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1 Frederick Hasted, A Copy of the Letter, Written to the President of the United States, on Slave Emancipation 1 (1859)

handle is hein.slavery/coplett0001 and id is 1 raw text is: A CO Y OF A LETTER, WRITTEN TO The President of the United States, SLAVE EMANCIPATION. INDIANA HousE, INDIANAPOLIS, IND., Dec. 2, 1854. To His Excellency, Franklin Pierce, President of the United States of orth America. May it please your Excellency I beg leave to inform your Excellency, that last evening after supper, the landlord of the house where I am boarding put the following question to me : How long time would it take to-emancipate the slaves at the South, if every man in the United States was to pay a dollar a year towards purchas- ing, their freedom ? I told him I did not know, but supposed it would not take long, if their owners would agree to emancipate them on reasonable terms; for I consid- ered none would object to pay that sum, and many would willingly pay much more. I being a total stranger to him, only having arrived that evening, our conversation dropped here; I arose from the table and went out, and thought no more about it, until to-day, when being alone and ruminating on dif- ferent subjects, this subject came more powerfully to my mind. And I hope your Excellency will not take offence if I suggest a few points for your serious consideration. But before I commence, I wish to make you acquainted with my, peculiar situation. I am an Englishman; have been traveling more than ten years through portions of the free and slave states, say eleven free and four slave, circulating, religious pamphlets among the people. I have no vote, I belong to no political party, do not meddle with poli- tics, seldom talk about slavery, and am no sectarian in religious matters, but seek the temporal and spiritual good of mankind generally; am a well-wisher to all the people of the United States in particular, and would willingly make some sacrifice to preserve the Union, secure its peace and prosperity, and promote happpny and good will among its people. And now I ask your Excellency, whose duty it is to seek the, general welfare of the whole Union, if something cannot be done to benefit the slave, and allay forever the bad feeling that now exists between the North ,and South on the subject of slavery?