SPEECH ON TAKING THE CHAIR AS PRESIDING OFFICER OF A PUBLIC MEETING
TO RATIFY THE NOMINATIONS OF THE BUFFALO CONVENTION, AT FANEUIL HALL,
AUGUST 22, 1848.
A Convention of the Free States was held at Buffalo, August 9, 1848,
where Martin Van Buren was nominated as President of the United States,
and Charles Francis Adams as Vice-President. Resolutions, known as
the Buffalo Platform, were adopted, declaring opposition to Slavery
wherever we are responsible for it. Among those who took part in the
Convention were S.P. Chase, of Ohio, and Preston King, of New York. The
proceedings were marked by great unanimity and enthusiasm.
A mass meeting was held at Faneuil Hall on the evening of August 22,
1848, to receive the report of the delegates at Buffalo. The meeting
was organized by the choice of the following officers:--Charles
Sumner, President;--Dr. John Ware, Franklin Haven, Levi Boles, William
Washburn, S.D. Bates, Sumner Crosby, Benjamin Rogers, Henry Lee, Jr.,
Joseph Willard, Samuel Neal, Dr. Walter Channing, Allen C. Spooner,
William B. Spooner, Rev. J.W. Olmstead, Dr. S.G. Howe, Lemuel Capen,
Simeon Palmer, Dr. H.I. Bowditch, S.P. Adams, Thomas Bulfinch, Charles
G. Davis, Bradford Sumner, David H. Williams, and James M. Whiton,
Boston; John C. Dodge, Cambridge; Samuel S. Curtis, Samuel Downer,
Jr., William Richardson, Dorchester; William S. Damrell, John Shorey,
Dedham; William C. Brown, Chelsea; T.P. Chandler, Brookline; Charles
Shute, Hingham; F.A. Kingsbury, Weymouth; Theodore Otis, Charles Ellis,
George W. Bond, Elijah Lewis, Roxbury; John B. Alley, Lynn; Thomas S.
Harlow, Medford; Charles Foster, Somerville; William H. Keith, Jas. G.
Fuller, Charlestown; George Newcomb, Quincy; Vice-Presidents;--Marcus
Morton, Jr., John S. Eldridge, Charles W. Slack, David Thaxter, Francis
Standish, J. Otis Williams, Dr. W.J. Whitney, Charles A. Phelps,
Boston; Charles Ingersoll, Cambridge; Secretaries.
This catalogue may have an interest for persons curious to know who at
that time enlisted in the movement.
On taking the chair, Mr. Sumner made the speech below, and then
introduced Richard H. Dana, Jr., Esq., of Boston, a delegate to the
Buffalo Convention, who reported what had been done there. He was
followed by John A. Andrew, Esq., who moved a series of resolutions
affirming the principles declared at Buffalo and ratifying the
nominations. The reading of these was continually interrupted by
applause. Mr. Sumner then introduced David Dudley Field, Esq., of New
York, who insisted at length upon the prohibition of slavery in the
Territories. Then came Rev. Joshua Leavitt, representing the Liberty
Party, now dissolved in the Free-Soil Party. The meeting was singularly
auspicious.