Letter of Hon. Jeff Davis on the slavery question to M. D. Haynes

Item Information

• Description
  2-page letter from Jefferson Davis to M. D. Haynes, Esq., published in the August 8th, 1849 supplement to the Weekly "Mississippian", address given as "Brierfield", the Davis plantation near Vicksburg, in Warren Co., Mississippi. Davis mentions "anti-slavery agitation" and how "the rights of the Southern States are threatened." How "abolitionism is no longer confined to a few fanatics but is the heart of a great political organization..." Mentions the abolitionists' opposition to "Clayton's bill" providing the rights of slaveholders to migrate with their slaves to New Mexico and California. Mentions Calhoun's "Southern Address" and the "Wilmot Proviso". Throughout, he emphasizes the constitutionality of slavery, stating: "We rely on the Bible as authority for the establishment of slavery among men, and on the Constitution for its recognition throughout the United States."

• Item ID
  bdsms11218
• Source Collection
  Broadsides and Ephemera Collection
• Spatial Coverage
  United States
  Mississippi
  Warren County (Miss.)
  Vicksburg (Miss.)
• Language
  eng
• Title
  Letter of Hon. Jeff Davis on the slavery question to M. D. Haynes
• Extent
  2 scans
• Date
  1849-08-18
• Folder
  MS1
• Type
  Text
  broadsides
  newspaper clippings
  circular letters
• Subject
  Slavery
  United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
  African Americans--History
  Politics and government
  Speeches, addresses, etc.
  Manners and customs

• Copyright & Usage
  None