PA Politician Writes About Abolitionist Samuel Aaron's Fight At The Black Guard For Sale

BENJAMIN E. CHAIN (October 15, 1823 – March 28, 1893) studied law and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in the fall of 1844. In 1850, he became the first elected district attorney in the county’s history. He was also president of a local gas company and helped to form the First National Bank of Norristown. He also served as senior warden of St. John’s Episcopal Church.

Offering three ALSs, all written in March 1854, to his wife Louisa with some interesting content regarding a confrontation involving abolitionist SAMUEL AARON and James Buchannan’s prospects for the presidency. Aaron was an educator, Baptist minister, a staunch anti-slavery supporter, manager of the American Anti-Slavery Society and Vice President, Executive Committee of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.

These letters were written at a time when debates over slavery had reached an unprecedented emotional intensity. As the decade of the 1850s advanced, a number of abolitionists had been murdered in Kansas and a radical abolitionist – John Brown – had in retaliation murdered five settlers loosely affiliated with the proslavery party. Buchanan felt that slavery should be left to the individual states and territories to decide for themselves. Buchanan was elected in 1856. Shortly after his election, the Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott Case, which held that because slaves and former slaves were not citizens, they had no right to sue for their freedom in a U.S. court of law. The court also declared unconstitutional the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which banned slavery in part of the Louisiana Purchase. Thus, the country was split on the slavery issue leading up to the Civil War.

*In his 1 1/3 pp, 8 x 10, March 2, 1854, ALS, Chain writes in small part, “...Your letter was received this morning and with it came a letter from Nathaniel Jacob containing a full description of the celebrated encounter between Samuel Aaron & Pease. Now [from] his description, it must have been a terrific scene where when Samu’l walked up to Smith with a clutched fist under his nose said ‘It is a lie.’ Some person should have kicked him out. But let them fight the black guard always will show itself in Samuel Aaron...”

*In his 1 ¼ pp, 8 x 10, March 3, 1854, Chain writes from the House of Representatives at Harrisburg. Very interesting Buchanan content. “...Politicians are here busy with their particular feelings & interests...I have met some old friends...Mr. Buchanan...will carry the delegates of Pennsylvania, will after all have but an empty triumph, for he has enemies here who are prepared to go to any length in order to defeat his nomination at the Baltimore Convention....I am unable to attend to business in consequence of the excitement which exists about politics...”

*In his one-page, 5 x 7 ½, March 6, 1854, ALS, Chain writes in small part, “...The delegates to the Convention tomorrow are arriving fast. It is probable that we shall go to Philadelphia on Thursday morning...”

Folds. Letters are easy to read and in excellent condition.

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