Assassination Plot Over Slavery! Millard Fillmore ANS

Autograph letter signed by Charles Mulligan, Jr. to President Millard Fillmore. Amherst, [Massachusetts], 26 February 1851. 1 page, 4to, 7 3/4 x 9 3/4 in. With address panel to integral leaf with North Amherst postal stamp and "Free" franking stamp, with contemporary cancellation. WITH Autograph note signed by President Millard FILLMORE, to the Deputy Post Master at North Amherst. Washington D.C., 2 March 1851. Written below Mulligan ALS in magenta ink.

An incredible presidential artifact from the turmoil of the Fugitive Slave Act, the Compromise of 1850, and the violent debates over the future of slavery in the United States.

Here, a Amherst, Massachusetts "well wisher" writes a letter directly to the President to warn him of a threat: "I accidentally became aware that it is a notorious fact that by a private meeting in this vicinity, thy life is deliberately premeditated in case you say one word more in favor of that (as they call it) black slave…I find it to be a notorious fact that eight able-bodied men of true steel (as men) have been chosen to leave for Washington City tomorrow morning as spies to lay in wait for your life in case another move is [made] to favor slavery & only write you this short epistle that you may look out for them."

Whether this was a legitimate warning letter, or written as an attempt to intimidate the President, Fillmore took it seriously enough to respond directly to the Postmaster in North Amherst on the letter itself: "Sir, Can you inform me who wrote the above [?]“

As Vice President, Fillmore presided over the Senate which was debating how to handle slavery within the western territories newly acquired in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War. President Taylor desired the new territories to be free, but Fillmore supported the expansion of slavery into those states in order to appease the south, stating, "God knows that I detest slavery, but it is an existing evil...and we must endure it and give it such protection as is guaranteed by the Constitution." Upon Taylor's untimely death, Fillmore became President and the so-called "Compromise of 1850" proposed by Stephen Douglas prevailed and was signed into law. The Fugitive Slave Act was a part of this "Compromise" and deeply enraged the Northern abolitionists, many of whom had previously supported his Whig candidacy and felt profoundly betrayed. Whether or not the threat outlined here was credible, it was certainly plausible given the deep unrest Fillmore's stance on enslavement engendered among abolitionists.

Condition: minor even toning, some creasing and old folds.

[Presidents, Signatures, Manuscripts, Letters, Ephemera, Documents, African Americana, African American History, Slavery, Abolition, Enslavement, Emancipation, Politics, Assassination, Fugitive Slave Act, Bleeding Kansas, Compromise of 1850]