African Americana

10 pages, folio, 7 5/8 x 12 1/8 in., old folds. Note, the writer added emphasis throughout with underlining, it has been rendered as italics in the below transcriptions. 

An unidentified New England man writes to his brother Jacob who possibly lives in the South, or at least is a Southern sympathizer, opening: "you inadvertently affixed a secession stamp, and the consequence was that it remained in the Office some 10 or 12 days".

The writer is likely writing from Unity, New Hampshire, with discussions of New England and the town, relaying his views and those of his (reportedly) of his neighbors regarding the Union as well as abolition: "Unity was ever loyal to the Constitution and the good old flag-true through the revolutionary struggles - and I speak from actual knowledge when I say that in 1812 and 15 when we were at war with the most powerful Nation on Earth...when disloyalty and "secession" reign'd throughout New England...Old Unity stood shoulder to shoulder with a united and loyal South, and succeeded in preserving the Union - and all, without the aid of gag laws, proscriptions or imprisonment." Continuing: "Since the advent of the self-styled Republican Party; when their leaders Tappan, Toss and others have been perambulating the length and breadth of this State, with their 16 starred Flags thrown to the breeze, with the watch-word "No Union with Slave-holders" - Old Unity has ever remained unchanged! - We are decidedly opposed to the secession of a single State North or South...And we believe it to be equally imperative that Abolitionism should be crushed out, an indispensable prerequisite for the Salvation of our beloved Country." 

He shares his opinions on President Lincoln: "I don't believe they now intend, or ever did intend to protect and preserve the Constitution as it is, or restore the Union as it was: - I don't believe they intend that the Union shall be restored unless slavery is abolished...the leaders of the Party, have for years, been determined to destroy the Constitutional rights of the South." He quotes William H. Seward at length and accuses the Lincoln Administration of corruption, and presents an extensive historical outline of (and argument for) enslavement in the United States.