Item 24: A Letter from Cornelia Grinnan to Unknown [removed to oversize box #1] , [ca. 1860 December]
Item — Box: 1, Folder: 24
Dates
- Created: [ca. 1860 December]
Creator
- Grinnan, Cornelia, 1821-1864 (Person)
Access:
All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.
Extent
1 items
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Type of Material:
Letter/Correspondence
Condition Note:
Good, although half of the second page has been cut and removed.
Measurements:
9 ¾ in. x 7 ¾ in.
Title:
Letter from Cornelia Grinnaw to McClintock
Description:
The following item depicts a letter by Cornela Grinnan to an unknown recipient, estimated to have been written during December of 1860. The letter contains strong anti-abolitionist language in an attempt to sway northern sympathies in the midst of the south’s secession.
In the letter, Grinnan is trying to make the recipient aware of the tensions brewing in the South regarding how the Northern folk are portraying them in political, educational, and media spheres. Grinnan writes that they have painted the southern folk with mis-statements of ridicule and scorn to which they educate their young and rob them of their political voices. The letter has been circa dated to December 1860, as her remarks follow shortly after South Carolina has succeeded from the United States. Her language is harsh on that action, suggesting that they be left to their own devices until they inevitably come back to the union for stability. In attempting to have her reader empathize with the remarks she points to, Grinnan takes an anti-abolitionist stance, condemning the narrative the northern people are painting of the south. She suggests that the danger to the union of the country is due to abolitionism, which seeks to vilify the South without, in her words, “understanding the complexities of the institution.” She calls upon her recipient to put an avid position against abolitionists in the north to save the union of the states, as she believes the rest of the south will follow South Carolina against better judgements if they continue to be portrayed as such.
In her letter, Grinnan speaks of prominent figures and speakers in the Abolition movement, namely Wendell Phillips and Horace Greeley, as well as voices who were critiqued as injuring the fight for abolition, such as Nehemiah Adams.
Wendell Phillips was a nineteenth century abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney. Philips was a member of the Boston Vigilance Committee, which helped fugitive slaves escape. He also advocated for disunion from the slave-holding South. Phillips held a successful profession in law before being drawn into the abolitionist movement by speaker, Wm. Lloyd Garrison. He would join the American Anti-Slavery Society then in 1836, and speak often to the cause. His oratorical abilities were so highly regarded that he was given the title, "abolition's golden trumpet" (James Brewer Stewart, Wendell Phillips: Liberty’s Hero).
Horace Greeley was a nineteenth century newspaper editor and publisher who founded the New-York Tribune, where he often used the platform to spread abolitionist efforts, writing, and press. He was incredibly active in politics, serving as a congressman in his home state of New York, before losing out on a presidential campaign against Ulysses S. Grant. In his abolitionist work, Greeley would aid in establishing the anti-slavery Republican party, using the platform to speak out against Southern efforts to expand upon institutionalized slavery. Grinnan speaks of Greeley as being at the head and helm of the poor press and miseducation of the Southern folk.
Nehemiah Adams was a nineteenth century clergyman and writer. Born in Salem, Massachusetts, he took up his profession as pastor to the Union Congregational Church in Boston, where he would remain until his death. He is more widely known for, and addressed in the letter, for his writing, South-Side View of Slavery, published in 1855. In the narrative, Adams presents a sympathetic and positive view of institutionalized slavery, proposing the system may provide benefits of character for those who were enslaved. Its harmful language was quickly criticized by abolitionists, as they underscored the harm in moderate voices alongside aggressive ones. One abolitionist newspaper named, The Liberator, called it "as vile a work as was ever written, in apology and defense of 'the sum of all villainies." Grinnan uses Adams’ voice as an example of what coming to understand the “Southern” systems would achieve between Northern and Southern perspectives.
