DOI: 10.7910/dvn/2zkvj
title: House Unpassed Legislation 1849, Docket 2318A, SC1/series 230, Petition of Robert Rantoul Jr.

description: &lt;p&gt;Petition subject: Abolition of capital punishment &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Original: &lt;a href="http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:13448926"&gt;http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:13448926&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Date of creation: (unknown) &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Petition location: Boston &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Legislator, committee, or address that the petition was sent to: William D. Coolidge, Boston; committee on the subject &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Selected signatures:&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;Robert Rantoul Jr.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;James Rice&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Charles Mayo&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;William Whiting&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Anson Peck&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;George Wilmot&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;John Philbrick&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;John Rogers&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;John Spear&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Charles Sumner&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Edward Bangs&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;John A. Andrew&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;George Gordon Adams&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;R.E. Apthorp&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;James M. Beckett&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;George Littlefield&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Sarah Marjoram&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Mary Williams&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;William Heckle&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Samuel Cheever&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Charles Morey&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;John Nelson Walsh&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Phineas Gay&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Charles H. Laughton&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;John P. Sprague&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;James Freeman Clarke&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Daniel Thaxter&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Charles Channing&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Lucy H. Horn&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Charles Townsend&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Bela Marsh&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Robert F. Wallcut&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Samuel May Jr.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Actions taken on dates: 1849-03-15,1849-03-16 &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Legislative action: Received in the House on March 15, 1849 and referred to the committee on the subject and sent for concurrence and received in the Senate on March 16, 1849 and concurred &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Total signatures: 510 &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Legislative action summary: Received, referred, sent, received, concurred &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Legal voter signatures (males not identified as non-legal): 505 &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Female signatures: 5 &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Female only signatures: No &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Identifications of signatories: legal voters, inhabitants, [females] &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Prayer format was &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing"&gt;printed&lt;/a&gt; vs. &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript"&gt;manuscript&lt;/a&gt;: Printed &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Additional non-petition or unrelated documents available at archive: additional documents available &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Additional archivist notes: [Many additional documents in folder, including calling card for John Spear; female signature crossed out at top, Sarah A. Murphy, and some female signature included despite being labeled as legal voters; signatures indicate whether the signer has "paid", possibly because of John Spear's circular request, payment; petition backed with and connected to a canvas material] &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Location of the petition at the Massachusetts Archives of the Commonwealth: House Unpassed 1849, Docket 2318A &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Acknowledgements: Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-5105612), Massachusetts Archives of the Commonwealth, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University, Institutional Development Initiative at Harvard University, and Harvard University Library.&lt;/p&gt;