Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Robert Raymond Reid Diary #1263, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Lent for filming by Mrs. Charles F. Andrews of Palatka, Fla., in April 1947.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Suzanne Ruffing, August 1996

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

The 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.

• African Americans--History--To 1863.
• Antislavery movements--United States.
• Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850.
• Florida--Religion--19th century.
• Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845.
• Judges--Florida--History--19th century.
• Lawyers--Florida--History--19th century.
• Nullification (States' rights)
• Randolph, John, 1773-1833.
• Reid, Robert Raymond, 1789-1841.
• Saint Augustine (Fla.)--History.
• Slavery--United States.
• Tallahassee (Fla.)--History.

After a political and judicial career in Georgia, Robert Raymond Reid (1789-1841) was appointed judge of the Superior Court in the Eastern District of Florida in 1832. He was a member of the Florida Constitutional Convention of 1838 and was territorial governor from 1839 to 1841.

Two volumes, 31 January 1833-10 October 1833 and 22 January 1835- 25 September 1835, in which Reid recorded his opinions on the nullification controversy, abolitionism, and the black population of the South, both free and enslaved. The journal also gave Reid the opportunity to express, in a tone apparently influenced by his readings of Byron, whom he mentions, his deep feelings of melancholy. Similarly, theological speculations reveal his struggle for faith. The legal communities in St. Augustine and Tallahassee, an epidemic in the former town, Reid's repeated, unsuccessful attempts to adhere to a daily schedule, and the character of John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson, and especially John Randolph, are also addressed.