Senator Charles Sumner to Francis Lieber, July 8, 1851

The Curtises

In the United States there is a struggle substantially coincident with yours, which is now going on. With us the slave-power is the tyranny, and it unhappily rallies to its support at the North, under the specious name of “law and order,” many worthy but timid men. But I do not doubt that this paramount influence, so injurious to the character of our government, will be ultimately overthrown, and before long. I wish I could hear that Germany was united, as she promised to be, on the assembly of the Congress at Frankfort. That was a scene worthy of our age, and full of auguries of the future.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 253

Senator Charles Sumner to John Bigelow, October 24, 1851

I heard of your illness, while I was in New York, with great regret. Time and distance did not allow me to see you at your suburban retreat, although I wished very much to confer with you, particularly on the subject of your letter. Let me say frankly, however, that I despair of any arrangement by which any candidate can be brought out on the Democratic side so as to receive active support from antislavery men. Nor do I see much greater chance on the Whig side. The tendency of both the old parties at present is to national conventions; and in both of these our cause will perish. The material for a separate organization, by which to sustain our principles, seems to exist nowhere except in Massachusetts. Had the Barnburners kept aloof from the Hunkers in 1849, the Democratic split would have been complete throughout the free States, and it would have affected sympathetically the Whig party. A new order of things would have appeared, and the beginning of the end would have been at hand. But the work in some way is to be done over. There will be no peace until the slave-power is subdued. Its tyranny must be overthrown, and freedom, instead of slavery, must become the animating idea of the national government. But I see little chance of any arrangement or combination by which this truly Democratic idea can be promoted in the next Presidential contest.

The politicians are making all their plans to crush us, and they seem to be succeeding so well that all our best energies and most unflinching devotion to principles can alone save us. For myself I see no appreciable difference between Hunker Democracy and Hunker Whiggery: in both, all other questions are lost in the 'single idea' of opposition to the Free Soil sentiment. Nor can I imagine any political success, any party favor or popular reward, which would tempt me to compromise in any respect the independent position which I now hold.

It is vain to try to get rid of this question of the slave-power except by victory over it; and our best course, it seems to me, is to be always ready for the contest. But I am a practical man, and desire to act in such way as best to promote the ideas which we have at heart. If you can show me the road, I am ready to follow. . . The two years before us will be crucial years, years of the Cross. But I know that better times will soon come. For God's sake, stand firm! I hope John Van Buren will not allow himself to be enmeshed in any of the tempting arrangements for mere political success. He is so completely committed to our cause that he can hope for nothing except by its triumph. I know no one who has spoken a stronger or more timely word for us than he has. I am much attached to him personally. I admire his abilities, and am grateful for what he has done; but I feel that if he would surrender himself more unreservedly to the cause he would be more effective still. Few have such powers.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 255-6

Charles Sumner to Theodore Parker, April 19, 1851

Court Street, Boston, April 19, 1851.

May you live a thousand years, always preaching the truth of Fast Day!¹ That sermon is a noble effort. It stirred me to the bottom of my heart, at times softening me almost to tears, and then again filling me with rage. I wish it could be read everywhere throughout the land.

You have placed the commissioner in an immortal pillory, to receive the hootings and rotten eggs of the advancing generations.

I have had no confidence from the beginning, as I believe you know, in our courts. I was persuaded that with solemn form they would sanction the great enormity, therefore I am not disappointed. My appeal is to the people, and my hope is to create in Massachusetts such a public opinion as will render the law a dead letter. It is in vain to expect its repeal by Congress till the slave-power is over thrown.

It is, however, with a rare dementia that this power has staked itself on a position which is so offensive, and which cannot for any length of time be tenable. In enacting that law, it has given to the Free States a sphere of discussion which they would otherwise have missed. No other form of the slavery question, not even the Wilmot Proviso, would have afforded equal advantages.

Very truly yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

_______________

¹ On the rendition of Sims, a fugitive slave.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 246; John Weiss, Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker, Vol. 2, p. 107

Thomas Wentworth Higginson to a Louisa Storrow Higginson, November 5,1859

Worcester, November 5,1859

Dearest Mother:

. . . Four days I spent in going to the Adirondacks for Mrs. Brown and then another in Boston about her affairs.

