general
policy with regard to the employment of negroes as
soldiers. They continued, in fact, to be admitted into
the line of the army without much objection.
A letter from General Greene to Washington shows
that it was then contemplated to form the negroes at
Staten Island into an independent regiment.
“CAMP ON LONG ISLAND,
July 21, 1776, two o'clock.
“SIR,-- Colonel Hand reports seven large ships are
coming up from the Hook to the Narrows.
“A negro belonging to one Strickler, at Gravesend, was
taken prisoner (as he says) last Sunday at Coney Island.
Yesterday he made his escape, and was taken prisoner by
the rifle-guard. He reports eight hundred negroes col-
lected on Staten Island, this day to be formed into a regi-
ment.
“I am your Excellency's most obedient, humble ser-
vant, “N. GREENE.
“To his Excellency-Gen. WASHINGTON, Head-quarters, New York.”
(Force's “American Archives,” Fifth Series, vol. i. p. 486.)
A Resolve of the Massachusetts Legislature, in Sep-Nº.
tember, 1776, is worthy of special notice. Referring
to it, a writer in the “Historical Magazine " for Sep-
tember, 1861, says, “The course of the authorities of
the Southern States, now in arms against the Govern-
ment, in selling as slaves all negroes taken prisoners,
is the last relic of a barbarous custom. . . . The
first condemnation of the course seems to be that
contained in a Massachusetts Resolve, of the 14th of
142 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Negroes to
be treated
like other
prisoners
of war.
Hessian
officer's
testimony.
September, 1776, forbidding the sale, as slaves, of
two negroes taken on the sloop ‘Hannibal.’” The
Resolve is as follows: —
“Whereas this Court is credibly informed, that two
negro men lately taken on the high seas, on board the
sloop ‘Hannibal,' and brought into this State as prisoners,
are advertised to be sold at Salem the 17th instant, by
public auction:
“Resolved, That all persons concerned with the said
negroes be, and they hereby are, forbidden to sell them, or
in any manner to treat them otherwise than is already
ordered for the treatment of prisoners taken in like man-
ner; and, if any sale of the said negroes shall be made, it
is hereby declared null and void. And that whenever it
shall appear that any negroes are taken on the high seas,
and brought as prisoners into this State, they shall not be
allowed to be sold, nor treated any otherwise than as pris-
oners are ordered to be treated who are taken in like
manner.” — Resolves, September, 1776, p. 14.
I am indebted to my friend Mr. William J. Davis,
of New York, for the following extract from the
Journal of a Hessian officer who was with Burgoyne
at the time of his surrender. It is a literal translation
from a German work which is rare in this country.
This testimony of a foreign officer, as to the common
use of negroes in the American Army, is quite impor-
tant. It is dated 23d October, 1777.
“From here to Springfield, there are few habitations
which have not a negro family dwelling in a small house
near by. The negroes are here as fruitful as other cattle.
The young ones are well foddered, especially while they
are still calves. Slavery is, moreover, very gainful. The
CAPTURE OF MAJOR - GENERAL PRESCOTT. 143
negro is to be considered just as the bond-servant of a Hessian
officer's
peasant. The negress does all the coarse work of the house, testimony.
and the little black young ones wait on the little white young
ones. The negro can take the field, instead of his master;
and therefore no regiment is to be seen in which there are
not negroes in abundance: and among them there are able.
bodied, strong, and brave fellows. Here, too, there are
many families of free negroes, who live in good houses,
have property, and live just like the rest of the inhabi-
tants.”—Schloezer's Briefwechsel, vol. iv. p. 365.
The capture of Major-General Prescott, of the Bri- Gapture ºf
the British
tish army, on the 9th of July, 1777, was an occasion §.
rescott.
of great joy throughout the country. Prince, the
valiant negro who seized that officer, ought always
to be remembered with honor for his important ser-
vice. The exploit was much commended at the
time, as its results were highly important ; and
Colonel Barton, very properly, received from Con-
gress the compliment of a sword for his ingenuity
and bravery. It seems, however, that it took more
than one head to plan and to execute the under-
taking.
“They landed about five miles from Newport, and three-
quarters of a mile from the house, which they approached
cautiously, avoiding the main guard, which was at some
distance. The Colonel went foremost, with a stout, active
megro close behind him, and another at a small distance: the
rest followed so as to be near, but not seen.
“A single sentinel at the door saw and hailed the
Colonel: he answered by exclaiming against, and inquiring
for, rebel prisoners, but kept slowly advancing. The
sentinel again challenged him, and required the counter-
sign. He said he had not the countersign; but amused
144 HISTORICAL RESEARCHI.
Capture of
the British
General
Prescott.
the sentry by talking about rebel prisoners, and still
advancing till he came within reach of the bayonet, which,
he presenting, the colonel suddenly struck aside, and seized
him. He was immediately secured, and ordered to be
silent, on pain of instant death. Meanwhile, the rest of
the men surrounding the house, the negro, with his head,
at the second stroke, forced a passage into it, and then into the
landlord's apartment. The landlord at first refused to give
the necessary intelligence; but, on the prospect of present
death, he pointed to the General's chamber, which being
instantly opened by the negro's head, the Colonel, calling the
General by name, told him he was a prisoner.” — Pennsyl-
wania. Evening Post, Aug. 7, 1777; (in Frank Moore's Diary
of the American Revolution, vol. i. p. 468.)
The event was thus noticed by a contemporary
(Dr. Thacher), who was a surgeon in the American
army: —
“Albany, Aug. 3, 1777. — The pleasing information is
received here that Lieut.-Col. Barton, of the Rhode-Island
militia, planned a bold exploit for the purpose of surpris-
ing and taking Major-Gen. Prescott, the commanding officer
of the royal army at Newport. Taking with him, in the
night, about forty men, in two boats, with oars muffled, he
had the address to elude the vigilance of the ships-of-war
and guard-boats : and, having arrived undiscovered at the
quarters of Gen. Prescott, they were taken for the sen-
tinels; and the general was not alarmed till his captors
were at the door of his lodging-chamber, which was fast
closed. A negro man, named Prince, instantly thrust his
beetle head through the panel door, and seized his victim
while in bed. . . . This event is extremely honorable to
the enterprising spirit of Col. Barton, and is considered
as ample retaliation for the capture of Gen. Lee by Col.
Harcourt. The event occasions great joy and exulta-
NEGRO SOLDIERS IN CONNECTICUT. 145
tion, as it puts in our possession an officer of equal rank *...*
- - l:l Chel''S
with Gen. Lee, *by which means an exchange may be account.
obtained. Congress resolved that an elegant sword should
be presented to Col. Barton for his brave exploit.”
It was perhaps “Prince" to whom Dr. Thacher
alludes in the following characteristic anecdote : —
“When the Count D'Estaing's fleet appeared near the
British batteries, in the harbor of Rhode Island, a severe
canonade was commenced; and several shot passed through
the houses in town, and occasioned great consternation
among the inhabitants. A shot passed through the door of
Mrs. Mason's house, just above the floor. The family were
alarmed, not knowing where to flee for safety. A negro
man ran and sat himself down very composedly, with his
back against the shot-hole in the door; and, being asked by
young Mr. Mason why he chose that situation, he replied,
‘Massa, you never know two bullet go in one place.’” —
Thacher's Military Journal, pp. 87, 175.
The subject of the employment of Negro soldiers
came before the Connecticut General Assembly in
1777, in connection with the subject of slavery and
emancipation.
By the courtesy of J. Hammond Trumbull, Esquire,
Editor of “The Public Records of the Colony of
Connecticut,” and Secretary of State, I am enabled to
give, in his own words, the following interesting
account of the action of that State : —
“In May, 1777, the General Assembly of Connecticut Action of
e * - - e the Con-
appointed a Committee ‘to take into consideration the necticut
state and condition of the negro and mulatto slaves in this *
State, and what may be done for their emancipation.’
This Committee, in a report presented at the same session
19
146 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Legislation
in Connect-
icut.
(signed by the chairman, the Hon. Matthew Griswold of
Lyme), recommended —
“‘That the effective negro and mulatto slaves be allowed
to enlist with the Continental battalions now raising in this
State, under the following regulations and restrictions:
viz., that all such negro and mulatto slaves as can procure,
either by bounty, hire, or in any other way, such a sum to
be paid to their masters as such negro or mulatto shall be
judged to be reasonably worth by the selectmen of the
town where such negro or mulatto belongs, shall be allowed
to enlist into either of said battalions, and shall thereupon
be, de facto, free and emancipated; and that the master of
such negro or mulatto shall be exempted from the support
and maintenance of such negro or mulatto, in case such
negro or mulatto shall hereafter become unable to support
and maintain himself.
“‘And that, in case any such negro or mulatto slave shall
be disposed to enlist into either of said battalions during
the [war], he shall be allowed so to do: and such negro or
mulatto shall be appraised by the selectmen of the town to
which he belongs; and his master shall be allowed to receive
the bounty to which such slave may be entitled, and also
one-half of the annual wages of such slave during the time
he shall continue in said service; provided, however, that
said master shall not be allowed to receive such part of
said wages after he shall have received so much as amounts,
together with the bounty, to the sum at which he was
appraised.’”
This report, in the Lower House, was ordered to
be continued to the next session of the Assembly. In
the Upper House it was rejected.
Mr. Trumbull writes: —
“You will see by the Report of Committee, May, 1777,
that General Warnum's plan for the enlistment of slaves
NEGRO SOLDIERS IN CONNECTICUT. 147
had been anticipated in Connecticut; with this difference, lºgº.
that Rhode Island adopted it, while Connecticut did not. icut.
“The two States reached nearly the same results by
different methods. The unanimous declaration of the offi-
cers at Cambridge, in the winter of 1775, against the
enlistment of slaves, – confirmed by the Committee of
Congress, – had some weight, I think, with the Connecti-
cut Assembly, so far as the formal enactment of a law
authorizing such enlistments was in question. At the same
time, Washington's license to continue the enlistment of
negroes was regarded as a rule of action, both by the
selectmen in making up, and by the State Government in
accepting, the quota of the towns. The process of draught-
ing, in Connecticut, was briefly this: The able-bodied men,
in each town, were divided into ‘classes'; and each class
was required to furnish one or more men, as the town's
quota required, to answer a draught. Now, the Assembly,
at the same session at which the proposition for enlisting
slaves was rejected (May, 1777), passed an act providing that
any two men belonging to this State, “who should procure
an able-bodied soldier or recruit to enlist into either of the
Continental battalions to be raised from this State,’ should
themselves be exempted from draught during the continu-
ance of such enlistment. Of recruits or draughted men thus
furnished, neither the selectmen nor commanding officers
questioned the color or the civil status: white and black, bond
and free, if ‘able-bodied,’ went on the roll together, ac-
cepted as the representatives of their ‘class,” or as sub-
stitutes for their employers. At the next session (October,
1777), an act was passed which gave more direct encourage-
ment to the enlistment of slaves. By the existing law, the
master who emancipated a slave was not released from
the liability to provide for his support. This law was now
so amended, as to authorize the selectmen of any town, on
the application of the master, — after ‘inquiry into the
age, abilities, circumstances, and character' of the servant
148 * HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Legislation
in Connect-
icut.
or slave, and being satisfied ‘that it was likely to be con-
sistent with his real advantage, and that it was probable
that he would be able to support himself,’ — to grant liberty
for his emancipation, and to discharge the master ‘from
any charge or cost which may be occasioned by maintain-
ing or supporting the servant or slave made free as afore-
said.’ This enactment enabled the selectmen to offer an
additional inducement to enlistment, for making up the
quota of the town. The slave (or servant for term of
years) might receive his freedom: the master might secure
exemption from draught, and a discharge from future lia-
bilities, to which he must otherwise have been subjected.
In point of fact, some hundreds of blacks — slaves and
freemen — were enlisted, from time to time, in the regi-
ments of State troops and of the Connecticut line. How
many, it is impossible to tell; for, from first to last, the
company or regimental rolls indicate no distinctions of
color. The name is the only guide: and, in turning over
the rolls of the Connecticut line, the frequent recurrence
of names which were exclusively appropriated to negroes
and slaves, shows how considerable was their proportion of
the material of the Connecticut army; while such sur-
names as ‘Liberty,’ ‘Freeman,’ ‘Freedom,’ &c., by scores,
indicate with what anticipations, and under what induce-
ments, they entered the service.
“As to the efficiency of the service they rendered, I
can say nothing from the records, except what is to be
gleaned from scattered files, such as one of the petitions I
send you. So far as my acquaintance extends, almost
every family has its traditions of the good and faithful ser-
vice of a black servant or slave, who was killed in
battle, or served through the war, and came home to tell
stories of hard fighting, and draw his pension. In my own
native town, - not a large one, – I remember five such
pensioners, three of whom, I believe, had been slaves, and,
in fact, were slaves to the day of their death; for (and
NEGRO SOLDIERS IN CONNECTICUT. 149
this explains the uniform action of the General Assembly on Legislation
petitions for emancipation) neither the towns nor the State ...”
were inclined to exonerate the master, at a time when sla-
very was becoming unprofitable, from the obligation to
provide for the old age of his slave.
“Col. William Browne of Salem (a “mandamus counsel-
lor’”), who went with the enemy from Boston in 1776,
owned large tracts of land in New London and Hartford
counties in Connecticut, entailed by his grandfather, Col.
Samuel Browne. The General Court cut off the entail,
and confiscated the land. A farm in Lyme of twelve thou-
sand four hundred and thirty-six acres, valued, in 1779, at
a hundred and sixty-nine thousand pounds (Continental),
had been leased for a term of years, with nine slaves. The
administrator on confiscated estates, Benjamin Huntington,
Esq., when returning the inventory of Mr. Browne's pro-
perty, stated to the General Assembly that there were “a
number of slaves appraised, who beg for their liberty;”
and that the lessee of the farm would assent to their being
liberated, without requiring a diminution of his rent.
“Accompanying the inventory is the following petition,
in Mr. Huntington's hand-writing : —
“‘To the Hon. General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, now
sitting in Hartford.
“‘The memorial of Great Prince, Little Prince, Luke, Petition
Caesar, and Prue and her three children, – all friends to .."
America, but slaves (lately belonging to Col. William
Browne, now forfeited to this State,) — humbly sheweth,
that their late master was a Tory, and fled from his native
country to his master, King George; where he now lives
like a poor slave. -
“‘That your memorialists, though they have flat noses,
crooked shins, and other queerness of make, peculiar to
Africans, are yet of the human race, free-born in our own
150 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Petition
of loyal
slaves.
Rhode
Island.
country, taken from thence by man-stealers, and sold in
this country as cattle in the market, without the least act
of our own to forfeit liberty; but we hope our good
mistress, the free State of Connecticut, engaged in a war
with tyranny, will not sell good homest Whigs and friends
of the freedom and independence of America, as we are, to
raise cash to support the war : because the Whigs ought
to be free ; and the Tories should be sold.
“‘Wherefore your memorialists pray your Honors to
consider their case, and grant them their freedom upon
their getting security to indemnify the State from any ex-
pense for their support in case of want, or, in some other
way, release them from slavery.
“‘And your poor negroes, as in duty bound, shall ever
pray. “‘GREAT PRINCE.
LITTLE PRINCE.
- LUKE, &c.
“‘Dated in LYME, Election-day, 1779.’
“The Lower House granted, but the Upper House nega-
tived, the prayer of the memorial. A committee of con-
ference was appointed; but each House adhered to its
original vote.”
Nowhere in the country was the question of negro
soldiers more carefully considéred, or the practice of
employing them more generally adopted, than in
Rhode Island. Not only were the names of colored
men entered with those of white citizens on the rolls
of the militia, but a distinct regiment of this class of
persons was formed. The character and conduct
of that regiment have an important place in the his-
tory of the Revolutionary War. s
My valued friend, John Russell Bartlett, Esquire,
NEGRO SOLDIERS IN REIODE ISLAND. 151
Editor of the “Irecords of the Colony of Rhode
Island and Providence Plantations in New England,”
and Secretary of State, has copied for me, from the
manuscripts in the State Archives, the correspondence
and legislation relating to the subject. These docu-
ments are here presented entire, and give a full
history of the whole matter.
GENERAL WASHINGTON TO GOVERNOR COOKE.
“HEAD QUARTERS, 2d January, 1778.
“SIR, - Enclosed you will receive a copy of a letter
from General Varnum to me, upon the means which might
be adopted for completing the Rhode-Island troops to their
full proportion in the Continental Army. I have nothing
to say, in addition to what I wrote on the 29th of last
month, on this important subject, but to desire that you
will give the officers employed in this business all the
assistance in your power.
“I am, with great respect, Sir, your most obedient
servant, “GEO. WASHINGTON.
“His Excellency NICHOLAs CookE, Esq.,
Governor of Rhode Island.”
GENERAL WARNUM TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.
“CAMP, Jan. 2, 1778.
“SIR, - The two battalions from the State of Rhode Is-
land being small, and there being a necessity of the State's
furnishing an additional number to make up their propor-
tion in the Continental Army, the field-officers have repre-
sented to me the propriety of making one temporary
battalion from the two; so that one entire corps of officers
may repair to Rhode Island, in order to receive and pre-
pare the recruits for the field. It is imagined that a
battalion of negroes can be easily raised there. Should
that measure be adopted, or recruits obtained upon any
152 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Negro
soldiers in
Rhode
Island,
other principle, the service will be advanced. The field-
officers who go upon this command are Colonel Greene,
Lieut.-Colonel Olney, and Major Ward; seven captains,
twelve lieutenants, six ensigns, one paymaster, one surgeon
and mate, one adjutant, and one chaplain.
“I am your Excellency’s most obedient servant,
“J. M. WARNUM.
“His Excellency Gen. WASHINGTON.”
These letters were laid before the General Assem-
bly at the February Session ; and, after due delibera-
tion, the following act was passed, not without some
opposition : —
“State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in General
Assembly. February Session, 1778.
“Whereas, for the preservation of the rights and liberties
of the United States, it is necessary that the whole powers of
Government should be exerted in recruiting the Continen-
tal battalions; and whereas His Excellency, Gen. Wash-
ington, hath inclosed to this State a proposal made to him
by Brigadier-General Varnum, to enlist into the two bat-
talions, raising by this State, such slaves as should be
willing to enter into the service: and whereas history af.
fords us frequent Precedents of the wiseSt, the freest, and
bravest nations having liberated their Slaves, and inlisted
them as Soldiers to fight in Defence of their Country; and
also, whereas, the Enemy, with a great force, have taken
Possession of the Capital and of a great Part of this State;
and this State is obliged to raise a very considerable Num-
ber of Troops for its own immediate Defence, whereby it
is in a Manner rendered impossible for this State to furnish
Recruits for the said two Battalions without adopting the
said Measure so recommended :
“It is Voted and Resolved, That every able-bodied negro,
NEGRO REGIMENT IN RFIODE ISLAND. 153
mulatto, or Indian man slave, in this State, may inlist
into either of the said two battalions to serve during the
continuance of the present war with Great Britain : that
every slave so inlisting shall be entitled to and receive all
the bounties, wages, and encouragements allowed by the
Continental Congress to any soldier inlisting into their ser-
V1C G. -
“It is further Voted and Resolved, That every slave so in-
listing shall, upon his passing muster before Col. Christopher
Greene, be immediately discharged from the service of his
master or mistress, and be absolutely FREE, as though he
had never been incumbered with any kind of servitude or
slavery. And in case such slave shall, by sickness or
otherwise, be rendered unable to maintain himself, he shall
not be chargeable to his master or mistress, but shall be
supported at the expense of the State.
“And whereas slaves have been by the laws deemed the
property of their owners; and therefore compensation ought
to be made to the owners for the loss of their service, —
“It is further Voted and Resolved, That there be allowed,
and paid by this State to the owner, for every such slave
so inlisting, a sum according to his worth ; at a price not
exceeding one hundred and twenty pounds for the most
valuable slave, and in proportion for a slave of less value:
Provided the owner of said slave shall deliver up to the
officer who shall inlist him the clothes of the said slave; or
otherwise he shall not be entitled to said sum.
“And for settling and ascertaining the value of such
slaves, –
“It is further Voted and Resolved, That a committee of
five be appointed, to wit: one from each county; any
three of whom to be a quorum, to examine the slaves who
shall be so inlisted, after they shall have passed muster,
and to set a price upon each slave, according to his value,
as aforesaid.
