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Size | 4.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1900 items) |
Abstract | Papers of James McDowell (1795-1851) document the white politician from Virginia who held state and national offices, various white McDowell, Preston, and Venable family members, and people enslaved at Col Alto, McDowell's plantation near Lexington, Va. The collection includes a list of people enslaved by McDowell at Col Alto; an emancipation contract with Lewis James, a person enslaved by McDowell; personal and family correspondence; financial and legal materials; writings; printed material; and genealogical papers. Topics include slavery in the territories; colonization societies; economic conditions and policies; internal improvements and public works, such as the James River and Kanawha Canal project; temperance; nullification; Democratic party politics and campaigns; public education; collegiate and literary societies; colleges in Virginia, especially Washington College (later Washington and Lee University); agriculture and plantation management; McDowell family history; and land transactions in Fayette County, Ky. Also included is the will of Colonel James McDowell (1770-1835). |
Creator | McDowell, James, 1795-1851. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Lynn Roundtree, 1983; Pamela Dean and Tim West, 1986; Roslyn Holdzkom, 1991
Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008
Conscious Editing Work by: Nancy Kaiser, October 2020. Updated abstract, biographical note, subject headings, scope and content note, and container list.
Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.
This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
1795: Born, 13 October, Cherry Grove Plantation, Rockbridge County, Va., son of Colonel James McDowell and Sarah McDowell.
1805-1812: Attended William McPheeters's classical school in Greenville, Va., and a boarding school in Brownsburg, Va.
1812: Attended Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in Lexington, Va.
1813: Attended Yale College, New Haven, Conn.
1814: Transferred to the College of New Jersey (Princeton University); graduated salutatorian, circa 1818.
1818: Married cousin, Susanna Smith Preston, 7 September; moved to an estate called "The Military," near Lexington, Ky.
1823: Returned to Virginia; began construction on Col Alto Plantation, near Lexington, Va.
1827: Served as justice of the peace for Rockbridge County, Va.
1831: Joined the Presbyterian Church; elected to Virginia House of Delegates, where he served until 1835.
1833: Defeated by John Tyler in U.S. senatorial election.
1837: Re-elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, where he served until 1838.
1838: Delivered "West Augusta Speech" at Princeton, calling for reconciliation between the abolitionists and the proponents of slavery.
1842: Elected governor of Virginia; served until 1846.
1846: Seated as member of U.S. House of Representatives, 6 March, replacing William Taylor.
1847: Elected to U.S. House of Representatives, where he served until 1851; death of wife in October.
1848: Partially paralyzed as result of heart attack.
1850: Enslaver of 17 people, according to the 1850 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedule (Virginia: Rockbridge: North East District).
1851: Died, 24 August, at Col Alto.
Additional biographical information can be found in James Glen Collier, "The Political Career of James McDowell, 1830 1851" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1963).
Back to TopPapers of James McDowell (1795-1851) document the white politician from Virginia who held state and national offices, various McDowell family members, and people enslaved at Col Alto, McDowell's plantation near Lexington, Va. Included are personal and family correspondence, financial and legal materials, writings, printed material, and genealogical papers.
McDowell's personal correspondence, his addresses and essays, and printed materials reflect his interests in the public affairs and intellectual life of Virginia and the nation, especially in the 1830s and 1840s. Topics include slavery in the territories; colonization societies; economic conditions and policies; internal improvements and public works, such as roads, railroads, and the James River and Kanawha Canal project; temperance; nullification; Democratic party politics and campaigns; public education; collegiate and literary societies; and colleges in Virginia.
Financial and legal materials chiefly concern white McDowell family members, but of note are a list of the people enslaved by James McDowell, and an emancipation contract, circa 1831, between McDowell and Lewis James, an enslaved person, that required that he both purchase his freedom and apply for emigration to Liberia. Other materials include sales receipts, statements of accounts, lists of expenditures, indentures, notes and briefs for legal cases, vote tallies, and court dockets. Also included are a fragment of a deed, 1728, involving Alexander McDowell, an ancestor of James McDowell; the will of Colonel James McDowell (1770-1835); and records of land transactions in Fayette County, Ky. There are only a few items after James McDowell's death in 1851. The 1864 item is a series of Confederate bonds. (For other papers relating to colonization and emancipation, see Series 3.)
