%^'^y^'\°-nK. V > ^ **J?rf^* ^ aP ^ ' * " ^-^..^^ .^ ^^-^^ • .^ A3' ^^ *,..' ^v \^ . t • ' •"°- **\»j^.t..\ .A-i-;^'>. ./\-^;:A. .* o .^^ s' •♦^..-v oV^^^^Pk'. '"^>.^'«' *M^^^ '^^.c^' o^.^^ia'- -'^^^^ a4q <^.. ♦..o« .0 .^ ... ^' *iS^% '*=2^^ A^^^ .-A'i:.. ^. 'bV"' \ °'^*- /% -m- /\ -.W" ^^"X -•> ^ °o ;♦ ^ Q- * M f . • • AMERICAN SOCIETY FOE PROMOTING NATIONAL UNITY «GOD 13 OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH." ^^ SOCIETY ROOMS: Bible House, Astor Place, New York. NEW YORK: " JOHN F. TROW, PRINTER, 50 GREENE STREET. 1861. ^ -\ OFFICERS. . tv'JV President. SAMUEL r. B. MORSE, New York. Executive Committee. JOHN "W. MITCHELL, New York. FKANCIS HOPKINS, New York. SIDNEY E. MORSE, BENJ. DOUGLASS, LUCIUS HOPKINS, J. T. MOORE, J. H. BROWER, THOS. TILESTON, A. G. JENNINGS, Brooklyn. S. F. B. MORSE, JAMES T. SOUTTER, \ -r, na ■ HUBBARD WINSLOW, f ^^"^^^^'^ SETH BLISS, Treasurer. JAMES T. SOUTTER, New York. H. J. BAKER, New York. EDWIN CROSWELL, New York. WM. H. PRICE, New York. CORNELIUS DUBOIS, New York. J. B. WATERBURY, Brooklyn, N.Y. J. HOLMES AGNEW, New York. Secretaries. HUBBARD WINSLOW, New York. SETH BLISS, New York. PREAMBLE km CONSTITUTION. At a meeting held Marcli 6tli, 1861, in the city of New York, a number of gentlemen having conferred together respecting the present state of our country, unanimously agreed upon an organized effort, irrespec- tive of all sectional or political action, for the purpose of removing the causes of difference, and producing unity of sentiment and fi-aternal affection throughout the nation. Theii' views are briefly indicated in the following PROGRAMME. The causes which have led to the divided and unhappy state of our country, are found in the neglect and abuse of our free institutions. Citizens of good intentions, but averse to politics and absorbed in their personal callings, have in a great measure left to vision- ary reformers the creation of that popular sentiment, by which, in a free government, ambitious and unsafe persons attain to places of power. While men have slept, the enemy has sowed tares. We have thus pain- fully learned by experience, that a government like ours must not be left to reformers and politicians, the one incompetent to reconstruct what the other destroys, but demands the vigilant watch and care of its intelli- gent and loyal subjects. The popular declaration that all men are created equal and entitled to liberty, intended to embody the sentiment of our ancestors respecting the doctrine of the divine right of kings and nobles, and perhaps also the more doubtful sentiment of the French school, may be understood to indicate both a sublime truth and a per- nicious error. Men are created equally free to do the will of God, and will be equally rewarded by Him according to their deeds. But they are not created equal in personal endowments, nor in their relation to providential arrangements. Indeed, their inequality in these resj^ects is one of the boldest and most stubborn facts on the records of all time ; and moreover, the Scriptures declare, that it exists for wise and good ends by the tvill of God, as truly as the inequalities be- tween the sands of earth and the stars of heaven. It is by confounding the providential with the moral, instead of regarding the former as means w^isely em- ployed for the latter, that men become infidel and radical in their schemes of reformation. Restive and impa- tient, they neglect the essential duties of submission — of love, trust, obedience, under all providential dispensa- tions — and vainly strive to alter or amend the ways of Providence. Hence, their dreams of abolitionism, of woman's rights, of free-love, of spiritualism, of socialism, of agrarianism, and of all similar visionary schemes, in which they lose sight of their own moral and essential duties, in their zeal to do what God has reserved for Himself, and vainly think to inaugurate a millenium of bliss, by their imaginary reign of liberty and equal- ity. It is not claimed that every person who espouses one of these scliemes actually embraces tliem all, but as they all belong to tlie same category, logical con- sistency must admit or reject tbem all alike. Teacliings of this sort, especially as related to ab- olitionism, have been extending and gaining favor among us for many years. Tbey have been seldom rebuked, because deemed feeble and harmless. But they have increased by indulgence. They have been disseminated in books and pamphlets, taught in our schools, reiterated in the daily and weekly issues of the press, listened to and applauded in popular lec- tures ; they have often entered the pulpit, and made the dogmas of human rights and liberties take precedence of repentance and faith as the staple of Gospel ministra- tions. They have l^een wrought into the fascinations of poetry ; they have been set to music and have furnished the entertainment of itinerating minstrelsies and musical concerts; they have floated wildly on the breezes of heaven, and been made to sigh in sentimental strains around the evening hearth-stone. They have thus made stirring appeals to human passions, have perverted truth and disguised facts, have falsely wrought with the sym- pathies of the w^eak, the consciences of the unenlight- ened, the arrogance of the vain. They have made their subjects slow to obey and quick to rebel, stul^born and contentious for ricjhts, but remiss in duties and sacrifices for the general welfare. Men thus taught, regardless of their own sins and duties, in their anxious wailings over the sins of others and the ways of Providence, become ready victims of cunning demagogues, who, j^romising by an' easy method to relieve their consciences and consummate their desires, with " good words and fair speeches de- ceive the hearts of the simple." In this way a dreamy 6 hallucination and false sentiment have been extensively produced, and a feeling of hostility between the North and the South engendered, which threatens a final disso- lution of the Federal Union. We believe that the time has come, when such evil teachings should be firmly and boldly confronted, not by the antagonism of doubtful and perishable weapons, but " by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever," as expounded by a broad and faith- ful recognition of His moral and providential govern- ment over the world. It is with this view that we propose an organized effort, and commend it to the earnest cooperation of all good and true citizens in every section of our country. We disclaim hostility toward, and connection with, any existing political party. Our common country, our ivliole country, is our field ; we believe that it still has multitudes of fi'iends, strong and true at heart, in all sections and parties. We cordially invite all such, to unite with us in en- deavors to disseminate sound and wholesome teach- ings, to conciliate differences and restore peace and har- mony ; gathering around the acknowledged standard of truth and the bulwark of our national liberties. Our attention will not be confined to Slavery, but this