“It is further Voted and Resolved, That upon any able-
20
154 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
bodied negro, mulatto, or Indian slave, inlisting as aforesaid,
the officer who shall so inlist him, after he has passed mus-
ter as aforesaid, shall deliver a certificate thereof to the
master or mistress of said megro, mulatto, or Indian slave ;
which shall discharge him from the service of said master
or mistress as aforesaid. - -
“It is further Voted and Resolved, That the committee
who shall estimate the value of any slave as aforesaid, shall
give a certificate of the sum at which he may be valued, to
the owner of said slave : and the General Treasurer of this
State is hereby empowered and directed to give unto the
Owner of said slave his promissory note, as Treasurer, as
aforesaid, for the sum of money at which he shall be valued
as aforesaid, payable on demand, with interest, at the rate
of six per cent. per annum; and that said notes which shall
be so given, shall be paid with the money which is due this
State, and is expected from Congress, - the money which
has been borrowed out of the General Treasury by this
Assembly being first replaced.”
The members of the General Assembly opposed to
the passage of this Act embodied their objections
to it in a Protest. The difficulties which they appre-
hended were not found to exist to such an extent as
to defeat the project.
“Protest against enlisting Slaves to serve in the Army.
“We, the subscribers, beg leave to dissent from the
vote of the Lower House ordering a regiment of negroes
to be raised for the Continental service, for the following
reasons; viz.
“1st, Because, in our opinion, there is not a sufficient
number of negroes in the State who would have an in-
climation to inlist, and would pass muster, to constitute a
regiment; and raising several companies of blacks would
NEGRO REGIMENT IN TRHODE ISLAND. 155
not answer the purposes intended : and therefore the at-
tempt to constitute said regiment would prove abortive,
and be a fruitless expense to the State. -
’ “ 2d, The raising such a regiment upon the footing
proposed would suggest an idea, and produce an opinion
in the world, that the State had purchased a band of slaves
to be employed in the defence of the rights and liberties of
our country: which is wholly inconsistent with those prin-
ciples of liberty and constitutional government for which
we are so ardently contending; and would be looked upon
by the neighboring States in a contemptible point of view,
and not equal to their troops; and they would, therefore,
be unwilling that we should have credit for them as for an
equal number of white troops; and would also give occa-
sion to our enemies to suspect that we are not able to
procure our own people to oppose them in the field, and
to retort upon us the same kind of ridicule we so liberally
bestowed upon them on account of Dunmore’s regiment
of blacks; or possibly might suggest to them the idea of
employing black regiments against us.
“3d, The expense of purchasing and inlisting said
regiment, in the manner proposed, will vastly exceed the
expenses of raising an equal number of white men; and,
at the same time, will not have the like good effect.
“4th, Great difficulties and uneasiness will arise in
purchasing the negroes from their masters; and many
of the masters will not be satisfied with any prices al-
lowed.
“JOHN NORTLIUP. GEORGE PEIRCE.
JAMES BABCOCK, Jr. SYLVESTER GARDNER.
OTHNIEL GORTON. SAMUEL BABCOCK.”
THE GOVERNOR OF RHODE ISLAND TO GEN. WASHINGTON.
“PROVIDENCE, Feb. 23, 1778.
“SIR, - I have been favored with your Excellency’s
letter of the third instant [2d ultimo 7), enclosing a pro-
156 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
posal made to you by General Varnum for recruiting the
two Continental battalions raised by this State.
“I laid the letter before the General Assembly at their
session, on the second Monday in this month ; who, con-
sidering the pressing necessity of filling up the Continental
Army, and the peculiarly difficult circumstances of this
State, – which rendered it, in a manner, impossible to
recruit our battalions in any other way, - adopted the
IQG3) Sll T G.
“Liberty is given to every effective slave to enter the
service during the war; and, upon his passing muster, he
is absolutely made free, and entitled to all the wages, boun-
ties, and encouragements given by Congress to any soldier
enlisting into their service. The masters are allowed at
the rate of £120 for the most valuable slave, and in pro-
portion to those of less value.
“The number of slaves in this State is not great; but
it is generally thought that three hundred and upwards
will be enlisted.
“I am, with great respect, Sir, your Excellency's most
obedient, humble servant, “NICHOLAS COOKE.
“To Gen. WASIIINGTON.”
At the session of the General Assembly in which
the Act was passed, –
“It is voted and resolved, That Messrs. Thomas Rumreil,
Christopher Lippitt, Samuel Babcock, Thomas Tillinghast,
and Josiah Humphrey, be, and they are hereby, appointed
a committee to estimate the value of the slaves who may
enlist into the Continental battalions, agreeably to a re-
solve of this Assembly.”
A short time after the act was passed, March the
9th, –
“It is voted and resolved, That the masters of all negro
NEGRO REGIMENT IN RHOT)|E ISLAND. 157
slaves, who are bound out as apprentices, that already
have inlisted or shall inlist into the Continental service,
shall be entitled to receive out of the General Treasury
the annual interest of the sum the said slaves shall be
appraised at, until the expiration of their apprenticeships;
and that the money remain in the treasury until the expi-
ration of the said apprenticeships, and then be paid to
the owner without interest.”
As it was not desirable to extend indefinitely the
offer of freedom to slaves enlisting under this act,
the General Assembly, at their May Session, adopted.
the following preamble and resolution : —
“Whereas, by an act of this Assembly, negro, mulatto,
and Indian slaves, belonging to the inhabitants of this
State, are permitted to inlist into the Continental batta-
lions ordered to be raised by this State, and are thereupon
for ever manumitted and discharged from the service of
their masters; and whereas it is necessary, for answering
the purposes intended by the said act, that the same shall
be temporary, -
“It is therefore voted and resolved, that no negro, mu-
latto, or Indian slave, be permitted to inlist into said
battalions from and after the tenth day of June next; and
that the said act then expire, and be no longer in force,
any thing therein to the contrary notwithstanding.”
At the October Session, 1778, -
“It is voted and resolved, That the General Treasurer
pay unto the owners of slaves who have enlisted as afore-
said, and who have not received notes for the estimated
value of the same, the sums of money at which they were
appraised, upon their producing certificates thereof from
the committee appointed to give the same ; and that the
said owners be permitted to receive the whole or any part
158 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Colonel
Greene's
Black
Regiment.
of the value of their slaves in Continental loan-office cer-
tificates.”
There is abundant evidence of the fidelity and
bravery of the colored patriots of Rhode Island dur-
ing the whole war. Before they had been formed
into a separate regiment, they had fought valiantly
with the white soldiers at Red Bank and elsewhere.
Their conduct at the “Battle of Rhode Island,” on
the 29th of August, 1778, entitles them to perpetual
honor. That battle has been pronounced by military
authorities to have been one of the best fought battles
of the Revolutionary War. Its success was owing, in
a great degree, to the good fighting of the Negro sol-
diers. Mr. Arnold, in his “ History of Rhode Island,”
thus closes his account of it: —
“A third time the enemy, with desperate courage and
increased strength, attempted to assail the redoubt, and
would have carried it, but for the timely aid of two Con-
timental battalions despatched by Sullivan to support his
almost exhausted troops. It was in repelling these furi-
ous onsets, that the newly raised black regiment, under
Col. Greene, distinguished itself by deeds of desperate
valor. Posted behind a thicket in the valley, they three
times drove back the Hessians, who charged repeatedly
down the hill to dislodge them; and so determined were
the enemy in these successive charges, that, the day after
the battle, the Hessian colonel, upon whom this duty had
devolved, applied to exchange his command, and go to
New York, because he dared not lead his regiment again
to battle, lest his men should shoot him for having caused
them so much loss.”— Arnold's History of Rhode Island,
vol. ii. pp. 427, 428.
RBIODE ISLAND AND MASSACHUSETTS. 159
Three years later, these soldiers are thus men-
tioned by the Marquis de Chastellux: —
“The 5th [of January, 1781] I did not set out till eleven, i.
although I had thirty miles' journey to Lebanon. At the
passage to the ferry, I met with a detachment of the Rhode-
Island regiment, — the same corps we had with us all the
last summer; but they have since been recruited and
clothed. The greatest part of them are negroes or mulat-
toes: but they are strong, robust men; and those I have
seen had a very good appearance.” — Chastellua' Travels,
vol. i. p. 454; London, 1789. -
When Colonel Greene was surprised and murdered,
near Points Bridge, New York, on the 14th of May,
1781, his colored soldiers heroically defended him till
they were cut to pieces, and the enemy reached him
over the dead bodies of his faithful negroes.
In the spring of 1778, the General Court of Mas-Mººch"-
sachusetts, also, was invoked to sanction the enrolling
of negro soldiers. This would not have been without
a precedent in her earlier legislation; for, in 1652,
“negroes and Scotchmen’’ (the indented captives of
Cromwell, who had encountered his army at the
battle of Dunbar) were alike, by law, obliged to train
in the militia : and, whatever reason afterwards led
to a change of the law, it does not seem to have been
a question of color or of military aptitude ; for the
white veterans and the negroes were treated in this
matter without distinction.
On the 3d and the 7th of April, 1778, just before
the doings of the Rhode-Island General Assembly
were communicated to the Legislature of Massachu-
160 HISTORICAL RESEARCHI.
setts, Thomas Kench, belonging to a regiment of
artillery then at Castle Island, addressed to the Ge-
neral Court the following letters, which speak for
themselves: —
“To the Honorable Council, and House of Representatives, Boston,
... - or at Roadbury.
“HONORED GENTLEMEN, - At the opening of this cam-
paign, our forces should be all ready, well equipped with
arms and ammunition, with clothing sufficient to stand them
through the campaign, their wages to be paid monthly, so
as not to give the soldiery so much reason of complaint as
it is the general cry from the soldiery amongst whom I am
connected.
“We have accounts of large re-enforcements a-coming
over this spring against us; and we are not so strong this
spring, I think, as we were last. Great numbers have
deserted; numbers have died, besides what is sick, and
incapable of duty, or bearing arms in the field.
“I think it is highly necessary that some new augmen-
tation should be added to the army this summer, — all the
re-enforcements that can possibly be obtained. For now
is the time to exert ourselves or never; for, if the enemy
can get no further hold this campaign than they now
possess, we [have] no need to fear much from them here-
after. -
“A re-enforcement can quick be raised of two or three
hundred men. Will your honors grant the liberty, and
give me the command of the party 7 And what I refer to is
negroes. We have divers of them in our service, mixed
with white men. But I think it would be more proper to
raise a body by themselves, than to have them intermixed
with the white men; and their ambition would entirely be
to outdo the white men in every measure that the fortune
of war calls a soldier to endure. And I could rely with
dependence upon them in the field of battle, or to any
post that I was sent to defend with them; and they would
NEGRO SOLDIERS IN MASS ACHUSETTS. 161.
think themselves happy could they gain their freedom by .
bearing a part of subduing the enemy that is invading Our letter.
land, and clear a peaceful inheritance for their masters, and
posterity yet to come, that they are now slaves to.
“The method that I would point out to your Honors in
raising a detachment of negroes;– that a company should
consist of a hundred, including commissioned officers; and
that the commissioned officers should be white, and consist
of one captain, one captain-lieutenant, two second lieuten-
ants; the orderly sergeant white; and that there should
be three sergeants black, four corporals black, two drums
and two fifes black, and eighty-four rank and file. These
should engage to serve till the end of the war, and then be
free men. And I doubt not, that no gentleman that is a
friend to his country will disapprove of this plan, or be
against his negroes enlisting into the service to maintain
the cause of freedom, and suppress the worse than savage
enemies of our land.
“I beg your Honors to grant me the liberty of raising
one company, if no more. It will be far better than to fill
up our battalions with runaways and deserters from Gen.
Burgoyne's army, who, after receiving clothing and the
bounty, in general make it their business to desert from us.
In the lieu thereof, if they are [of] a mind to serve in
America, let them supply the families of those gentlemen
where those negroes belong that should engage.
“I rest, relying on your Honors' wisdom in this matter,
as it will be a quick way of having a re-enforcement to
join the grand army, or to act in any other place that occa-
sion shall require; and I will give my faith and assurance
that I will act upon honor and fidelity, should I take the
command of such a party as I have been describing.
“So I rest till your Honors shall call me; and am your
very humble and obedient servant,
“THOMAS KENCH,
“In Col. Craft's Regiment of Artillery, now on Castle Island.
“CASTLE ISLAND, April 3, 1778.”
21
162 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Thomas
Kemch’s
second
letter.
“To the Homorable Council in Bostom.
“The letter I wrote before I heard of the disturbance
with Col. Seares, Mr. Spear, and a number of other gentle-
men, concerning the freedom of negroes in Congress
Street. It is a pity that riots should be committed on the
Occasion, as it is justifiable that negroes should have their
freedom, and none amongst us be held as slaves, as free-
dom and liberty is the grand controversy that we are
contending for; and I trust, under the smiles of Divine
Providence, we shall obtain it, if all our minds can but be
united; and putting the negroes into the service will pre-
vent much uneasiness, and give more satisfaction to those
that are offended at the thoughts of their servants being
free.
“I will not enlarge, for fear I should give offence; but
subscribe myself, Your faithful servant,
“THOMAS KENCH.
“CASTLE ISLAND, April 7, 1778.”
(Archives of Massachusetts, vol. cxcix. pp. 80, 84.)
On the 11th of April, the former of the above
letters was duly referred to a joint committee, “to
consider the same, and report.” On the 17th, “a re-
solution of the General Assembly of Rhode Island for
2
enlisting negroes in the public service " was referred
to the same committee. On the 28th, they reported
the draught of a law, differing little from the Rhode-
Island Resolution: but a separate organization of ne-
gro companies, by Kench, does not appear to have been
deemed advisable at that time ; and the usage was con-
tinued, of “having,” in the words of Kench, “negroes
in our service, intermixed with the white men.”
Many other specimens of legislative action on the
subject in the Northern and Middle States might be
MARYLAND AND NEW YORK. 163
produced ; but enough have already been given to
show the general current of public sentiment in this
part of the country. An extract from a letter to
Washington, written by John Cadwalader at Anna-
polis, Md., June 5, 1781, relates to the doings of
that State : —
“We have resolved to raise, immediately, seven hundred Maryland.
and fifty negroes, to be incorporated with the other troops;
and a bill is now almost completed.”—Sparks's Correspond-
ence of the American Revolution, vol. iii. p. 331.
In an act passed by the Legislature of New York,
March 20, 1781, for the purpose of raising two regi-
ments upon the inducement of “bounty lands unap-
propriated,” is to be found the following section : —
“SECT. 6. — And be it further enacted by the authority New York.
aforesaid, that any person who shall deliver one or more
of his or her able-bodied male slaves to any warrant
officer, as aforesaid, to serve in either of the said regi-
ments or independent corps, and produce a certificate
thereof, signed by any person authorized to muster and
receive the men to be raised by virtue of this act, and pro-
duce such certificate to the Surveyor-General, shall, for
every male slave so entered and mustered as aforesaid, be
entitled to the location and grant of one right, in manner
as in and by this act is directed ; and shall be, and hereby
is, discharged from any future maintenance of such slave,
any law to the contrary notwithstanding: And such slave
so entered as aforesaid, who shall serve for the term of
three years or until regularly discharged, shall, immediately
after such service or discharge, be, and is hereby declared
to be, a free man of this State.” — Laws of the State of
New York, Chap. 32, (March 20, 1781, Fourth Session.)
164 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Where the
soldiers
came from.
Tacitly or by positive law, the policy of arming
the negroes and employing them as soldiers, either
in separate companies or mingled in the ranks with
white citizens, almost everywhere prevailed. In
Georgia and South Carolina, however, where there
was the most urgent call for more troops, and where
the slave-holders were backward in enlisting, the
case was different. These States, it will be remem-
bered, contained so many Tories, whose sympathies
were with the enemy, that it was impossible to obtain
from them enough soldiers for a “home-guard.”
It may not be amiss for Massachusetts men to re-
fresh their memories by referring to the history of
their Commonwealth in regard to supplying soldiers
during the Revolution; and it may be well for all to
notice, that, where there was the greatest opposition
to the arming and employing of negroes as soldiers,
there was the least disposition to furnish a fair supply
of white soldiers. The following items of Revolu-
tionary history were published several years since by
our associate, the Hon. Lorenzo Sabine, in the histo-
rical essay prefixed to his excellent history of the
“American Loyalists:”—
“The whole number of regulars enlisted for the Conti-
nental service, from the beginning to the close of the
struggle, was 231,959. Of these, I have once remarked,
67,907 were from Massachusetts; and I may now add, that
every State south of Pennsylvania provided but 59,493, or
8,414 less than this single State; and that New England—
now, I grieve to say, contemned and reproached — equipped
and maintained 118,350, or above half of the number placed
STATISTICS OF THE ARMY. 165
at the service of Congress during the war. I would not Where the
g º * soldiers
press these facts to the injury of the Whigs of the South. came from.
The war, after the evacuation of Boston, I am aware, was
transferred from New England to the Middle and Southern
States; and these States accordingly required bodies of
troops to be kept at home to protect themselves. But as it
is to be presumed that most of such bodies composed a part
of the regular force employed by Congress, and were,
therefore, included in the Continental establishment and
pay, the argument is in no essential particular weakened
by the admission, that the Whigs of the South were, of
necessity, employed in the defence of their own firesides;
for, were this the truth of the case, the numbers in this
service, as well as in other, would still appear, in making
up the aggregate force enlisted from time to time in each
State. The exact question is, then, not where were the
battle-grounds of the Revolution, but what was the propor-
tion of men which each of the thirteen States supplied for
the contest.
“In considering the political condition of Virginia and
North Carolina, it was admitted that these States were not
able to provide troops according to their population, as
compared with the States destitute of a ‘peculiar institu-
tion.” The same admission is now made in behalf of South
Carolina. Yet did 6,660 Whig soldiers exhaust her re-
sources of men 7 Could she furnish only 752 more than
Rhode Island, the smallest State in the Confederacy; only
one-fifth of the number of Connecticut; only one-half as
many as New Hampshire, then almost an unbroken wilder-
ness? She did not : she could not defend herself against
her own Tories; and it is hardly an exaggeration to add,
that more Whigs of New England were sent to her aid, and
now lie buried in her soil, than she sent from it to every scene
of strife from Lewington to Yorktown.
“South Carolina, with a Northern army to assist her,
could not or would not even preserve her own capital.
166 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Where the
soldiers
came from.
When news reached Connecticut that Gage had sent a
force into the country, and that blood had been shed, Put-
nam was at work in his field. Leaving his plough in the
furrow, he started for Cambridge, without changing his
garments. When Stark heard the same tidings, he was
sawing pine-logs, and without a coat: shutting down the
gate of his mill, he commenced his journey to Boston in
his shirt-sleeves. The same spirit animated the Whigs far
and near ; and the capital of New England was invested
with fifteen thousand armed men.
“How was it at Charleston 2 That city was the great
mart of the South, and, what Boston still is, the centre of
the export and import trade of a large population. In
grandeur, in splendor of buildings, in decorations, in equi-
pages, in shipping and commerce, Charleston was equal to
any city in America. But its citizens did not rally to save
it; and Gen. Lincoln was compelled to accept of terms of
capitulation. He was much censured for the act. Yet
whoever calmly examines the circumstances will be satis-
fied, I think, that the measure was unavoidable; and that
the inhabitants, as a body, preferred to return to their alle-
giance to the British Crown. The people, on whom Con-
gress and Gen. Lincoln depended to complete his force,
refused to enlist under the Whig banner; but, after the
surrender of the city, they flocked to the royal standard by
hundreds. In a word, so general was the defection, that
persons who had enjoyed Lincoln's confidence joined the
royal side; and men who had participated in his councils
bowed their necks anew to the yoke of Colonial vassalage.
Sir Henry Clinton considered his triumph complete, and
communicated to the ministry the intelligence that the
whole State had yielded submission to the royal arms, and
had become again a part of the empire. To the women of
South Carolina, and to Marion, Sumpter, and Pickens, the
celebrated partisan chiefs, who kept the field without
the promise of men, money, or supplies, it was owing that
STATISTICS OF THE ARMY. 167
Sir Henry's declaration did not prove entirely true for a
time, and that the name and the spirit of liberty did not
become utterly extinct.” — The American Loyalists, pp.
