Letter from Maria Weston Chapman, New York [City], 46 W[est] 17th St[reet], [NY], to Anne Greene Chapman Dicey, Saturday, Nov. 22, 1862

Item Information

Title:
Letter from Maria Weston Chapman, New York [City], 46 W[est] 17th St[reet], [NY], to Anne Greene Chapman Dicey, Saturday, Nov. 22, 1862
Addressee:
Dicey, Anne Greene Chapman, d. 1879
Author:
Chapman, Maria Weston, 1806-1885
Date:
November 22, 1862
Format:
Letters/Correspondence
Manuscripts
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Anti-Slavery Collection
Subjects:
Antislavery movements--United States--History--19th century
Women abolitionists--Massachusetts--Boston--19th century--Correspondence
Liberty
Antislavery movements--United States
Women abolitionists--United States
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
United States--Politics and government
Dicey, Anne Greene Chapman, d. 1879
Bancroft, George, 1800-1891
Chapman, Maria Weston, 1806-1885
Places:
Massachusetts > Suffolk (county) > Boston
Extent:
2 leaves (16 p.) ; 7 1/8 x 4 5/8 in.
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/qz20t379s
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Place of origin:
New York [City], 46 W[est] 17th St[reet], [NY]
Language:
English
Notes:
Holograph, signed.
In this letter, Maria Weston Chapman tells some gossip about an Englishwoman, Mrs. Rebecca Lee. Chapman describes her room, apparently in the house of her son, Henry Grafton Chapman. The last elections in New York are not as bad as they look. Chapman says: "They have only 10,000 majority, & the Army opinion, shown by the easy relinquishment of McClellan to be Republican, more than overbalances that." Chapman points out that "we, one half of the North, are held back from victory by the mistaken political policy cherished by the other half." She reports on certain predictions concerning the war. She says: "I am one in heart with the blind masses of our people, who give themselves so devotedly for the unity of the country..." She believes that the majority of the thinking people are doubtful about the final issue; "but they dare not say to, for it would be treason in a sort, ...But I have never heard one single person express the slightest doubt of success, ..." Foreigners think that division is an accomplished fact and suppression of the rebellion impossible. Chapman expresses her political philosophy. Chapman says: "Ultimately I am sure of Union by Freedom." She points out that "the Negroes are free:--virtually so, as I trust & we are more free than I ever remember." A great educational work remains to be done. "When the north permitted the south in 1837 to rifle her mail-bags, she ensured the reign of force for a reason." She describes guests for tea at the Jay's, including "old [George] Bancroft, noisy because he is deaf--the same affected sycophant he used to be, but now an Abolitionist & all his conversation of nothing but Freedom..."
Identifier:
3133098
Call #:
Ms.A.9.2 v.31, p.27
Barcode:
39999066788959
mq8390746