will be at 2:)resent our main topic. Fom' millions of immortal beings, incapable of self care and indisj^osed to industry and foresight, are providentially committed to the hands of our Southern friends. This stupendous trust they cannot put from them if they would. Eman- cipation, were it possil^le, would be rebellion against Providence, and destruction to the colored race in our laud. We at the North rid ourselves of no responsi- l>ililv by assuming an attitude of hostility to Slavery, and thus sundering the bonds of state-fellowship; we \ only put it out of our power to clo tlie good wliicli both liumanity and religion demand. Should we not rather recognize the providence of God, in His placing such a vast multitude of the degraded and dependent sons of Africa in this favored land, and cheerfully cooj^erate, by all needful labors and sacrifices, with His benevo- lent design to save, and not to destroy them ? Under a providential dispensation, lifting them up from the degradation and miseries of indolence and vice, and exacting of them due and needful labor, they can certainly be trained and nurtured, as many have been, for the services and joys of heaven ; and if the climate and institutions of the South are such that our fellow- citizens there can afford to take the onerous care of them, iu return for theii* services, should Ave not gladly consent ? They freely concede to us our conscientious convictions, our rights, and all our privileges ; should we not as freely concede to them theirs ? Why should we contend ? Why paralyze business, turn thousands of the industrious and worthy poor out of em]3loyment, sunder the last ties of affection that can bind these States together, destroy our once prosperous and happy nation, and perhaps send multitudes to premature graves, — and all for what ? Is not such a course a struggle of arrogant assumption against the providence of the Most High ; and if persisted in, will it not surely bring down His heaA^y and prolonged judgments M'poii us ? It is not for us to accuse our fellow-citizens at the South of failure in duty. We know that the church of God has no brighter ornaments, and our country no truer friends, than are found among them ; and be- fore we at the North sit in judgment upon their delin- quencies, let us endeavor to correct our own. In treating their slaves as humanity and religion de- 8 mand, they may be providential instruments of un- speakable and endless blessings, not only to those under their personal charge, but eventually to the whole African race. And such, we have not a doubt, they are destined to be ; without us, and to our shame, if they are forever separated from us by any fault of ours ; but with us, and to our mutual honoi', if we shall be united with them in the bonds of an affection- ate brotherhood. That so we may be, we will labor in hope. We will endeavor to diffuse over the entire length and breadth of the land, sentiments favorable to the lasting peace and prosperity of our nation. With these views and motives, we now organize ourselves into a Society, adopting the following CONSTITUTION. Article I. — ^This Association shall be called the Ajierican Society foe, Promoting National Unity. Art. II. — ^The object of the Society shall be to pro- mote the union and welfare of our common country, by addresses, publications, and all other suitable means, adapted to elucidate and inculcate, in accordance Avith the Word of God, the duties of American citizens, especially in relation to Slavery. Art. III. — ^The officers