LOVEJOY, Owen. Letter signed ("Owen Lovejoy") as Pastor of the Congregational Church of Princeton, Illinois. Addressed to Reverend Milton Badger who served as Secretary of the American Home Missionary Society in New York. Dover, Illinois. 30 December 1846. 1p leaf in a 3pp letter, 7 1/2 x 9 3/4 in. (creasing, small tears at folds, small loss at docketing on verso). Verso with docketing "Cong. Ch. Dover, Ill. Decr. 30, 1846 - Apply for $100 aid in support of Rev. A. Nichols, 12 mos. from Nov. 1 1846. - Recommended by Rev. A. Donaldson & O. Lovejoy."

Lovejoy, a well-known clergyman and anti-slavery crusader, writes to the American Missionary Society in support of  another minister who requires financial assistance to preach to his small congregation in Illinois. At the time this letter was signed, he was garnering increasing public prominence as an aboliotionist and conductor on the Underground Railroad. By the late 1850s, Lovejoy had become a close friend of rising politican Abraham Lincoln and was elected to the US Congress where he was a strong proponent of Lincoln and anti-slavery legislation. 

[With:] SMITH, Gerrit. Letter signed ("Gerrit Smith") as U.S. Representative for the state of New York. Addressed to "W.W. Farwell" of Morrisville, Madison County, New York, and bearing a circular Washington D.C. "Free" frank handstamp. Washington, 31 March 1854. 1p, 7 3/4 x 6 3/8 in. (creasing, small loss at bottom right, adhesive remnant on verso).

Written during his sole term as a representative in the U.S. Congress, Smith writes to his friend and attorney William Washington Farwell requesting to be sent "the names of four or five of the most intelligent & ingenious mechanics  win your town - also the names of their Post Offices." Below Smith's signature appears the names of five individuals with locations, written in a different hand and presumably by Farwell. Farwell's services would later be retained by Smith who had became embroiled in legal troubles associated with his financial backing of abolitionist John Brown.