30–33.
This statement was not allowed to pass without
contradiction, and the author of it was fiercely re-
proached. His facts and figures were called in ques-
tion; but they were not proved to be incorrect. From
a recent careful examination of the statistics as con-
tained in the official report of General Knox, the
Secretary of War, made to Congress in 1790, I am
satisfied that Mr. Sabine, in this case, has not depart-
ed from his general practice of stating with scrupulous
accuracy and impartiality the simple facts relating to
his subject.
The difficulty of obtaining a sufficient number of
white soldiers in the Southern States to defend them
from the invasion of the enemy, and the fact that the
employment of negroes, where the practice had pre-
vailed, had proved entirely successful, led to a vigor-
ous effort in Congress and elsewhere to secure the
services of this class of persons for increasing the
army, particularly in Georgia and South Carolina.
Colonel John Laurens, of South Carolina, was one
of the most earnest advocates of the measure. His
father, the Hon. Henry Laurens, on the 16th of
March, 1779, wrote to Washington: —
“Our affairs in the Southern department are more fa- Henry
e I.
vorable than we had considered them a few days ago; "W.
nevertheless, the country is greatly distressed, and will be *
168 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Washing-
ton to
Henry
Laurens.
more so unless further reinforcements are sent to its relief.
Had we arms for three thousand such black men as I could
Select in Carolina, I should have no doubt of success in
driving the British out of Georgia, and subduing East
Florida, before the end of July.” — Sparks's Washington,
vol. vi. p. 204, note.
In his reply to Mr. Laurens, on the 20th of the
same month, Washington, with his characteristic
caution and modesty, suggests his doubts, but adds
that they are “only the first crude ideas” that struck
him.
“The policy of our arming slaves, is, in my opinion, a
moot point, unless the enemy set the example. For, should
we begin to form battalions of them, I have not the smallest
doubt, if the war is to be prosecuted, of their following us
in it, and justifying the measure upon our own ground.
The contest then must be, who can arm fastest. And where
are our arms ? Besides, I am not clear that a discrimina-
tion will not render slavery more irksome to those who
remain in it. Most of the good and evil things in this life
are judged of by comparison; and I fear a comparison in
this case will be productive of much discontent in those
who are held in servitude. But, as this is a subject that
has never employed much of my thoughts, these are no
more than the first crude ideas that have struck me upon
the occasion.”— Sparks's Washington, vol. vi. p. 204.
Alexander Hamilton, who had thought much on
the subject, and had considered it in its various rela-
tions, gave his unqualified and hearty support to the
measure. In a letter to Mr. Jay, which has been
preserved and published, he states his views with
great clearness: —
HAMILTON RECOMMENDS NEGRO ENLISTMENTS. 169
“HEADQUARTERs, March 14, 1779.
“To JOHN JAY.
“DEAR SIR, - Col. Laurens, who will have the honor of
delivering you this letter, is on his way to South Carolina,
on a project which I think, in the present situation of
affairs there, is a very good one, and deserves every kind
of support and encouragement. This is, to raise two,
three, or four battalions of negroes, with the assistance of
the government of that State, by contributions from the
owners, in proportion to the number they possess. If you
should think proper to enter upon the subject with him, he
will give you a detail of his plan. He wishes to have it
recommended by Congress to the State; and, as an induce-
ment, that they should engage to take those battalions into
Continental pay.
“It appears to me, that an expedient of this kind, in the
present state of Southern affairs, is the most rational that
can be adopted, and promises very important advantages.
Indeed, I hardly see how a sufficient force can be collected
in that quarter without it; and the enemy's operations
there are growing infinitely more serious and formidable.
I have not the least doubt that the negroes will make very
excellent soldiers with proper management; and I will
venture to pronounce, that they cannot be put into better
hands than those of Mr. Laurens. He has all the zeal,
intelligence, enterprise, and every other qualification, meces-
sary to succeed in such an undertaking. It is a maxim
Alexander
Hamilton
on negro
soldiers.
with some great military judges, that, with sensible officers,
soldiers can hardly be too stupid ; and, on this principle, it
is thought that the Russians would make the best troops in
the world, if they were under other officers than their own.
The King of Prussia is among the number who maintain
this doctrine; and has a very emphatic saying on the occa-
sion, which I do not exactly recollect. I mention this
because I hear it frequently objected to the scheme of em-
bodying negroes, that they are too stupid to make soldiers.
22
170 IIISTORICAI, RESEARCH.
This is so far from appearing to me a valid objection, that I
think their want of cultivation (for their natural faculties
are probably as good as ours), joined to that habit of subor-
dination which they acquire from a life of servitude, will
make them sooner become soldiers than our white inhabi-
tants. Let officers be men of sense and sentiment; and
the nearer the soldiers approach to machines, perhaps the
better. -
“I foresee that this project will have to combat much
opposition from prejudice and self-interest. The contempt
we have been taught to entertain for the blacks makes us
fancy many things that are founded neither in reason nor
experience; and an unwillingness to part with property of
so valuable a kind will furnish a thousand arguments to
show the impracticability or pernicious tendency of a scheme
which requires such a sacrifice. But it should be consid-
ered, that, if we do not make use of them in this way, the
enemy probably will; and that the best way to counteract
the temptations they will hold out will be to offer them
ourselves. An essential part of the plan is to give them their
freedom with their muskets. This will secure their fidel-
ity, animate their courage, and, I believe, will have a good
influence upon those who remain, by opening a door to
their emancipation. This circumstance, I confess, has no
small weight in inducing me to wish the success of the pro-
ject; for the dictates of humanity, and true policy, equally
interest me in favor of this unfortunate class of men.
“With the truest respect and esteem,
“I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,
“ALEX. HAMILTON.”
(Life of John Jay, by William Jay, vol. ii. pp. 31, 32.)
Congress, although it had no power to control the
action of the individual States in this matter, consid-
ered the subject so important, that it was referred to
CONGRESS RECOMMENDS NEGRO ENLISTMENTS. 171
a special committee, who prepared a report, that led
to the adoption of a series of resolutions, recommend-
ing to “the States of South Carolina and Georgia, if
they shall think the same expedient, to take measures
immediately for raising three thousand able-bodied
negroes.”
“IN CONGRESS, March 29, 1779.
“The Committee, consisting of Mr. Burke, Mr. Laurens,
Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Dyer, appointed to
take into consideration the circumstances of the Southern
States, and the ways and means for their safety and de-
fence, report, —
“That the State of South Carolina, as represented by
the delegates of the said State and by Mr. Huger, who has
come hither, at the request of the Governor of the said
State, on purpose to explain the particular circumstances
thereof, is unable to make any effectual efforts with militia,
by reason of the great proportion of citizens necessary to
remain at home to prevent insurrections among the ne-
groes, and to prevent the desertion of them to the enemy.
“That the state of the country, and the great numbers
of those people among them, expose the inhabitants to
great danger from the endeavors of the enemy to excite
them either to revolt or desert.
“That it is suggested by the delegates of the said State
and by Mr. Huger, that a force might be raised in the said
State from among the negroes, which would not only be
formidable to the enemy from their numbers, and the disci-
pline of which they would very readily admit, but would
also lessen the danger from revolts and desertions, by de-
taching the most vigorous and enterprising from among the
negroes.
“That, as this measure may involve inconveniences pecu-
172 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
liarly affecting the States of South Carolina and Georgia,
the Committee are of opinion that the same should be sub-
mitted to the governing powers of the said States; and, if
the said powers shall judge it expedient to raise such a
force, that the United States ought to defray the expense
thereof: whereupon, -
“Resolved, That it be recommended to the States of
South Carolina and Georgia, if they shall think the same
expedient, to take measures immediately for raising three
thousand able-bodied negroes.
“That the said negroes be formed into separate corps,
as battalions, according to the arrangements adopted for
the main army, to be commanded by white commissioned
and non-commissioned officers.
“That the commissioned officers be appointed by the
said States.
“That the non-commissioned officers may, if the said
States respectively shall think proper, be taken from among
the non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the Conti-
nental battalions of the said States respectively.
“That the Governors of the said States, together with the
commanding officer of the Southern army, be empowered
to incorporate the several Continental battalions of their
States with each other respectively, agreeably to the
arrangement of the army, as established by the resolutions
of May 27, 1778; and to appoint such of the supernumerary
officers to command the said negroes as shall choose to
go into that service.
“Resolved, That Congress will make provision for paying
the proprietors of such negroes as shall be enlisted for the
service of the United States during the war a full com-
pensation for the property, at a rate not exceeding one
thousand dollars for each active, able-bodied negro man of
standard size, not exceeding thirty-five years of age, who
shall be so enlisted and pass muster.
“That no pay or bounty be allowed to the said negroes;
CoL. LAURENS RECOMMENDS NEGRO ENLISTMENTS. 173
but that they be clothed and subsisted at the expense of
the United States.
“That every negro who shall well and faithfully serve
as a soldier to the end of the present war, and shall then
return his arms, be emancipated, and receive the sum of
fifty dollars.” — Secret Journals of Congress, vol. i. pp.
107–110.
On the same day that the report in favor of rais-
ing negro troops was made, Congress passed the
following resolution : —
“Whereas John Laurens, Esq., who has heretofore acted
as aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief, is desirous of
repairing to South Carolina, with a design to assist in de-
fence of the Southern States; —
“Resolved, That a commission of lieutenant-colonel be
granted to the said John Laurens, Esq.”— Journals of Con-
gress, vol. v. p. 123.
Col. John Laurens was the son of the Hon. Henry
Laurens, the distinguished member of Congress, and
at one time President of that body. He was one of
the most patriotic and brave of the Southern officers,
and has not improperly been called the “Chevalier
Bayard of America.” He was the intimate friend of
Washington and Hamilton. Having been in active
service in Rhode Island and elsewhere, and having
had the best opportunities of witnessing the use-
fulness of the colored soldiers, he entered into the
spirit of the undertaking with his whole heart, and
used his best efforts to promote its success. For this
purpose, he went to his native State, and used his
personal influence to induce the Legislature to take
174 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Colonel
Laurens.
Colonel
Laurens.
the necessary steps for raising black troops. In a
letter to Hamilton, he says, –
“Ternant will relate to you how many violent struggles
I have had between duty and inclination, — how much my
heart was with you, while I appeared to be most actively
employed here. But it appears to me, that I should be in-
excusable in the light of a citizen, if I did not continue my
utmost efforts for carrying the plan of the black levies into
execution, while there remain the smallest hopes of suc-
cess.” — Works of Hamilton, vol. i. pp. 114, 115.
On the 14th of February, 1780, Col. Laurens
wrote to Washington from Charleston : —
“Private accounts say that General Prevost is left to
command at Savannah ; that his troops consist of the Hes-
sians and Loyalists that were there before, re-enforced by
a corps of blacks and a detachment of Savages. It is
generally reported that Sir Henry Clinton commands the
present expedition.” — Sparks's Correspondence of the
American Revolution, vol. ii. p. 402.
It should be borne in mind that Sir Henry Clinton
had several months previously issued a proclamation,
calling upon negroes to join his army, either as sol-
diers, or with full security to follow any occupation
within his lines which they thought proper. This
proclamation was first printed in New York, in Ri-
vington’s “Royal Gazette,” on the 3d of July, 1779.
It is here reprinted from that journal. The words in
Italics were added in the issue of August 25th,
with a note stating that they had, “through the
mistake of the printers, been hitherto omitted.”
PROCLAMATIONS OF BIRITISH OFFICERS. 175
“By his Excellency Sir HENRY CLINTON, K. B. General and
Commander-in-chief of all his Majesty's Forces within the
Colonies laying on the Atlantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia to
West-Florida, inclusive, &c., &c., &c.
PRO CLAMATION.
“Whereas the enemy have adopted a practice of enrol-
ling NEGROES among their Troops, I do hereby give notice
That all NEGROES taken in arms, or upon any military Duty,
shall be purchased for the public Service at a stated Price;
the money to be paid to the Captors.
“But I do most strictly forbid any Person to sell or claim
Right over any NEGROE, the property of a Rebel, who may
take Refuge with any part of this Army : And I do promise
to every NEGROE who shall desert the Rebel Standard, full
security to follow within these Lines, any Occupation which
he shall think proper.
“Given under my Hand, at Head-Quarters, PHILIPS-
BURGH, the 30th day of June, 1779.
“H. CLINTON.
“By his Excellency's command,
“JoHN SMITH, Secretary.”
Lord Cornwallis also issued a proclamation en-
couraging the slaves to join the British Army; but
it is well known that no regard for their welfare
prompted his action, and but little kindness was
shown by him to the slaves who deserted their
masters, or who were compelled to leave them. A
letter from Mr. Jefferson to Dr. Gordon, written
several years after the war was closed, contains a
passage which shows how that statesman regarded
the treatment of his own negroes. -
176 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Thomas
Jefferson
to Doctor
Gordon.
“Lord Cornwallis destroyed all my growing crops of corn
and tobacco; he burned all my barns, containing the same
articles of the last year, having first taken what corn he
wanted; he used, as was to be expected, all my stock of
cattle, sheep, and hogs, for the sustenance of his army, and
carried off all the horses capable of service; of those too
young for service he cut the throats; and he burned all
the fences on the plantation, so as to leave it an abso-
lute waste. He carried off also about thirty slaves. Had
this been to give them freedom, he would have done right ;
but it was to consign them to inevitable death from the
small-pox and putrid fever, then raging in his camp. This
I knew afterwards to be the fate of twenty-seven of them. I
never had news of the remaining three, but presume they
shared the same fate. When I say that Lord Cornwallis
did all this, I do not mean that he carried about the torch
in his own hands, but that it was all done under his eye;
the situation of the house, in which he was, commanding
a view of every part of the plantation, so that he must have
seen every fire. I relate these things on my own know-
ledge, in a great degree, as I was on the ground soon after
he left it. He treated the rest of the neighborhood some-
what in the same style, but not with that spirit of total
extermination with which he seemed to rage over my
possessions. Wherever he went, the dwelling-houses were
plundered of every thing which could be carried off. Lord
Cornwallis's character in England would forbid the belief
that he shared in the plunder; but that his table was served
with the plate thus pillaged from private houses, can be
proved by many hundred eye-witnesses. From an estimate
I made at that time, on the best information I could collect, I
supposed the State of Virginia lost, under Lord Cornwallis's
hand, that year, about thirty thousand slaves; and that, of
these, twenty-seven thousand died of the Small-poa, and camp-
ſever; and the rest were partly sent to the West Indies, and ex-
changed for rum, Sugar, coffee, and fruit; and partly sent to
GENERAL LINCOLN ON NEGRO ENLISTMENTS. 177
New York, from whence they went, at the peace, either to Nova
Scotia or to England. From this last place, I believe, they
have been lately sent to Africa. History will never relate
the horrors committed by the British Army in the Southern
States of America.” – Jefferson's Works, vol. ii. p. 426.
It is very evident from this statement, that the dis-
trust and fears on the part of the negroes, in regard to
the promises of the British officers, Dunmore, Clinton,
and Cornwallis, were well founded. In striking
contrast to their treatment of the slaves is the noble
sentiment of Jefferson, himself a severe sufferer from
the conduct of Cornwallis: “Had this been to give
them freedom, he would have done right.”
In the autumn of the year 1780, Colonel Laurens
was sent on an important mission to France. The
policy which he so warmly advocated in his own
State and in Georgia was not, however, neglected
during his absence.
General Lincoln repeatedly and earnestly implored
that the army in the South might be strengthened in
this, which seemed to be the only practicable way.
In a letter to Governor Rutledge, dated Charleston,
March 13, 1780, he says: —
“Give me leave to add once more, that I think the meas-
ure of raising the black corps a necessary one ; that I
have great reason to believe, if permission is given for it,
that many men would soon be obtained. I have repeatedly
urged this matter, not only because Congress have recom-
mended it, and because it thereby becomes my duty to
attempt to have it executed, but because my own mind
suggests the utility and importance of the measure, as the
General
Lincoln.
23
178 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
James
Madison.
General
Greene.
safety of the town makes it necessary.”— Manuscript
Letter.
Mr. Madison, in a letter to Joseph Jones, dated
Nov. 20, 1780, thus advocated the policy of freeing
and arming the negroes: —
“Yours of the 18th came yesterday. I am glad to find
the Legislature persist in their resolution to recruit their line
of the army for the war; though, without deciding on the
expediency of the mode under their consideration, would
it not be as well to liberate and make soldiers at once
of the blacks themselves, as to make them instruments
for enlisting white soldiers? It would certainly be more
consonant with the principles of liberty, which ought never
to be lost sight of in a contest for liberty: and, with white
officers and a majority of white soldiers, no imaginable
danger could be feared from themselves, as there certainly
could be none from the effect of the example on those who
should remain in bondage; experience having shown that
a freedman immediately loses all attachment and sympathy
with his former fellow-slaves.” – Madison Papers, p. 68.
On the 28th of February, 1781, General Greene,
who was then in North Carolina, wrote to Wash-
ington : —
“The enemy have ordered two regiments of negroes to
be immediately embodied, and are drafting a great propor-
tion of the young men of that State [South Carolina], to
serve during the war.” — Sparks's Correspondence of the
American Revolution, vol. iii. p. 246.
Colonel Laurens, some time after his return from
France, resumed his efforts to induce the slaveholders
of South Carolina and Georgia to allow their negroes
to enlist as soldiers in the Continental Army; and,
COLONEL LAURENS ON NEGRO ENLISTMENTS. 179
although he found that “truth and philosophy had
gained some ground,” he was compelled to say that
“the single voice of reason was drowned by the howl-
ings of a triple-headed monster, in which prejudice,
avarice, and pusillanimity were united.” Two letters,
written by him only a few months before he laid down
his life for his country in battle, contain further evi-
dence of his faithful efforts, and a sad account of the
manner in which his purposes were defeated. Both
of these letters were addressed to Washington. The
first was dated May 19, 1782.
“The plan which brought me to this country was urged Colonel
with all the zeal which the subject inspired, both in our kº
Privy Council and Assembly; but the single voice of reason “”
was drowned by the howlings of a triple-headed monster,
in which prejudice, avarice, and pusillanimity were united.
It was some degree of consolation to me, however, to per-
ceive that truth and philosophy had gained some ground;
the suffrages in favor of the measure being twice as
numerous as on a former occasion. Some hopes have been
lately given me from Georgia; but I fear, when the ques-
tion is put, we shall be outvoted there with as much dispar-
ity as we have been in this country.
“I earnestly desire to be where any active plans are
likely to be executed, and to be near your Excellency on
all occasions in which my services can be acceptable. The
pursuit of an object which, I confess, is a favorite one with
me, because I always regarded the interests of this country
and those of the Union as intimately connected with it, has
detached me more than once from your family; but those
sentiments of veneration and attachment with which your
Excellency has inspired me, keep me always near you,
180 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
1782.
Washing-
ton to
Colonel
Laurens
with the sincerest and most zealous wishes for a contin-
uance of your happiness and glory.”—Sparks's Correspond-
ence of the American Revolution, vol. iii. p. 506.
The last letter was dated June 12, 1782; and from
it we learn that his hope of accomplishing something
in this way clung to him to the last.
“The approaching session of the Georgia Legislature,
and the encouragement given me by Governor Howley,
who has a decisive influence in the counsels of that coun-
try, induce me to remain in this quarter for the purpose of
taking new measures on the subject of our black levies.
The arrival of Colonel Baylor, whose seniority entitles him
to the command of the light troops, affords me ample leisuré
for pursuing the business in person; and I shall do it with
all the tenacity of a man making a last effort on so interest-
ing an occasion.”— Sparks's Correspondence of the American
Revolution, vol. iii. p. 515.
Washington, however, seems to have lost all faith
in the patriotism of the men who continued to refuse
aid to their suffering country in the only practicable
way which had been suggested. He has seldom said
any thing so severe as the following words, in his
reply to the first of the above letters: —
“I must confess that I am not at all astonished at the
failure of your plan. That spirit of freedom, which, at
the commencement of this contest, would have gladly sac-
rificed every thing to the attainment of its object, has long
since subsided, and every selfish passion has taken its place.
