Report of Jacob Thompson to Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus; December 26, 1860

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Report of Jacob Thompson to Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus; December 26, 1860

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People

Ellis, John Willis, 1820-1861 Pettus, John Jones, 1813-1867 Thompson, Jacob, 1810-1885

Events

Conventions Conventions--North Carolina. Convention (1861-1862)Emancipation and self emancipation Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence Political Office--Appointment to office Political elections Secession. American Civil War

Organizations

North Carolina--General Assembly North Carolina--General Assembly. House of Commons North Carolina--General Assembly. Senate Political Parties--Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )United States--Congress

Occupations

Commissioners

Places

Bodies of Water--International. Gulf of Mexico North Carolina North Carolina--Mecklenburg County North Carolina--Wake County. Raleigh Washington (D.C.)

Social Identifiers

African Americans African Americans--Enslaved people

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[seal]

Washington, D. C.
Dec. 26. 1860.

To
His Excellency
John J, Pettus,
Governor of Mississippi.

Sir,

The package you were pleased to forward to me containing my appointment of Commissioner of Mississippi to the State of North Carolina, I had the honor to receive on the 13^th. instant. In obedience to your instructions, I set out for Raliegh, the Capitol of the State on the 17^th. and arrived there on the 18^th.. Immediately on my arrival His Excellency John W. Ellis compli=mented me with a personal visit and in our first interview,, I made known the object of my mission. He welcomed me to the State in the kindest terms, and during the same evening I addressed him a communication in which, in dispassionate but decisive language, I attempted to set forth the apprehended evils of which

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Mississippi complains, and invited the cooperation of North Carolina in devising a remedy.

This comminication was laid before the Legisla=ture with a short message on the 20^th,, a copy of which is herewith enclosed.

Your Commissioner was received with great cor=diality, courtesy and consideration by the Legislature of the State, and sympathy and respect for our State and her people were manifested on all sides.

On the 20^th, however, the Legislature adjourned over the holidays until the 7^th of January proximo. After my arrival, a bill appropriating $300.000 for the purchase of arms for the State passed the Senate with only three dissenting votes and when it was sent to the House of Commons test votes were taken upon the Bill which demonstrated that an overwhelming majority of that Body favored the ap=propriation. This Bill will be the first business in order on the re-assembling of the Legislature. There was a strong feeling, however, with many members to in=crease the sum from $300.000 to one million dollars.

The Bill providing for a call of the Convention

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of the State had been deferred when I arrived until the 7^th. of January. I feel confident that both these measures will be passed.

The prevailing sentiment of the Legislature and the people is that all the distracting questions arising out of our constitutional rights to property in slaves must be now settled for all time to come. An anx=iety is felt to maintain the Union of these States, if that can be done without a forfeiture of honor and endangering our property. But to keep North Caro=lina in the Union something decisive must be done, and that at an early day, to effectually arrest the carrying into effect the policy of the Black Republicians. As soon as all hope of a satisfactory adjustment of the slavery issues is abandoned, the voice of North Carolina will be well nigh unani=mous for a Southern Confederacy. There is already a very large, spirited and talented proportion of the people of the State in favor of separate State action and immediate secession. This feeling is growing daily; the mountain Districts are zealous and

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enthusiastic; the low country, where the large slave population is found is slower and more cautious. But the spirit of the patriots of Mecklenburg in 1775 is entering the hearts of the people everywhere, and it will carry them to its legitimate conclusions of resistance to wrong and the maintenance of our Constitution in its purity against the revolution threatened by our irre=sponsible majority. Should the election ever be present=ed whether North Carolina shall continue her connection with the non-slaveholding States of the North or join her Southern sister States on the Gulf of Mexico, she will follow the promptings of her heart and unite her destiny with us.

In Congress, no disposition for accommodation is shown, and if there be no change, and I cannot believe there will be, North Carolina will be ready to act decisively by the 4^th. of March next.

As far as I could ascertain the feelings and wishes of North Carolina, it was that Mississippi, were she inclined to adopt the line of separate se=cession, should postpone the day on which her ordin=ance of separation should take effect till the 3^d of

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March, at which time, by reason of the failure of all efforts at accommodation, she will be ready to become her ally and confederate—and it is further my opinion, that as goes North Carolina, so will go all the border Slave States.

Thanking you for the confidence you have reposed in me, and ready now and at all times to sacrifice life, fortune and all I hold most dear for our beloved Sovereign Mississippi,

I have the honor to be
Your friend and Obt Servt.