Meeting Of Colored Citizens

    Source citation
    "Meeting Of Colored Citizens," Rochester (NY) Frederick Douglass' Paper, January 8, 1852.
    Author (from)
    John Jones and Joseph H. Barguet
    Newspaper: Publication
    Rochester (NY) Frederick Douglass' Paper
    Newspaper: Headline
    Meeting of Colored Citizens
    Type
    Newspaper
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Transcriber
    Michael Blake
    Transcription date
    The following text is presented here in complete form, as it originally appeared in print. Spelling and typographical errors have been preserved as in the original.
    MEETING OF COLORED CITIZENS.
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    A meeting of the colored citizens of Chicago, was held in the A.M.E. Church, on Jackson street, on Tuesday evening, the 9th inst., for the purpose of raising means to aid the Christiana sufferers, who are being tried in Pennsylvania for the crime of treason against the United States.

    John Jones was called to the chair, and J.H. Barguet appointed Secretary.

    On motion, H.O. Wagoner, Wm. Johnson, and Wm. Brown, were appointed a committee to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of the meeting. After a short absence, the chairman of the committee Mr. Wagoner, reported the following preamble and resolutions, which were taken up and unanimously adopted:

    Whereas, On the 11th of September last, near Christiana, Pa., an attempt was made to arrest several human beings, alleged to have escaped from Baltimore county, Maryland, where they were unjustly claimed as property; and, whereas, said persons believing that "Nature having made no slaves, all are, therefore, entitled to Liberty!" Assuming this to be true, they nobly contended for, (and nothing more than,) their God given rights, though not without the loss of the lives of two of their number, and risk of several others, who are now in Pa., charged with the high crime of treason against the U.S.; and, whereas, their case is soon to be tried by a legal tribunal for adjudication, and they be acquitted or condemned, they will therefore need wise and able counsel in their defense, therefore,

    Resolved, 1. That we believe they are suffering unjustly, and that our sympathies should not be withheld from them, we therefore recommend that this meeting contribute promptly, according to its means, to aid the suffering and distressed families of the Christiana heroes, and to assist in employing counsel for their defense.

    2d. That this meeting appoint a committee of three, to receive donations for the above mentioned object, and to forward the same, as soon as practicable, to the proper committee at Philadelphia.

    3d. That if Kossuth for his noble deeds of valor, in behalf of liberty to his downtrodden fellow countrymen deserves to be landed to the skies, and heralded with the greatest enthusiasm, from one extremity of civilization to the other, then, surely, the brave and simple hearted heroes of Christiana, who under the most discouraging circumstances, have nobly and honorably stood forth in defense of the same vital principles of liberty, and, therefore, equally deserve commendation for adding another lasting evidence to that universal and progressive truth, that "resistance to tyrants is obedience to God;" and that life, without liberty, is not worth preserving.

    The following gentlemen were appointed under the second resolution: William Johnson, H.O. Wagoner, and J.H. Barguet.
    The ladies of the "Chicago Mutual Protection," subscribed, through their President, Mrs. Bradford, the sum of ten dollars.
    The chairman of the committee, Mr. Johnson, was duly empowered to receive subscriptions from the public.

    The amount raised at the meeting was Twenty-four dollars.

    Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be published in the daily papers, and papers opposed to the Fugitive Law, be requested to copy.

    JOHN JONES, Chairman.
    JOSEPH H. BARGUET, Secretary.
    How to Cite This Page: "Meeting Of Colored Citizens," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/1805.