In the letter, Grinnan mentions Mr. McClintock sent her a letter in response to one she had previously sent him. She tells the recipient that she expressed the same concerns and views that she has within this letter, and is happy to have received a letter sharing similar sentiments from Mr. McClintock. In Grinnan’s major point, she states that abolitionism must be stopped before the entirety of the South decides to succeed for she fears that the country will fall apart without it. It is not clear whether the sentiments that Mr. McClintock is said to encourage the importance of the union, and a condemnation of South Carolina’s secession, a remark Grinnan makes herself, her strong language against abolitionism, or another idea entirely. Grinnan speaks a great deal on political literacy, religion, and the importance of the union at as great a length as her other remarks, so it may be that those are what he is said to encourage.
The date of the manuscript has been estimated to be circa December 1860, as the letter speaks of South Carolina’s recent succession from the union without naming other states. Grinnan speaks with an immediacy that suggests the recent occurrence of the event.
The location has been inferred from Cornelia’s genealogical information.
The Library of Virginia has a letter by Grinnan in their Civil War documents: 1863 September 12.
Location:
[Virginia]
Transcription:
Page 1:
rejected by your leaders. Are you not ashamed at the dumb obstinacy of your leaders. Why do you not recall them + give the question to the people. I say to our people, wait,- wait,- until you hear the voice of Northern people, not their politicians. hear, after this, say the South broke this glorious Union, but the selfish ambition of a party who rode into houses + subsist upon fanaticism. You deprecate Judge Hopkins remark “the the North hate + despise the South”, so do I, but the mass of our people believe him, they grant their are many exceptions, but they assert that northern feeling is revolutionized; your journals are all read here, your people see nothing but mis-statements, ridicule, scorn + denunciation cast upon them (an occasional paper gives us a few crumbs of political justice) the consequence is recrimination + irritation, our young men are maddened by it, and our old men are saddened, and say, “we cannot live together.” The great Bunsea, asked an American some few years ago, “how this Union could exist with such detraction & animosities between the sections,” he believed it would end in estrangement, + then separation. The abuse of liberty of speech + the press is ruining us + it was not given to defame a neighboring section + yet be beyond the punishment of a libeller. Prof[essor] Stearn of Cambridge; in his Fast day sermon, published in the Boston Traveller, says, “there is a spirit of intense hatred of southern Institution + of the South, which sprung up 25 years ago + has gone on increasing till it has entered the minds of millions “-”, its spirit is unkind, unscrupulous, vituperative, malignant, maddening, by this many Northern victories were secured “-”, This spirit has led Chrisitan ministries to say from the pulpit in references to the Fast-day”, I shall not keep it. I shall especially rejoice, the proclamation is detestable + insulting.” The scholarly Sumner, is Congress pronounced us barborous (sic) [barbarous] + obscene These words, sting like a serpent, and have led our honest men, our God fearing Divines, our Christian men, our tender nations to feel that awful responsibilities, call upon them to move in this matter now. It is the dread of unknown events which lead magnanimous men to face danger. Remember my friend, this fraction, this violent portion of your society, contains talent + great ability, + is a progressive party, holding great influence over voters, they are wielding your press + legislative action to our destruction; men who compose it are honored with office + respect. There is a conviction with our people, that beyond this nuclus (sic) [nucleus] of evil, lie circles of various rancorous degrees. but each pledged by party or wrongly educated conscious, to restrict + thereby endanger southern institutions + existence. If this is denied, they point to your leaders in Congress, + the Chicago platform, beneath which they are resolved not to live. I know there are thousands in the north, loyal to the Constitution + the South, but I am answered, “depend upon it, these very men voted for Lincoln, with the Chicago platform in their hands They have linked themselves with the, “higher law party”. They say, that even religious denominations have cast aside the piety of the South, as unworthy to meet at the Table of our Lord, because by an inscrutable Providence slavery fell to their lot. Northern people who have made their homes in the South fifty-years, visit their homesteads in N[ew] England, come back, + report “our brothers children are trained to misrepresent + dislike