Jan 16, 1836
Under the “Slavery Record” There is a record of a meeting of the proslavery citizens of Athens and Limestone County, to consider how to respond to “an organized band of abolition fanatics of the northern states” naming some of them with a capitalization of “Birney”, “whose sole and avowed object is to sow the seed of discord, rapine, and murder among the slaves of the south ……. Shall we fold our arms and be still until the storm sweeps over us and the earth shakes beneath us? No. We declare to the world that we will defend our liberties and our property which the constitution of our country has guaranteed to us; but having rights and knowing them, we shall dare maintain them….”
In resolutions the meeting then goes on to appoint a “committee of vigilance” whose duty it shall be to apprehend any suspicious persons and bring them before the committee for examination.
The issues then includes a long response from Birney, beginning of page 1 and continued on page 4.
February 13, 1836
The story of an Anti-Abolition meeting, Jan 22, with the Mayor acting as President. The meeting refers to the foundation of the nation and the discussion of the fact that the South “was found in possession of a kind of property which did not exist to any extent in the Middle and Eastern states; after a full and thorough discussion the compact of the union was consummated, leaving to the slave states, the discretion of settling the momentous question in their own way, and in their own good time; the implied guarantee was thus promulgated, that slave property should be held sacred by the Constitution, and protected by the Laws.”
At this meeting Birney was heard in defense of the Abolitionists, but shouts and accusations hurled at him made it impossible for him to complete his defense. The anti-abolition resolutions were passed. Discussion includes references that the whole history of the negroes shows that they are incapable of freedom, and that “They would be better off in slavery.”
January 8, 1841
An article signed by James Birney, E. Wright, Jr. and Henry B. Stanton, with a statement opposing the creation of a third political party. It deprecates “the formation of a distinct anti-slavery political party …. Or any effort to unite our interest with any existing party…”
February 13, 1852
Under the Refuge of Oppression column there are excerpts from a pamphlet by Birney, “addressed to the free colored people, taking the detestable colonization position, that they can never be elevated in this country, and therefore advising them to expatriate themselves to Liberia!”
December 4, 1857
The death of Birney is recognized, with a recounting of his major accomplishments. He was highly courteous and dignified in his manners, less able as a speaker than as a writer, true to his convictions, and devoid of sectarian malevolence.”
On another page of this issue is a New York Herald story of Birney’s death.
