David S. Reid (1813-1891) Papers, PC.1
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- David S. Reid (1813-1891) Papers
- Call Number
- PC.1
- Creator
- Unknown
- Date
- 1803-1880
- Repository
- State Archives of North Carolina
Collection Overview
Papers of Reid, Rockingham Co. Democrat, postmaster, state senator, congressman, governor
(1851-1854), and U.S. senator. Most of the correspondence is political, touching almost
every prominent issue of the time including free manhood suffrage, Democratic party
politics, rise and fall of the Whigs, major state and national campaigns (1835-1859),
tariffs, Oregon territory and possible war with England, annexation of Texas and the
Mexican War, slavery, Compromise of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act, and admission of Oregon
to the Union. Many letters from constituents or acquaintances concern Revolutionary
War bounty lands and pensions, appropriation and sale of public land, Cherokee lands,
railroads and internal improvements, banks, and appointments to the military, state/federal
government, diplomatic service, or post office. Material throughout the collection
relates to post office and mail routes, and a few letters relate to UNC, Wake Forest
College, and Normal College. Letters of 1870-1880 concern Reconstruction, revival
of the Democratic Party and the county court system, railroads, bond issues, Negro
voting, and the Constitutional Convention of 1875. Of interest also are letters concerning
James K. Polk as a student at UNC ca. 1817, Sarah J. Hale's interest in a national
Thanksgiving Day (1852), free Negro Isaac Scott's going to Liberia as a Presbyterian
minister (1852); several letters (1842-1846) from James Phelps, a young Connecticut
Democrat; and comments by Thomas Ruffin, Sr., about his reappointment as justice,
state supreme court (1858). Miscellaneous papers include Reid's reports to constituents
and inaugural address in 1851; list of furniture and goods bought for the Executive
Mansion (1851-1859); items on the Smithsonian Institution and Washington Monument;
and Rockingham Co. deeds and surveys of Thomas Settle, 1850.
Correspondents include Alexander D. Bache, George E. Badger, George Bancroft, William
Beal, Asa Biggs, William J. Bingham, Thomas Bragg, John Branch, John D. Broadnax,
Curtis H. Brogden, John H. Bryan, Bedford Brown, Henry Andrea Burgevine, John Gray
Bynum, David F. Caldwell, Lucien B. Chase, William J. Clarke, Thomas L. Clingman,
Josiah Collins, Mark A. Cooper, Daniel W. Courts, Calvin J. Cowles, Josiah Cowles,
Braxton Craven, J. R. Daniel, Oliver S. Dewey, Robert P. Dick, James C. Dobbin, Oliver
H. Dockery, William T. Dortch, Stephen A. Douglas, William Eaton, John W. Ellis, Charles
F. Fisher, John T. Gilmore, W. A. Graham, Calvin Graves, William B. Gulick, Henri
Herrisse, Joseph B. Hinton, William W. Holden, Andrew Jackson, Duncan K. McRae, John
M. Morehead, Charles Phillips, Romulus M. Saunders, Alfred M. Scales, Thomas Settle,
Jr., Dr. Henry M. Shaw, Thomas T. Slade, Walter L. Steele, David L. Swain, William
H. Thomas, Albion W. Tourgee, John Hill Wheeler, Philo White, Jonathan Worth, William
J. Yates, and David Levy Yulee.