January 13, 1843
A call for more petitions, signed by H.I. Bowditch, indicates that at least twenty thousand names, exclusive of Suffolk County, have been secured on petitions, and assurance that there are at least twenty thousand other names not yet turned in …. Announces a postponement of the date for collecting the names, so that these others may be gathered in time for presentation to the legislature.
January 20, 1843
An announcement of the Latimer Committee that they now have forty eight thousand names on petitions, and the goal is to have one hundred thousand “sons and daughters of Massachusetts against slavery in their own state.”
February 3, 1843
Several columns of “Correspondence between the Authorities of Virginia and the Executive of Massachusetts, relative to the Latimer Case.” There is also an account of a “Latimer Convention”, and actions taken to encourage petitions to the Mass. Legislature, with a warning that “so long as Massachusetts has upon her statute books enactments which proscribe or allow that corporation dependent upon the Legislature for existence, to proscribe, abuse, or assault colored citizens, all her remonstrances with the South against slavery, will have but little influence, since precepts are comparatively useless without practice….”
February 3, 1843
Resolutions in support of petitions in the Latimer case, and a resolution for the liberation of three men, including George Thompson, jailed in Missouri for helping a slave escape.
February 3, 1843
62,791 people have signed petition to the state legislature, and 48,000 to the US Congress. John Quincy Adams was selected to take charge of the petitions to Congress.
February 10, 1843
There is an account of the meeting of a large meeting of colored citizens at the Belknap-street church, Feb 1st. The meeting, among other actions, affirms support of the Latimer petitions, of laws supporting the right of intermarriage, and the Liberator.
February 17, 1843
Celebrating and congratulating themselves on the collection of the petitions, a note at the end of this report says: “The petition was carried on the shoulders of the county delegates, to the Representatives’ Hall, and the business of the House was suspended while it was received.”
March 3, 1843
A very long report, taking a large portion of the paper, concludes with an act to submit to the legislature an Act “Further to Protect Personal Liberty”. It includes a statement that “No sheriff, deputy-sheriff, coroner, constable, jailor, or other officer of the Commonwealth , shall hereafter arrest or detain, or aid in the arrest or detention, or imprisonment in any jail or other building of the Commonwealth, or to any county, city, or town thereof, of any person for the reason that he is claimed as a fugitive slave.” It further indicates that violation of this act shall result in a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars or one year in the county jail for each offence.
March 17, 1843
“The Massachusetts petition consists of a roll of paper two feet wide, two feet in diameter,, and more than half a mile long, to which are attached the separate petitions received from 205 towns in the State, duly credited and arranged, under their respective counties, and from 26 other towns, names unknown…..” The item goes on to list by counties 64,526 who signed petitions to the Massachusetts Legislature, and 51,862 who signed petitions to the Congress.
Jun 23, 1843
Here reference is to a committee, headed by Wendell Phillips, appointed to meet with Tyler, upon his coming to Boston, to urge him to emancipate his slaves. On the committee are George Latimer and Charles Lenox Remond.