JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , Fort Hill, Pickens Co., SC, 2 Jan. 1844. Version drafted 2 Jan. 1844; handwriting of ; docket and notation in handwriting of ; eleven pages; JS Collection, CHL.
have enterd some two or three hundred thousand dollars worth of land, and made Large improvements thereon; go on, then, I say banish the occupants or owners, or kill them off as did <the> Mobbers <did> many of the , and take their lands and property as a spoil; and let the legislature, as in the case of the Mormans, appropriate a couple of hundred thousand dollars to pay the Mob for doing the Job, for the renowned Senator from . Mr , says, the powers of the Federal government are <are> so specificandlimitedthatithasno Jurisdictionofthecase! Oh ye peoples who groan under the oppression of tyrants, ye exiled Poles, who <have> felt the Iron hand of Russian grasp; ye poor and unfavored <unfortunate> among all nations, come to the “Asylum of the oppossed;” buy ye lands of the general government, pay in your money to the Treasury, to strengthen the army and navy; worship God according to the dictates of your own consciences; pay in your taxes to support the Great heads of a glorious nation;— but remember a “SovereignState’ is so much more powerful than the , the parent government, [p. [3]]