It is not the public but private interest which influences
the generality of mankind; nor can the Americans any
longer boast an exception. Under these circumstances, it
would rather have been surprising if you had succeeded;
COLONEL HUMPHREY'S NEGRO COMPANY. 181
nor will you, I fear, have better success in Georgia.” —
Sparks's Washington, vol. viii. pp. 322, 323.
The friend and associate of Colonel Laurens, as a gºal
member of Washington's family, and a fellow-soldier phreys.
in more than one battle, Colonel David Humphreys,
gave the sanction of his name and the influence of
his popularity to the raising of colored troops in Con-
necticut.
“In November, 1782, he was, by resolution of Congress,
commissioned as a Lieutenant-Colonel, with order that his
commission should bear date from the 23d of June, 1780,
when he received his appointment as aid-de-camp to the
Commander-in-chief. He had, when in active service,
given the sanction of his name and influence in the estab-
lishment of a company of colored infantry, attached to
Meigs', afterwards Butler's, regiment, in the Connecticut
line. He continued to be the nominal captain of that
**
company until the establishment of peace.”—Biographical
Sketch in “The National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished
Americans.”
Lord Dunmore's efforts to secure the services of
negroes, at the commencement of the Revolutionary
War, are well known ; his proclamation, and the
action of the Virginia Convention upon it, having
been published at the time, and the matter having oc-
casioned much comment since. By the courtesy of
Mr. Bancroft, who has kindly put into my hands the
unpublished original manuscript of the following letter
and “sketch,” and also a copy of Lord Dunmore's
private letter to Sir Henry Clinton enclosing them, I
am now enabled to present the views of his Lordship
182 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Proposal
to Lord
Dunmore.
on the subject seven years later, and just before the
close of hostilities.
TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE EARL DUNMORE, &c.
“CHARLEs Town, 5th January, 1782.
“MY LORD,-- Since I had the honor of seeing your Lord-
ship, I have revolved in my mind the subject-matter of our
conversation; and the more I think, the more I am con-
vinced of the magnitude and national importance of the
object. It is long since I beheld the scheme in the most
favorable point of view, and often have I strenuously
recommended it. There were, at the time the thought first
seriously made an impression on my mind, some very power-
ful and uncontrovertible reasons; namely, the impossibility,
that I foresaw, of maintaining and supporting troops from
Europe, in the low parts of this country, during the sickly
season. The fall months have caused such mortality in
1780 at the outposts, that no country on earth, at such a
distance, could support the loss of men. Another reason
that operated on my mind, added to the eagerness I
observed in the generality of the people under my direc-
tion to have arms put into their hands on the incursions of
the enemy, even while we had troops at Camden, prevent-
ing the negroes from being of any service to Government
in planting and cultivating the land; what, with the proofs
they have given, on various occasions, of spirit and enter-
prise, left me no room to doubt that they might be employed
to the utmost advantage. While there was a ray of hope
left for believing that Lord Cornwallis had made his escape
with a small part of his army, I was easy and happy, con-
vinced that he would not have hesitated a moment in giving
freedom to men of all complexions that would faithfully
serve the King, and assist in crushing a most infernal
rebellion. And I cannot help thinking, my Lord, that there
is something peculiarly fortunate in your Lordship's arrival
here at this very critical moment; for next to Lord Corn-
SCHEME PROPOSED TO LORD DUNMORE. 183
wallis, who has the advantage of military rank in the
empire, there is none so able to form and execute So great
a design, nor in whom the King's friends have equal confi-
dence as in your Lordship. Unless some vigorous step is
taken, I humbly think it is more than probable that the
nation at large will insist on this American War being
relinquished. What can Administration say, what can they
promise themselves or the nation, by a prosecution of the
war in such hands? Nothing but ultimate ruin.
“If my Lord, this scheme is adopted, arranged, and ready
for being put in execution, the moment the troops pene-
trate into the country, after the arrival of the promised
re-enforcements, America is to be conquered with its own
force (I mean the Provincial troops and the black troops
to be raised), and the British and Hessian army could be
spared to attack the French where they are most vulnera-
ble. The nation would, by that means, be relieved from an
amazing burthen, – that of supporting the army at New
York, - what has been a sink of treasure, and a bed of
voluptuousness and dissipation. I say, my lord, if the
British and Hessian troops were ordered to leave the
country, only sending force sufficient to garrison Rhode
Island, that your Lordship and my friend Gov. Martin,
with the Provincial troops, the King's friends, and the new
levies, would soon possess the three Southern provinces,
in spite of all the force the rebels could assemble. 'Tis
notorious that more than two-thirds of North Carolina have
expressed an eager desire for the re-establishment of
British government. They have given striking proofs
of zeal, spirit, and enterprise; and under the direction of
those they love, and who would reward their merit, rebel-
lion would soon cease to exist on the south side of James
River. Pardon me, my Lord, for this tedious digression.
Such a variety of new matter crowds upon me, that I could
not help giving my thoughts a place.
“It may, and I dare say will, be said by Opposition,
Proposal to
, ord Dun-
II] OI’ (2.
184 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Proposal
to Lord
Dunmore.
‘What arm the slaves? We shudder at the very idea,
so repugnant to humanity, so barbarous and shocking to
human nature,’ &c. One very simple answer is, in my
mind, to be given: Whether is it better to make this vast
continent become an acquisition of power, strength, and
consequence to Great Britain again, or tamely give it up to
France, who will reap the fruits of American Independence,
to the utter ruin of Britain’ It may be said, ‘How can
you do such an injury to your friends?’ In the first place,
our friends in this province are not numerous whose pro-
perty consists in slaves. The friends of Britain in the
Southern provinces, in general, are the merchants; and
they have little property in slaves. And, in the second
place, I deny that we injure our friends by giving freedom
to those slaves that are proper for soldiers. 'T is only
changing one master for another; and let it be clearly
understood that they are to serve the King for ever, and
that those slaves who are not taken for his Majesty's ser-
vice are to remain on the plantation, and perform, as usual,
the labor of the field; and, so far from ruining the property,
I do aver, and experience will, I doubt not, justify the
assertion, that, by embodying the most hardy, intrepid, and
determined blacks, they would not only keep the rest in
good order, but, by being disciplined, and under command,
be prevented from raising cabals, tumults, and even rebel-
lion, what I think might be expected soon after a peace;
but so far from making even our lukewarm friends and
secret foes greater enemies by this measure, I will, by
taking their slaves, engage to make them better friends.
This, my lord, may appear enigmatical; but your Lordship's
experience of mankind in general, and of the people in this
country in particular, will do justice to my opinion, that if
the nation had, instead of lavishing her treasure, and open-
ing a very wide door for her servants to heap up wealth at
her expense, and feeding and supporting, by her gold that
circulates in the country, that very rebellion she wished to
SCHEME PROPOSED TO LORD DUNMORE. 185
crush; I say, my lord, that [had] she, instead of paying
money for all necessaries purchased for the use of the army,
granted receipts, bearing interest so long as the holders
remained loyal, and a promise to pay the principal at the
expiration of the rebellion, — our affairs would have been
in a very different situation to-day.
“I have, my lord, done myself the honor to enclose a
sketch of a plan for embodying ten thousand men; and I
would beg leave to suggest to your Lordship the propriety
of laying your plan before Col. Moncrief, and offering him
a brigade, with your lordship's interest to secure him the
rank of brigadier-general. I can assure you of a certainty,
that it will be by much the best channel in which it can be
placed ; and I would humbly recommend to your lordship
to make it known only to Moncrief, who, with yourself, is
fully equal to set it on its legs. I am afraid, my lord, that
I have wearied your patience. My motives I beg you may
believe to be most pure; and I have the honor to be, my
lord, your lordship's most obedient and most humble ser-
vant, “ J. CRUDEN.”
“CHARLEs Town, 5th January, 1782. Sketch of
“In the Province of South Carolina, ten thousand Black *
Troops may be raised, inured to fatigue and to the climate, *
without impoverishing the plantations so much that they
might not be able to produce crops equal to the mainte-
nance and support, not only of the women and children
that are left on the estates, but also sufficient to feed,
clothe, and pay the Black Troops.
“When these men are raised, there can be no doubt,
that, with the force here, they will be able to drive the
enemy from the Province, and open a large door for our
friends from North Carolina to join us, till such time as it
may be policy, and we may have a sufficient command of
the sea, to enter Virginia.
“When the country is again in our possession, with
proper and effectual support, I will engage to maintain and
24
186 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
clothe those Black Troops from the estates of the enemy;
and I will also engage to pay the interest of the receipts
granted to our friends, at the rate of eight per cent. And,
to convince the world that we never adopt any measure at
the expense of individuals, let three or more gentlemen
of the country — men of honor and probity—be appointed
to value the negroes that belong to our friends, and at the
rate they would have sold for in 1773, and Government
to be accountable for the amount at the expiration of the
war, paying interest at the customary rate, so long as
the parties concerned maintained their allegiance.
“That, for all negroes, the property of the enemy, the
adjutant-general to grant receipts to the commissioner of
sequestered estates, and returns made to him when they
are killed, or lost to the service, that others may be fur-
nished to supply their place.
“It is impossible to conceive or think what the effects
of such a measure would be. Striking at the root of all
property, and making the wealth and riches of the enemy
the means of bringing them to obedience, must bring the
most violent to their senses. Such a wonderful change
may it work, that I would not be suprised, that those now
most violent against us would be foremost in an application
for peace on our own terms.
“Property, all the world over, is dear to mankind; and
in this country they are as much wedded to it as in any
other; and, in the Southern Provinces, men are great in
proportion to the number of their slaves.
“I should think that one major-general, two brigadier-
generals, six lieutenant-colonels commandant, twelve ma-
jors and twelve adjutants, ninety-six captains, one hundred
and ninety-two lieutenants, with quartermasters, &c., &c.,
&c., would be equal to discipline and command ten thousand
TO GI).
“ J. CRUDEN.”
LORD DUNMORE ON NEGRO SOLDIERS. 187
EARL OF D'UNMORE TO SIR HENRY CLINTON.
“CHARLEs Town, Feb. 2, 1782.
“SIR, - I was in hopes of having the pleasure of deli-
vering the enclosed letters in person, but the fleet in which
I came out not proceeding to New York, being advised,
and thinking it unsafe to hazard a further voyage to the
northward, at this season of the year, with so large a
fleet.
“I should have sent you these letters by the “Rotter-
dam,” had I known she meant to go to New York, as I do
not know but they may be of importance. By one of them,
your Excellency will see that his Majesty wished I would
return to this country; we then thinking that we should
have found our affairs in Virginia in a very different state
from what they really are ; and for which, in my humble
opinion, there is now no remedy left, without adopting the
following plan, or something similar to it, which I humbly
submit to your serious consideration.
“I arrived here the 21st of December; and, having no
employment, I made it my business to converse with every
one that I thought capable of giving me any good informa-
tion of the real situation of this country : and every one
that I have conversed with think, and, I must own, my own
sentiments perfectly coincide with theirs, that the most
efficacious, expeditious, cheapest, and certain means of
reducing this country to a proper sense of their duty is in
employing the blacks, who are, in my opinion, not only better
fitted for service in this warm climate than white men, but
they are also better guides, may be got on much easier
terms, and are perfectly attached to our sovereign. And,
by employing them, you cannot devise a means more effec-
tual to distress your foes, not only by depriving them of
their property, but by depriving them of their labor. You
in reality deprive them of their existence; for, without
Lord Dun-
more to Sir
Henry
Clinton.
188 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
their labor, they cannot subsist: and, from my own know-
ledge of them, I am sure they are as soon disciplined as
any set of raw men that I know of.
“From my perfect belief of the above facts, I do most
earnestly wish your Excellency would adopt the measure
on some such footing as is here enclosed; and, as the
strongest proof of my good opinion of the measure, I am
most willing, provided you approve, and have no other
person you may think better qualified to put it in execu-
tion, to hazard my reputation and person in the execution
of it.
“What I would further propose is, that the officers of
the Provincials, who are swarming in the streets here,
perfectly idle, should be employed to command these men,
with the rank they now have.
“I would also propose, at first, to raise only ten thou-
sand Blacks, to give them white officers and non-commis-
sioned officers, but to fill up the vacancies of the non-
commissioned officers now and then with black people, as
their services should entitle them to it.
“In order to induce the negroes to enlist, I would pro-
pose to give each black man one guinea and a crown, with
a promise of freedom to all that should serve during the
continuance of the war; and, that they may be fully satis-
fied that this promise will be held inviolate, it must be
given by the officer appointed to command them, he being
empowered so to do, in the most ample manner, by your
Excellency. As there will no doubt be a great many men
come in that will be unfit for military service, I would pro-
pose employing them, with the women and children, under
proper managers, to cultivate any lands in our possession;
and I doubt not, with proper management, to raise sufficient
food for the maintenance of the black troops at least, and
perhaps enough to dispose of that would both pay and
clothe the whole. But should this plan fail, contrary to
my most sanguine wish and real opinion, the expense will
LORD DUNMORE ON NEGRO SOLDIERS. 189
be so trifling in trying the experiment, that it can never be
thought an object of the smallest consideration.
“In order to obviate the only objection that I see to this
plan (namely, that of employing slaves, the property of a
few friends that are with us here), I would propose that
they should be valued by three gentlemen of known skill
and probity, and that a receipt should be given them for
the value of such slaves; paying them six per cent. interest
upon it till the expiration of the war, or so long as the
holders' allegiance lasted: and, if that continues to the ex-
piration of the war, pay them the principal. And, indeed, I
would propose that no money should in future be given for
any thing taken from the inhabitants for the use of the
troops, but receipts granted on the same terms.
“Should this plan in general meet with your Excellen-
cy's approbation, there are many more ideas relative to it
that I will take another opportunity of communicating to
you.
“I have wrote fully to Lord George Germain on this
subject, and have sent him a copy of this letter; but I
hope, before we can hear from home, you will have had the
credit of adopting the plan.”
(Ea tract.)
EARL OF DUNMORE TO SECRETARY LORD GEORGE GERMAIN.
“CHARLEs Town, S. C., Feb. 5, 1782.
tº “Enclosed I send your Lordship a copy of
a letter I have wrote to Sir Henry Clinton, for employing
Negroes in this country.”
(Ea:tract.)
EARL OF DUNMORE TO SECRETARY LORD GEORGE GERMAIN.
“CHARLEs Town, S. C., March 30, 1782.
“Since writing to your Lordship of the 5th of February,
there has been a motion made in the Rebel Assembly of
this Province for raising a brigade of negroes, which was
190 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
General
Greene.
only negatived by a very few voices, and it’s supposed will
be re-assumed and carried on a future day; and we, by
neglecting to make a proper use of those people who are
much attached to us, shall have them, in a short time, em-
ployed against us. They are now carrying them up the
country as fast as they can find them. .
“As soon as this is closed, I shall set off for New York
in the ‘Carysfort.’”
One of the ablest, most experienced, and most suc-
cessful of the American generals, second only, in the
estimation of many, to the Commander-in-chief, -
General Nathaniel Greene,—in a letter to Washing-
ton, dated on the 24th of January, 1782, says: —
“I have recommended to this State to raise some black
regiments. To fill up the regiments with whites is imprac-
ticable, and to get re-enforcements from the northwards
precarious, and at least difficult, from the prejudices respect-
ing the climate. Some are for it; but the far greater part
of the people are opposed to it.”—Sparks's Correspondence
of the American Revolution, vol. iii. p. 467.
The letter of General Greene to Governor Rut-
ledge, of South Carolina, is printed below. The
opinion of such an officer, formed after the experi-
ment of employing Negro soldiers at the North had
been fully tried, and after a residence in the Southern
States had enabled him to consider the subject with
the advantage of an “acquaintance with the habits,
character, and feelings of that class of people,” is of
the highest importance.
“The natural strength of the country, in point of num-
bers, appears to me to consist much more in the blacks
GENERAL GREENE ON NEGRO SOLDIERS. 191
than in the whites. Could they be incorporated, and em-
ployed for its defence, it would afford you double security.
That they would make, good soldiers, I have not the least
doubt; and I am persuaded the State has it not in its power
to give sufficient re-enforcements, without incorporating
them, either to secure the country, if the enemy mean to
act vigorously upon an offensive plan, or furnish a force
sufficient to dispossess them of Charleston, should it be de-
fensive.
“The number of whites in this State is too small, and
the state of your finances too low, to attempt to raise a
force in any other way. Should the measure be adopted,
it may prove a good means of preventing the enemy from
further attempts upon this country, when they find they
have not only the whites, but the blacks also, to contend
with. And I believe it is generally agreed, that, if the
natural strength of this country could have been employed
in its defence, the enemy would have found it little less
than impracticable to have got footing here, much more to
have overrun the country, by which the inhabitants have
suffered infinitely greater loss than would have been suffi-
cient to have given you perfect security; and, I am per-
suaded, the incorporation of a part of the negroes would
rather tend to secure the fidelity of others, than excite dis-
content, mutiny, and desertion among them. The force I
would ask for this purpose, in addition to what we have,
and what may probably join us from the Northward or from
the militia of this State, would be four regiments, – two
upon the Continental, and two upon the State, establish-
ment ; a corps of pioneers and a corps of artificers, each to
consist of about eighty men. The two last may be either
on a temporary or permanent establishment, as may be
most agreeable to the State. The others should have their
freedom, and be clothed and treated, in all respects, as other
soldiers; without which they will be unfit for the duties
expected from them.” — Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. ii.
p. 274.
192 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
The author of “Sketches of the Life and Cor-
respondence of Gen. Greene,” himself a Southerner
and a resident of Charleston, thus comments on the
proposal to employ the negroes as soldiers: —
“Those who can enter into the feelings and opinions of
the citizens of those States which tolerate slavery will be
not a little startled at the proposition submitted to the
Governor and Council in this letter. A strong, deep-seated
feeling, nurtured from earliest infancy, decides, with in-
stinctive promptness, against a measure of so threatening
an aspect, and so offensive to that republican pride, which
disdains to commit the defence of the country to servile
hands, or share with a color to which the idea of inferiority
is inseparably connected the profession of arms, and that
approximation of condition which must exist between the
regular soldier and the militia-man.
“But the Governor and Council viewed the subject
under the influence of less feeling. It seems the proposi-
tion had formerly been under consideration in the State
Legislature; and, as the meeting of that board was now at
hand, it was resolved to submit it to their decision.
“There is a sovereign, who, at this time, draws his sol-
diery from the same class of people; and finds a facility in
forming and disciplining an army, which no other power
enjoys. Nor does his immense military force, formed from
that class of his subjects, excite the least apprehensions;
for the soldier's will is subdued to that of his officer, and
his improved condition takes away the habit of identifying
himself with the class from which he has been separated.
Military men know what mere machines men become under
discipline, and believe that any men, who may be made
obedient, may be made soldiers; and that increasing their
numbers increases the means of their own subjection and
government.
JUDGE JOHNSON ON NFC RO SOLDIETRS. 193
“It is now probable that the idea of forming a military §ºn
force by a draught from the slaves had been suggested to on negro
Gen. Greene by a recent acquaintance with the habits, soldiers.
character, and feelings of that class of people. It could
not escape his eye, that there was no sense of hostility
existing between the master and slave, but rather some-
thing of the clannish, or patriarchal, feelings known to
exist between the inhabitants of a village and their chief.
He had remarked the joy expressed by the slaves on their
deliverance from the tyranny of the enemy, and the return
of a protector in the person of their master; and it was
obvious, that if the State could give a slave for the services
of a man as a soldier for ten months, as had been the case
in raising some of its troops, it would be great gain to con-
vert the same slave into a soldier for the war, to be paid
only by his freedom, after having served with fidelity.
But the Legislature, when it met, thought the experiment
a dangerous one; and the project was relinquished. They
adopted, however, the alternative of raising soldiers on the
black population by giving a slave for a soldier. Parties
were sent to collect slaves from the plantations of the loy-
alists, and rendezvous established in vain in various places
in the interior country.”—Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. ii.
pp. 274, 275.
Propositions for peace were introduced in the Brit-
ish Parliament, and preliminary steps were taken
towards the cessation of hostilities, before the letters
from Lord Dunmore reached the Secretary, Lord
George Germain. But these letters, and those writ-
ten by Colonel Laurens and General Greene in the
last months of the Revolutionary War, are of histori-
cal importance. They contain the mature opinions
and the deliberate decision of the highest British
25
194 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
and American military authorities, in unequivocal
support of the policy of arming the negro slaves, and
employing them as soldiers.