Family correspondence and other items relate to James McDowell's father and mother, Colonel James McDowell and Sarah McDowell; his wife Susanna Preston McDowell; son-in-law Charles Scott Venable; and brother-in-law Virginia statesman Thomas Hart Benton. Many family letters, especially those from James McDowell to his wife, discuss agriculture and plantation management. Other materials include records pertaining to Washington College (later Washington and Lee University), McDowell family genealogical research, and the childhood reminiscences of Francis Preston Venable, James McDowell's grandson and professor of chemistry and president of the University of North Carolina.
Back to TopArrangement: chronological.
Early items are chiefly correspondence of James McDowell's father, Colonel James McDowell in Rockbridge County, Va., with various individuals concerning land speculation and business affairs in Fayette County, Ky., and other places. Many letters relate to Colonel McDowell in his capacity as inspector of revenue. Also included is Colonel McDowell's personal correspondence with his wife, Sarah McDowell, especially in 1813 when he was serving in the U.S. army near Richmond.
Correspondents include: James Breckenridge (3 letters, 1796-1802); Edward C. Carrington (many letters from Colonel McDowell to Carrington, 1801-1810); John McDowell, Colonel McDowell's brother(?) (14 letters, 1792-1800); and Francis Preston (1 letter, 1796).
Folder 1 |
Correspondence, 1770-1799 |
Folder 2 |
Correspondence, 1800 |
Folder 3 |
Correspondence, 1801 |
Folder 4 |
Correspondence, 1802-1808 |
Folder 5 |
Correspondence, 1811-September 1813 |
Correspondence of James McDowell begins around October 1813. Of note are letters, 1820s, reflecting James McDowell's involvement with the American Colonization Society, which encouraged migration of free Blacks from the United States to Africa. Otherwise, Colonel McDowell's correspondence with his wife continues through 1832, and there are many letters between father and son. James McDowell's first letters are about his life as a student at Yale in 1813 and 1814. Later, there are many letters from James McDowell to his wife, Susanna Preston McDowell, before and after their marriage in 1818, as well as correspondence of James and Susanna with Susanna's sisters Eliza (Mrs. Edward C. Carrington) and Sally (Mrs. John B. Floyd), and with other members of the Preston and McDowell families, including James's brother-in-law, Thomas Hart Benton.
Correspondents include: Thomas Hart Benton (9 letters, 1821-1830); James Breckenridge (3 letters, 1817-1830); Ralph Gurley, secretary of the American Colonization Society (2 letters, 1828 and 1830); and Francis Preston (3 letters, 1818-1828).
Folder 6 |
Correspondence, October 1813-1814 |
Folder 7 |
Correspondence, 1815-1818 |
Folder 8 |
Correspondence, 1819 |
Folder 9 |
Correspondence, 1820-1822 |
Folder 10 |
Correspondence, 1823-1824 |
Folder 11 |
Correspondence, 1825-1827 |
Folder 12 |
Correspondence, 1828-1829Includes a letter, 1828, from Ralph Gurley, Secretary of the American Colonization Society. |
Folder 13 |
Correspondence, 1830Includes a letter, 1830, from Ralph Gurley, Secretary of the American Colonization Society. |
There are many letters written home by McDowell as he traveled either for the government or to check on lands he apparently held near Columbus, Miss. Until her death in October 1847, most of these letters were written to his wife, Susanna Preston McDowell, and deal chiefly with family matters. They also offer her instruction and advice on how to manage Col Alto, the McDowell plantation near Lexington, Va., which, considering McDowell's heavy travel schedule, she seems to have handled on her own.
Many letters concern McDowell's commitment to temperance and his belief in the value of college groups, especially collegiate literary societies. Other letters are concerned with such topics as internal improvements in Virginia, slavery in the territories, the Nullification crisis, colonization societies, Virginia politics, currency and credit issues, public education, and colleges in Virginia. While there is surprisingly little about the political campaigns that McDowell must have mounted to win office, many letters relate to his responsibilities after those offices were attained (Virginia House of Delegates, 1831-1835 and 1837-1838; governor of Virginia, 1842-1846; U.S. House of Representatives, 1846-1851).