It was a pleasant reward to be taken through that wonderful Notch, far finer than any road through the White Mountains — the excitement of the black gateway enhanced by the snow and ice, and by the fact that for three miles I pursued my runaway horse and wagon, with the constant expectation of finding them smashed on some projecting rock or over a precipice. . . . These mountains were a fitting shrine for the family of Browns and Thompsons. . . .

When I came out through the Notch again, I felt as if that corner of the world would tip down, as if there were not virtue enough here to balance it. . . .

Dear Mrs. Brown — tall, erect, stately, simple, kindly, slow, sensible creature — won my heart pretty thoroughly before we got to Boston, and many people's there, for many visited her during the morning she was there, bringing money, shoes, gloves, handkerchiefs, kisses, and counsel. Amos Lawrence had a large photograph taken of her and now she has gone on to see her husband.

I got safe home, recited to my wondering family the deeds of the invalids and the annals of Marion, and settled down to daily life again. . . . Mary hasn't exaggerated my interest in Harper's Ferry accounts; it is the most formidable slave insurrection that has ever occurred, and it is evident, through the confused and exaggerated accounts, that there are leaders of great capacity and skill behind it. If they have such leaders, they can hold their own for a long time against all the force likely to be brought against them, and can at last retreat to the mountains and establish a Maroon colony there, like those in Jamaica and Guiana. Meantime the effect will be to frighten and weaken the slave power everywhere and discourage the slave trade. Nothing has so strengthened slavery as the timid submission of the slaves thus far; but their constant communication with Canada has been teaching them self-confidence and resistance. In Missouri especially this single alarm will shorten slavery by ten years.

SOURCE: Mary Potter Thacher Higginson, Editor, Letters and Journals of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 1846-1906, p. 86-7

Salmon P. Chase to Charles A. Dana, Esq.,* New York, November 10, 1860

Private.

Columbus, Nov. 10. [I860]

I do not know what to say in reply to your wish that I may go into Mr. Lincoln's cabinet, except to thank you for the implied appreciation by which I am ashamed to confess myself not the less gratified, however conscious that it is beyond my deserts.

Certainly I do not seek any such place. I greatly prefer my position as Senator, & would indeed prefer to that a private Station could I now honorably retire.

For, of the great objects which first constrained me into political life, one, the overthrow of the Slave Power, is now happily accomplished and the other, the denationalization of Slavery and the consequent inauguration of an era of constitutional enfranchisement, seems sure to follow,—so that I do not feel any longer that I have “a mission” & therefore allow myself to grow somewhat weary of the harness. But for the present I cannot get unyoked; and must work on a while longer.

And I greatly prefer to work in a Legislative rather than in an administrative position. It is more pleasant on many accounts. Still I do not say that I wd refuse the post you refer to. Indeed it wd be rather superflous to decline what has not been offered. Neither do I say that I would accept it: — but only this: — that if the offer were made, without any urgency on the part of my friends and under circumstances otherwise agreeable to me, I should feel bound to consider it honestly & carefully, with the help of the best advisers I could consult, & should be governed in my decision, not so much by my personal inclinations as by my obligations to the cause and its true &. faithful friend.

I thank you for giving my Covington Speech a place in the Tribune. It has attracted a good deal of attention & will, I hope, do some good.

Give my best regards to Mr. Greeley, — who will, I trust, now find appreciation in some measure proportioned to his pub. Services — and to your other colaborers. How your work shames ours.

_______________

* From letter-book 7, pp. 72-73. Charles Anderson Dana, 1819-1897; editor: managing editor of the Tribune, 1849-1862; Assistant Secretary of War, 1863-1865; editor New York Sun, 1868-1897.

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 292

Governor Salmon P. Chase to Senator Charles Sumner, July 16, 1858

Columbus, July 16, 1858.

My Dear Sumner, Your brief parting note came to me like a note of music, sad but pleasant, wafted from the waters. How sorry I was that you were obliged to seek again in foreign lands the great boon of health; and yet I was glad to know that among those last remembered and I hope, last forgotten, was the friend whom you so early cheered in the great struggle for freedom, by your approval & regard. Very gratefully do I remember all your kindness in act and speech, and trust I shall ever show myself not unworthy altogether, by remaining true to the cause for services to which it was the valued reward.

