[African-Americana] Bacon, Benjamin C. Autograph Letter, signed on Printed Circular "To the friends of the colored race in the U. States."

Boston, December 7, 1833. One-page autograph letter, signed by Quaker abolitionist Benjamin C. Bacon to reformer and abolisitonist Rev. Samuel J. May, requesting May to address the second annual meeting of the New-England Anti-Slavery Society and to endorse pending resolutions; written on the integral leaf of the New-England Anti-Slavery Society's printed circular, "To the friends of the colored race in the U. States”. Addressed by Bacon on verso of integral leaf. Creasing from when folded; light soiling; partial wax seal intact, open tear opposite from when opened, affecting some manuscript.

Quaker abolitionist and statistician Benjamin C. Bacon (1803-74) writes to reformer, abolitionist, and leader of the New-England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS) Rev. Samuel J. May (1797-1871) requesting that he speak before the NEASS at their upcoming annual meeting. At this time Bacon served as recording secretary for the NEASS and Rev. May was one of its eight vice presidents. Bacon notifies Rev. May that he has also requested the attendance of other speakers, including William Lloyd Garrison, John Greenleaf Whittier, Samuel Fessenden, Abijah W. Withington, Amos A. Phelps. Finally, he requests that Rev. May second a pending report and resolution to be issued by the Society at this meeting.

Written on the integral leaf of the New England Anti-Slavery Society's October 20, 1833 printed circular, "To the friends of the colored race in the U. States". Signed in type by Bacon, the circular states the objectives of the Society, while soliciting donations and membership: "Its objects as stated in its Constitution are, 'to endeavor by all means sanctioned by law, humanity and religion, to effect the abolition of Slavery in the United States; to improve the character and condition of the free people of color, to inform and correct public opinion in relation to their situation and rights, and obtain for them equal civil and political rights and privileges with the whites'..."

Rev. Samuel J. May (1797-1871) was an American Unitarian minister, and ardent supporter of abolition, women's rights, and educational reform. Born in Boston, he was a descendant of two renowned colonial families, the Quincys and the Hancocks. His sister, Abby May Alcott was the mother of author Louisa May Alcott. May was one of the founding members of the New England Anti-Slavery society, being a close supporter of William Lloyd Garrison, the publisher of the famous Liberator newspaper. Throughout the 1830s and 40s, he was actively involved in the national abolition movement, traveling throughout the northeastern United States to local anti-slavery chapters or societies as a lecturer and agent. A friend to Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Douglass, May aided freedom seekers directly, led the Syracuse Fugitive Aid Society, and founded one of the nation's first Freedmen's Relief Associations in 1862. He was a prolific author and orator, writing a multitude of essays and speeches on reforming political and religious society until his death in 1871.

Benjamin C. Bacon was a Boston abolitionist and founding member and secretary of the New-England Anti-Slavery. During the 1830s he served as office agent for William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator, and as secretary of the Anti-Slavery Depository, where he managed the sale of anti-slavery publications. He later moved to Philadelphia, where he joined the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, and served as an executive committee member. In 1838, he assisted Black abolitionist Charles W. Gardner to compile a census of the city's Black population, and in 1856 he published Statistics of the Colored People of Philadelphia.

The New-England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS) was formed in 1832 at the African Meeting House in Boston by William Lloyd Garrison, Rev. May, and ten others. The Society sought the immediate and unconditional emancipation of all slaves in the United States, the first abolition society of its kind in the country. Using a variety of tactics, the NEASS published pamphlets, broadsides, and circulars, as well as sponsored lectures (of which May was a paid agent), and organized boycotts to foster a moral reckoning with slavery. The NEASS held its First Annual Meeting on January 9, 1833, and its second, mentioned above, on January 15, 1834. During this meeting a letter written by Rev. May was read to the attendees.

Rare, according to online records we cannot locate another autograph letter from Bacon at auction, nor another example of this circular. OCLC records no copies of this circular.

From the personal papers of American minister and abolitionist, Rev. Samuel J. May (1797-1871), thence by descent in the family

[African-Americana] Bacon, Benjamin C. Autograph Letter, signed on Printed Circular "To the friends of the colored race in the U. States."