The following letter, addressed to Brigadier-Gen-
eral Rufus Putnam, and afterwards printed, from his
papers, at Marietta, Ohio, shows the tender care
which the Commander-in-chief had for the rights of
the negro soldiers in the army: —
“HEAD QUARTERs, Feb. 2, 1783.
“SIR, - Mr. Hobby having claimed as his property a
negro man now serving in the Massachusetts Regiment,
you will please to order a court of inquiry, consisting of
five as respectable officers as can be found in your brigade,
to examine the validity of the claim, the manner in which
the person in question came into service, and the propriety
of his being discharged or retained in service. Having
inquired into the matter, with all the attending circum-
stances, they will report to you their opinion thereon ;
which you will report to me as soon as conveniently
may be.
‘I am, Sir, with great respect,
“Your most obedient servant,
“G. WASHINGTON.
“P.S. — All concerned should be notified to attend.
“Brig.-Gen. PUTNAM.”
Luther Martin, it will be remembered, in his ad-
dress to the Legislature of Maryland on the Federal
Constitution, deplored the growing laxity of public
sentiment on the subject of slavery. “When our
liberties were at stake,” he said, “we warmly felt for
the common rights of men. The danger being thought
to be past which threatened ourselves, we are daily
VIRGINIA FREES HER NEGRO SOLDIERS. 195
growing more insensible to those rights.” A sad
illustration of the truth of this declaration was found
in the conduct of some of the slaveholders, who, hav-
ing sent their negroes to the army with the promise
of personal liberty, at the close of the war attempted
to re-enslave them.
To the honor of Virginia, – who could then claim
Washington and Jefferson and Madison among her
living patriots, – this wrong to the negro soldiers
was not overlooked, nor permitted to continue. The
General Assembly of that State, in 1783, enacted the
following law:—
“An Act directing the Emancipation of certain Slaves who have served
as Soldiers in this State, and for the Emancipation of the Slave
Aberdeen.
“I. Whereas it hath been represented to the present Negro
General Assembly, that, during the course of the war, many *
persons in this State had caused their slaves to enlist in P".
certain regiments or corps raised within the same, having
tendered such slaves to the officers appointed to recruit
forces within the State, as substitutes for free persons
whose lot or duty it was to serve in such regiments or
corps, at the same time representing to such recruiting
officers that the slaves, so enlisted by their direction and
concurrence, were freemen ; and it appearing further to
this Assembly, that on the expiration of the term of enlist-
ment of such slaves, that the former owners have attempted
again to force them to return to a state of servitude, con-
trary to the principles of justice, and to their own solemn
promise;
“II. And whereas it appears just and reasonable, that
all persons enlisted as aforesaid, who have faithfully served
agreeable to the terms of their enlistment, and have thereby
196 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
Negro
soldiers
of course contributed towards the establishment of Ameri-
emanci can liberty and independence, should enjoy the blessings
pated.
of freedom as a reward for their toils and labors;
“Be it therefore enacted, That each and every slave who,
by the appointment and direction of his owner, hath enlist-
ed in any regiment or corps raised within this State, either
on Continental or State establishment, and hath been re-
ceived as a substitute for any free person whose duty or
lot it was to serve in such regiment or corps, and hath
served faithfully during the term of such enlistment, or
hath been discharged from such service by some officer
duly authorized to grant such discharge, shall, from and
after the passing of this act, be fully and completely eman-
cipated, and shall be held and deemed free, in as full and
ample a manner as if each and every of them were spe-
cially named in this act; and the Attorney-general for the
Commonwealth is hereby required to commence an action,
in formá pauperis, in behalf of any of the persons above
described who shall, after the passing of this act, be de-
tained in servitude by any person whatsoever; and if, upon
such prosecution, it shall appear that the pauper is entitled
to his freedom in consequence of this act, a jury shall be
empanelled to assess the damages for his detention.
“III. And whereas it has been represented to this Gen-
eral Assembly, that Aberdeen, a negro man slave, hath
labored a number of years in the public service at the lead
mines, and for his meritorious services is entitled to freedom;
Be it therefore enacted, That the said slave Aberdeen shall
be, and he is hereby, emancipated and declared free in as
full and ample a manner as if he had been born free.” —
Hening's Statutes at Large of Virginia, vol. xi. pp. 308, 309.
Three years after the close of the war, in October,
1786, the following special act was passed, by the
General Assembly of Virginia, for the liberation of
a faithful slave who had rendered valuable service
to General Lafayette : —
VIPGINIA FREES A PATRIOTIC SLAVE. 197
“An Act to emancipate JAMES, a Negro Slave, the property of
William Armistead, Gentleman.
“I. Whereas it is represented that James, a negro A slave's
slave, the property of William Armistead, gentleman, of the i.”
county of New Kent, did, with the permission of his master, ; º;
in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, W**
enter into the service of the Marquis la Fayette, and at the
peril of his life found means to frequent the British camp,
and thereby faithfully executed important commissions en-
trusted to him by the Marquis; and the said James hath
made application to this Assembly to set him free, and
to make his said master adequate compensation for his
value, which it is judged reasonable and right to do ;
“ II. Be it therefore enacted, That the said James
shall, from and after the passing of this act, enjoy as full
freedom as if he had been born free; any law to the contrary
thereof notwithstanding.
“III. And be it further enacted, That the Executive
shall, as soon as may be, appoint a proper person, and the
said William Armistead another, who shall ascertain and
fix the value of the said James, and to certify such valuation
to the Auditor of Accounts, who shall issue his warrant
to the Treasurer for the same, to be paid out of the general
fund.”— Hening's Statutes at Large of Virginia, vol. xii.
pp. 380, 381.
With two or three later authoritative testimonies,
showing that it was a general practice among the
Founders of the Tepublic to employ negroes, both
slaves and freemen, as soldiers regularly enrolled in
the army, I bring to a close this paper, which has
already much exceeded the limits of my original
plan.
The Hon. William Eustis, who served throughout
198 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
William
Eustis.
the war of the Revolution as a surgeon, and was
afterwards Governor of Massachusetts, in a speech
in the United-States House of Representatives, De-
cember 12, 1820, said: —
“At the commencement of the Revolutionary War, there
were found, in the Middle and Northern States, many
blacks, and other people of color, capable of bearing arms;
a part of them free, the greater part slaves. The freemen
entered our ranks with the whites. The time of those who
were slaves was purchased by the States; and they were
induced to enter the service in consequence of a law, by
which, on condition of their serving in the ranks during
the war, they were made freemen. In Rhode Island, where
their numbers were more considerable, they were formed,
under the same considerations, into a regiment commanded
by white officers; and it is required, in justice to them, to
add, that they discharged their duty with zeal and fidelity.
The gallant defence of Red Bank, in which this black regi-
ment bore a part, is among the proofs of their valor.
“Among the traits which distinguished this regiment
was their devotion to their officers: when their brave Col.
Greene was afterwards cut down and mortally wounded,
the sabres of the enemy reached his body only through the
limbs of his faithful guard of blacks, who hovered over
him and protected him, every one of whom was killed, and
whom he was not ashamed to call his children. The ser-
vices of this description of men in the navy are also well
known. I should not have mentioned either, but for the
information of the gentleman from Delaware, whom I
understood to say that he did not know that they had
served in any considerable numbers.
“The war over, and peace restored, these men returned
to their respective States; and who could have said to
them, on their return to civil life, after having shed their
blood in common with the whites in the defence of the
RECENT TESTIMONIES ON NEGRO SOLDIERS. 199
liberties of the country, ‘You are not to participate in the
rights secured by the struggle, or in the liberty for which
you have been fighting” Certainly no white man in Mas-
sachusetts.” – Annals of Congress. Sixteenth Congress,
Second Session, p. 636.
The Hon. Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina,
in a previous part of the same debate, said: —
. . . “It is a most remarkable fact, that notwithstanding, Charles
in the course of the Revolution, the Southern States were
continually overrun by the British, and that every negro in
them had an opportunity of leaving their owners, few did;
proving thereby not only a most remarkable attachment to
their owners, but the mildness of the treatment, from whence
their affection sprang. They then were, as they still are,
as valuable a part of our population to the Union as any
other equal number of inhabitants. They were in numer-
ous instances the pioneers, and, in all, the laborers, of your
armies. To their hands were owing the erection of the
greatest part of the fortifications raised for the protection
of our country; some of which, particularly Fort Moultrie,
gave, at that early period of the inexperience and untried
valor of our citizens, immortality to American arms: and,
in the Northern States, numerous bodies of them were
enrolled into and fought, by the sides of the whites, the
battles of the Revolution.”—Annals of Congress. Sixteenth
Congress, First Session, p. 1312.
That large numbers of negroes were enrolled in
the army, and served faithfully as soldiers during the
whole period of the War of the Revolution, may be
regarded as a well-established historical fact. And it
should be borne in mind, that the enlistment was not
confined, by any means, to those who had before
Pinckney.
200 HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
enjoyed the privileges of free citizens. Very many
slaves were offered to, and received by, the army, on
the condition that they were to be emancipated, either
at the time of enlisting, or when they had served
out the term of their enlistment. The inconsistency
of keeping in slavery any person who had taken up
arms for the defence of our national liberty, had led
to the passing of an order, forbidding “slaves,” as
such, to be received as soldiers.
The documents which I have cited will give a
general idea of the opinions and the practice of the
leading patriots in the civil and military service of
the country, at the time of the Revolution, on the
employment of negroes as soldiers. Much more doc-
umentary evidence, of a similar character, might be
adduced from the mass of materials which I have
gathered in pursuing this inquiry; but I have, I
trust, selected enough to fairly illustrate the subject.
If what I have done, or what I have left undone,
shall stimulate others to a more thorough investiga-
tion, my labor will not have been lost.
A P P E N D I X.
26
A P P E N ID I X.
(A.)
NEGROES IN THE NAVY.
THE suggestion made by Mr. Everett at the meeting of
the Massachusetts Historical Society when this paper
was read, in regard to the history of the employment
of negroes in our navy, is worthy of a more careful
consideration than the limits of this paper would
allow. But I am happy to be able to present the
testimony, on this subject, of one of our Honorary
Members, Usher Parsons, M.D., whose character and
experience give authority to his statements.
“PROVIDENCE, October 18, 1862.
“MY DEAR SIR,- In reply to your inquiries about the
employing of blacks in our navy in the war of 1812, and
particularly in the battle of Lake Erie, I refer you to docu-
ments in Mackenzie’s ‘Life of Commodore Perry,’ vol. i.
pp. 166 and 187.
“In 1814, our fleet sailed to the Upper Lakes to co-ope-
rate with Colonel Croghan at Mackinac. About one in ten
or twelve of the crews were blacks.
“In 1816, I was surgeon of the ‘Java,’ under Commo-
dore Perry. The white and colored seamen messed
together. About one in six or eight were colored.
204 APPENDIX.
“In 1819, I was surgeon of the ‘Guerrière, under Com-
modore Macdonough; and the proportion of blacks was
about the same in her crew. There seemed to be an entire
absence of prejudice against the blacks as messmates
among the crew. What I have said applies to the crews
of the other ships that sailed in squadrons.
“Yours very respectfully,
“USHER PARSONS.
“GEORGE LIVERMORE, Esq.”
The documents referred to by Dr. Parsons are two
letters, – the first written to Commodore Chauncey, in
the summer of 1813, by Captain (afterwards Commo-
dore) Perry, expressing dissatisfaction with the ap-
pearance of the men who had been sent to him for his
squadron on Lake Erie before his famous battle.
“SIR, -I have this moment received, by express, the
enclosed letter from General Harrison. If I had officers
and men, – and I have no doubt you will send them, - I
could fight the enemy, and proceed up the lake; but, hav-
ing no one to command the ‘Niagara,’ and only one com-
missioned lieutenant and two acting lieutenants, whatever
my wishes may be, going out is out of the question. The
men that came by Mr. Champlin are a motley set, —
blacks, soldiers, and boys. I cannot think you saw them
after they were selected. I am, however, pleased to see
any thing in the shape of a man.” — Mackenzie's Life of
Perry, vol. i. pp. 165, 166.
This letter called forth from Commodore Chauncey
the following sharp reply: —
“SIR,--I have been duly honored with your letters of
the twenty-third and twenty-sixth ultimo, and notice your
anxiety for men and officers. I am equally anxious to fur-
APPENDIX. 205
nish you; and no time shall be lost in sending officers and
men to you as soon as the public service will allow me to
send them from this lake. I regret that you are not pleased
with the men sent you by Messrs. Champlin and Forrest;
for, to my knowledge, a part of them are not surpassed by
any seamen we have in the fleet: and I have yet to learn
that the color of the skin, or the cut and trimmings of the
coat, can affect a man's qualifications or usefulness. I have
nearly fifty blacks on board of this ship, and many of them
are among my best men; and those people you call soldiers
have been to sea from two to seventeen years; and I
presume that you will find them as good and useful as any
men on board of your vessel; at least, if I can judge by
comparison; for those which we have on board of this ship
are attentive and obedient, and, as far as I can judge,
many of them excellent seamen : at any rate, the men sent
to Lake Erie have been selected with a view of sending a
fair proportion of petty officers and seamen; and I pre-
Sume, upon examination, it will be found that they are
equal to those upon this lake.” — Mackenzie's Life of Perry,
vol. i. pp. 186, 187.
Perry found the negroes to be indeed all that Com-
modore Chauncey had represented them; and he did
not hesitate afterwards to speak favorably of their
services : —
“Perry speaks highly of the bravery and good conduct
of the negroes, who formed a considerable part of his crew.
They seemed to be absolutely insensible to danger. When
Captain Barclay came on board the ‘Niagara,’ and beheld
the sickly and party-colored beings around him, an expres-
sion of chagrin escaped him at having been conquered by
such men. The fresh-water service had very much im-
paired the health of the sailors, and crowded the sick list
with patients.”—Analectic Magazine, vol. iii. p. 255.
206 AIPPENDIX.
To the same effect is the testimony of the following
“Eatract of a Letter from Nathaniel Shaler, Commander of the
private-armed Schooner Gov. Tompkins, to his Agent in New York,
dated—
“AT SEA, Jan. 1, 1813.
“Before I could get our light sails in, and almost before
I could turn round, I was under the guns, not of a trans-
port, but of a large frigate 1 and not more than a quarter of
a mile from her. . . . . . Her first broadside killed
two men, and wounded six others. . . . . . My offi-
cers conducted themselves in a way that would have done
honor to a more permanent service. . . . . . The
name of one of my poor fellows who was killed ought
to be registered in the book of fame, and remembered
with reverence as long as bravery is considered a virtue.
He was a black man, by the name of John Johnson. A
twenty-four-pound shot struck him in the hip, and took
away all the lower part of his body. In this state, the poor
brave fellow lay on the deck, and several times exclaimed
to his shipmates, ‘Fire away, my boy: no haul a color down.”
The other was also a black man, by the name of John Davis,
and was struck in much the same way. He fell near me,
and several times requested to be thrown overboard, saying
he was only in the way of others.
“When America has such tars, she has little to fear from
the tyrants of the ocean.”— Niles's Weekly Register, Satur-
day, Feb. 26, 1814.
(B.)
At the August meeting of the Massachusetts His-
torical Society, an interesting memorial of the last
century was displayed. It was a silk flag, bearing the
device of a Pine-tree and a Buck, with the initials
APPENDIX. 207
“J. H.” and “G. W.” over a scroll, on which ap-
pear the words, “The Bucks of America.” This
relic had been carefully preserved as the flag pre-
sented by Governor Hancock to a company of colored
soldiers bearing that name. It now belongs to
Mr. William C. Nell, of Boston. Mr. Nell is the
author of a volume entitled “The Colored Patriots
of the American Revolution, with Sketches of several
Distinguished Colored Persons;
a great number of interesting anecdotes on the sub-
ject. It was published in 1855, and is now out of
print; but a new edition, considerably enlarged, is,
2
a book that contains
I am happy to hear, soon to be issued.
(C.)
NEGRO REGIMENTS IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
That the services of negroes, as soldiers, were
solicited and welcomed by the civil and military au-
thorities in various parts of the United States, during
the war of 1812 with Great Britain, is too well known
to need any illustration. It may not, however, be out
of place here to reprint an act of the Legislature of
the State of New York.
“An Act to authorize the raising of Two Regiments of Men of Color;
passed Oct. 24, 1814.
“SECT. 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of
New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, That the
208 APPENDIX.
Governor of the State be, and he is hereby, authorized to
raise, by voluntary enlistment, two regiments of free men
of color, for the defence of the State for three years, un-
less sooner discharged.
“SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That each of the
said regiments shall consist of one thousand and eighty
able-bodied men; and the said regiments shall be formed
into a brigade, or be organized in such manner, and shall
be employed in such service, as the Governor of the State
of New York shall deem best adapted to defend the said
State.
“SECT. 3. And be it further enacted, That all the com-
missioned officers of the said regiments and brigade shall
be white men; and the Governor of the State of New
York shall be, and he is hereby, authorized to commission,
by brevet, all the officers of the said regiments and brigade,
who shall hold their respective commissions until the
council of appointment shall have appointed the officers of
the said regiments and brigade, in pursuance of the Consti-
tution and laws of the said State. -
“SECT. 4. And be it further enacted, That the commis-
sioned officers of the said regiments and brigade shall
receive the same pay, rations, forage, and allowances, as
officers of the same grade in the army of the United States;
and the non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates
of the said regiments shall receive the same pay, rations,
clothing, and allowances, as the non-commissioned officers,
musicians, and privates of the army of the United States;
and the sum of twenty-five dollars shall be paid to each of
the said non-commissioned officers, musicians, and pri-
vates, at the time of enlistment, in lieu of all other
bounty.
“SECT. 5. And be it further enacted, That the troops to
be raised as aforesaid may be transferred into the service
of the United States, if the Government of the United
States shall agree to pay and subsist them, and to refund
º
APPENDIX. 209
to this State the moneys expended by this State in clothing
and arming them ; and, until such transfer shall be made,
may be ordered into the service of the United States in
lieu of an equal number of militia, whenever the militia of
the State of New York shall be ordered into the service
of the United States.
“SECT. 6. And be it further enacted, That it shall be
lawful for any able-bodied slave, with the written assent of
his master or mistress, to enlist into the said corps; and
the master or mistress of such slave shall be entitled to the
pay and bounty allowed him for his service: and, further,
that the said slave, at the time of receiving his discharge,
shall be deemed and adjudged to have been legally manu-
mitted from that time, and his said master or mistress shall
not thenceforward be liable for his maintenance.
“SECT. 7. And be it further enacted, that every such
enrolled person, who shall have become free by manumis-
sion or otherwise, if he shall thereafter become indigent,
shall be deemed to be settled in the town in which the
person who manumitted him was settled at the time of
such manumission, or in such other town where he shall
have gained a settlement subsequent to his discharge from
the said service ; and the former owner or owners of such
manumitted person, and his legal representatives, shall be
exonerated from his maintenance, any law to the contrary
hereof notwithstanding.
“SECT. 8. And be it further enacted, That, when the
troops to be raised as aforesaid shall be in the service of
the United States, they shall be subject to the rules and
articles which have been or may be hereafter established
by the By-laws of the United States for the government of
the army of the United States; that, when the said troops
shall be in the service of the State of New York, they
shall be subject to the same rules and regulations: And
the Governor of the said State shall be, and he is hereby,
authorized and directed to exercise all the power and au-
27
210 APPENDIX.
thority which, by the said rules and articles, are required
to be exercised by the President of the United States.”—
Laws of the State of New York, passed at the Thirty-eighth
Session of the Legislature, chap. xviii.
(D.)
GENERAL JACKSON'S PROCLAMATION TO THE NEGROES.
HEADQUARTERs, SEVENTH MILITARY DISTRICT,
MOBILE, September 21, 1814.
To the Free Colored Inhabitants of Louisiana.
Through a mistaken policy, you have heretofore been
deprived of a participation in the glorious struggle for na-
tional rights in which our country is engaged. This no
longer shall exist.
As sons of freedom, you are now called upon to defend
Our most inestimable blessing. As Americans, your country
looks with confidence to her adopted children for a valorous
support, as a faithful return for the advantages enjoyed
under her mild and equitable government. As fathers,
husbands, and brothers, you are summoned to rally around
the standard of the Eagle, to defend all which is dear in
existence.
