1840 ABOLITIONIST REV JB PINNEY SIGNS LETTER & CIRCULAR RARE LIBERIA GOVERNOR AFRICAN COLONIZATION PROPAGANDA Start Price USD 499.99 Current Price USD 499.99 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Wednesday, November 26, 2008 End Time Saturday, December 06, 2008 Location Missouri See more about '1840 ABOLITIONIST REV JB PINNEY SIGNS LETTER & CIRCULAR' Description 1840 - ABOLITIONIST, THE REVEREND JOHN BROOKE PINNEY,AUTOGRAPHED LETTER & PROPAGANDA CIRCULAR THE GOVERNOR AND FUTURE 1st CONSUL GENERAL OF LIBERIA & PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OF MORAVIA TOURS PENNSYLVANIA TO RAISE FUNDS AND AWARENESS FOR THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY. THIS DOCUMENT IS COVERED BY OUR WRITTEN, SIGNED AND SEALEDLIFETIME GUARANTEE OF AUTHENTICITY Circular Handwritten Autographed Letter Blue "PAID" in oval cancel with manuscript "6" (cents) showing prepayment of postage Reverse of folded letter and circular Transcript of the Letter: Dear Sir     In my great ignorance of this section of Penna I have deemed it proper to write to several individuals in hope that some one would take interest enough to secure me a public meeting & an audience to hear a Report of what Liberia is. May I request your kind offices in my favour if, as I trust is true, your feelings & sentiments are in unison with our noble object. Very Respectfully yoursJ. B. Pinney [autograph signed] Transcript of the Printed Circular: Colonization Rooms Corner of George & 7th Street July 1st 1840 [these lines in manuscript] Dear Sir:      By appointment of the Pennsylvania State Colonization Society, I became their General Agent early in May.     I am now operating as their Agent - to diffuse information, form auxiliaries, and collect funds.  Having just returned from Liberia last spring, and carefully examined all the settlements, I can give facts from my own observations as to their condition.     I address you as a friend of injured Africa, to request your kind offices in giving out notice for a public Meeting in West Chester on Wednesday the 8th July when I will attend and present the claims of Colonization in a Lecture.     I expect to have with me quite a number of curiosities from Africa, illustrating the rude state of their arts and manufactures, &c, &c.     I shall also have some publications treating on this subject for sale, CHEAP - my object being rather to diffuse information than to make a profit by their sale.     The present is a season of very great embarrassment in the cities, and hence we must more than ever look to the country for aid. Never before has the cause, in my opinion, given greater promise of success and extensive usefulness, nor at any former period has there been a more extensive field for their operation opened in Africa.     The cause needs and deserves general and liberal support. Dear sir, allow me to solicit your interest and influence to obtain for me a large meeting.  I have a series of appointments out, and cannot stay longer than a day with you. With very great respectJ. B. Pinney [printed] This handwritten and signed letter as well as the printed circular by the Reverend John Brooke Pinney are addressed to Dr. William Darlington of West Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania. A Rare Abolition-Slavery item from a controversial chapter in American History as the American Colonization Society seeks to resettle slaves in Liberia. Plagued with financial mismanagement in both the state and national organizations, John Brooke Pinney, the 1st Presbyterian African Missionary, Ex-Governor of Liberia and future President of the College of Moravia and 1st Consul General to Liberia, stumps through Pennsylvania trying to raise funds and public opinion for the Pennsylvania State Colonization Society (an auxiliary of the national society) in their efforts to re-settle slaves back to the West Coast of Africa.The Pennsylvania and New York Colonization Societies were reeling from scandal and money problems, hence Pinney's reference to having to go to the "country" to raise funds. Perhaps tellingly and indicative of alternative agendas are the lines of the propaganda tract which state: "I expect to have with me quite a number of curiosities from Africa, illustrating the rude state of their arts and manufactures, &c, &c." There is little question that in addition to trying to "solve" the slavery issue by colonizing Liberia, there were many American businessmen who saw profit and opportunity in the exploitation of the natural resources, agriculture, markets and products of West Africa, but could not bring themselves to consider that the "rude state of their arts" would one day bring phenomenal prices in 21st century markets.