us, the Evil lies in the schoolroom + fireside, you may patch up a compromise but until this generation passaway, + these teachings are silenced we can never be one nation.” Oh! that alienation of feeling could be checked, that a loving spirit + brotherly kindness could be infused into us. As abolitionism is a great mischief maker between us, quench it, you can do this, we cannot, + then we shall live as one great nation (God made us to be one) looking to Him + to the softening force of Christianity to ameliorate + solve the dark riddle in our midst. The North misunderstands the principles involved in the relation of Master + Slave, it is so unique we ought not to expect them to understand its workings. It is not that, “which exists between man + brute”, unfortunate classification in our code may have given fanatics a fulcrum whereupon to move the lever of public opinion. Public opinions at the South + common humanity + restraining Locos recognize the manhood + protection of this property
Page 2:
The Rev[erend] Dr Adams of Mass, saw the self adjusting powers of our Institution + spoke his changed views, in the “South side view of slavery” + he was denounced + ejected as an office bearer in religious societies. The fanatic at the North appeals to “facts'' to prove his thesis- facts + figures are often unsafe guides. Every relation in life could thus be proved odious, + every government is monstrous, because of its violations. Your criminal court records + your daily papers as the evidence of the crime + tyranny of marriage, of the relation of Parent + child, + that of brother + sister, but we should not generalise upon this data; there are wicked men in every relation of life. Is the loving kindness, forbearance, gentleness, forgiveness, charities, fidelity + protection that abounds in [illegible] thousands of Southern homes for the bondman to be counted as naught? Ah! my friend these revilers, wrong us; they wrong you + they wrong me; they wrong the whole broad america in the eyes of the civilized world, and oh! how they have wronged the poor negro! Do not wonder of our excitement + indignation, we have a reputation to guard. If your commence is stayed + industrial pursuits stagnant it is owing to this band of fanatics in your midst, which has aroused our people to band as a Unit, to endeavor to arouse your people to a knowledge of the contest, to Emancipate them from the teachings of politicians + fanatics, to throw the vital questions to them and ask them to give us equality in the Union, + abate their libels. How difficult for the placid, safe North, conscious of holding the balance of power, elate with victory, to realize honest southern feeling. She has literally grown mad beneath the reviler, a torent(sic) [torrent] sweeps the laud of deep resentment, Old Greeley is at the head + front of this offending. The South has her honor reputations + property to defend, just the things that all people value; She believes Wendall Phillips a disinterested Enthusiast, + when she hears educated men accustomed to the refinements of literature, utter ravings against her, advocate servile insurrection + deify the savage Toussant L’ouveiture, the negro butcher of St Domingo, she sorrowfully believes we are “too nations in feeling” + that our days are numbered. I cannot abandon the hope of Union; I began a conditional secessionist but now I shudder to penetrate the veil of any sort of disunion; shadows + darkness lie within it; by the memories of our common battle fields + treasured dead let us, cement each one in his way, this glorious Union, let us to freedoms trust be true, + forever shall the “star-spangled banner wave over the land of the free + brave”. Dont sit + speak opinions but be up + doing for the Union. Our commissioners meet in Washington the 4th of Feb[ruary], if the Northern delegation is adverse, or fail to meet them, then the secessionist will be able to carry To in their convention. It is wonderful this shade of opinion here; a few out + out secessionists, who declare the Union has failed to protect us or give us domestic tranquility; secessionists’ who go out to reconstruct. but this seems to me like the old woman who broke her vase, in order to strengthen it, by mending it with spaldings glue: lastly we have many loving Union men, who want f to have their rights + stay in the Union if possible; men of position who have refused a nomination to the Convention, on the plea of other men being more popular with the people + having a better chance of electing a Union man, + they are out in the field electioneering. Left To remain if she can, in the Union stretching forth her hand to the North + South, binding up our shattered confederacy, wooing back the Gulf states, let her be the flag Ship of the South, let not our sacred bonds be broken, unless for irremediable oppression. Alas! that S[outh]. Carolina should have acted alone for the destruction of the Union; the whole South should have stated in convention her grievances, + sent in her ultimatum. I doubt the legality of Secession, call it Revolution + all concede that right to oppressed people but then our oppression was in Embryo, we love posterity so much we are working out a problem for her. however all government desires its power from the consent of the governed