of the Society shall be a Pres- ident, Vice-Presidents, a Secretary or Secretaries, a Treasurer, and an Executive Committee. The Execu- tive Committee shall consist of twenty members, to- gether with the President, Secretary or Secretaries, and Treasurer. Art. IV. — ^The President, or in his absence, one appointed for the occasion, shall preside at meetings of 9 tlie Society; the Secretaries shall have charge of the correspondence ; and the Treasurer of the funds. Art. V. — ^The Executive Committee shall have power to admit auxiliaries, to call special meetings of the Society, and to employ all such means and agencies as they may deem necessary to promote the objects of the Society, and shall make a report of theii* doings at its annual meeting. Aet. VI. — ^The twenty members of the Committee shall consist of two divisions : one, of fifteen mem- bers, who shall be permanent ; the other, of five, who shall be elected annually by the Society. Vacancies in the former shall be filled, as they occur, by the Executive Committee, who shall also choose the Sec- retaries and Treasurer. When a member is to be chosen by the Executive Committee, the whole Com- mittee must be notified to that effect previous to the meeting at which the election is to take place, and the votes of three-fourths of those present at the balloting shall be necessary to a choice. Aet. VII. — At all meetings of the Executive Com- mittee, seven members shall be necessary to constitute a quorum, and all elections of officers, whether by the Coimnittee or the Society, shall be made by ballot. Aet. VIII. — All publications issued by the Society must first be examined and recommended by a Com- mittee of Publication appointed by the Executive Com- mittee, and be approved by three-fourths of the Execu- tive Committee present when the vote is taken. Aet. IX. — The annual meeting of the Society shall be in the City of New York, on the last Tuesday in November in each year, or at such other place and time as the Executive Committee may designate, when the Society shall choose its President, Vice-Presidents, 10 five members of the Executive Committee, Honorary and Corresponding Members; bear tbe report of tbe Treasm-er, and also tbe report of tbe doings of tbe pre- ceding year by tbe Executive Committee. Art. X. — Any person approving of tbe objects of tbis Society, may become a member of it by paying five dollars annually into tbe treasury, and a member for life by ]3aying fifty dollars at any one time. Art. XI. — ^Tbis Constitution may be altered at any annual meeting of tbe Society, on recommendation by two-tbirds of tbe wbole Executive Committee, and by tbe votes of tbree-fourtbs of tbe members present. AMERICAN SOCIETY f rwrnuting Uati0nal Initg. [LIST OF NAMEt PROPOSED.] Vice-Presidents. Rev. Gardiner Spring, D.D., New York. " Thornton Stringfellow, D.D., Culpeper Co., Va. " Nathan Lord, D.D., Hanover, N. H. Ex-Pres. Martin Van Buren, Kinderhook, N. Y. " Jolm Tyler, Sherwood Forest, Va. " Millard Fillmore, Buffiilo, N. Y. " Franklin Pierce, Concord, N. H. " James Buchanan, Lancaster, Pa. Hon. Lewis Cass, Detroit, Mich. " J. J. Crittenden, Lexington, Kentucky. Right Rev. George Burgess, D.D., Gardiner, Me. Carleton Chase, D.D,, Claremont, N. H. John H. Hopkins, D.D., LL.D., Burlington, Vt. Manton Eastburn, D.D., Boston, Mass. Thomas M. Clark, D.D., Providence, R. I. Thomas C. Brownell, D.D., LL.D., Hartford, Ct. Horatio Potter. D.D., LL.D., New York. Wm. H. De Lancey, D.D. LL.D., Geneva, N. Y. Wm. H. Odenheimer, D.D., Burlington, N. J. Alonzo