We learn from the newspapers that you have submitted yourself to a most trying operation, and that the physicians give good hope of most beneficial results. Most earnestly do I hope, in common with many thousand friends of Human Liberty & Progress, that their best anticipations may be fully realized. I am anxious to hear your voice once more in the Senate, mirum spargens sonum. I want to see the Oligarchs and Serviles once more cowering under your rebukes of despotism & servility.

It is amazing to see to what depths of baseness some of the partizan presses in the interest of the Oligarchy will descend. Not content with half vindications of the assassination attempted upon you, several have had the infinite meanness to represent you as playing a part all the while you have been suffering from the effects of the assault. When will men learn decency?

Oh! if you shall be only able to take your seat again next winter in your full vigor! There is no one now who hates the army of slavery in its principle as you do. I should except Durkee. Even Hale rather regards its political iniquity as its chief abomination; though far from insensible to its moral evil. Add to Hale, Seward & perhaps Wilson, and I think all the rest are animated rather by opposition to the political encroachments of the Slave Power, than by an earnest desire to inaugurate the deliverence of millions from oppression.

The rise of the Know Nothing Party had a pernicious influence upon the growth of a true Antislavery Spirit. You remember that one of its aims was to be national; and to be national it must ignore the slavery question, or in other words become indifferent as to the progress of slavery in the north while the south tolerated no indifference. Some yielded to this under the idea that the south, or rather the slave oligarchy in the south, would adopt the policy of indifferentism as well as the north. Others adopted the policy because they really felt no opposition to the spread of slavery, & had become accustomed to regard all earnest Antislavery action as fanatical & incompatible with repose. When the American Party became republicanized as in Ohio & some other states, a number of its members refused to vote republican tickets because they believed the antislavery principle represented. Often these men held the balance of power in their particular states, districts or counties. Under these circumstances politicians soon began to think of conciliating them, and this disposition has induced a number of republican leaders to urge an abatement or modification of our Antislavery creed so as to make conciliation [illegible]. In many cases this policy has disgusted the earnest Antislavery men so much that they cease to cooperate heartily & there is danger of such departures from our original faith that division will take place, seriously affecting our prospects for the future. In Ohio my maxim has been “conciliate, but no abandonment of principle”; and I am happy to say that we have succeeded very thoroughly. At our recent State Convention, held on the ever memorable 13th, we reaffirmed all our articles of faith & at the same time made a ticket which will, I think, render it impossible for them to rally under their distinctive American flag at all. In other States I regret to see a less vigorous maintenance of principle or organization, especially in Pennsylvania & New York. In these States there seems to be a disposition to fuse upon simple opposition to the Administration, often without any & generally with little regard to Antislavery principles. In Massachusetts I fear something of the same tendency exists. I am willing to go as far as any man to conciliate, and would readily concede much for that object, in hope of producing a union of action which will overturn the Slave Power. But it is impossible for us who have so long contended for the denationalization of slavery & the exercise of the legitimate influence of the Government on the side of Freedom, to abandon [?] our great object for the sake of personal advantage, to sundry [?] individuals, or for the sake of simply putting down the present Administration.

I go to Massachusetts next week, if possible. I propose attending Commencement at Dartmouth, where my class is to meet. How I wish I could meet & confer with you. But I must [illeg. pursue?] you across the ocean instead; and I trust you will find time to let me hear from you as well as ability & inclination [sic]. Meantime be assured of my warm & continual affection.

Faithfully

[SALMON P. CHASE.]

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 277-9

Senator Salmon P. Chase to Congressman Lewis D. Campbell,* May 25, 1855

Cincinnati, May 25th [1855.]

Dear Sir: On my return this evening from the East, I find your note of the 18th on my table, and I shall answer it frankly according to your wish.

