Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, 28 November 1843, John Frierson Copy
Source Note
[JS and others], Memorial, , Hancock Co., IL, to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, , 28 Nov. 1843; handwriting of ; docket in handwriting of ; six pages; JS Office Papers, CHL.
any such purpose, or for any purpose whatever. Our property was seized by the Mob, or lawlessly Confiscated by the , and we were forced at the point of the byonet to sign deeds of trust relinquishing our property, but the exterminating Order of the of is still in force and we dare not return to claim our just rights—— the widows and Orphans of those slain, who could legally sign no deeds of Trust, dare not return to claim their the inheritance <left them by their murdered parents.> It is true the Constitution of the gives to us, in common with all other native or adopted Citizens, the right to enter and settle in , but an executive order has been issued to exterminate us if we enter the , and that part of the Constitution becomes a nullity so far as we are Concerned.
Had any foreign State or power committed a similar outrage upon us, we cannot for a moment doubt that the strong arm of the general government would have been stretched out to redress our wrongs, and we cannot but flatter ourselves that the same power will either redress our grievances or shield us from harm in our efforts to regain our lost property, which we fairly purchased from the Genl. government. Finally your Memorialists, pray your honorab[l]e body to take their wrongs into Consideration, receive testimony in the case, and grant such relief as by the Constitution and Laws you may have power to give.
TEXT: Damage to this page obscures some of the words on this and the following two lines. At a later time, the obscured letters were retraced in a darker ink.