Your country, although calling for your exertions, does
not wish you to engage in her cause without amply remuner.
ating you for the services rendered. Your intelligent minds
are not to be led away by false representations. Your love
of honor would cause you to despise the man who should
attempt to deceive you. In the sincerity of a soldier and
the language of truth I address you.
To every noble-hearted, generous freeman of color volun-
teering to serve during the present contest with Great
Britain, and no longer, there will be paid the same bounty,
APPENDIX. 211
in money and lands, now received by the white soldiers of
the United States, viz. one hundred and twenty-four dollars
in money, and one hundred and sixty acres of land. The
non-commissioned officers and privates will also be entitled
to the same monthly pay, and daily rations, and clothes,
furnished to any American soldier.
On enrolling yourselves in companies, the Major-General
Commanding will select officers for your government from
your white fellow-citizens. Your non-commissioned officers
will be appointed from among yourselves.
Due regard will be paid to the feelings of freemen and
soldiers. You will not, by being associated with white men
in the same corps, be exposed to improper comparisons or
unjust sarcasm. As a distinct, independent battalion or
regiment, pursuing the path of glory, you will, undivided
receive the applause and gratitude of your countrymen. º
To assure you of the sincerity of my intentions, and my
anxiety to engage your invaluable services to our country,
I have communicated my wishes to the Governor of Lou-
isiana, who is fully informed as to the manner of enrolment,
and will give you every necessary information on the subject
of this address.
ANDREW JACKSON, Major-General Commanding.
(Niles's Register, vol. vii. p. 205.)
Three months after his proclamation was issued, on
Sunday, the 18th of December, 1814, General Jack-
son reviewed the troops, white and colored, in New
Orleans. “At the close of the review, Edward Living-
ston [one of his aids] advanced from the group that
surrounded the General, and read in fine, Sonorous
tones, and with an energy and emphasis worthy of the
impassioned words he spoke, that famous address to
the troops which contributed so powerfully to enhance
their enthusiasm, and of which the survivors to this
212 APPENDIX.
hour have the most vivid recollection. This address,
like that previously quoted, was Jackson's spirit in
Livingston's language.” – Parton's Life of Jackson,
vol. ii. pp. 63, 64.
The following is a portion of the address: —
“TO THE EMBODIED MILITIA. — Fellow Citizens and Sol-
diers : The General commanding in chief would not do
justice to the noble ardor that has animated you in the
hour of danger, he would not do justice to his own feeling,
if he suffered the example you have shown to pass with-
out public notice. . . . . .
“Fellow - citizens, of every description, remember for
what and against whom you contend. For all that can
render life desirable — for a country blessed with every
gift of nature — for property, for life — for those dearer
than either, your wives and children — and for liberty,
without which, country, life, property, are no longer worth
possessing; as even the embraces of wives and children
become a reproach to the wretch who could deprive them
by his cowardice of those invaluable blessings.
“To THE MEN OF COLOR. — Soldiers | From the shores
of Mobile I collected you to arms, – I invited you to share
in the perils and to divide the glory of your white country-
men. I expected much from you; for I was not uninformed
of those qualities which must render you so formidable to
an invading foe. I knew that you could endure hunger
and thirst, and all the hardships of war. I knew that you
loved the land of your nativity, and that, like ourselves,
you had to defend all that is most dear to man. But you
surpass my hopes. I have found in you, united to these
qualities, that noble enthusiasm which impels to great
deeds.
APPENDIX. 213
“Soldiers | The President of the United States shall be
informed of your conduct on the present occasion; and the
voice of the Representatives of the American nation shall
applaud your valor, as your General now praises your
ardor. The enemy is near. His sails cover the lakes.
But the brave are united; and, if he finds us contending
among ourselves, it will be for the prize of valor, and fame
its noblest reward.” — Niles's Register, vol. vii. pp. 345, 346.
(E.)
The Hon. Charles B. Sedgwick, a member of Con-
gress from the State of New York, read in the
House of Representatives, during the last session,
the following paper on the use of negro soldiers
in other countries. It is understood to have been
prepared by one of the librarians of the State Library
at Albany.
NEGRO SOLDIERS UNDER MONARCHICAL GOVERNMENTS.
“The monarchical governments of Europe and America,
those that tolerate slavery and those that do not, alike
agree in employing negroes armed for the public defence.
They find that the burdens of war, and the sacrifice of life
it occasions, are too great to be borne by the white race
alone. They call upon the colored races, therefore, to
share in the burden, and to encounter, in common with the
whites, the risks of loss of life.
“Thus we find, that in the Spanish colony of Cuba, with
a population one-half slaves and one-sixth colored, a militia
of free blacks and mulattoes was directed by Gen. Pezuela
(Governor-General) to be organized in 1854 throughout
214 APPENDIX.
the island; and it was put upon an equal footing, with
regard to privilege, with the regular army. This measure
was not rescinded by Governor-General Concha in 1855;
but the black and mulatto troops have been made a perma-
nent corps of the Spanish army. (Condensed in the very
phrases of Thrasher's preface to his edition of Humboldt's
Cuba.)
“In the Portuguese colonies on the coast of Africa, the
regiments are chiefly composed of black men. At Prince's
Island, the garrison consists of a company of regular artil-
lery of eighty, and a regiment of black militia of ten
hundred and fifty-eight, rank and file, of which the colonel
is a white man. At St. Thomas's, there are two regiments
of black militia. In Loando, the Portuguese can, on an
emergency of war with the natives, bring into the field
twenty-five thousand partially civilized blacks, armed with
muskets. Successful expeditions have actually been made
with five thousand of them, accompanied with three or four
hundred white soldiers. (From Valdez's Six Years on the
West Coast of Africa. London: 1861. Two vols. 8vo.) .
“In the Dutch colony of the Gold Coast of Africa, with
a population of one hundred thousand, the garrison of the
fortress consists of two hundred soldiers (whites, mulattoes,
and blacks), under a Dutch colonel.
“In the capital of the French colony of Senegal, on the
same coast, at St. Louis, the defence of the place is in
the hands of eight hundred white and three hundred black
soldiers. (The preceding facts are also from Valdez.)
“In the Danish island of St. Croix, in the West Indies,
for more than twenty-five years past, there have been
employed two corps of colored soldiers, in the presence of
slaves. (From Tuckerman's Santa Cruz.)
“In Brazil, notwithstanding its three million slaves, its
monarchical government employs all colors and races in the
military service, either by enlistment or forcible seizure.
The police of the city of Rio de Janeiro is a military
APPENDIX. 215
organization, composed mostly of colored men, drilled and
commanded by army officers. The navy is principally
manned by civilized aborigines. (Hidder: Ewbank.)
“The course pursued by the British Government in
Jamaica, Sierra Leone, and Hindostan, is so notorious, as
simply to need to be mentioned.
“In Turkey, no distinction of color or race is made in
the ranks of the regular army. Distinction is made, how-
ever, on the ground of difference of faith. The army is
composed of Mahomedans. Christians and Jews are never
recruited. The result is one which the government of
Turkey to-day contemplates with alarm. For the last two
hundred years, having been frequently engaged in war,
her Mahomedan population has been greatly reduced there-
by ; while her Christian population, at one time greatly
inferior in numbers, has now, by peace, so extraordinarily
increased, as to bid fair soon to divide the empire. And she
dare not now, in her strength, arm them as her soldiers as
conscripts, notwithstanding her desire to do it.”
PRINTED BY JOIIN WILSON AND SON, BosTON.
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE AND INDEX,
To be added to the First Edition of
“A N H IS TO RIC A. L. R. E S E A R C H
BY GEORGE LIVERMORE.”
The following pages are to be placed at the end of
the copies of the First Edition.
SUPPLE MENT A R Y NOT E.
AFTER most of the copies of this first edition had
been sent out, several alterations and additions were
suggested to the author, some of which were adopted
when the “Research " was afterwards reprinted in the
“Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society”
for 1862–63, and also when later a third edition of it
was issued by the New-England Loyal Publication So-
ciety. The modifications were as follows: —
1. The extract from the “Message" of Jefferson Davis
was reprinted in those later editions from the “National
Intelligencer” of 7 May, 1861, where it purports to be
printed in an authentic form. In this first edition,
the passage stands (page 4) as taken at second hand
from the “New-Orleans Picayune " of an earlier date,
and contains some verbal inaccuracies. Of these, how-
ever, only two affect the sense, viz. (line 6), “fifteen" for
“thirteen,” and (line 28) “who were not only in want,”
for “who were inhibited not only by want.”
2. The first paragraph on Dr. Franklin's opinions
(pp. 44, 45) was modified by the omission of the first
sentence as containing a statement not quite correct.
But it becomes perfectly correct, if for “never" is
28
218 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE.
substituted “almost never,” or “scarcely ever,” alluding
to a very brief portion of his early life in Philadelphia.
3. In speaking of the practice of receiving free ne-
groes as soldiers at the commencement of the Revolution
(p. 124), it is not quite correct to state so broadly that
they were “ enrolled in the militia.” The word “mili-
tia” was here inadvertently used as synonymous with
“army.” The language of the paragraph was therefore
So altered as to read, “At the commencement of the war
not only were free negroes received into the army, but,
in many instances, slaves also stood in the ranks with
freemen.”
4. The sentence (p. 159) affirming the exemption, in
1656, of “Scotchmen,” as well as “negroes,” from train-
ing in Massachusetts, was omitted; and for the last five
lines of the paragraph was substituted the following
sentences : “In 1656, the law was so altered as to
exempt “negroes and Indians’; but again, in 1660, a
new law required “every person above the age of sixteen
years’ to train, except certain classes of persons specified,
and ‘except one servant of every magistrate and teaching
elder, and the sons and servants of the Major-General
for the time being.' Those who are curious in tracing
the early legislation on the subject will notice the con-
tinuance of this vacillation into the next century.”
5. The extract from Mr. Sabine's “American Loyal-
ists” (pp. 164–167) was reprinted from the author's copy,
as corrected for a second edition of that work. The
only important alteration in this extract is the substitu-
tion of “other States” for “New England” in the pas-
sage (p. 165) relating to the number of soldiers sent to
the aid of South Carolina.
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE. 219
6. Only one important addition was made, being the
following account of Mr. Jay's opinions on slavery, in-
serted after the extract from Mr. Jefferson’s “Autobio-
graphy,” (p. 60.)
“The opinions on slavery of that pure patriot and able
statesman, John Jay, the first Chief-Justice of the United-
States Supreme Court, appointed by Washington (who so
highly appreciated his character and talents, that he tendered
him a choice of the offices in his gift), are so well known,
that it is not important to cite here any extended extracts
from his writings on the subject. Two or three passages from
his printed works and his manuscripts will be quite sufficient
for my present purpose.
“In 1777, Mr. Jay strenuously urged the insertion of an
article in the Constitution of the State of New York, adopted
in that year, providing for the early abolition of slavery; ‘so
that, in future ages, every human being who breathes the air
of this State shall enjoy the privileges of a freeman.”—Flam-
ders' Lives and Times of the Chief Justices, p. 216.
“In 1780, writing from Spain to Egbert Benson, the Attor-
ney-general of New York, Mr. Jay said: — .
“‘An excellent law might be made out of the Pennsylvania one
for the gradual abolition of slavery. Till America comes into this
measure, her prayers to Heaven for liberty will be impious. This is
a strong expression, but it is just. Were I in your Legislature, I would
prepare a bill for the purpose with great care ; and I would never cease
moving it till it became a law, or I ceased to be a member. I believe
God governs the world; and I believe it to be a maxim in his as in
our court, that those who ask for equity ought to do it.’” — Life and
Writings of John Jay, vol. i. 229, 230.
“In 1785, Mr. Jay wrote: —
“‘It is much to be wished that slavery may be abolished. The
honor of the States, as well as justice and humanity, in my opinion,
loudly call upon them to emancipate these unhappy people. To con-
§
220 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE.
tend for our own liberty, and to deny that blessing to others, involves
& Ll inconsistency not to be excused.’” — Idem, vol. i. p. 231.
“In 1786, Mr. Jay drafted a memorial to the Legislature of
the State of New York, which commenced with the declara-
tion : —
“‘Your memorialists, being deeply affected by the situation of
those who, although free by the laws of God, are held in slavery by
the laws of this State, view with pain and regret the additional mise-
ries which these unhappy people experience from the practice of
exporting them, like cattle, to the West Indies and the Southern
States.”
“This memorial was signed by John Jay; Alexander Ha-
milton; Robert R. Livingston, Chancellor of the State; James
Duane, Mayor of the City of New York; and one hundred
and twenty-nine others, including many eminent civilians and
clergymen. The Constitution of the Manumission Society,
from which this memorial proceeded, declared it to be the
duty of Christians to endeavor to enable the slaves “to share
equally with us in our civil and religious liberty, to which
they are by nature as much entitled as ourselves.’
“As President of the New-York Manumission Society (an
office held by Mr. Jay until his appointment as Chief Justice,
when he resigned it, and Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of
the Treasury, was elected in his place), he drafted a public
acknowledgment of an anonymous gift to the treasury of the
Society, from which the following is an extract : —
“‘What act of public or private justice and philanthropy can
occasion more pleasing emotions in the breasts of Christians, or be
more agreeable to HIM who shed his blood for the redemption of men,
than such as tend to restore the oppressed to their natural rights, and
to raise unfortunate members of the same great family with ourselves
from the abject situation of beasts of burthen, bought and sold and
worked for the benefit and at the pleasure of persons who were not
created more free, more rational, more immortal, nor with more
extensive rights and privileges, than they were P’” — From the original
MS. in the Jay Collection at Bedford, N.Y.
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE. 221
“The candid reader cannot fail to contrast these sentiments
of the first Chief-Justice with the assertion of his latest suc-
cessor, Chief-Justice Taney, that, at the time the Constitution
of the United States was formed, the opinion was ‘faced and
wniversal in the civilized portion of the white race,’ that the
negro ‘had no rights which the white man was bound to re-
spect.’”
Since this first edition was printed, my attention has
been directed to numerous facts and documents illus-
trating the subject, which I have not used. Many
of these ought to be published. It was at one time
my purpose to incorporate them in the second edi-
tion ; but I found that by so doing I should swell the
“Research " considerably beyond the customary limits
allotted by the Historical Society to papers published
in their “Proceedings.” I have therefore reserved them
for some possible future use. If the requisite leisure
can be gained from pressing duties, perhaps these new
materials may hereafter be combined with those pre-
sented already, in preparing a more elaborate and
complete history of the subject.
The following brief mention, however, of some of
the more important of these omitted documents, was
added to the “Appendix,” as a new article (F), in the
third edition of the “Research.”
“I. A despatch from Lord Dunmore to ‘Secretary the Earl
of Hillsborough,’ dated at Williamsburg, May 1, 1772. The
original is in the State-paper Office, London. A manuscript
copy was obligingly furnished to me by Mr. Bancroft. It not
only corroborates the testimony of the American patriots
222 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE.
respecting the anti-slavery sentiments which prevailed in Vir-
ginia prior to the Declaration of Independence, but shows the
opinions at that time entertained respecting the relations of
slaves to their masters in a time of war, as follows:–
“‘In case of a war . . . . . the people with great reason tremble
at the facility that an enemy would find in procuring such a body of
men, attached by no tie to their masters or to the country: on the
contrary it is natural to suppose their condition must inspire them
with an aversion to both, and therefore are ready to join the first that
would encourage them to revenge themselves; by which means a con-
quest of this country would inevitably be effected in a very short
time.” -
“II. An original letter of Patrick Henry to John Alsop, of
Hudson, N.Y., dated at Hanover Court-House, 13 January,
1773, pronouncing slavery to be ‘as repugnant to humanity as
it is inconsistent, with the Bible and destructive to Liberty.’
“III. The laws of some of the Northern and Middle States,
at the time of the extinction of slavery therein, making it a
penal offence to sell slaves to be taken out of the State with-
out their own consent; and thus proving the falseness of the
charge made by Jefferson Davis and others against the North,
of having ‘consulted their own interest by selling their slaves
to the South when they prohibited slavery within their limits.”
My attention has been called to these laws by Professor
Lieber.
“IV. An extract from a letter written to me, soon after the
publication of the first edition, by Mrs. Lydia Maria Child,
in which she shows how admirably successful Lafayette's ex-
periment of emancipation in Cayenne proved in practice. The
account is too beautiful and touching to be abridged. I hope
hereafter to print it entire.
“W. A full and accurate statement of the opinions of that
high authority, John Quincy Adams, on the powers of the
National Government respecting Slavery and Emancipation in
a time of war.
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE. 223
“The opponents of Emancipation have recently cited cer-
tain Official Papers of his, written when, in the capacity of a
diplomatist, he was acting under a slave-holding President and
a pro-slavery Administration, and discharging the duties of
his office as the Advocate of his government in a controversy
between it and a foreign power. It would be wrong to assume
that such official papers in every instance necessarily present
the personal views of the writer. Indeed, we have on record
the following express declaration of Mr. Adams as to one of
his official acts: ‘It was utterly against my wishes; but I was
obliged to submit, and prepare the requisite despatches.’
Such ministerial acts, contrary to his convictions, when he
was called on to perform them, were done, to use his own
words, in ‘the bitterness of his heart.”
“When afterwards acting on his own responsibility, in the
House of Representatives, in 1836, he made this declaration : —
“‘From the instant that your slave-holding States become the
theatre of war, civil, servile, or foreign, from that instant the war
powers of Congress extend to interference with the institution of sla-
very in every way in which it can be interfered with, from a claim of
indemnity for slaves taken or destroyed, to the cession of the State
burdened with slavery to a foreign power.’
“After years of further reflection, in 1842 he announced, in
the following statement, what he considered as indisputable
law:—
“‘When your country is actually in war, whether it be a war of
invasion or a war of insurrection, Congress has power to carry on the
war, and must carry it on according to the laws of war; and, by the
laws of war, an invaded country has all its laws and municipal insti-
tutions swept by the board, and martial law takes the place of them.’
“And the settled opinion of this eminent statesman, in the
fulness and maturity of his powers, solemnly reiterated in
Congress, was, that, in time of war, ‘not only the President of
the United States, but the commander of the army, has power
to order the universal emancipation of the slaves.’”
224 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE.
With this “Supplementary Note” and the accom-
panying “Index,” the copies of this first edition will be
not less complete than those of the editions that have
followed it.
t G. L.
DANA HILL, CAMBRIDGE,
July, 1863.
I N D E X.
29
I N D E X.
A.
Aberdeen, a Virginia slave, act passed by
the General Assembly in 1783 for his
emancipation, on account of meritorious
public services, cited, 195, 196.
Adams, Charles Francis, his speech in
Congress, quoted, xvi; his edition of
the “Works of John Adams,” quoted,
42, 54, 128, 129.
Adams, John, his opinion respecting slave-
ry, as shown by the history of the De-
claration of Jndependence, 24. On the
sub-committee for framing that Declara-
tion, 24; delighted with Jefferson's first
draught of it, 24. Lafayette's letter to
him, denouncing slavery, 42. His own
practice in regard to slavery, 54. His
“Works,” quoted, 42, 54, 128. His de-
fence of the British soldiers concerned
in the Boston Massacre, 116; enume-
rates “negroes and mulattoes” as sharers
in the popular movement that led to it,
116. His Diary quoted, 128.
Adams, John Quincy, pronounces the Con-
stitution to be “the complement of the
Declaration of Independence, forming
with it one entire system of national
government,” 62. His opinion of the
powers of the national government as
to slavery and emancipation in a time of
war, 222-224. His official acts as Secre-
tary of State not always the index of his
private opinions, 223.
Alsop, John, letter of Patrick Henry to him
in 1773, denouncing slavery, mentiomed,
222.
“American Loyalists,” Sabine's, quoted,
164–167. -
American Magma Charta.
tion of Independence.
Ames, Captain, the negro hero, Salem
Poor, serves in his company at Bunker
Hill, 122. *:
“Analectic Magazine,” quoted, 205.
“Annals of Congress,” quoted, 198, 199.
Arnold, Samuel G., his “History of Rhode
Island,” quoted, 158.
Articles of Confederation, quoted, 33, 34.
See Confederation.
See Declara-
Association, Continental. See Continental
Association.
