LETTER: ALS to an American politician.
Prominent Abolitionist’s Letter to an American Politician
[Abolition] Swisshelm, Jane Grey. Autograph letter signed, “Jane Grey Swisshelm,” to Leon (T?) McMillan, Leipzig, Saxony, July 31, 1876.
One 8-1/2 x 11” leaf, folded to make four pages, all sides covered; written in black ink; fine.
In this lengthy letter to an American politician, Swisshelm describes her career fighting against slavery and requests a government appointment. In 1848, she founded a weekly abolitionist newspaper, The Pittsburg Saturday Visitor, and writes proudly, “…the Anti-Slavery men…had abandoned hope of supporting a paper in Pittsburgh, when I started The Pittsburgh Saturday Visitor, with my own means, & at my own risk.” She goes on to discuss her dealings with Senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist who was violently beaten by another Congressman, Preston Brooks, for speaking out against the Fugitive Slave Act and the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1856. Swisshelm writes, “Charles Sumner was up at [ ], recovering from the Brooks’ assault, and I went up to consult him about [the Visitor], but he urged me to hold fast, encouraged me by saying that I had been, and would be, of great service to the cause. He had been a subscriber from the first, & was in a position to know. Burlingame also wished that I would ‘hold the fort,’ & carry the Visiter through the campaign. This was in the summer of ’56…”
Swisshelm also describes how her press was destroyed by a pro-slavery mob in 1860:
…they destroyed my press & threatened my life. I lived, most of a year, under constant guard of armed men, delivered my first public address after making my will, in the morning…The Democrats made me press a State issue…the mob that tried to break up the meeting burned me in effigy…
I did not go into those places for notoriety, but because I had been commanded to open my mouth for the dumb & plead the cause of the poor & needy. I established the Anti-Slavery papers when no man was found able & willing to do it. The greatest & best men of the day endorsed my action and sought my assistance in our warfare against slavery.
After detailing her achievements, Swisshelm addresses her main reason for writing—her request to be appointed as consul. She writes:
If the Government should appoint me to the place I ask, I would not open the door for any sudden rush or revolution…I have spent years (illegible) business in offices, with men, where there was no other woman. I have spent months in hospitals among men, the only woman there, & so far as I know, no scandal ever attached to my name. I think I have the peculiar characteristics required in this place, to save American women from the insult to which they are now subject…
The United States ought to stretch out her hands, across the ocean, to guard those of her daughters who come here for educational advantages not to be had at home. A suitable consul could be of great use to them & the appointment of a woman to the office would be a national recognition of the courage which leads them to seek better advantages than they can find at home…I think I could do more in this line than any one else, & do all the ordinary duties of the office in regular order.
Respectfully,
Jane Grey Swisshelm
Swisshelm founded another newspaper, The Reconstructionist, after the Civil War ended, but the paper was shut down by the government after Swisshelm repeatedly criticized President Andrew Johnson. There is no record of any further positions held by Swisshelm after she attended the Prohibition Party convention in 1872 as a delegate, indicating that this job request was not granted.
(#9419)
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