Collection of Petitions to the United States Congress

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: Collection of Petitions-to the United States Congress

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

A collection of 221 government documents issued as pamphlets by the Congress of the United States between 1800 and 1852. The collection consists of petitions by mostly by individuals, and sometimes by groups, requesting financial or legal compensation for losses, or relief from debt or federal regulation. Other topics include settlement of land disputes and even requests for statehood!

Particularly notable are requests for compensation for service during the American Revolution, sometimes by descendants over 60 years later.

Although all were originally published as separate documents, most of these items were subsequently collected in bound volumes and later separated. As a result, most of the items would be classified as "disbound".

Dates

Creation: 1800

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to the public and must be used in the John M.K. Davis Reading Room of the Watkinson Library, Trinity College Library, Hartford, Connecticut. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws when using this collection.

Conditions Governing Use

Digital surrogates may be provided to researchers, in accordance with the duplication policy of the Watkinson Library.

Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs unless otherwise specified. It is the researcher's responsibility to secure permission to publish materials from the appropriate copyright holder.

Archival materials may contain sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal and/or state right to privacy laws or other regulations. While we make a good faith effort to identify and remove such materials, some may be missed during processing. If a researcher finds sensitive personal information (e.g. social security numbers) in a collection, please bring it to the attention of the reading room staff.