Atherton, Joshua, his speech against slave-
ry in the New-Hampshire Convention
§ consider the Federal Constitution, 86–
Attucks, Crispus, description of him as a
runaway “Molatto fellow,” 115; the first
to fall in the Boston Massacre, 116; his
brave conduct on that occasion, 116;
public funeral honors paid him, 116,
117.
B.
Backus, Isaac, extract from his speech in
the Massachusetts Convention of 1788,
84, 85. -
Baldwin, Abraham, of Georgia, in the
Federal Convention, says that his State,
“if left to herself, may probably put a
stop to the evil" of the slave trade, 73.
Bancroft, George, his comments on Chief-
Justice Taney’s views of slavery in the
Dred Scott case, 13–15. His manuscript
letter of Mr. Gadsden, in 1776, quoted, 60.
His opinion on the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, cited, 20. His “History of
the United States,” quoted, 124. His
account of the army of the Revolution in
respect to colored soldiers, 124. Fur-
nishes a copy of an unpublished letter
of Lord 1) unmore in 1772 on the evils of
slavery in Virginia, 222; also an origi-
nal letter of Mr. Cruden on raising negro
troops in the South, 181; also a copy
of Dunmore's letter to Secretary Lord
George Germain, offering to organize
and command them in person, 187–189.
Barry, Rev. William, his “History of Fra-
mingham,” cited, 120. -
Bartlett, John Russell, Secretary of State
in Rhode Island, documents furnished
by him, copied from the State archives,
150–158. -
Barton, Lieutenant-Colonel, captures the
British Major-General Prescott, with the
aid of the negro man Prince, 143–145.
228
'I N D E X.
Belknap, Dr. Jeremy, his “Answers to
Queries respecting Slavery,” proposed
by Judge Tucker of Virginia, quoted,
28, 29. -
Benson, Egbert, letter of John Jay to him
in 1780, quoted, 219.
Boston, pays funeral honors to the victims
of the Boston Massacre, 116, 117; re-
joicings in, on the adoption by Massa-
chusetts of the Federal Constitution, 85,
86.
“Boston Gazette, or Weekly Journal,” of
1750, quoted, 115.
Boston Massacre, a negro the first victim
of the, 116, 117. -
Bowen, Francis, his “Life of General Lin-
coln,” quoted, 106, 107.
Brown, John, of Norfolk, in Virginia, de-
nounced by a Virginia committee as an
enemy of his country for continuing in
the slave trade, 27.
Brown, William, of Framingham, Massa-
chusetts, his advertisement of the run-
away slave, Crispus Attucks, 115.
“IBucks of America,” a negro company, a
flag presented by John Hancock to the,
206, 207.
Bullock, Mr., of Georgia, his fear of the
megroes joining the British atºmy in 1775,
128, 129.
Bunker Hill, megro soldiers fought in the
battle of 118.
Butler, Pierce, of South Carolina, in the
I'ederal Convention, 75.
C.
Cabot, George, in the Massachusetts Con-
vention of 1788, says that the Federal
Constitution is the best way to get rid
of the slave trade, 81.
Cadwalader, John, his letter to General
Washington in 1781, quoted, 163.
Caldwell, Jonas, killed in the Boston Mas-
sacre, 116.
Carr, Patrick, mortally wounded in the
I3oston Massacre, 116.
Cayenne, Lafayette's experiment in eman-
Čipation there, 40, 41; Mrs. Child’s letter
on its successful result, 222.
Chastellux, Marquis de, his “Travels,”
quoted, 159. His account, in 1781, of the
Rhode Island colored regiment, 159.
Chauncey, Commodore Isaac, his letter to
Commodore Perry on negroes in the
Navy, 204, 205.
Child, Mrs. Lydia Maria, her letter on the
success of Lafayette's experiment in
emancipating his slaves, 222.
Citizenship of negroes. See Negroes as
slaves and as citizens.
Clinton, Sir Henry, his proclamation in
relation to the §tiºn of negroes, 175.
Letter of Lord Dunmore to him, 187–
189. ". . .
Clymer, George, of Pennsylvania, in the
Federal Convention, prefers to avoid the
word “slaves” in the Constitution, 77.
“Columbian Centinel,” of 1788, quoted,
85, 86.
Committee of Conference to consider the
condition of the army, decide against
the enlistment of negroes altogether,
130; their decision departed from by
Washington as to free negroes, with the
consent of Congress, 131.
Committee of Safety, the, of Massachu-
setts, disallow the admission of any but
freemen into the army, 124, 125.
“Compromises of the Constitution,” one
object of this work to ascertain who have
been unfaithful to them, 2, 3.
Confederation, Articles of, free negroes re-
garded in them as citizens, 32, 38;
quoted, 33.
Confession of Faith, the Nation's Political.
See Declaration of Independence.
Congress, Continental, of 1776, embraced
some of the future members of the Fede-
ral Convention, 62. Itecommends negro
enlistments, 170–173. Secret Journals
of, in 1779, quoted, 171–173. Journals of,
in 1779, quoted, 173. Report to it in
favor of raising negro troops in 1779,
quoted, 171–173. &
Congress, Federal, war powers of, in rela-
tion to slavery and emancipation, ac-
cording to John Quincy Adams, 222-224.
Connecticut, her legislation on slavery and
the enlistment of negro soldiers, 145–
150. -
Constitution, Federal, previous opinions of
its principal framers, 35–61; the “com-
plement of the Declaration of Independ-
ence,” which is tacitly recognized in its
I’reamble, 62. Its I’reamble is its key,
63. Its authors believed, that under it
slavery would, and they intended that
it should, be soon abolished, 63, 64; re-
cognizes the existence of slavery, but
excludes the word “slave,” 65. Debates
on its formation, 64–78.
Constitutional Convention.
vention, Federal.
Constitutions, State, nothing in them to
warrant slavery at the time of the adop-
tion of the I’ederal Constitution, 64.
Continental Association of 1774, adopted
and signed by the Congress in 1774, 25;
its second article abolishes the slave
trade, 25; signed by delegates of all
the colonies but Georgia, 25; adopted
by Georgia also in 1775, 25, 26; enſorced
against John Brown of Norfolk, 27.
Continental Congress of 1776. See Con-
gress.
Convention, Federal, of 1787, some of its
members had been members also of the
Continental Congress, 62. Its debates
on slavery, 64–78. Importance of re-
garding the known principles of its
See Conven-
I N D E X.
229
Convention, Federal (continued).
members in interpreting the Constitu-
tion, 62. Slave-holders in it asked only
a temporary protection of slavery, 64.
Convention, % ew Hampshire, for consider-
ing the Federal Constitution, 86–88.
Cooke, Nicholas, Governor of Rhode Is–
land, his letter to General Washington
in 1778, 155, 156.
Cornwallis, Lord, his proclamation invit-
ing slaves to join the British army, 175.
Jefferson’s account of his cruelty to cap-
tured slaves, 176, 177.
Creed, National. See Declaration of In-
dependence.
Cruden, J., his proposal to Lord Dun-
more to arm negroes, 182—186. His
unpublished MS. “sketch " of a plan for
raising ten thousand black troops in
South Carolina in 1782, 185, 186.
Curtis, Judge, his opinion on free negroes
as citizens, 10–12.
D.
Dana, Francis, member of the Massachu-
setts Convention of 1778, his opinion on
slavery, 80.
Davie, William R., member of North Caro-
lina Convention in 1788, 101; says that
“slaves, as rational beings, have a right
of representation,” 101; and that “they
might be highly useful in war,” 101.
Davis, Jefferson, his “Message,” quoted,
4, 5; his statement of the history of the
inited States in relation to slavery, 4,
5; Mr. Everett's strictures on it, 15–
18.
Davis, William J., of New York, a pas-
sage, furnished by him, from the Jour-
mal of a Hessian officer, quoted, 142, 143.
Dawes, Thomas, in the Massachusetts Con-
vention of 1788, 80, 81; his opinion on the
natural rights of slaves, 81; says, that
by the Federal Constitution “slavery
has received a mortal wound,” 81.
“Debates and Proceedings” of the Massa-
chusetts Convention of 1788, quoted,
79–86.
Declaration of Independence, its history in
relation to slavery, 20–33. Its doctrines
early reaffirmed in State constitutions
and courts of justice, 28–33; the Ameri-
can Magna Charta, i.e. the bold procla-
mation to the world of the matural rights
conferred on his subjects by the Creator
and Governor of men, 19, 35; the Na-
tional Creed, and l’olitical Confession of
l'aith, 19. Passage omitted from the ori-
ginal draught of it, quoted, 23, 24. This
1)eclaration and the Federal Constitution
“ parts of one consistent whole, founded
on one and the same theory of govern-
ment,” 63.
Delaware Assembly, passes a bill prohibit-
ing the slave trade in 1775, disallowed
by the royal Governor, 26.
Dickinson, John, in the Federal Conven-
tion, 74; his opinions on slavery, 74, 77,
Documents omitted, mention of some per-
tinent to this work, 221–224.
“Dred Scott’’ case, Chief-Justice Taney's
language on the, quoted, 7, 8; Judge Mc-
Lean's, 9, 10; Judge Curtis's, 10–12.
Mr. Bancroft's strictures on Judge Ta-
mey's words, 12–15.
Duane, James, Mayor of New York in
1786, signs an anti-slavery memorial to
the Legislature, 220.
Dunmore, Lord, his Proclamation, promis-
ing freedom to slaves in Virginia, in
1775, 132–141. His views on the em-
ployment of megroes as soldiers, 181–190.
Letters from him to the English Se-
cretary of State in 1776, quoted, 140.
Letter of J. Cruden to him, 182—186.
His letters to Lord George Germain, 189,
190. Despatch from him to Secretary
Lord Hillsborough in 1772, on the dan-
gerous relation of slaves to their mas-
ters in a time of war, quoted, 221–222.
E.
“Elliot's Debates,” quoted, 66–78, 86–106.
Ellsworth, Oliver, his remarks on slavery
in the Federal Convention, 70; says,
that “slavery, in time, will not be a
speck in our country,” 65, 72.
Enlistment of negro soldiers in Massachu-
setts, 118–127, 160–163; in Virginia, 132–
140; in New York, 141, 163, 207–210; in
Connecticut, 145–150; in Rhode Island,
150–159.
Eustis, William, on negroes as soldiers in
the war of the Revolution, 197–199.
Everett, Edward, his strictures on Jefferson
Davis's views of slavery, 15–18. His
Address in New York, July 4, 1861,
quoted, 15–18. His Address at the In-
auguration of the Statue of General War-
ren, quoted, 120, 121; his “Orations
and Speeches,” quoted, 121; commemo-
rates l’eter Salem, 121.
F.
Fairfax County Resolves, in 1774, comdemn
the slave-trade, 37, 38; quoted, 37, 38.
Washington chairman of the Commit-
tee that prepared them, 37.
Federal Convention, opinions previously
held and avowed by its members on
megro slavery, 35–61; importance of re-
garding these opinions, in interpreting
the language of the Constitution, 62.
Some of its members had been members
230
I N D E X. t
Federal Convention (continued).
of the Continental Congress, 62. It
carries out into practical execution the
principles of the Declaration of Indé-
pendence, 62. See Convention.
Federal Constitution. See Constitution.
Flag, presented by John Hancock to a
company of colored soldiers, 206, 207.
I’landers, Henry, his “Lives and Times
of the Chief Justices of the Supreme
Court of the United States,” cited, 219.
Force, Peter, his “ Notes on Lord Mahon's
History,” cited, 25, 27, 28; demonstrates
Lord Mahon’s error as to the Southern
Colonies in relation to the Continental
Association, 25–28; his “American Ar-
chives,” quoted, 124, 125, 126, 130, 184–
139, 140, 141.
Franklin, Benjamin, his opinions on sla-
very agreed with Washington's, 45. His
letter to John Wright on the early
anti-slavery efforts of the Quakers in
Philadelphia, 45, 46; prints several anti-
slavery books for them, 45. His letter
to Dean Woodward, in 1773, announcing
“a disposition to abolish slavery '' in
North America, 46. His “Address to
the Public,” in 1789, “for promoting the
abolition of slavery,” 46–48. The Me-
morial to Congress of the Pennsylvania
Abolition Society signed by him as Pre-
sident, the last public act of his life, 48–
50. His parody on Mr. Jackson's pro-
slavery speech in Congress, 50–54.
Free negroes, regarded as citizens in the
Articles of Confederation, 32, 33; and
consequently in the Federal Constitu-
tion, 10–12; in Massachusetts, took their
place as soldiers in the ranks with white
men, 124, 162.
Trye, Colonel, Salem Poor, the negro hero,
serves in his regiment at Bunker IIill,
122.
Funeral of the victims of the Boston Mas-
sacre, 116, 117.
G.
Gadsden, Christopher, of South Carolina,
a remarkable M.S. letter from him to Fr.
S. Johnson, in 1776, in the possession
of Mr. Bancroft, quoted, 60; deprecates
the continuance of slavery in South Ca-
rolina, 60.
“Gaines's Mercury,” for 1775, quoted,
129. -
Galloway, James, in the North Carolina
Convention of 1788, 103; abominates the
slave trade, 103.
Gaston, Judge, of North Carolina, cited by
Judge Curtis, 11, 12; decides that free
megroes are citizens, 11, 12.
Gates, General Horatio, orders negroes to
be excluded from enlistment, 129.
Georgia, resolution adopted by the Pro-
vincial Congress of, in 1775, against the
importation of slaves from Africa or else-
where, 26. Insurrection of slaves in,
feared in 1775, 128, 129.
Georgia and South Carolina, in the Fede-
ral Convention asked only a temporary
toleration of the slave trade, 109.
Germain, Lord George, Secretary of State,
letters to, from Lord Dunmore, quoted,
189, 190.
Gerry, I'lbridge, in the Federal Conven-
tion, his opinions on slavery, 74. De-
clines to sign the I’ederal Constitution,
79. Invited to take a seat with the deſe-
gates in the Massachusetts Convention
of 1788, 79.
Gordon, Dr. William, letter of Jefferson to
him, quoted, 175—177.
Gorham, Nathamiel, in the IFederal Con-
vention, 76.
Gray, Samuel, killed in the Boston Massa-
cre, 116.
“Great Prince, Little Prince,” &c., slaves
in Commecticut, their memorial to the
General Assembly, in 1779, quoted, 149,
150.
Greene, Colonel Christopher, commander
of the Rhode-Island megro regiment,
158; exploits of his black regiment in
the battle of Rhode Island, 158; de-
fended at Points Bridge by his colored
soldiers till they were cut to pieces, 159.
Greene, General Nathamiel, his letters to
Gen. Washington on negroes as soldiers,
141, 178, 190; to Governor Rutledge, 190,
I91.
Grégoire, Bishop, letter to him from Jeffer-
son, declaring of negroes, that “what-
ever be their degree of talent, it is no
measure of their rights,” 22.
Griswold, Matthew, in the General As-
sembly of Connecticut, Chairman of the
Committee recommending the enlist-
ment of negro slaves, 146.
H.
IIamilton, Alexander, Secretary of the
Treasury, succeeds John Jay as Presi-
dent of the New York Manumission
Society, 220. Signs an anti-slavery
memorial to the Legislature, 220. His
letter to John Jay on the enlistment of
negroes, 169, 170. Letter to him from
Colonel John Laurens, quoted, 174.
Hancock, John, flag presented by him to a
company of colored soldiers, 206, 207;
President of the Massachusetts Con-
vention of 1788, 79.
Hart, Dr., letter of Dr. Hopkins to him,
108
Heath, General William, in the Massachu-
setts Convention of 1788, his opinion on
slavery, 83, 84.
I N D E X.
231
Hening's “Statutes at Large of Virginia,”
quoted, 195, 196.
Henry, Patrick, in the Virginia Convention
of 1788, 97–99; his opinions on slavery,
98, 99; says, “Slavery is detested; we
feel its fatal effects,” 98. His letter to
John Alsop in 1773, quoted, 222.
Hessian officer under Burgoyne, his testi-
mony to the presence of “negroes in
abundance ’’ in the American regiments,
142, 143a
Hessian troops, three times repulsed by
negro troops in the battle of Rhode Is-
land, 158.
Hillsborough, Earl of Lord Dunmore's
letter to him on the relation of slaves to
their masters, quoted, 222.
“Historical Magazine” for 1861, quoted,
60, 141, 142.
IHistorical Society. See Massachusetts.
Hopkins, Rev. Dr. Samuel, his letter to
Dr. Hart, quoted, 108. His “Dia-
logue concerning the Slavery of the Af-
ricans,” quoted, 125.
Houstom, Mr., of Georgia, his fears from
the megroes joining the British army in
1775, 128, 129.
“Howard's Reports,” quoted, 7–12.
Humphreys, Colonel David, nominal cap-
tain of a company of colored infantry
during the war of the Revolution, 181.
I.
Independence, Declaration of See De-
claration.
Iredell, James, in the North Carolina Con-
vention of 1788, 102, 103; says “the en-
tire abolition of slavery must be pleasing
to every generous mind and every friend
of human mature,” 102.
Irving, Washington, cites an original let-
ter of General Washington, “wishing
from his soul a gradual abolition of
slavery,” 42; his account of Washing-
tom’s last will as to his slaves, 42, 43.
J.
Jackson, General Andrew, his Proclama-
tion to the Free Colored Inhabitants of
Louisiana, quoted, 210, 211. His ad-
dress to the “Men of Color” in his army
at New Orleans, 211-213.
James, a negro slave, emancipated by the
State of Virginia for services rendered
to Lafayette, 197; Act of emancipation,
cited, 197.
Jay, John, in 1777, urges the insertion of
an abolition clause in the Comstitution
of New York, 219. His letter from Spain
to Egbert Benson, in 1780,219. Presi-
dent of the New-York Manumission
Society, 220. Draughts an anti-slavery
Jay, John (continued).
memorial to the New-York Legislature
in 1786, 220. Extract from a manuscript
of 220. First Chief-Justice of the Unit-
ed States, contrast between his senti-
ments and those of his latest successor,
221. Letter of Alexander Hamilton to
him in 1779, quoted, 169, 170.
Jay, William, his “Life of John Jay,”
quoted, 169, 170, 219.
Jefferson, Thomas, his opinion on slavery,
as shown by the history of the Declara-
tion of Independence, 20–24. His senti-
ments as more strongly expressed in his
“Notes on Virginia,” in 1782, 55, 56.
His contributions to the “Encyclopé-
die Méthodique,” on the subject of sla-
very in the United States, 57–59. His
letter to Dr. Price in 1785,56, 57. Extract
from his “Autobiography,” 59, 60. His
“Summary View of the Rights of
America,” quoted, 23. His “Works,”
quoted, 176, 177. His letter to 1)r. Gor-
don, relating to Cornwallis, quoted, 175–
177.
Johnson, Fr. S., of Connecticut, letter of
Mr. Gadsden to him in 1766, 60.
Johnson, Judge William, his “Sketches
of the Life and Correspondence of Gene-
ral Greene,” quoted, 190, 191.
Jones, Joseph, letter of Mr. Madison to
him, quoted, 178.
K.
Keith, George, wrote a paper against sla-
very about 1693, 45.
Kemch, Thomas, his letters requesting au-
thority to raise a body of negro soldiers
in Massachusetts, 160–162.
King, Rufus, his opposition to slavery in
the Federal Convention, 68, 69,74, 75. In
the Massachusetts Convention of 1788,
his remarks on slavery in debate, 80.
Knox, General Henry, Secretary of War,
his Report to Congress in 1790, 167.
L.
Lafayette, his detestation of slavery, 40.
His experiments in freeing his slaves
and using them as tenants, to encourage
emancipation, 40, 41. His letter to John
Adams on the subject, 41, 42. His letter
from the prison of Magdeburg in behalf
of his megro tenants in Cayemme, 41. His
letter to Washington, proposing a plan
for their converting slaves into tenants,
quoted, 40. Washington's reply, that
“he shall be happy to join in so lauda-
ble a work,” quoted, 40. Mrs. Child's
letter on the perfect success of his expe-
riment, mentioned, 222.
232
I N D E X.
Langdon, John, in the Federal Convention,
his opinion on slavery, 75.
Laurens, Henry, of South Carolina, his
letter to his son, in 1776, expressing
his abborrence of slavery, quoted, 61.
