Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, circa 16 December 1843–12 February 1844, Draft
Source Note
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , JS, , and , Draft of Memorial, , Hancock Co., IL, to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, , 21 Dec. 1843; handwriting of , , and ; docket in handwriting of ; twenty-four pages; JS Office Papers, CHL.
To the honorable senators & House <and> of Representatives of the in Congress assembled.
We, the undersigned <members of the city council of the <city> of& of the county of Illinois & citizens of Ill.> citizens of the & exiles from the state of <being in council assembled, unanimously & respectfully for ourselves & in behalf of many thousands of other exiles> and at the present time residents of the state of do again humble and respectfully memorialize the honorable Senators and representatives of our <the> nation upon the subject of the unparalleled persecutions and cruelties inflicted upon us <& upon our constituents> by the constituted authorities of the state of , <likewise upon the subject of the present unfortunate circumstances in which we are placed in the land of our exile> As a history of these <> outrages has been extensively published both in this & in Europe we <it is deemed> deemed it unnecessary to particularize all of our <the> wrongs and grievances <inflicted upon us> in this memorial Besides <As> there is have<are> an abundance of well attested documents to which your honorable bodies body can at any time refer. hence you we only embody a few <the following> important items for your consideration which
<First,> Your memorialist as free born citizens of this great relying with the utmost confidence upon the sacred “Articles of the Confederation” by which the several states were <are> bound together considering ourselves entitled to all the priviledges and immunities of free citizens in what state soever we hada desire<d> to locate ourselves, commenced a settlement in the county of on the western frontiers of the state of in the summer of 1831. There we purchased lands from government erected several hundred houses made extensive inprovements and in a short<ly> timeafter our settlement the wild and lonely prairies and stately forests were converted into well cultivated and fruitful fields. There we expected to spend [p. 1]