Potter, D.D., LL.D., Philadelphia, Pa. Alfred Lee, D.D., Wilminpiton, Del. Wm. R. Whittingham, D.D., LL.D., Bait., ^fd. William Meade, D.D., Millwood, Va. Thomas Atkinson, D.D., Wilmington, N. C. Thomas F. Davis, D.D., Camden, S. C. Right Rev. Charles P. McTlvaine, D.D., Cincinnati, 0. " " Stephen Elliott, D.D., Savannah, Ga. " " Benjamin B. Smith, D.D., Louisville, Ky. " " James H. Otey, D.D., LL.D., Memphis, Tenn. " " William M. Green, D.D., Jackson, Mass. " " Leonidas Polk, D.D., New Orleans, La. " " Samuel A. McCoskry, D.D., Detroit, Mich. " " Henry J. Whitehouse, D.D., Chicago, III " " Francis H. Rutledge, D.D., Tallahassee, Flor. " " George Upfold, D.D., LL.D., Indianapolis, Ind. " Cicero S. Hawks, D.D., St. Louis, Mo. '* " Jackson Kemper, D.D., LL.D., Delafield, Wis. " " Alexander Greggs, D.D., Austin, Texas. " " Henry W. Lee, D.D., Davenport, Iowa. " " William I. Kip, D.D., San Francisco, Cal. " " Henry B. Whipple, D.D., Faribault, Minn. " Henry C. Lay, D.D., Fort Smith, Ark. " " Thomas F. Scott, D.D., Portland, Oregon. " " Joseph C. Talbot, D.D., Nebraska City. Hon. John Bell, Nashville, Tenn, " J. C. Breckenridge, Lexington, Ky. " Stephen A. Douglas, Chicago, 111. Mt. Rev. John Hughes, D.D., New York. " " Joseph S. Alemany, D.D., San Francisco, CaL " " Francis P. Kenrick, D.D., Baltimore, Md. " " John B. Purcell, D D., Cincinnati, 0. Rev. Samuel C. Aiken, D.D., Cleveland, O. Hon. James L. Petigru, Charleston, S. C. Rev. Nehemiah Adams, D.D., Boston, Mass. " Leonard Woods, D.D., Brunswick, Me. " J. H. Thorn well, D.D., Columbia, S. 0. " Richard Fuller, D.D., Baltimore, Md. " Thomas H. Skinner, D.D., New York, Hon. Samuel Houston, Austin, Texas. " Thos. Williams, New London, Ct. " Reverdy Johnson, Baltimore, Md. " Pliny Cutler, Boston, Mass. " Thos. S. Williams, Hartford, Ct, " George Bancroft, New York, Rev. Heman Humphrey, D.D., Pittsfield, Mass. Honorary Members. Hon. Edward Everett, Boston, Mass. " Herschel V. Johnston, Milledgeville, Georgia. " Joseph Lane, Oregon. " Daniel S. Dickinson, Binghamton, N. Y. Hon. John A. Dix, New York. " Benj. R. Curtiss, Boston, Mass. " Pliny Merrick, " " Hon. William Aiken, Charleston, S. C. Rev. William Adams, D D., New York. Hon. James J. Roosevelt, " A. T. Stewart, Esq., " Moses Taylor, Esq., " Prof. J. J. Owen, D.D., Ex-Gov. William Ellsworth, Hartford, Ct. Daniel Lord, Esq., New York. Rev. Samuel II. Cox, D.D., Le Roy, New York. " Robert Baird, D.D., " Hon. Reuben H. Walworth, Saratoga Springs, N. Y. Rev. Thomas De Witt, D.D., New York. " William R. Williams, D.D., " Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, Newark, N. J. Ex-Gov. Daniel Haines, Newark, N. J. Wilson G. Hunt, Esq., New York. Rev. B. M. Palmer, D.D., New Orleans, La. " J. L. Wilson, New York. " J. M. Krebs, D.D., New York. " Elbert S. Porter, D.D., Brooklyn, N. Y. " Geo. W. Blagden, D.D., Boston, Mass. " Gordon Winslow, D.D., Staten Island, N. Y. Hon. William Appleton, Boston, Mass. Stephen Colwell, Esq., Philadelphia, Pa. Ex-Chief Justice Shaw, Boston, Mass. Ex-Gov. Levi Lincoln, " Win. H. Appleton, Esq., New York, Hon. James Harper, " William B. Astor, Esq., " Hon. R. C. Winthrop, Boston, Mass. James Brown, Esq., New York. Henry Grinnell, Esq., " Gerard Hallock, Esq., " James Boorman, Esq., " Charles O'Conor, Esq., " Alex. Duncan, Esq., Providence, R. I. Robert J. Dillon, Esq., New York. Rev. M. J. Raphall, M. A., Ph. D., New York. Hon. Amos Kendall, Washington, D, C. William Williams, Esq., Norwicli, Ct. Hon. William W. Cutler, New