Page 3:
I doubt the self supporting vigor of a Southern Confederacy; local jealousies, unequal taxes, opposite interests will send it into fragments; adverse treaties will inspire its commerce however I inclose you a glowing article on this subject from a Richmond paper, so you may see what castles some people build. I have written a long dispatch, in order to place before you some of the motives that sway our people, if I had come across, a little sooner, the article of the 28th it would have spared me much writing + you much reading, it will give you a peek how the press, unfortunately sums up Southern grievances, to move the passions of men. I do not send it ot wound your feelings, but it is high times the North knew something of ^the South side of the shield. + the alienation of feeling excused here by Abolitionism. I have a few moments since received Mr MacClintocks (sic) [McClintock], encouraging, whole souled letter, he answers for Penn[sylvania], if our grievances are sent to the people; I will show it to our people tomorrow. If you ever read through this book, please enclose it to Mr MacClintock, as containing my political hopes + feelings, then I wont have to resay all this matter to him only to write + thank him for gladdening my heart. I cannot let this Union be dissolved, the Eagle must not clip his wings, by all that is great + dear to us, let us preserve it in all its breadth + width. If S[outh]. Carolina would come back, after we get our compromise, let her alone, + in two years time she will be knocking at the door for admittance. I do not despair of the Union, I feel light-ahead, though wave after wave of sorrow + pain roll over me, I shall hope + hope till the reign of chaos is forever + forever inaugurated. God gave us our broad lands, unimpeded by impassible (sic) [impassable] mountains or deep sea-areas for our nation to inhabit, + remembering that he has given sight to the blind. we may trust his mercy + guidance. My warm love to Sarah + Trot; a thousand thanks for your letter + professed hospitality I shall certainly avail myself of it, Union or disunion, I shall always hail from the U[nited]. States of America. + as I never have known, I never shall know any difference between a Northern or a Southern home: demagog[ues] either North or South shall not rob me of the holy name of my country; I was born a U[nited]. S[tat]es citizen + shall ever remain one. Yours most truly + kindly Cornelia Grinnaw . Send Mr Mac[Clintock] “28th article” enclosed, in order to show him though with pain the feeling of many here, they labor under false convictions.
rejected by your leaders. Are you not ashamed at the dumb obstinacy of your leaders. Why do you not recall them + give the question to the people. I say to our people, wait,- wait,- until you hear the voice of Northern people, not their politicians. hear, after this, say the South broke this glorious Union, but the selfish ambition of a party who rode into houses + subsist upon fanaticism. You deprecate Judge Hopkins remark “the the North hate + despise the South”, so do I, but the mass of our people believe him, they grant their are many exceptions, but they assert that northern feeling is revolutionized; your journals are all read here, your people see nothing but mis-statements, ridicule, scorn + denunciation cast upon them (an occasional paper gives us a few crumbs of political justice) the consequence is recrimination + irritation, our young men are maddened by it, and our old men are saddened, and say, “we cannot live together.” The great Bunsea, asked an American some few years ago, “how this Union could exist with such detraction & animosities between the sections,” he believed it would end in estrangement, + then separation. The abuse of liberty of speech + the press is ruining us + it was not given to defame a neighboring section + yet be beyond the punishment of a libeller. Prof[essor] Stearn of Cambridge; in his Fast day sermon, published in the Boston Traveller, says, “there is a spirit of intense hatred of southern Institution + of the South, which sprung up 25 years ago + has gone on increasing till it has entered the minds of millions “-”, its spirit is unkind, unscrupulous, vituperative, malignant, maddening, by this many Northern victories were secured “-”, This spirit has led Chrisitan ministries to say from the pulpit in references to the Fast-day”, I shall not keep it. I shall especially rejoice, the proclamation is detestable + insulting.” The scholarly Sumner, is Congress pronounced us barborous (sic) [barbarous] + obscene These words, sting like a serpent, and have