Last fall the Independent Democrats or Freesoilers entered heartily and earnestly into the people's anti-nebraska movement, animated by the simple desire to redress the Nebraska wrong. They accepted frankly the State Candidates of the 13th July Convention, neither of whom was taken from their ranks. After the election many of them, and not a few also of the liberal whigs and Democrats, anxious that some token of the popular approval of my course as Senator should be given and especially moved, as I suppose, by the consideration that in consequence of the ascendency of the administration party in the Legislature, I alone of all the earnest opponents of the Nebraska Iniquity from Ohio, could not be approved by a re-election, manifested a disposition to make me the candidate of the people's movement this fall. They were pleased to think, also, that my nomination and election to that office would afford to the friends of freedom throughout the union a most significant indication that Ohio would tread no step backward from the glorious stand she has just taken against slavery and the domination of Slavepower. To the suggestions of these friends I have uniformly replied by an unhesitating avowal of the gratification which such an endorsement of the people would give me, provided I could be nominated and elected without any surrender or modification of my well known principles of political action.

Had I supposed that opposition to my nomination would have been made in the particular quarters in which it has since appeared I should have promptly declined to allow my name to be proposed at all. Nothing but the gratification and advantage of the implied indorsement, and the belief that my election under the circumstances would greatly inspirit and encourage the friends of freedom outside of Ohio, could have induced me to consent to the use of my name, and these considerations would not have prevailed with me, had I not supposed that the nomination for Governor would this year be cheerfully conceded to the choice of the distinctive anti-slavery men. As things now are I confess myself much embrassed, and quite undecided as to the course which duty to myself, to the cause, and to the friends who have honored me with their confidence require me to pursue. One thing, however, seems plain, which is that no duty, whatever, under existing circumstances, requires me to accept a nomination for atty. general or Supreme Judge, and certainly my inclination does not lead me in that direction. For the rest, I can only say that it would be infinitely more agreeable to me to support my old friend Brinkerhoff, than to be a candidate myself, if he could be said at this time to represent the pure element of opp. to Slavery extension & Slav'y domination. But if he is to be forced upon them, and his election taken as triumph of another element, it is obvious that this must have a powerful influence on the course of those with whom the Slavery question is paramount to every other.

_______________

* From letter-book 6, pp. 190-191. Lewis Davis Campbell, 1811-1882; Member of Congress 1849-1858, United States minister to Mexico 1865-1868

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 273-4

Senator Salmon P. Chase to A. M. G.,* February 15, 1855

Washington, Feb. 15, 1855.

Dear Friend, It is impossible for me to change my ground. I went into the Peoples Movement last year heartily and in earnest. I am for going on with it, proscribing nobody who does not manifest a disposition to proscribe us. I shall not complain, if not elected as a candidate for Governor, on any personal ground. To leave me off the ticket would be rather a favor personally than otherwise. If it be done and done honestly for the good of the cause, & not with a view to convert the People's Movement into a simple Know nothing organization, neither I nor any of my friends could object to it. If, however, it should be done merely to satisfy a proscriptive spirit the case would be different. If it should be attempted to impose the K. N. Shibboleth upon all the candidates for public suffrage in the People's Convention; — there might be & would be a duty to perform by those who cannot accept it. For myself I shall be, come what may, true to my antecedents & my democratic faith. I do not seek any position on the ticket. I could not accept a nomination for a Judgeship. Whether I would take any other would depend on the character of the nomination and the platform.

It seems to me that no such other movement as you suggest is likely to occur. Of course I could not participate in any such, unless the course of events should show that those who think & feel as I do are to be rejected by the People's Movement, which I do not anticipate. If that movement should be so perverted from its original objects that we could not net with it, then we should be obliged to shape an independent course for ourselves. It is too early yet to determine what that course should be.

If you would abate something of your tone against the Kns I think it would be wise. Indeed if I were editing the paper I should say little about them. What there is objectionable in their organization will be most likely to cure itself; if you only keep up an intelligent, animated war against slavery, and insist that in the People's Movement there must be the most liberal toleration of differences of opinion & oposition, with a view to the denationalization of slavery & the overthrow of the Slave Power. Keep your own democratic ideas prominent. Claim toleration & give it.

There in a great struggle going on in the Kn organization between the Anti Slavery & the proslavery element. At present the antislavery clement has the advantage. But the elements cannot dwell together. Be patient and time will separate the progressive from the conservative.

Would it answer for you to assume the sole editorial care of the Columbian? I suppose Mr. Hamlin would be glad to be released, and in that event you could have the benefit of my contribution to the support of the paper, so far as it should be necessary. I merely suggest this.

