LETTER OF
The GOSPEL TRUTH CHARLES G. FINNEY
1861
To the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States
December 1861
[MS in "Judiciary Committee, Petitions", House of Representatives Papers, National Archives. The start of the document is in an unknown hand-writing; the signatures are by the signatories; the annotations e.g. "(Prof. O.C.)" and the final paragraph are in the handwriting of James Monroe]
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States.
The undersigned citizens of Oberlin Ohio respect-
fully ask you in the name of God, of Justice, of Human-
ity, of Liberty, and of sound policy, to take immediate
measures to abolish slavery in the U.S. and render its future
existence in the same forever impossible.
C. G. Finney (Pres. O.C.)
John Morgan (Prof O.C.)
Geo N. Allen (Prof. O.C.)
J. H. Fairchild (Prof. O.C.)
Henry Cowles (Prof.)
John Keep
E. H. Fairchild (Prin. O.C.)
M. W. Fairfield
G. Fairchild
Nathaniel Gerrish
J. M. Fitch
George Kinney
D. P. Reamer
S. W. Cole
Saml Plumb
H. R. Davidson
H. E. Peck (Prof. O.C.)
J. L. Patton
D. Bushnell
J. M. Ellis
A. P. Cleaveland
E. J. Goodrich
Danl E Roberts
Hiram A Pease
Fay Hopkins
N. W. St John
C. Danforth
P. Hamilton
J. L. Burrell
I. Jennings
M. Leonard
I. Ind
Stephen Hull
Alfred Beecher
Isaac Penfield
E. A. Hoyt
U Thompson
J. D. Millard
Fayette Shipherd
J. R. Shipherd
Edward B. Weed
Albert H Weed
Frank Hendry
David Brokaw
Marx Steans
J M Johnson
[page 2]
Saml Hendry
J. T. Siddall
James Hull
O, S, B, Wall
A, Gillett,
S. B. Ellis
Geo. P. Wyeth
J. K. Hewett
William Bailey
James Bailey
Hamilton Hill
J. P. Bardwell
J. E. Patterson
N. H. Townsend
Madison Miner
J. M. Langston
J. B. Davison
W. P. Harris
W. Alexander
C. H. Churchill.
Thomas P Turner
W Beckwith
A. N. Beecher
Wm Honey
Wm. Ingersoll
S. Bedortha
C. M. Leonard
Chas H. Penfield Prof O.C.
Joseph Davison
C. H. Langston
E. W. Andrews
J. Jewell
Samuel Rossiter
John Hough
Geo Stevens
J. M. Merrill
J. R. McCormick.
I respectfully ask
that Congress enact into
a law Hon. Mr. Bingham's
Emancipation Bill.
James Monroe.
[Endorsed]:
Petition of Pres
C. G. Phinney and
82 other citizens of
Oberlin Ohio asking
Congress to abolish
Slavery in the United
States---
Jan.6.1862. referred to the
Comm. on the Judiciary
-----
Blake
The text of this petition, with slight alterations, was published in The Oberlin Evangelist, Vol. 24 (15 January 1862), p. 16, with the following note:
The form of petition (herewith) for the immediate abolition of slavery, is from the pen of President Finney.
and it was accompanied by the following editorial comment:
A petition so brief as this of necessity precludes specifications as the views held by the petitioners respecting the manner of the action desired. But it will be of course, assumed and understood that Congress will attempt to exercise no other power than what is legitimate to them and constitutional; and also that they will exercise this in modes determined by their own wisdom. We ask them to use such power as they have, and if need be all they have, to compass an end so essential to the favor of God, and to the peace, morals, and even existence of the nation.
The House Journals for the 37th Congress indicate that no further action was taken on this petition.
This document may possibly have contributed to the tradition that Finney had written to Abraham Lincoln. (See A. L. Shumway and C. DeW. Brower, Oberliniana, p. 76.)