|An exceptional and essential piece for any Abolition-Slavery collection. Handwritten, signed letters by Pinney on the subject are virtually non-existent in the marketplace and when one considers that this also contains a controversial circular as well, the package is complete. An interesting sidebar is that Pinney was both born and died on Christmas Day. Historical Notes The African colonization movement of the nineteenth century remains an enigma. The difficulty in discussing colonization centers primarily on whether it was an attempt to "civilize" Africa and rid the nation of slavery, or was an attempt by white America to achieve a racially pure nation and profit in the process. Efforts to answer this question are complicated by the fact that the early nineteenth century was a period of widespread religious ferment and deep conviction.The first major colonization project probably originated in the mind of Thomas Jefferson. As early as 1777 Jefferson proposed an emancipation scheme to the Virginia legislature, which included a provision for colonization. Various other colonization proposals developed through the years of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Quakers such as John Parrish, William Thornton and Paul Cuffee were among its early supporters. The greatest American colonization movement developed in the mind of the Reverend Robert Finley of New Jersey. He noted in 1816 that blacks could not obtain equality in the prejudice-ridden United States. From his efforts, plans were laid, in December 1816, for the American Colonization Society (ACS). The organization attracted some of the most renowned Americans of the time to its cause. Henry Clay, Francis Scott Key, General Samuel Smith, Andrew Jackson, and William Crawford were all early supporters. George Washington's nephew, judge Bushrod Washington was chosen the Society's first President. War heroes, lawyers, statesmen, and businessmen were all enlisted in the cause. Emancipation, removal of a dangerous class, elevating the free blacks, spreading Christianity, and ending the slave trade were among the stated objectives.In 1817 an agent, Samuel J. Mills, established the first auxiliaries, hoping thereby to raise $5,000 for his expedition to Africa. Leading citizens of New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore were involved in these branch societies, but Mills' monetary goal was not reached. Indeed, the organizations formed must have been extremely weak, for by 1819 New York's and Philadelphia's were almost nonexistent. It was not until 1825, when Ralph Randolph Gurley became the ACS Secretary, that a movement for state appendages began in earnest. In the fall of 1826, Secretary Gurley and Francis Scott Key toured the area from Philadelphia to Montpelier in order to build auxiliaries. In October the Colonization Society of the State of Pennsylvania was formed and shortly after this a smaller group was founded at West Chester by influential men of various political and religious philosophies. This particular letter is addressed to a Mr. Darlington in West Chester.The two leading centers of the Colonization effort were the Pennsylvania and New York Societies. After a decade of successful efforts, problems began to develop. In May 1839 the joint Pennsylvania and New York organizations surrendered their remaining interests in Bassa Cove (an independent enclave they had established in Liberia) to the national American Colonization Society. The ACS assumed their debts, and, they in turn pledged to pay all funds they collected to the ACS, except those needed to run their own Societies. But the Pennsylvania Society faced other problems. In 1840, during the time of this letter, they had trouble with two individuals who were collecting funds in the Society's name. They had continual arguments with the ACS over borrowing and the payment of debts. Both the state and national bodies were burdened with scandal and financial problems. This no doubt is the "trouble" to which Pinney refers in his circular about "very great embarrassment in the cities".Excerpts from: Kurt Lee Kocher,  A Duty to America and Africa: A History of the Independent African Colonization Movement in Pennsylvania Biographical Note This is not an easy section and I will present first a rather white oriented traditional biography and then follow with two scathing black perspectives on John Brooke Pinney and the American Colonization Society. John Brooke Pinney was born December 25, 1806, in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from the University of Georgia after studying law and was admitted to the bar in 1828. He subsequently attended the Princeton Theological Seminary and in 1830 volunteered for African mission work with the Pittsburgh Synod of the Presbyterian Church. He was ordained as the first foreign missionary of the Presbytery of Philadelphia on October 12, 1832.In 1833, he also became connected with the American Colonization Society and was sent to Africa, both as an agent for the Society and as a missionary for the Presbyterian Church. In the former capacity, he was Acting-Governor of Liberia and also was commissioned as agent for re-captured Africans [slaves taken from slave ships on the high seas]. Though offered appointment as permanent Governor, he refused this in order to remain a missionary. When Pinney arrived