London, Ct. Hon. John Aiken, Andover, Mass. " Asahel Huntington, Salem, Mass. Hon. Erastus Corning, Albany, N. Y. Hon. Stephen Salsbury, Worcester, Mass. Eev. Samuel Seabury, D.D., New York. Hon. Isaac Davis, Worcester, Mass. " William Eopes, Boston, " " Wni. Buckingham, Norwich, Ct. Rev. Francis L. Hawks, D.D., New York. Hon. Ether Shepley, Portland, Maine. James Brooks, Esq., New York. Hon. Auguste Belmont, " H. K. Cornins;, Esq., " Rev. M. S. Hutton, D.D., " Prof. W. C. Fowler, Durham, Ct. Richard C. Morse, Esq., New York. William M. Goodrich, Esq., " Rev. Joel Parker, D.D., " Hon. Wm. Sprague, Providence, E. I, " Samuel G. Arnold, " " " Peter D. Vroom, Trenton, N. J. " Robt. F. Stockton, Princeton, N. J. " Wm. C. Alexander, New York. " Jas. A. Bayard, AVilmington, Del. " W. Saulsbury, Georgetown. " Thos. E. Franklin, Lancaster, Pa. Hon. Alex. M. Doniphan, Liberty, Mo. Hon. John S. Phelps, Springfield, Mo. " Wm. S. Groesbeck, Cin., 0. " Benj. C. Howard, Baltimore, Md. ZenasBarnum, Esq., " " Hon. Stephen J. Logan, Springfield, HI. Gen. Wm. O. Butler, Carrollton, Ky. Hon. Jas. B. Clay, Ashland, " " Chas. J. Morehead, Louisville, Ky. " Chas. A. Wickliffe, Bardstown, " " Jas. Guthrie, Louisville, " Hon. Geo. Davis, Wilmington, N. C. " David S. Reid, Pleasantville, N. C. " David M. Barrenger, Raleigh, " " J. M. Morehead, Greensboro', " " Warren Winslow, Fayetteville, " " Jesse D. Bright, Jefferson ville, la. " Wm. C. Rives, Richmond, Ya. Wm. F. Ritchie, Esq., " " Augustus Willis, Esq., New Orleans, La. Hon. James E. Badger, Raleigh, N. C. " William Biglcr, Clearfield, Pa. Rev. Amos Blanchard, D.D., Lowrell, Mass. Hon. E. M. T. Hunter, Lloyds, Essex Co., Ya. Hon. F. K. Zollicoffer, Nashville, Tenn. " A. O. P. Nicholson, Columbia, Tenn. Hon. Washington Hunt, Lockport, N. Y. Thos. W. Ludlow, Esq., Youkers, " Hon. Francis Granger, Canandaigua, N, Y. Hon. Horatio Seymour, Utica, N. Y. Hon. D. D. Barnard, Albany, N. Y. Gen. Peter Gansevoort, " " Hon. Geo. B. Warren, Troy, " " Gouverneur Kemble, Cold Springs, N. Y , Lieut. Gen. Winfield Scott, New York. Aaron Vanderpool, Esq., " Eobt. B. Minturn, Esq., " Aug. Schell, Esq., " Hon. John Cochrane, " Greene C. Bronson, Esq., " John J. Cisco, Esq., " Eoyal Phelps, Esq., " Stewart Brown, Esq., " Jas. T. Brady, Esq., " Watts Sherman, Esq., " Hiram Ketchum, Esq., " John Kelly, Esq., " Isaac Bell,, Esq., " Hon. Gulian C. Verplanck, " John McKeon, Esq., " Chas. Aug. Davis, Esq., " G. B. Lamar, Esq., " Daniel F. Tiemann, Esq., " Peter Cooper, Esq., " Daniel Devlin, Esq., " John C. Hamilton, Esq., " Edward S. Pierrepont, Esq., " Edward Haight, Esq., " Jas. S. Thayer, Esq., " Wm. F. Havemeyer, Esq., " William G. Lambert, Esq., " John Stoddard, Esq., Savannah, Ga. Hon. John E. Brodhead, New York. Hon. B. Mordecai, Charleston, S. C. Eev. Mr. Jacobs, Eichmond, Va. Hon. Solomon Cohen, Savannah, Ga. Eev. James K. Gutheim, New Orleans, La. " J. Blumenthal, Montgomery, Ala. Mas Mayer, Esq., Lynchburg, Va. 6 Corresponding Members. Eev. Geo. W. Du Bois, Cleveland, Ohio. " Neal Cleveland, Southampton, L, I., N. " Fredk. A. Boss, D.D., Huntsville, Ala. " Thos. Smythe, D.D., Charleston, S. C. " H. J. Van Dyke, Brooklyn, N. Y. " Joseph C. Stiles, D.D., Richmond, Va. Henry A. Du Bois, M. D.. New Haven, Ct. Rev. Dr. Riddle, Jersey City, N. J. " J. G. Hamner, D.D., Newark, N. J. " Henry Neill, D.D., Detroit, Mich. Fredk. Croswell, Esq., New Haven, Ct. W60 .0^ -"^ - - ^ 4 CL 0^ «.^-^- ^ A? ^ "'• .Va;<; u .^'' /^'-^ V^-* .'aV4 \y:f WIPT 5" * A^"^ ^ wcr. 1 BOOKBINDINC 0^ *i^^L% ^^ °o '^J