In addition to the continued family correspondence between Colonel McDowell and his wife and between the Colonel and James McDowell (until the Colonel's death in 1835), there are letters to James McDowell from friends, U.S. congressmen and other national figures, state legislators and other members of the Virginia elite, students, college presidents, and constituents in the 1830s and 1840s. Correspondents include: Joseph Bell (3 letters, 1831-1834); Thomas Hart Benton (over 60 letters, 1830-1838 and 1843-1846); James Breckenridge (1 letter, 1831); Joseph Cabell (2 letters, 1843-1844); Charles Dimmock, Captain at the Richmond Armory (several dozen letters, 1844-1847); Lyman Copeland Draper (1 letter, 1847); Landon C. Garland (2 letters, 1847-1848); Samuel E. Goodson (9 letters, 1837-1838 and 1842-1847); Archibald Graham, a doctor of Lexington, Va. (over 30 letters, scattered over this period); Reuben Grigsley of Rockbridge County, Va. (9 letters, 1830-1835 and 1846); Ralph Randolph Gurley (1 letter, 1846); Thomas Henderson of Lexington, Va. (2 letters, 1846); George Washington Hopkins, U.S. congressman of Abingdon, Va. (over 20 letters, 1830s); John Letcher, Lexington, Ky., attorney and editor, later governor (numerous letters, 1830s and 1840s); Francis McFarland, Presbyterian minister (4 letters, 1848-1851); Francis McGavock of Nashville, Tenn. (1 letter, 1838); John Marsh, temperance reformer (12 letters, 1851); John Murray Mason (2 letters, 1844); Samuel McDowell Moore, U.S. congressman (1 letter, 1832); Francis Preston (2 letters, 1832-1833); Thomas Jefferson Randolph, grandson of Thomas Jefferson (7 letters, 1838-1846); Benjamin Wood Richards, classmate of McDowell and later mayor of Philadelphia (7 letters, 1842-1850); William H. Richardson, adjutant general of Virginia (over 50 letters, 1842-1850); William Taylor, U.S. congressman, and other members of the Taylor family (numerous letters, 1831-1846); John H. Wartmann of Harrisonburg, Va. (over 20 letters, 1840s); Thomas Willis White, founder of the Southern Literary Messenger (4 letters, 1834-1838).
Folder 14 |
Correspondence, 1831 |
Folder 15-16
Folder 15Folder 16 |
Correspondence, 1832 |
Folder 17-19
Folder 17Folder 18Folder 19 |
Correspondence, 1833 |
Folder 20-22
Folder 20Folder 21Folder 22 |
Correspondence, 1834 |
Folder 23 |
Correspondence, 1835 |
Folder 24 |
Correspondence, 1836 |
Folder 25-26
Folder 25Folder 26 |
Correspondence, 1837 |
Folder 27-29
Folder 27Folder 28Folder 29 |
Correspondence, 1838 |
Folder 30-32
Folder 30Folder 31Folder 32 |
Correspondence, 1839 |
Folder 33-34
Folder 33Folder 34 |
Correspondence, 1840 |
Folder 35 |
Correspondence, 1841-1842 |
Folder 36-37
Folder 36Folder 37 |
Correspondence, 1843 |
Folder 38-39
Folder 38Folder 39 |
Correspondence, 1844 |
Folder 40 |
Correspondence, 1845 |
Folder 41-44
Folder 41Folder 42Folder 43Folder 44 |
Correspondence, 1846 |
Folder 45-48
Folder 45Folder 46Folder 47Folder 48 |
Correspondence, 1847 |
Folder 49-50
Folder 49Folder 50 |
Correspondence, 1848 |
Folder 51-52
Folder 51Folder 52 |
Correspondence, 1849 |
Folder 53-54
Folder 53Folder 54 |
Correspondence, 1850 |
Folder 55-56
Folder 55Folder 56 |
Correspondence, 1851 |
Folder 57 |
Correspondence, Undated before August 1851 |
Correspondence after James McDowell's death in August 1851 consists of letters of condolence written to McDowell's daughter, Salley Campbell Preston Miller. There are also letters involving another McDowell daughter, Margaret Cantey McDowell Venable, her husband Charles Scott Venable, a professor of mathematics at Hampden Sidney College, and their son Francis Preston Venable, later professor of chemistry and president of the University of North Carolina. There are few letters during the Civil War period.
Folder 58 |
Correspndence, August-December 1851 |
Folder 59 |
Correspndence, 1852-1855 |
Folder 60 |
Correspndence, 1861-1870 |
Folder 61 |
Correspndence, 1875-1896 |
Folder 62 |
Correspndence, Undated after July 1851 |
Arrangement: chronological.
