Footnotes
Letter to John C. Bennett, 7 Mar. 1842. In July 1841 three men were arrested near Palmyra, Missouri, for attempting to help local slaves escape to Canada; they were later sentenced to twelve years in prison.
“Correspondence,” Genius of Liberty (Lowell, IL), 19 Feb. 1842, 1.
Genius of Liberty. Lowell, IL. 1840–1842.
“Gov. Duncan,” Alton (IL) Telegraph and Democratic Review, 14 May 1842, [2].
Alton Telegraph and Democratic Review. Alton, IL. 1841–1850.
Jove, also known as Jupiter, was the supreme deity of the ancient Romans. “Bird of Jove” commonly referred to the eagle, which is a prominent figure in the Great Seal of the United States. (“Bird,” in Oxford English Dictionary, 1:872–873; see also, for example, “Col. Johnson and the Repealers,” Liberator [Boston], 25 Feb. 1842, [4]; Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 22, pp. 338–339, 20 June 1782.)
Oxford English Dictionary. Compact ed. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Liberator. Boston. 1831–1865.
Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789. 34 vols. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1904–1937.
The mythical Upas tree was said to be so poisonous that no flora grew within ten to twelve miles of it. The allusion was commonly used in nineteenth-century America, including by abolitionists to describe the scourge of slavery. (“Upas,” in Oxford English Dictionary, 11:419–420; Foersch, “Description of the Poison-Tree,” 513; see also, for example, Sarah Grimké, “Women Subject Only to God,” Liberator [Boston], 5 Jan. 1838, [4].)
Oxford English Dictionary. Compact ed. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Foersch, J. N. “Description of the Poison-Tree, in the Island of Java.” London Magazine; or, Gentleman’s Monthly Intelligencer 52 (Dec. 1783): 512–517.
Liberator. Boston. 1831–1865.
JS had also asked Bennett this question in his 7 March 1842 letter. (Letter to John C. Bennett, 7 Mar. 1842.)