led our honest men, our God fearing Divines, our Christian men, our tender nations to feel that awful responsibilities, call upon them to move in this matter now. It is the dread of unknown events which lead magnanimous men to face danger. Remember my friend, this fraction, this violent portion of your society, contains talent + great ability, + is a progressive party, holding great influence over voters, they are wielding your press + legislative action to our destruction; men who compose it are honored with office + respect. There is a conviction with our people, that beyond this nuclus (sic) [nucleus] of evil, lie circles of various rancorous degrees. but each pledged by party or wrongly educated conscious, to restrict + thereby endanger southern institutions + existence. If this is denied, they point to your leaders in Congress, + the Chicago platform, beneath which they are resolved not to live. I know there are thousands in the north, loyal to the Constitution + the South, but I am answered, “depend upon it, these very men voted for Lincoln, with the Chicago platform in their hands They have linked themselves with the, “higher law party”. They say, that even religious denominations have cast aside the piety of the South, as unworthy to meet at the Table of our Lord, because by an inscrutable Providence slavery fell to their lot. Northern people who have made their homes in the South fifty-years, visit their homesteads in N[ew] England, come back, + report “our brothers children are trained to misrepresent + dislike us, the Evil lies in the schoolroom + fireside, you may patch up a compromise but until this generation passaway, + these teachings are silenced we can never be one nation.” Oh! that alienation of feeling could be checked, that a loving spirit + brotherly kindness could be infused into us. As abolitionism is a great mischief maker between us, quench it, you can do this, we cannot, + then we shall live as one great nation (God made us to be one) looking to Him + to the softening force of Christianity to ameliorate + solve the dark riddle in our midst. The North misunderstands the principles involved in the relation of Master + Slave, it is so unique we ought not to expect them to understand its workings. It is not that, “which exists between man + brute”, unfortunate classification in our code may have given fanatics a fulcrum whereupon to move the lever of public opinion. Public opinions at the South + common humanity + restraining Locos recognize the manhood + protection of this property
Page 2:
The Rev[erend] Dr Adams of Mass, saw the self adjusting powers of our Institution + spoke his changed views, in the “South side view of slavery” + he was denounced + ejected as an office bearer in religious societies. The fanatic at the North appeals to “facts'' to prove his thesis- facts + figures are often unsafe guides. Every relation in life could thus be proved odious, + every government is monstrous, because of its violations. Your criminal court records + your daily papers as the evidence of the crime + tyranny of marriage, of the relation of Parent + child, + that of brother + sister, but we should not generalise upon this data; there are wicked men in every relation of life. Is the loving kindness, forbearance, gentleness, forgiveness, charities, fidelity + protection that abounds in [illegible] thousands of Southern homes for the bondman to be counted as naught? Ah! my friend these revilers, wrong us; they wrong you + they wrong me; they wrong the whole broad america in the eyes of the civilized world, and oh! how they have wronged the poor negro! Do not wonder of our excitement + indignation, we have a reputation to guard. If your commence is stayed + industrial pursuits stagnant it is owing to this band of fanatics in your midst, which has aroused our people to band as a Unit, to endeavor to arouse your people to a knowledge of the contest, to Emancipate them from the teachings of politicians + fanatics, to throw the vital questions to them and ask them to give us equality in the Union, + abate their libels. How difficult for the placid, safe North, conscious of holding the balance of power, elate with victory, to realize honest southern feeling. She has literally grown mad beneath the reviler, a torent(sic) [torrent] sweeps the laud of deep resentment, Old Greeley is at the head + front of this offending. The South has her honor reputations + property to defend, just the things that all people value; She believes Wendall Phillips a disinterested Enthusiast, + when she hears educated men accustomed to the refinements of literature, utter ravings against her, advocate servile insurrection + deify the savage Toussant L’ouveiture, the negro butcher of St Domingo, she sorrowfully believes we are “too nations in feeling” + that our days are numbered. I cannot abandon the hope of Union; I began a conditional secessionist but now I shudder to penetrate the veil of any sort