GENEVA, June 20th, 1853.

FRIEND DOUGLASS: SIR:—In answer to a
call for a County Convention in Ontario Co.,
delegates from Canandaigua and Geneva
met in the Court House at Canandaigua on
Monday, June 13th, and appointed the fol
lowing officers: Rev. D. Blake, President;
George [illegible]
Vice Presidents; A. E. Arnold, Secretary,
and Mrs. A. E. Arnold, Assistant Secretary;
and after remarks by Messrs. Fisher, Tomp
son, Arnold, and others, the following pre
amble and resolutions were adopted:

Whereas, in consequence of the wrongs
which have been inflicted upon our oppressed
race in this country for more than two hun
dred years, and in order to secure the re
dress of these wrongs, we have been sum
moned by some of the most distinguished
citizens of the country, to hold a National
Convention in the city of Rochester on the
6th day of July next, and believing that the
time has come when the Free Colored Peo
ple of the United States should arise from
their lethargy, and make one determined
and united effort in behalf of their crushed
race—to remove the disabilities under which
they labor, and to promote the elevation of
their race on the American soil; therefore,

Resolved, That we cordially respond to
the call for a National Convention of our
people, to be held at the time and place spec
ified in the call published in Frederick Doug-
lass' Paper.

Resolved, That we regard it necessary to
hold a Convention like this, having for its
object the amelioration of the condition of
our enslaved race, and the elevation of a
nominally free people on the American soil,
at the noon of the nineteenth century, in a
country which boasts of having proclaimed
to the world the most sublime traits that
was ever conceived by the human mind, or
proclaimed from human lips, as a sad and
melancholy reflection upon the spirit of the
age, and a foul blot on our country's other
wise proud escutcheon.

Resolved, That a crime more audacious
than the Fugitive Slave Law is not to be
found among the darkest despots of Europe;
it is a law which turns happiness into mis
ery, and fills the sweet cup with the bitterest
of woe, and cements this whole republic into
one vast hunting ground for human game.

Resolved, That notwithstanding the mighty
efforts that has been made to silence the ag
itation for liberty, we are determined to con
tinue this agitation until the chains which
now clank over this land shall be broken,
and not a sigh or a groan from human op
pression shall be heard in this wide-extended
country.

Resolved, That we, as a people, have been,
and still are, deprived of many of our civil,
and all of our political rights; we now deem
it our indispensable duty to form ourselves
into an organization, by which to more effect
ually repel the various and vigorous as
saults of our oppressors; and we have come
to the conclusion, after the most deliberate
considerations, to inform ourselves upon all
political occasions, as to the character of the
candidate, and to give our suffrages to none
but such as will most willingly and cheer
fully grant (as far as is in their power) to us
all rights and privileges that every good
American citizen may claim legitimately.

Resolved, That education is the only sure
road to happiness, respectability and wealth;
and that we will leave no legitimate measure
untried whereby to get education, and not
only to get literary attainments, but also to
become thoroughly educated in all the arts
and sciences of the day.

Resolved, That the Colored People of the
United States have, for generations, received
at the hands of the whites a series of cruel
ties and wrongs which are unpracticed by
any other people; and as good American
citizens, we believe it ceases to be (if it ever
was) a virtue to submit passively any longer
to such wrongs. But after the most due re
flections and due considerations we are re
solved to enter the field with all the force of
our moral strength, and the dignity of con
verted humanity, and a determination wor
thy the cause of liberty, and then battle for
all the rights and privileges guaranteed by
the Constitution of the United States to ev
ery citizen of the same.

After which, the following delegates were
duly appointed to attend said Convention:
Rev. D. Blake, A. B. SlaterSlater, Andrew B.

Andrew B. Slater (c. 1802–c. 1871) was a gardener from Canandaigua. He was evidently quite proficient, winning third place for fruit at a fair and taking first place for corn in 1854. Slater was part of a committee in Canandaigua in the early 1850s that discussed whether or not to form a separate colored school in the town. In 1864, he was one of the delegates to the National Convention of Colored Men held in Syracuse. Ontario County (N.Y.) Times, 27 May 1852; Frederick Douglass' Paper, 27 October 1854; 1855 New York Census, Canandaigua, Ontario, New York; 1860 U. S. Census, Manchester, Ontario, New York; Proceedings of the Senate Investigation of the Charges Preferred Against Horace G. Prindle (Albany, N.Y., 1874), 30; Proceedings of the National Convention of Colored Men (Boston, 1864), 4. , H. W. JohnsonJohnson, Henry W.

Henry W. Johnson (c. 1822–84) was an orator, lawyer, and important activist in Central New York in the mid-nineteenth century. Johnson was born in Ferrisburg, Vermont, and was self educated. His father died in 1836 which prompted Johnson to move to Canandaigua, New York, where he worked in a bookstore/print shop. Later, Johnson opened a barbershop before studying law and becoming the first African American lawyer in New York’s Seventh Judicial District. A noted orator, he was a popular speaker at many First of August Emancipation Day celebrations. Johnson had long supported the colonization efforts in West Africa and, in 1865, he moved to Liberia, establishing a coffee plantation and practicing law, briefly serving as the Attorney General. He was killed by his wife in 1884 while the two were arguing. Utica (N.Y.) Daily Press, 11 September 1884; Preston E. Pierce, “Liberian Dreams, West African Nightmare: The Life of Henry W. Johnson, Part One,” Rochester History, vol. 66, no. 4; “People of Ontario County: Henry W. Johnson,” Ontario County Historical Society, Ochs.org. ,
R. Tompson, and Miss B. Stewart, of Can
andaigua, G. P. Fisher, A. E. Arnold, Mrs.
M. A. Jeffrey, and Mrs. A. Adams, of Ge
neva; and after remarks from various speak
ers, and some minor business, it adjourned.

Respectfully yours,

A. E. ARNOLDArnold, A. E.

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