A few days ago I received a letter from a prominent Whig in Ohio who asked if Mr. Hamlin was my organ & said that his course in the Columbian was injuring me. I replied that Mr. H. was not my organ in any sense, but edited the Colⁿ, so far as he edited it at all on his own responsibility and in his own way, I added that I regretted the tone & tenor of the articles in reply to the Sandusky Register and on the Knownothings. I said nothing about his course injuring me. I saw no evidence of it.

I just mention this because I thought it best you & Mr. Hamlin should be apprized of whatever I do. But do not think that I desire to control you in anything. I will give you my ideas frankly: but you must allow them no weight beyond that which your judgment sanctions — none at all merely because they are mine.

Wilson is true as steel on the Slavery question: so are others here. They will break up the order sooner than see it used for the purposes of slavery. You must take the action of these men and the current of opinion in the free states in estimating the probable action of the Kn organization. I do not myself believe that it can be made as proslavery as either of the old parties. Still it occupies dangerous ground in this respect: and we must keep a look out. If they are liberal in Ohio this year I think we may be pretty confident that the movement will liberalize itself ultimately so as to do little harm to anybody.

In haste,

[SALMON P. CHASE.]

_______________

* From the Hamlin collection.

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 271-2

Senator Salmon P. Chase to Edward S. Hamlin, January 22, 1855

Washington, Jan’y 22, 1855.

My Dear Sir, I am in fault as usual about my correspondence. My only excuse is that I have more to read, write & talk than one man can do.

Your article in the Columbian was very bold: bolder than I should have ventured to write. I refer of course to the one in reply to the Sandusky Register. It is not, however, at all clear to me that your policy is not the wisest and most safe. At any rate I am disposed to confide entirely in your judgment, so far as the interest of the Ind’. Dem^c. wing of the Peoples Movement is concerned.

It is disagreeable to me to have the battle for a decided recognition of Antislavery principles & movement by the new organization carried on over my person. The Governorship is only desirable so far as I am concerned as a simple endorsement of my course in the Senate, & especially on the Slavery question, by the People. In other respects the reasons against being a candidate rather over balance the reasons for being one: and I am by no means persuaded that I ought to accept a nomination even if one should be tendered me. Certain it is that I do not wish my name to be the cause of division among the sincere & earnest well wishers of the Peoples Movement. Taking their ideas as my guides I shall patiently await the course of events for a few months before I determine positively what I ought to do.

Houston is going to Boston. He will probably lecture there on the [last of] this month. He is the favorite of the Massachusetts Kns¹ for the Presidency: and I think he will have a chance for the nomination of the order if he does not injure himself in Boston.

It is now certain almost that Wilson will be chosen Senator from Massachusetts. He cannot back out on the Slavery question and his election will be a decided triumph of the Antislavery element in the K. N. organization. It may lead to disruption. It guarantees, I think, against the order being converted into as mere a tool of the Slave Power as the old organizations have been. This, however, is a future event.

I am assured by reliable men in Ohio that there is no possibility of the order there being made proslavery. They may be deceived, but I am sure they don't mean to deceive. Those who write me feel somewhat sore about your course & Bailey's. They think that the tone of your editorials and his is calculated to weaken the hold & influence of Antislavery men, & to make the members of the sides less disposed than they would be otherwise to cooperate with outsiders on the Slavery issue. They think it would be better if you admitted that there was some ground for the [union] of the people against papal influences & organized foreignism, while you might condemn the secret organization & indiscriminate proscription on account of origin or creed. You know best how much weight to give to these suggestions. To me they seem to indicate about the wisest course; but I repeat I am disposed on these matters to confide more in your judgment than in my own.

I saw Judge Myers here. He seemed to think the prospect of election on the Convention Platform rather blue. He said Medill talked of resigning the nomination, but had concluded to hold on, and he seemed to have had the same idea & to have come to the same conclusion. The ticket must be [illegible] unless the Kns determine to claim all the nominations for members of the sides: in which event the result would be more doubtful. Certainly we ought to do nothing & say nothing calculated to prevent entire harmony of cooperation among all opponents of Sly. & the Slave Power upon fair & honorable principles & terms. So far as I can see there is nothing to be expected from the Old Line Democracy in its present position. It will be time enough to consider whether we ought to act with them when they place themselves in a position which renders such action possible & compatible with our consistency and honor. I want to write you often & to hear from you often, but I am much pressed for time & constantly interrupted.

