Lot 227

Salmon P. Chase ALS Re: The Orgins of "Barnburners" and Anti-Slavery Convention. Fantastic!

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Salmon P. Chase ALS Re: The Orgins of "Barnburners" and Anti-Slavery Convention. Fantastic!

Estimate: $800 - $1,000

Starting Bid: $260

(0 Bids)

June 17, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
Live Auction
Wilton, CT, US

Description:

Salmon P. Chase
Washington, DC, August 24, 1852
Salmon P. Chase ALS Re: The Orgins of "Barnburners" and Anti-Slavery Convention. Fantastic!
ALS

Salmon P. Chase (1808-1873). Autograph letter signed, "S: P: Chase," as U.S. Senator from Ohio, 1p, 4.75" x 7.25", Washington, August 24, 1852. Expected transmittal folds and creases. Very minor foxing. Mounting residue along top edge of an otherwise blank verso. In near fine condition.

Chase writes to George W. Curtis while serving his first senatorial term; he would later become Ohio's Governor, Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, perennial presidential candidate, and Chief Justice of the United States.

In full:

"I did not attend the Pittsburgh Convention. The official account of the proceedings is published in all the Independent Democratic papers. I know nothing, of consequence, outside of it. I do not know of any pamphlet edition of the proceedings of the Convention.

Your account of the origin of the word Barnburners is interesting. I shall take the liberty of handing it to the Editor of the Era to be printed of course without your name.

In your Convention would it not be well to assume the name 'Independent Democracy' rather than 'Free Democracy.' It works better & looks better I think."

As the slavery crisis heated up, bitter divisions erupted with the northern Democratic Party. New York Democrats who inclined toward the Free Soil policies of Martin Van Buren came to be known as Barnburners, because they allegedly would destroy the Party [burn the barn down] in their zeal to defeat slavery. They supported Free Soil candidate and former President Martin Van Buren in 1848. "Regular" Democrats were "Hunkers," for hankering after and hungering for spoils of office.
The Barnburners were a radical, progressive faction of the New York Democratic Party in the 1840s that adamantly opposed the expansion of slavery into new U.S. territories. Their name refers to a folk story about a Dutch farmer who burned down his own barn to rid it of rats—suggesting the faction was willing to destroy the entire Democratic party to purge it of corruption and the "abuses" of the pro-slavery wing.

After the Free Soil Party's defeat in the presidential election of 1848, they reconvened in Pittsburgh in early August 1852. By this time, the Compromise of 1850 had caused many Free Soil Democrats to return to the regular Democratic fold. But Chase had opposed the 1850 Compromise. In 1854, he issued the "Appeal of the Independent Democrats," opposing Stephen Douglas's effort to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and open northern territories to slavery.

George William Curtis [1824-1892] was an American writer, reformer, public speaker, and political activist. He was a staunch abolitionist and a supporter of civil rights for African Americans and Native Americans. One of the founders of the Republican party, Curtis was a popular orator and spoke on behalf of the Republican candidates in 1856; was a delegate to the Republican national conventions in 1860 and 1864; declined President Lincoln's offer of the office of consul-general in Egypt in 1862; was elected a delegate at large to the Constitutional convention of New York in 1867 and chairman of its committee on education; was nominated a republican presidential elector 1868; and declined the republican nomination for secretary of state of New York in 1869. It is said that he advocated for black soldiers to receive pay equal to the white soldiers leading up to the Civil War. His famous acquaintances include Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau and Frederick Law Olmsted.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 4.75" x 7.25"
  • Medium: ALS

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