Description:

Slavery
Slavery broadside circular, Del. Gov. affirming early emancipation resolution. Super rare!

3pp handwritten and partly printed DS with integral address leaf signed by 26th Governor of Delaware Samuel Paynter as "Samuel Paynter" on third page and also signed by Delaware Secretary of State Henry M. Ridgely as "H.M. Ridgely" on bottom of first page. Docket inscription found on second page. Leaf addressed to "The Governour Pennsylvania, Harrisburgh [sic]" bearing both handwritten and stamped philatelic markings. In very good to near fine condition, with expected folds and a small hole in the bottom left corner of first page. Isolated minor repairs throughout, mostly to creases and areas corresponding to seals. Each page measures 7.875" x 9.25".


Delaware Governor Paynter and his colleagues affirmed the January 17, 1824 Ohio Resolution, writing from Dover, Delaware on February 10, 1825. This controversial resolution, introduced at the Ohio General Assembly almost a year earlier, had proposed the gradual emancipation of slaves contingent on their removal to West Africa.  In accordance with the resolution, 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, it 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." Delaware agreed, announcing: "this Legislature do concur with the General Assembly of the State of Ohio…"


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, while Cotton Belt states that relied heavily on slave labor rejected any plans for systematic emancipation. The Mid-Atlantic and border states had mixed reactions to abolition. The response of states to the Ohio Resolution further entrenched regional divisions and loyalties leading up until the Civil War.


Samuel Paynter (1768-1845) was a successful merchant before he turned to politics. A devoted Federalist, he gained experience in state government before serving as Governor of Delaware between 1824-1827. Henry M. Ridgely (1779-1847) was a member of the Delaware House of Representatives when he signed this document.


An exceptional document examining the antebellum slavery debate!


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