SOUTHERN AND WESTERN LIBERTY CONVENTION. A SOUTHERN AND WESTERN CONVENTION OF THE FRIENDS OF CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY, WILL BE HELD IN THE CITY OF CINCINNATI, ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1845 by [Chase, Salmon P.] [Liberty Party] - 1845

[Cincinnati, 1845. Folio sheet, folded to 8" x 10". [4]pp. Printed in typescript on rectos only, addressed in manuscript, with postal cancel, on page [4], to John W. Anderson, Columbus, Ohio; with ink signature of future U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Samuel P. Chase: 'S.P. Chase 1845.' Remnant of red seal. Couple of short tape repairs at folds. Very Good.

This is the rare invitation to a significant anti-slavery conference. Future Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, leader of the Bar's efforts to assure legal protections to blacks and alleged fugitives, presided as one of four men issuing this Call on March 10, 1845, and signed this document.
Seeking a diversity of political views, the Convention sought the attendance, not merely of "members of the Liberty Party, but of all who, 'BELIEVING THAT WHATEVER IS WORTH PRESERVING IN REPUBLICANISM CAN BE MAINTAINED, ONLY, BY ETERNAL AND UNCOMPROMISING WAR AGAINST THE CRIMINAL USURPATIONS OF THE SLAVE POWER'." Chase and his fellows "look for a large and imposing Convention of the friends of freedom and free labor, and hope for a numerous attendance from the slave holding States."
Relying on the sentiments of the Founders expressed in the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, the Northwest Ordinance, and other contemporary writings, the Liberty Party and this Convention argued that, although the Nation was founded on the premise that Slavery was evil, Slavery has nevertheless taken hold of both major parties. This was probably the Liberty Party's era of greatest success, having received sufficient votes to deny the presidency in 1844 to Henry Clay. It later metamorphosed into the Free Soil Party and, finally, the Republicans.
Not in American Imprints, LCP, Sabin, Dumond, Blockson. Not on OCLC or the online sites of Samuel May Collection, AAS, Newberry, NYPL, Yale, Harvard as of May 2021.