_______________

¹ Knownothings.

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 267-9

Senator Salmon P. Chase to Edward S. Hamlin,* July 21, 1854

Washington, July 21, 1854,.

My Dear Hamlin: It was good to see your handwriting again. You had been so long silent that I almost began to think you had forgotten me, and did not know where to address a letter to jog your remembrance.

I share your disappointment in regard to the outcome of the Columbus Convention,¹ and thousands upon thousands throughout the country partake it also. But then, the question is, Can anything better be done than make the best of that? One thing is clear, the Convention have made an issue with the Slave Power, and the people will not let the politicians shirk it hereafter. The determination to restore the Mo. Restriction and the declared opposition to New Slave States will make it impossible to avoid it. We shall thus have free access to the people and all we have to do is to urge our larger and sounder views, and get the intelligent assent of the masses to them. Starting from the Anti-slavery point I do not fear that the new party will not be ultimately essentially democratic. But should it be otherwise one thing is clear—the Old Line Democracy will go beyond it, whenever once whipped into its traces (?) in respect to consistency, in Anti-slavery declarations; and thus furnish to Antislavery democrats a party to their kind. It shall not be my fault if the new party does not become essentially democratic; and you must help me. The day may come when I shall have it in my power to prove my sincere appreciation of your merits; or you may, which I would greatly prefer, be placed by the appreciation of the people, in a position where you can confer easier than receive favors.

It is true as alleged by some that the Antislavery Resolution of the Old Line Democracy is more comprehensively antislavery than the People's Platform at Columbus, but, then it has been neutralized by the endorsement of the Baltimore Platform and nullified by the acts of the Party which put it forth in electing such a President as Pierce and such a Senator as Pugh² and in sustaining such Covenant Breakers as Douglas. There is a good hope that the People's Platform will be stuck to, and a little truth honestly received and lived up to, is better than a great deal of disregarded profession.

You see that I mean to go along with the Antislavery movement, in the phase which it has now assumed; keeping a watchful eye upon it that the strength which our votes give it be not abused.

We have confirmed the Japan Treaty. It is a great thing for our reputation to have made the first Treaty with that isolated Empire. Its provisions are important to our Pacific Commerce.

The Reciprocity Treaty is under discussion. I think it will be confirmed.

What do you think of Hunter's substitute for the Homestead bill? I voted for it finally, after the Senate had abandoned the House Homestead Bill, as the best bill there was any hope of securing at this session. Keep me advised me where to write you.

Yours faithfully,

[SALMON P. CHASE.]

_______________

* From the Pierce-Sumner Papers.

¹ The first State Convention of the Anti-Nebraska men, July 13,1854. Cf. note in Schuckers's Chase, p. 165.

² George E. Pugh succeeded Chase as Senator from Ohio. Chase's term expired March 3,1855.

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 262-3

Senator Salmon P. Chase to Charles Sumner, March 24, 1850

Washington, March 24, 1850.

My Dear Sumner: I thank you for your letter. It is not my purpose to go at all fully into the various questions presented by Mr. Clay's resolution now before the Senate. I limit myself to three propositions, mainly; 1. That the original policy of the Government was that of slavery restriction. 2. That under the Constitution Congress cannot establish or maintain slavery in territories. 3. That the original policy of the Government has been subverted and the Constitution violated for the extension of slavery, and the establishment of the political supremacy of the Slave Power. Having discussed these points I shall have no time to go into a full examination of the proposition in detail now before the Senate.

How I wish that someone occupied my place more able to satisfy the expectations of the Friends of Freedom, and the obligation of the Crisis! Never in my life did I so painfully feel my incompetency as now. May God help me.

I thank you for your suggestion, and promised documents. They have not yet come to hand.

Very faithfully yours,

[SALMON P. CHASE.]

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 205-6

Salmon P. Chase to John Thomas* of Cortlandville, New York, June 24, 1847

June 24, [1847.]