in Monrovia, Liberia, on February 16, 1833 he was the first missionary to enter a foreign field under the care of a Presbyterian Missionary Society. Pinney spent four months exploring the field, returned to America in July and reported to the executive committee of the Society. He sailed again to Africa on November 6, 1833. The stresses of a dual role, plus recurrent attacks of African fever, forced his return to the United States after two years. Following a period of illness and emotional exhaustion, Pinney gradually resumed normal life and married Ellen Agnes Seward on September 13, 1836, in Guilford, Connecticut. During their years together, the Pinney's had a family of six girls and four boys; four of the children died in infancy. For many years Pinney edited the New-York Colonization Journal for the New York State Colonization Society which appeared monthly throughout its existence.Pinney remained an agent to the New York Colonization Society, and in 1836 he wrote a complete report of the state of the settlement in Liberia for the Society. The following year, 1837, he became Corresponding Secretary to the New England branch of the American Colonization Society. During the late 1830s, during the time of this letter, he served as well as an agent in Pennsylvania. He resigned this position with the Society in 1847 when Liberia became an independent nation and accepted a pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in Washington, Pennsylvania. When the interest in Liberia continued, he requested release from his ministry to take up the duties of Corresponding Secretary to the New York Colonization Society. This position he filled until 1863, a period of time which included a trip to Africa in 1858. Pinney was then appointed to the position of the 1st Consul-General after President Lincoln formally recognized Liberia as an independent country. He returned to Africa in 1863 for a term which ended in 1865 when he resigned and returned to work for the New York Society. His fact-finding trip back to Liberia in 1868-1869 reported on the conditions of educational facilities still supported by the Society. He followed this trip with a series of lectures and other work on behalf of Lincoln University near Philadelphia and the College of Monrovia, Liberia, and stressed the educational needs of blacks in both countries.Pinney accepted another offer from the New York Society to return to Liberia in 1878 for an assessment of educational facilities. His observations confirmed rumors of incompetent teachers and run-down property, and, while he was there, the President of the College of Monrovia resigned. Pinney was asked and agreed to accept appointment as President. Aware that only legislative support from the colony itself would secure the educational needs of Liberia, Pinney resigned after a six-month tenure and returned to America. However, he continued to travel on behalf of the Society and made a trip to England and Scotland during the two-year period which followed.In 1879, Pinney moved to the Crystal River, Montague, Florida. His interest and dedication to the interests of blacks continued and he conducted classes in a small private school which he built on his property. It was also used as a church in which he preached to blacks of the community until his death, at age seventy-six, on December 25, 1882. Although his efforts had appeared to be without success, eventually all of Pinney's recommendations for the College of Monrovia were adopted and he was eulogized by the Society as a man "of almost singular devotion to his work...and unwearied in labor."[Biographical data from Fannie Spooner, Pinney's daughter] Here is a rather different perspective:     "When we speak of colonization, we wish distinctly to be understood, as speaking of the "American Colonization Society," or that which is under its influence, commenced of Mr. Henry Clay of Ky., Judge Bushrod Washington of Virginia, and other southern slave holders, having for their express object, as their speeches and doings all justify us in asserting in good faith, the removal of the free colored people from the land of their birth, for the security of the slaves, as property to the slave propagandists....From that time forth, the colored people generally have had no sympathy with the colonization scheme, nor confidence in its leaders, looking upon them all, as arrant hypocrites, seeking opportunity to deceive them....We look upon the American Colonization Society as one of the most arrant enemies of the colored man, ever seeking to discomfit him, and envying him of every privilege that he may enjoy. We believe it to be anti Christian in its character, and misanthropic in its pretended sympathies....     