His letter to General Washington on
megro soldiers, in 1779, 167, 168.
Laurens, Colonel John, “the Chevalier
Bayard of America,” ietter to him from
his father, quoted, 61. His letter to Ha-
milton on negro soldiers, quoted, 173,
174. His letters to Washington, quoted,
174, 178–180. His mission to France in
1780, 177. His renewed exertions to
raise negro troops in South Carolina and
Georgia, 178–180. -
Lawrence, Major Samuel, “Memoir” of
him, quoted, 122–124; commanded a
company whose rank and file were all
megroes, 123; his respect for their cou-
rage, discipline, and fidelity, 123.
Lay, Benjamin, issues a book against sla-
very about 1736, 45.
Lee, Richard Henry, letter to him from Ed-
mund Pendleton in 1775, quoted, 135,136.
Lee, William, Washington’s “mulatto
man,” testamentary provision respect-
ing him, 44.
Lewis, Lawrence, Washington’s letter to
him, urging the “gradual abolition of
slavery,” as “it might prevent much
future mischief,” 42.
Lieber, Professor Francis, calls the author's
attention to laws of some of the Northern
and Middle States, protecting their
emancipated negroes from being sold to
the South, 222.
Lincoln, General Benjamin, a manuscript
letter from him to Governor Rutledge,
quoted, 177, 178. Urges the raising of a
black corps in the South, in 1780, 177, 178.
Lincoln, Levi, his brief in his successful
defence of a slave against his master in
a Massachusetts court, in 1783, quoted,
30–32.
Lincoln, Levi, furnishes his father's brief
for publication, 30.
Livingston, Edward, aid of General Jack-
son, reads his famous address to his
“fellow-citizens,” “men of color,” at
New Orleans, 211.
Livingston, Robert R., Chancellor of the
State of New York, signs an anti-slavery
memorial to the Legislature in 1786, 220.
Lothrop, Rev. Dr. Samuel K., his “Memoir
of William Lawrence,” quoted, 122–124.
Lowndes, Rawlins, his speech in the South
Carolina Legislature on negroes as
slaves, 104; opposes the adoption of the
Federal Constitution, 106.
M.
McDowall, Joseph, his remarks in the
North Carolina Convention in 1788, 102.
Mackenzie, Alexander Slidell, his “Life
of Commodore Oliver H. Perry,” quot-
ed., 204, 205.
McLean, Judge, his opinion, in the “Dred
Scott case,” on negroes as slaves and as
citizens, 9, 10.
Madison, James, “thinks it wrong to ad-
mit in the Constitution the idea of pro-
perty in man,” 65. His opinions on
slavery, 76, 77,95–97. His letter to Jo-
seph Jones on negroes aſs soldiers,
quoted, 178. Cited by Judge McLean,
9
“Madison Papers,” quoted, 9, 66–78,
178
Magna Charta, the American. See De-
claration of Independence.
Mahon, Lord, his error as to the Southern
Colonies in relation to slavery, 25;
shown to be in error by Mr. Force from
the history of the Continental Associa-
tion of 1774, 25–28.
Mansfield, Lord, declares slavery “so odi-
ous that nothing can be suffered to sup-
port it but positive law,” 64.
Manumission Society of New York, in-
cluded Jay, Hamilton, and many other
eminent persons, 220. Its declaration of
the duty of Christians, 220.
Martin, Luther, his remarks on slavery in
the Federal Convention, 69, 70. His ad-
dress to the Legislature of Maryland,
opposing the adoption of the l’ederal
Constitution, quoted, 90–94, 194, 195.
JMaryland Convention, adopts the Conti-
mental Association in 1774, 26. .
Maryland, State of, adopts the Federal
Constitution against strong opposition,
90. Itesolves, in 1781, “to raise seven
hundred and fifty negroes, to be incor-
porated with the other troops,” 163.
Mason, George, of Virginia, his remarks
on slavery in the Federal Convention,
71, 72; in the Virginia Convention, 94,
95; pronounces the slave-trade “dia-
bolical in itself and disgraceful to man-
kind,” 95.
Massachusetts Convention for considering
the Federal Constitution, 78–86. Con-
stitution adopted by, 85. Her legislation
in regard to megro soldiers, 159–162. In
the l’ederal Convention, votes for prohibi-
tion of the slave-trade, 78. MS. Archives
of, quoted, 122, 160–162.
Massachusetts Historical Society, its duty
to the country, 1; its late “Report on
the Exchange of Prisoners during the
American Revolution,” 2 ; its “Col-
lections”, quoted, 29–32.
Maverick, Samuel, mortally wounded in
the Boston Massacre, 116.
Mercer, John F., letter of Washington to
him in favor of the abolition of slavery,
Quoted, 39.
Moore, Frank, his “Diary of the American
Revolution,” quoted, 129, 143, 144.
I N D E X.
23
3
Morris, Gouverneur, committee on the
style and arrangement of the Federal
Constitution, 66; his speech against sla-
jºy in the Federal Convention, 66–68,
Morris, Robert, letter of Washington to
him in 1786, on the abolition of slavery,
quoted, 39.
N.
National Creed. See Declaration of Inde-
pendence.
“National Intelligencer,” Force's “Notes
on Lord Mahon's History,” first pub-
lished in, 25.
“National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished
Americans,” quoted, 181.
Neal, James, his anti-slavery remarks in
º Massachusetts Convention of 1788,
1, 82
Negro prisoners of war, Massachusetts for-
bids them to be sold into slavery, 141,
142.
Negro regiments authorized in New York
in the war of 1812, 207–210.
Negro slavery, the acknowledged source
of the present war, 2
Negro soldiers, enlistment of, in Massa-
chusetts, 118–125, 159–162; in Maryland,
163; in New York, 163, 207 – 210;
in Commecticut, 145 – 150; in Rhode
Island, 151–159. -
Negroes, as slaves and as citizens, 1–110;
opinion of Jefferson Davis on, 4, 5; of
Alexander H. Stephens, 5, 6; of Chief-
Justice Tamey, 7, 8; of Judge McLean,
9, 10; of Judge Curtis, 10–12; of Judge
Gaston, 11, 12.
Negroes in the Navy, 203–206; in the war
of 1812, on the Lakes, 203–206; on the
Ocean, 205, 206; proportion of, in the
naval service, 203, 204.
Negroes as soldiers, opinions of the found-
ers of the republic on, 113–200; when
slaves, manumitted that they might be-
come soldiers, 126. Present importance
of the subject of 113.
Nell, William C., his “Colored Patriots of
the American Revolution,” 207. Owns
the flag of the colored company, “The
Bucks of America,” 207.
New Hampshire, Convention in, for con-
sidering the Federal Constitution, 86.
New Jersey, objects to the phrase “white
inhabitants” in the requisition for land
forces in the ninth article of Confedera–
tion, 33, 34.
New York, State of her act for enlisting
negroes, in 1781, quoted, 163; her act
authorizing negro regiments in the war
of 1812, quoted, 207-210.
“Niles's Weekly Register,” quoted, 206,
210–213.
Nixon, Colonel, Peter Salem serves as a
soldier in his regiment, 120.
Norfolk Committee, in Virginia, enforce
the prohibition of the slave trade against
John Brown in 1775, 27.
North, the, has not changed its opinion on
the subject of slavery, 15–18.
North Carolina, Provincial Congress of,
adopts the Continental Association in
1775, 26.
North Carolina, State of, in the Federal
Convention, her vote on the slave trade,
78; her Convention for deliberating on
the Federal Constitution, 100–104.
Note, Supplementary, 217–224.
P.
Paley, William, D.D., his “Moral and
Political Philosophy,” quoted on the
continuance of slavery in America,
110.
Park, Professor Edwards A., his “Memoir
of Hopkins,” quoted, 108.
Parsons, Chief-Justice Theophilus, “Me-
moir” of him by his son, Professor
Theophilus Parsons, commended, 79;
his Minutes of Debates in the Massa-
chusetts Convention of 1788, quoted,
81.
Parsons, Dr. Usher, his letter on the em-
ployment of negroes in the U. S. Navy,
203, 204.
Parton, James, his “Life of Jackson,”
quoted, 211, 212.
Pendleton, Edmund, his letter to Richard
Henry Lee, 1775, quoted, 135, 136.
Penn, John, Governor of Delaware, refuses
to prohibit the slave trade, 26.
Pennsylvania Convention for considering
the Federal Constitution, 88, 89.
“Pennsylvania. Evening Post,” for 1777,
quoted, 143, 144.
Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the
Abolition of Slavery, their Address to
the Public, 46–48.
Perry, Commodore Oliver H., his letter to
Commodore Chauncey, quoted, 204;
Chauncey's reply to him, quoted, 204,
205. His testimony to the bravery and
good conduct of the megro sailors in the
battle of Lake Erie, 205.
Peter Salem, a negro soldier, at the battle
of Bumker Hill, 118; shoots the British
Major Pitcairn, 118; his bravery com-
memorated by the pencil of the painter,
the tongue of the orator, and the pen of
the historian, 118.
“Pictorial History of England,” quoted,
132–134.
Pinckney, Charles, in the Federal Conven-
tion, declares that the Southern States
will probably of themselves stop the
slave trade, 64, 70.
Pinckney, Charles, of South Carolina, his
testimony in Congress, in 1820, to the
value of the services of negroes in the war
of the Revolution, 199.
30
234
I N D E X.
Pinckney, General Charles Cotesworth, in
the Pederal Convention, his opinion on
slavery, 72,73, 75, 76; his speech in the
South Carolina Legislature, 105, 106.
Pitcairn, Major, shot by Peter Salem in the
battle of Bunker Hill, 118, 119. -
Political Confession of Faith. See De-
claration of Independence.
Poor, Salem, a colored soldier at the battle
of Bunker Hill, commended by Colonel
Prescott and other officers to the General
Court of Massachusetts for his bravery
and skill, 122.
Preamble of the Federal Constitution, the
key for its interpretation, 63, 109, 110.
Prescott, British Major-General, his cap-
ture at Newport by the assistance of a
negro, 143, 144; Dr. Thacher's account
of it, quoted, 144, 145.
Prescott, Colonel William, signs a represen-
tation to the General Court of Massachu-
setts in honor of the brave and officer-like
conduct of Salem Poor at Bunker Hill,
122.
Preston, Captain, his company fire on
Crispus Attucks and his companions, 116.
Prince, a negro, his important part in the
capture of General Prescott, 143–145.
Prisoners of War, Report to the Massachu-
setts Historical Society on the Exchange
of, during the American Revolution, 2.
Prisoners of war, negro, Massachusetts Re-
solve in 1776, forbidding them to be sold
as slaves, 141, 142.
“Pulpit and Rostrum,” a New-York serial
publication, quoted, 13–15.
Putnam, Brigadier-General Rufus, letter of
Washington to him, securing the rights
of a negro soldier, quoted, 194.
Q.
Quincy, Josiah, his letter to the Rev. Ro-
bert C. Waterston, iv., v.
R.
Ramsay, Dr. David, his letter to General
Lincoln in 1788, quoted, 106, 107.
Randolph, Governor Edmund, in the Vir-
ginia Convention of 1788,99, 100; speaks
of slaves as “those unfortumate men now
held in bondage,” 100; says it would be
disgraceful to Virginia not to hope that,
“by the operation of the General Gov-
ernment, they may be made free,” 100.
Randolph, Peyton, in the Federal Čonven-
tion, his remarks on slavery, 76.
Read, Mr., in the Federal Convention, 76.
itebellion of 1861, statements of leaders of
the, 4–6; their disagreement in stating
their grievances as the cause of the, 3.
Red Bank, the bravery of the Rhode-Island
Black Regiment in the battle of, 198, 199.
Reed, Joseph, “Life and Correspondence”
of, quoted, 139; letter to him from
Washington, quoted, 139.
Rhode-Island Regiment, the colored, its
bravery in the battle of Rhode Island,
158; and in the defence of Red Bank,
198. Chastellux’s account of it in 1781,
Rhode Island, State of, negro soldiers in
the, 150–159. Her act, passed in 1778,
for enlisting negroes, quoted, 152–154.
Protest against.it, quoted, 154, 155.
Rivington’s “Royal Gazette,” of 1779,
quoted, 174, 175.
Rutledge, Edward, of South Carolina, in
the Continental Congress moves the
discharge of negroes from the army, 129.
Rutledge, John, Governor of South Caro-
lina, letter of General Greene to him,
190, 191; in the Federal Convention,
his remarks on slavery, 70, 75.
S.
Sabine, Lorenzo, his statement as to the
number of soldiers enlisted in the war
of the Revolution, 164–167. His “Ame-
rican Loyalists,” quoted, 164–167.
Salem, Peter, a negro soldier, 118–121.
Mr. Everett's commemoration of him,
121. Appears in Trumbull's picture of
the Battle of Bunker Hill, 119 ; Aaron
White's account of him, 119, 120; Mr.
Barry's, 120; Mr. Washburn's, 120.
Sandyford, Ralph, issues a book against
slavery, about 1728, 45. -
“Schloezer's Briefwechsel,” quoted, 142,
143.
Sedgwick, Charles B., a paper, read by him
in Congress, on the use of negro soldiers
in other countries, quoted, 213–215.
Shaler, Captain Nathaniel, his record of
the bravery of negro sailors in the war
of 1812, 206.
Sherman, Roger, in the Federal Conven-
tion, regards the slave trade as ini-
quitous, 69; says, the good sense of the
several States will probably by degrees
complete the abolition of slavery, 64, 65,
70, 71. Opposes the idea of property in
slaves, 75; and the introduction of the
word “slave '' into the Constitution, 77.
Sinclair, Sir John, letter of Washington to
him on the abolition of slavery, 39.
“Slave,” the word not admitted into the
text of the Constitution, though three
clauses recognize the existence of sla-
very, 65.
Slavery, nothing in the State Constitutions
to warrant it when the Federal Constitu-
tion was adopted, 64. No voice raised in
the Rederal Convention to defend it, 66.
Slaves, negroes as, 1-110. Memorial of
loyal, in Connecticut, 149, 150. , Many
manumitted that they might become
soldiers, 126.
I N D E X.
235
Soldiers, enlisted during the Revolution,
where they came from, 164–167. Ne-
groes as, 113–200.
South, the, has changed its opinion on the
subject of slavery, 13–18.
South Carolina, State of her vote in the
Federal Convention, on stopping the
slave trade, 78; enrolls negroes among
her troops, 126.
South Carolina Legislature, discussion in
the, on the Federal Constitution, 104–106.
South Carolina Provincial Congress adopts
the Continental Association in 1775, 26.
South Carolina and Georgia, in the Fede-
ral Convention, ask only a temporary
toleration of the slave trade, 109. Their
reluctance to furnish soldiers in the
Revolution, 164. Congress, in 1779, re-
commends to them to raise three thou-
sand able-bodied negroes, 170, 171.
Southern Colonies, in 1776, unanimous for
suppressing the slave trade, 26. .
Spaight, Richard D., his remarks in the
North Carolina Convention of 1788, 102.
Sparks, Jared, his “Life and Writings of
Washington,” quoted, 38–41, 43,44, 130,
131, 167, 168, 180, 181. His “Life and
Writings of Franklin,” quoted, 45, 46,
50–54. His “ American Biography,”
quoted, 106, 107. His “Correspondence
of the American Revolution,” quoted,
40, 174, 178, 179, 180, 181, 190.
Sprague, William, Governor of Rhode
Island, encourages the formation of a
colored regiment, 114.
State Constitutions, nothing in them to
warrant slavery when the Federal Con-
stitution was adopted, 64.
Staten Island, the British form there a
negro regiment, 141.
Stephens, Alexander H., his speech at
Savannah, quoted, 5, 6; his doctrine in
relation to negro slavery, 6; admits
that public opinion on the subject has
changed in the South, 6.
Supplementary Note, 217-224.
T.
Taney, Chief Justice, his opinion, in the
“Dred Scott case,” on negroes as men
and as slaves, 7, 8; comments on it by
Mr. Bancroft, 12–15. His opinions con-
trasted with those of John Jay, the first
Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court,
221.
Thacher, Dr. James, his account of the
capture of General Prescott, 144, 145.
His “Military Journal,” quoted, 144,
145.
Thomas, General, his MS. letter to John
Adams, quoted, 132.
Thompson, General Samuel, in the Massa-
chusetts Convention of 1788, his anti-
slavery remarks, 82.
Trumbull, Colonel, his picture of the Bat-
tle of Bunker Hill, 1.19; introduces into
it Peter Salem and other negroes, 119.
Trumbull, J. Hammond, Secretary of State
in Connecticut, his account of the pro-
ceedings of the General Assembly of
Connecticut in relation to slavery and
negro soldiers, 145–150.
Tucker, St. George, of Virginia, proposes
Queries on slavery to Dr. Belknap, 28,
29; Dr. Belknap's Answers to him, 28, 29.
His “Dissertation on Slavery,” quoted,
17.
Tyler, John, in the Virginia Convention
of 1778, his anti-slavery remarks, 97.
W.
Varnum, General J. M., his letter to Wash-
ington on raising negro troops in Rhode
Island, 151, 152.
Virginia, her act of 1783, emancipating all
slaves who have faithfully served as
soldiers, 195, 196; act to emancipate
James, a negro slave, for public services
under Lafayette, 197.
Virginia Convention of 1775, adopts the
Continental Association, 26; its “De-
claration ” of pardon to slaves who have
joined Lord Dunmore, cited, 138, 139.
Virginia Convention of 1788, debates in,
94–100.
W.
War powers of Congress, John Quincy
Adams on the, 222-224.
Ward, General, requires a return of the
“complexion ” of soldiers, 127.
Warren, General Joseph, extract from his
Oration in 1775 on the “Boston Massa-
cre,” 117, 118. Mr. Everett's Address at
the Inauguration of his Statue, quoted,
120, 121.
Washburn, Emory, his “Extinction of Sla-
very in Massachusetts.” quoted, 30–32;
his “History of Leicester,” quoted, 120.
Washington, George, though a slave-
holder, never defended slavery, or de-
sired its continuance, 36, 37. Condemns
the slave trade, wishes for the abolition
of domestic slavery, and pledges himself
to vote for it, 38, 39; believes that Mary-
land and Virginia must very soon gradu-
ally abolish it by law, 39. His letters to
Robert Morris, to John F. Mercer, and to
Sir John Sinclair, in favor of the aboli-
tion of slavery, quoted, 39. Shares in
the anti-slavery sentiments of Lafayette,
40, 41. His letters to Lafayette, 40, 41.
His letter to Lawrence Lewis, urging the
gradual abolition of slavery, as likely to
“prevent much future mischief,” 42, 43.
The provisions of his will respecting his
slaves, 42–44. Licenses the enlistment
of negro soldiers, 131. His letter to
Joseph Reed, in 1775, quoted, 139.
Letter to him from General Greene, 1776,
236
IND Ex.
Washington, George (continued).
t }. 141. His letter to Colonel John .
aurens on rāising negro troops in the
South, 180, 181. § letter to Governor
Nicholas Cooke, 1778, quoted, 151.
ter to him from General Varnum, 151.
His letter to Henry Laurens on arming
slaves, in 1779, quoted, 168. Letter of
General Greene to him, quoted, 190.
His letter to General Rufus Putnam, 194.
Webster, Daniel, reaffirms the principles of
the founders of the republic in a memo-
rable sentence, 110.
Wedgery, William, in the Massachusetts
Convention of 1788, 79.
White, Aaron, his account of Peter Salem,
119, 120.
Williamsburg (Virginia) newspaper, pub-
lishes an appeal to the megroes by their
, masters against Lord Dunmore's Procla-
mation, 136–138.
Let-
Williamson, Hugh, in the Federal Conven-
tion, his opinion on slavery, 74, 77.
Wilson, James, in the Federal Convention,
his opinion on slavery, 73, 74; in the
Pennsylvania Convention, 88, 89; says,
“Within a few years Congress will have
power to exterminate slavery from with-
in our borders,” 89.
Woodward, Dean, letter of Franklin to him
on the abolition of slavery, 46
Wright, John, letter of Franklin to him on
the early anti-slavery efforts of Quakers
in Philadelphia, 45,46.
Z.
Zenger Club, “Collection” of the, quoted,
61.
ABG 2 & 1920
Boston; Printed by John Wilson & Son.
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