Description:

Slavery
Slavery broadsheet, Vermont affirms that "slavery is an evil to be deprecated by a free and enlightened people" in 1825

3pp handwritten and partly printed DS with integral address leaf 3x signed by Vermont Secretary of State Norman Williams as "Norman Williams" on first and third pages. Embossed state seal in upper left corner of first page. Docket inscription found on second page. Leaf addressed to "His Excellency Governor Shultze, Harrisburgh, Pennsylvania. [sic]" bearing both handwritten and stamped philatelic markings. In very good to near fine condition, with expected folds. Isolated minor repairs throughout, mostly to creases. Each page measures 7.875" x 9.625".

 

Secretary of State Norman Williams and his colleagues communicated two decisions to Governor Schulze of Pennsylvania, writing from Woodstock, Vermont on December 12, 1825. First, Vermont rejected Georgia's proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution regarding the "importation or ingress of any person of color … contrary to the laws of such State". Second, Vermont affirmed the January 17, 1824 Ohio Resolution.

 

This controversial resolution, introduced at the Ohio General Assembly almost two years earlier, had proposed the gradual emancipation of slaves contingent on their removal to West Africa.  All "people of color, held in servitude in the United States" born after passage of the law would be manumitted at age 21 and transported to colonies overseas. Ohioans believed that this resolution would neither "violat[te] the national compact" nor "infring[e upon] the rights of individuals". Furthermore, the resolution was "predicated upon the principle that the evil of slavery is a national one, and that the people and the states of this union ought mutually to participate in the duties and burthens of removing it."

 

Vermont, which had already passed complete emancipation legislation in 1777, supported the 1824 Ohio Resolution. The document declared in part: "Resolved, by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, That slavery is an evil to be deprecated by a free and enlightened people, and that this General Assembly will accord in any measures which may be adopted by the general government for its abolition in the United States, that are consistent with the rights of the people, and the general harmony of the States."

 

Emancipation was strictly a states' rights issue up until the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865, yet States were hyperaware of the legislative decisions of their "Sisters". Most of New England had already passed gradual emancipation legislation by 1804. Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and other Cotton Belt states that relied heavily on slave labor, however, categorically rejected the proposal. The response of states to the Ohio Resolution further entrenched regional divisions and loyalties leading up until the Civil War.

 

Norman Williams (1791-1868) was a University of Vermont graduate, lawyer, and War of 1812 veteran. He served as Vermont Secretary of State between 1823-1831. Williams' recipient John Andrew Schulze (1775-1852) served as the 6th Governor of Pennsylvania between 1823-1829.

 

An exceptional document examining the antebellum slavery debate!


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