Letter from Samuel Joseph May, Syracuse, [N.Y.], to William Lloyd Garrison, Dec[ember] 29 1850

Samuel Joseph May writes William Lloyd Garrison inviting him to the antislavery convention to take place on January 7-9, and requests that should Garrison be unable to attend that he assist May in persuading George Thompson, Wendell Phillips, Theodore Parker, or Charles C. Burleigh to attend. May asserts that the people desire to see Garrison and Phillips "even more than Thompson", and states that they would be sorely disappointed were neither able to be in attendance. May informs Garrison that this convention will be the first held by the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, and that it will be an important one, arguing that the "doings of the people of the Empire State are never insignificant". May writes that both Gerrit Smith and William L. Chaplin will be at the convention, and praises them while noting that their perspectives differ distinctly from those of himself and Garrison.
Courtesy of Boston Public Library