Financial and legal materials chiefly concern white McDowell family members, but of note are a list of the people enslaved by James McDowell, and an emancipation contract, circa 1831, between McDowell and Lewis James, an enslaved person, that required that he both purchase his freedom and apply for emigration to Liberia. Other materials include sales receipts, statements of accounts, lists of expenditures, indentures, notes and briefs for legal cases, vote tallies, and court dockets. Also included are a fragment of a deed, 1728, involving Alexander McDowell, an ancestor of James McDowell; the will of Colonel James McDowell (1770-1835); and records of land transactions in Fayette County, Ky. There are only a few items after James McDowell's death in 1851. The 1864 item is a series of Confederate bonds. (For other papers relating to colonization and emancipation, see Series 3.)
Folder 63 |
Financial and legal materials, 1728-1799 |
Folder 64 |
Financial and legal materials, 1800-1828 |
Folder 65 |
Financial and legal materials, 1831-1864Includes emancipation contract, circa 1831, of Lewis James, who was enslaved by James McDowell. The contract requires that James buy his freedom and apply to emigrate to Liberia. |
Folder 66 |
Financial and legal materials, undated |
Drafts of speeches, addresses, essays, and reports that James McDowell presented to various groups, societies, and organizations, including the Virginia House of Delegates and the U.S. House of Representatives. McDowell's writings reflect his interests in the public affairs and intellectual life of Virginia and the nation, especially in the 1830s and 1840s. Many items are speeches to citizens, legislators, and members of collegiate societies on topics such as slavery in the territories, internal improvements, and constitutional government.
Most items have been grouped by topic; those not arranged by topic are arranged by type (e.g., miscellaneous speeches and resolutions before the Virginia House of Delegates).
Folder 67-69
Folder 67Folder 68Folder 69 |
Writings on slavery in the territories, 1847-1851Speeches and articles, some fragments, by James McDowell, 1847-1851. Topcis include the Wilmot Proviso, the Oregon Bill, territorial governments for Utah and New Mexico, the Compromise of 1850, and the Northwest Ordinance (1787). Included are portions of a book length essay on the latter. Titles include:
|
Folder 70-72
Folder 70Folder 71Folder 72 |
Writings on slavery in the territories, 1850 (formerly volumes 3, 4, and 8)Three small volumes of speeches on slavery in the territories made by James McDowell in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1850. There are printed copies of speeches on the Wilmot Proviso and on the formation of governments in New Mexico and California. (See also the section below on the United States Constitution for essay on the Northwest Ordinance in relation to the United States Constitution.) |
Folder 73 |
Writings on African-American colonizationEssays, speeches, and resolutions, some fragments, by James McDowell concerning efforts to form colonies for free Blacks outside the United States. |
Folder 74 |
"Writings on slavery debate," Virginia General Assembly, 1831-1832Speeches and fragments of other writings by James McDowell on the question of the gradual emancipation of enslaved people in Virginia. |
Folder 75 |
Miscellaneous notes on slaveryNotes for speeches and other writings on various topics having to do with slavery. |
Folder 76 |
Writings on economic conditions in the United StatesSpeeches, resolutions, and other writings, some fragments, by James McDowell about United States government policies on currency, credit, taxes, and tariffs. Titles include:
|
Folder 77 |
Notes on economic conditions, currency, and credit in the United States |
Folder 78-79
Folder 78Folder 79 |
Writings on internal improvementsSpeeches, essays, reports, and resolutions, some fragments, by James McDowell on canals, roads, turnpikes, and railroads for Virginia, particularly the James River and Kanawha Canal project. Titles include:
|
Folder 80-81
Folder 80Folder 81 |
Writings on internal improvements (formerly volumes 7 and 10)Bound materials: "Remarks on the construction of a general system of internal improvements in Virginia," 1831 (formerly volume 7); and a notebook containing, in addition to a few scattered accounts, notes on internal improvement (formerly volume 10). |
Folder 82-83
Folder 82Folder 83 |
Writings on the United States ConstitutionSpeeches and fragments of writings by James McDowell on the federal system of government and the power of state governments. Titles include:
|
Folder 84-85
Folder 84Folder 85 |
Writings on the United States Constitution (formerly volumes 6 and 9)Two small volumes, one containing an essay on the Northwest Ordinance in relation to the Constitution (formerly volume 6) and the other a speech on the concept of federal union (formerly volume 9). There is also a printed copy of the speech on federal union. |
