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Letter from Samuel Joseph May, Syracuse, [New York], to Mary Anne Estlin, 1863 Dec[ember] 13

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Holograph, signed.Title devised by cataloger.Samuel Joseph May writes to Mary Anne Estlin in regards to his times in England before the Civil War. He writes an analysis of the reasons for going to war and remarks, "The relation of the states to the Federal Head of our nation had never been clearly defined. Deference to the Constitution of the U.S. has always been the cherished loyalty of our citizens so that my many sincere opponents of slavery have refused to do any thing for its abolition, in violation of the provisions of our Magna Charta. But the emergency, created by the persistence of the rebels, has compelled our excellent President to resort to that power, which must be latent in every government, and, superior to all written constitutions. With that, he has struck the blow, which has severed the legal chains of three millions of bondmen, and which, if our armies triumph, will break every yoke, and give freedom in its glorious reality to all the bondmen in the land." He thanks her and other English abolitionists for their support in the cause. He writes that the American society will not disband until slavery has ended, and in the meantime, his fellow abolitionists are doing all they can to assist freedmen with the National Freedmen Relief Association. They have sent teachers to Florida, who have instituted an asylum for parentless children, and the association has contributed to it. He writes of Henry Ward Beecher's speech in England which relieved the...
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