James Hutton v. William J. Belt. William Bainbridge to Richard S. Coxe Jennifer Guiliano Trevor Muñoz William G. Thomas III transcription and encoding Samantha M. Bryant Steph N. Camerone Kaci L. Nash Laura K. Weakly University of Nebraska-Lincoln University of Maryland National Endowment for the Humanities 2014 O Say Can You See University of Nebraska-Lincoln Center for Digital Research in the Humanities
319 Love Library University of Nebraska–Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588-4100 cdrh@unl.edu
oscys.case.0063.007 oscys.caseid.0063 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Derivatives must be credited to O Say Can You See, made available non-commercially, and distributed under the same terms. Requests for permission for commercial publication or other use should be emailed to the project team.

 Correspondence June 6, 1825 Our transcription is based on a digital image of the original. National Archives and Records Administration Record Group 21, Entry 6 Box 344, Folder 31 Case Papers Correspondence Civil Petition for Freedom May 1825 Bainbridge, William, 1774-1833 Washington (D.C.) Hutton, James Belt, William J. Coxe, Richard S. (Richard Smith), 1792-1865 United States. Circuit Court (District of Columbia) Washington (D.C.) added middle initial to defendant; added page 2 reviewed document added idno added xml:ids corrected attorney name to loc subject heading converted to new TEI added attorney to header encoded and transcribed

Washington 6 June 1825

Sir:

I know of no Law, or rule of the Department, which prohibits the employment of persons of color on board of our national ships.

The act of Congress "for the regulations of Seamen on board the public & private vessels of the United States" passed 3 March 1813— seems to recognize the rights of employing "persons of color" in the following words—

Sec. 1. "It shall not be lawful to employ onboard any of the public or private vessels of the United States any person or persons except citizens of the United States, or persons of color, natives of the United States"

I am resply. sir, yr mo. ob. servt. Wm Bainbridge

P.S. On examining the muster rolls, it appears that Jas Hutton joined the Columbus on the 14 Apl 1820, & left her on the 27 July following. during this period he was on the Books of the Columbus, as a supernumerary for provisions.

Richd. S Coxe esqr

Richd S. Coxe esq