Folder 86 |
Writings on nullificationSpeeches, resolutions, and essays, some fragments, by James McDowell on the 1832 Nullification Crisis. These writings were prepared for delivery before the Virginia House of Delegates and elsewhere. |
Folder 87 |
Notes on nullification |
Folder 88 |
Writings on Virginia politics and governmentSpeeches and essays by James McDowell on such topics as constitutional conventions, the rights of citizens, and the duties of a representative in the Virginia House of Delegates. Titles include:
|
Folder 89 |
Writings on party politics in Virginia and in the United States Congress, late 1840sTwo articles and two fragments by James McDowell. |
Folder 90-91
Folder 90Folder 91 |
Writings on election campaigns, 1824-1848Speeches and writings, some fragments, relating to various elections. Included are outlines and drafts of speeches by James McDowell supporting Democratic candidates in the presidential elections of 1824, 1828, 1836, 1840, and 1848, and a lengthy essay defending Andrew Jackson and questioning the constitutionality of congressional procedures in the disputed election of 1824. There are also speeches and essays that relate to McDowell's political campaigns, particularly in the 1830s, and a few that relate to candidates in non-presidential races. Included are an essay on McDowell's candidacy for the U.S. senate in 1833 and a speech, circa 1831, in support of Virginia Governor James Barbour. |
Folder 92 |
Notes on election campaigns |
Folder 93 |
Miscellaneous speeches and resolutions before the Virginia House of Delegates, 1831Writings by James McDowell on points of law, legislative procedure, and public education, including "An outline of remarks on the creation of the court of appeals." |
Folder 94 |
Miscellaneous speeches and resolutions before the United States House of RepresentativesDrafts and fragments of speeches and resolutions by James McDowell, 1847-1851, on various issues before the House of Representatives, including the election of Howell Cobb as speaker of the House. |
Folder 95-96
Folder 95Folder 96 |
Miscellaneous notes on politics |
Folder 97 |
Speeches on Western Virginia, undatedWritings by James McDowell on the historical problems of western Virginia, including an address entitled, "The historical division of counties in Virginia." |
Folder 98-99
Folder 98Folder 99 |
Miscellaneous presentations to collegiate and literary societies, circa 1815-1843Drafts of and notes for addresses given by James McDowell before various collegiate societies at Washington College, Virginia Military Institute, Amherst, Princeton, and other colleges. Some of the topics covered are temperance, Bible study, and general morality. |
Folder 100 |
Miscellaneous writings on liberty and patriotismAddresses by James McDowell to various audiences on liberty and patriotism. |
Folder 101-104
Folder 101Folder 102Folder 103Folder 104 |
Speeches, addresses, and articles on civic, humanistic, and other concerns, circa 1816-1850Miscellaneous writings by James McDowell. Included are addresses on the power of conversation, 1815; on the association of ideas, 1816; on Lafayette and James Madison, 1824 and 1836; and on the benefits of agricultural societies, undated. |
Folder 105-107
Folder 105Folder 106Folder 107 |
Miscellaneous notes on temperance and other topics. |
Genealogical notes, correspondence, and clippings, chiefly of James McDowell's daughter, Sally Campbell Preston Miller, circa 1884-1891, relating to the life of her father and to other members of the McDowell family. Included is a list, circa 1810, of the descendants of Andrew McDowell (born 1710).
Folder 108 |
Genealogical correspondence, 1884-1893 |
Folder 109 |
Genealogical notes |
Folder 110 |
Genealogical clippings |
Arrangement: chronological.
Miscellaneous papers relating to Washington College; printed memorials and circulars received by James McDowell, chiefly about internal improvements; and other materials, including draft constitutions for agricultural, collegiate, and debating societies.
Folder 111 |
Washington College |
Folder 112 |
Printed material |
Folder 113 |
Miscellaneous |
Extra Oversize Paper Folder 1a |
Oversize papers |
Oversize Paper Folder 1b |
Oversize papers |
Folder 114 |
Travel journal of a journey in France, 1818 (formerly volume 2).Owner unknown (perhaps Mrs. H. P. Cochran). The author mentions U.S. senator James Brown (1776-1835). |
Folder 115 |
Recollections and testimony of Senator William Campbell Preston relating to an 1840 law suit involving B. McIntosh and R. L. Edgeworth of Columbia, S.C. (formerly volume 1). |
Folder 116 |
Notebook containing lists of names by Virginia county of residence, undated (formerly volume 5).Owner unknown. |
Folder 117 |
Childhood reminiscences of Francis Preston Venable, undeated (formerly volume 11).Grandson of James McDowell. |