Letter from John Anderson Collins, New Hartford, [NY], to Maria Weston Chapman, August 23, 1843

Item Information

Place of origin:
New Hartford, [NY]
Language:
English
Notes:
Holograph, signed.
John Anderson Collins must either desist from labor or cease to live. He reports that the conventions were mostly well attended. George Bradburn "felt quite grouty unless all creation turned out to hear him." He discusses the incident at Syracuse. The three days' convention was large and interesting. A property meeting was held a day after the anti-slavery convention was adjourned. Abby Kelley [Foster] was there, and "she is intolerable beyond degree." Miss Kelley brought Charles L. Remond and Frederick Douglass into a frenzied state against John A. Collins's course. Collins describes their furious tirades after he had made a brief address. Remond "accused me of a breach of confidence, charged me with treachery and deceit, by smuggling this question in through the influence of anti-slavery, and publicly renounced all antislavery fellowship with me, and those who would sustain me." Frederick Douglass sustained Remond in his charges, and declared that if the writer continued in the field, he Douglass would resign his agency. John A. Collins defended himself at the meeting, explaining the attitude of the board, which had a "broad, liberal, and catholic spirit," and he "endeavored to apologize for Douglass and Remond." If their continuing their agencies depended on John A. Collins's resignation, the society would be deprived of their services. "With scarcely an exception, their course was condemned." If John A. Collins was in good health, the little flare-up would not have occurred. Before reaching Syracuse, Collins decided that duty to his health and to the cause "required cessation from labor." He explains that his "eye had been fixed upon universal man," and that he considers slavery an effect of the social system. If the board thinks it advisable, John A. Collins will send in his resignation at once.
Identifier:
2807263
Call #:
Ms.A.9.2 v.19, p.20
Barcode:
39999066781954
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