I am much obliged to you for yr. kind letter of the 11th ult. wh. I recd. yesty. It always gratifies me to hear of the condition & prospects of the great cause which engages us both & to be informed of the views & feelings of A. S. men in all parts of the Country: I wish there was more of communion between our friends. I am satisfied that it wd. greatly allay jealousy, & insure, instead, confidence & the activity wh. springs from confidence. I can echo from the heart all you say of the merits of our excellent friend Gerrit Smith. I honor him & love him as a true friend not merely of human right but of humanity. Shd. it become necessary for the Lib. Party to nom^e. candidates for the P. & V. P. in '48 & shd. he receive that nomination, he shall have my cordial & earnest support. I have not sufficy. compared the reasons wh. may be urged for his nomination, wh. may be urged for the nominⁿ. of some other equally reliable A. S. man to be able to make up my mind, whether I shd., if a memb. of a noming. convn. give my voice for him in pref. to evy other. Indeed, at this time, when we can see so little of the circums. wh. must deter^e, this choice, it seems to me the pn. of prudence, to note facts & traits of char. & reserve a final decision until the moment shall call for it.

It seems to me yet doubtful whether the Lib. P'y will have any occasion to nominate candidates for the Nat1. Elec^t. of '48: I have not a doubt that Gen. Taylor will be the Whig nominee, though he says in a letter shewn me to day & of wh. I will send you a copy to morrow that he will not accept a party nomn. If he be the candidate of the Whigs or a no party candidate, supported by the entire body of S. Whigs & the majority of N. Whigs, the N. democracy will be obliged to throw itself upon A. S. ground.

Even Gen. Taylor, cotton planter & sugar planter as he is —  slave-holder as he is — feels, as you will see, by the letter referred to, the necessity of taking if not a favorable position, at least a neutral one, in reference to the Wilmot proviso. What ground then may not the democracy be reasonably expected to take? Will they not be compelled to take, substantially, the ground of the Lib. P.? If they take it, will they not constitute in part the Lib. P.—? I am not prepared to assume the prophectic char^r. & predict the events & developments of the coming winter, but I think the signs of the times are such, that we ought to wait & observe at least until Spring: and then take that course which a wise & consistent regard to the grand paramount object of the Lib. organⁿ., viz. the overthrow of the Slave Power & the extinction of slavery in our country shall lead us to. The first political aspiration of my heart is that my country & all my countrymen may be free. This is my paramount political purpose & object. To attain this end I am content to labor & if need be to suffer. I have always regarded the Lib. organization as a means to this end I now regard it as nothing more. I feel ready therefore to give up the Lib. Organⁿ. at any time when I see that the great object can be accomplished without the sacrifice of principle in less time by another agency. I must indeed be well assured that such other agency will be more efficient & act upon honest principles, but once assured of this I shd. regard the question of duty as solved.

I acknowledge myself much gratified by the kind consideration of yrself & others. I do not think it at all probable that a contingency will arise in which the interest of the cause of Freedom will be promoted by presenting my name for the high office you refer to.

I am comparatively young, & unknown & my services to the cause have been slight in comparison with many others. For these & other reasons I do not wish to have my name spoken of for the V. P. We have worthy men enough in the West, if it be desired to have a western man. Judge King or Mr. Lewis of this State or Judge Stevens of Indiana not to mention others wd. fill the station with honor & credit. If however it shall become necessary for the Lib. Men to nominate Candidate as a distinct party, & — what seems to me very improbable — the contingency shall arise that the friends of freedom deem it wisest & best to have my name upon the ticket, I shd. hardly feel at liberty to withhold it. I shd. however, even then, consult my own sense of duty & be guided I trust by its admonitions.

I shall be very happy to hear further from you & to have the benefit of yr. suggestions as to the views I have presented as to the possible inability & inexpediency of separate Lib. nominations. I see the Macedon Lock Convention has nominated Mr. Smith & Mr. Burritt.¹ I send you the Daily Herald of to day the leading article of wh— expresses my views of the conⁿ. and its nomination. I regard this Convention & the attempts which are made to make eccl. connexion a political test in the Lib. Party, as indications that the necessities of the times will require a diff. instrumentality from that of the Lib. P. for the overthrow of sla^y.

I send you a copy of my argt. for Vanzandt — He is dead & the spoiler defeated &c.

Present to Mr. Smith when you see him the assurances of my most cordial respect & affection & believe me

_______________

* From letter-book 6, pp. 94-95.

¹ See T. C. Smith, History of the Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the North West, 101, for this action of the “Liberty League.”

SOURCE: Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 118-20