William H. Torrance letter to George W. Crawford, 1830 February 15

Summary

Creator:

Torrance, William H., 1792-1837

Date:

1830 February 15

Extent:

1 folder(s) (1 letter)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

William H. Torrance letter to George W. Crawford, ms611, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of one letter: dated Milledgeville, February 15, 1830, to George W. Crawford, signed William H. Torrance, regarding the arrest of Elijah H. Burritt of the Milledgeville Statesman & Patriot for possessing insurrectionary literature, which was discovered by John Polhill.

Burritt had in his possession 20 copies of David Walker's pamphlet Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, "Charged with bringing, or having brought into the State and Circulating the same, the famous insurrectionary pamphlets, upon which the Legislation inacted a Law at its close."

Biographical / historical:

Senior editor of the newspaper the Statesman and Patriot, Elijah H. Burritt (1794-1838) purchased the Georgia Statesman in 1827 and combined it with the Georgia Patriot. He married Ann Williams Watson in 1819. In 1830, he fled the state after being accused of distributing incendiary materials, which he had requested in order to write a story in the newspaper.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Newspapers -- Georgia.
Slavery -- United States -- Controversial literature -- 1830-
Prohibited books -- Georgia.

Names:

Crawford, George Washington, 1798-1872
Burritt, Elijah H. (Elijah Hinsdale), 1794-1838

Preferred citation:

William H. Torrance letter to George W. Crawford, ms611, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.