Recently there has been a strained effort in the city of New York on the part of the Rev. J. B. Pinney and others of the leading white colonizationists to get up a movement among some poor pitiable colored men; we say pitiable, for certainly the colored persons who are at this period capable of loaning themselves to the enemies of their race, against the best interest of all that we hold sacred to that race, are pitiable in the lowest extreme, far beneath the dignity of an enemy, and therefore, we pass them by with the simple remark, that this is the hobby horse that colonization is riding all over the country, as the "tremendous" access of colored people to their cause within the last twelve months.      We should make another remark here perhaps in justification of Governor Pinney's New York allies; that is, the report says, that in the short space of some three or five months, one of his confidants, benefited himself to the "reckoning" of from eleven to fifteen hundred dollars, or "such a matter while others were benefited in sums pretty considerable" of but less "reckoning." Well, we do not know after all that they may not have quite as good a right to pocket part of the spoils of this "grabgame" as anybody else. However, they are of little consequence, as the ever watchful eye of those excellent gentlemen and faithful guardians of their people's rights, the Committee of Thirteen, consisting of Messrs. John J. Zuille, Chairman; T. Joiner White, Philip A. Bell, Secretaries; Robert Hamilton, George T. Downing, Jeremiah Powers, John T. Raymond, Wm. Burnett, James McCune Smith, Ezekiel Dias, Junius C. Morel, Thomas Downing, and Wm. J. Wilson, have properly chastised this pet slave of Mr. Pinney, and made it "know its place," by keeping within the bounds of its master's enclosure."From The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States by Martin R. Delany, of whom President Lincoln said to his Secretary of State Edwin Stanton, "Do not fail to meet this most extraordinary and intelligent black man."Or this from a Frederick Douglas Speech:"I meant to have said a word about Colonization, as I observed there was a very dark-looking individual here, (Gov. Pinney, of Liberia,) for whose special benefit I wished to say something on that subject. But as I do not see him here now, there is no necessity to discuss this subject for his benefit. When he was pointed out to me, I thought it remarkable, that so dark a man should be in favour of colonization; but there are some simple-minded men even among coloured people. (Laughter). I will just say, however, that we have had some advice given us lately, from very high authority. I allude to Henry Clay, who in his last speech before the Colonization Society, at Washington, advised the free coloured people of the United States that they had better go to Africa.  He says he does not wish to coerce us, but thinks we had better go! (Laughter and applause.) What right has he to tell us to go? We have as much right to stay here as he has. (Laughter.) I don’t care if you did throw up your caps for him when he came to this city—I don’t care if he did give you "his heart on the outside of the city Hall and his hand on the inside;" I have as much right to stay here as he has! (With great humor.) And I want to say to our white friends, that we, coloured folks, have had the subject under consideration, and have decided to stay! (Great laughter.) I want to say to any colonization friends here, that they may give their minds no further uneasiness on our account, for our minds are made up. (Laughter.) From: Frederick Douglass, "We Have Decided to Stay", Speech delivered to the American Anti-Slavery Society, New York, 9 May 1848, published in the National Anti-Slavery Standard, 18 May 1848. Document Specifications: Letter and Circular are Very Fine. The document consists of one sheet of wove unwatermarked paper, folded (bifolium) to make four pages. The printed circular is on the first page, the handwritten signed letter is on the third page and the fourth page, folded over, served as the outer wrapping and address panel. A single page measures ≈ 8" wide  x 10" high, or  200mm x 255mm. The letter and circular have been folded for mailing and there are some slight fold separations on the outer page. The document generally has some age toning. An exceptional opportunity to add a rare early abolitionist letter and propaganda tract to your collection. Pinney material is remarkably rare in the marketplace and a combination letter and circular on subject makes this a special document from a controversial figure who was: 1st Presbyterian Missionary to Africa, Governor of Liberia, 1st Consul General to Liberia and President of the College of Moravia.  Offered by Berryhill & Sturgeon, Ltd. No Reserve - Free Shipping – No Auction Buyer’s FeesWhat You Bid Is What You Pay!! All items include a written guarantee of authenticity to the successful bidder and are accompanied by a full color picture receipt for your insurance and inventory records. All items are shipped fully insured and archivally packaged to your address with proof of delivery confirmation/signature. Please note that although we take great care in scanning our document images, color may vary from original. Damage on delivery must be promptly reported. 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