of disunion; shadows + darkness lie within it; by the memories of our common battle fields + treasured dead let us, cement each one in his way, this glorious Union, let us to freedoms trust be true, + forever shall the “star-spangled banner wave over the land of the free + brave”. Dont sit + speak opinions but be up + doing for the Union. Our commissioners meet in Washington the 4th of Feb[ruary], if the Northern delegation is adverse, or fail to meet them, then the secessionist will be able to carry To in their convention. It is wonderful this shade of opinion here; a few out + out secessionists, who declare the Union has failed to protect us or give us domestic tranquility; secessionists’ who go out to reconstruct. but this seems to me like the old woman who broke her vase, in order to strengthen it, by mending it with spaldings glue: lastly we have many loving Union men, who want f to have their rights + stay in the Union if possible; men of position who have refused a nomination to the Convention, on the plea of other men being more popular with the people + having a better chance of electing a Union man, + they are out in the field electioneering. Left To remain if she can, in the Union stretching forth her hand to the North + South, binding up our shattered confederacy, wooing back the Gulf states, let her be the flag Ship of the South, let not our sacred bonds be broken, unless for irremediable oppression. Alas! that S[outh]. Carolina should have acted alone for the destruction of the Union; the whole South should have stated in convention her grievances, + sent in her ultimatum. I doubt the legality of Secession, call it Revolution + all concede that right to oppressed people but then our oppression was in Embryo, we love posterity so much we are working out a problem for her. however all government desires its power from the consent of the governed
Page 3:
I doubt the self supporting vigor of a Southern Confederacy; local jealousies, unequal taxes, opposite interests will send it into fragments; adverse treaties will inspire its commerce however I inclose you a glowing article on this subject from a Richmond paper, so you may see what castles some people build. I have written a long dispatch, in order to place before you some of the motives that sway our people, if I had come across, a little sooner, the article of the 28th it would have spared me much writing + you much reading, it will give you a peek how the press, unfortunately sums up Southern grievances, to move the passions of men. I do not send it ot wound your feelings, but it is high times the North knew something of ^the South side of the shield. + the alienation of feeling excused here by Abolitionism. I have a few moments since received Mr MacClintocks (sic) [McClintock], encouraging, whole souled letter, he answers for Penn[sylvania], if our grievances are sent to the people; I will show it to our people tomorrow. If you ever read through this book, please enclose it to Mr MacClintock, as containing my political hopes + feelings, then I wont have to resay all this matter to him only to write + thank him for gladdening my heart. I cannot let this Union be dissolved, the Eagle must not clip his wings, by all that is great + dear to us, let us preserve it in all its breadth + width. If S[outh]. Carolina would come back, after we get our compromise, let her alone, + in two years time she will be knocking at the door for admittance. I do not despair of the Union, I feel light-ahead, though wave after wave of sorrow + pain roll over me, I shall hope + hope till the reign of chaos is forever + forever inaugurated. God gave us our broad lands, unimpeded by impassible (sic) [impassable] mountains or deep sea-areas for our nation to inhabit, + remembering that he has given sight to the blind. we may trust his mercy + guidance. My warm love to Sarah + Trot; a thousand thanks for your letter + professed hospitality I shall certainly avail myself of it, Union or disunion, I shall always hail from the U[nited]. States of America. + as I never have known, I never shall know any difference between a Northern or a Southern home: demagog[ues] either North or South shall not rob me of the holy name of my country; I was born a U[nited]. S[tat]es citizen + shall ever remain one. Yours most truly + kindly Cornelia Grinnaw . Send Mr Mac[Clintock] “28th article” enclosed, in order to show him though with pain the feeling of many here, they labor under false convictions.
- Adams, Nehemiah, 1806-1878
- American Civil War (1861-1865)
- Civil war--America--History--19th century
- Education.
- Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872
- Judge Hopkins, [Pos. Hopkins, Arthur F., 1794-1865]
- Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
- McClintock, Sarah
- McClintock, Trot
- Media.
- Philips, Wendell, 1811-1884
- Slavery.
- War.
Creator
- Grinnan, Cornelia, 1821-1864 (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu