Content note: 1880 newspaper extra printing the forged Morey letter, an anti-Chinese immigration appeal built on a forgery. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Garfield's Death Warrant: 'Advertiser Extra' reproducing the Morey letter (1880)
'Advertiser Extra' broadside headed 'Garfield's Death Warrant', printing a facsimile of the Morey letter, dated 23 January 1880 and signed 'J. A. Garfield' to H. L. Morey of the Employers' Union, Lynn, Mass., which says employers have a 'right to buy labor where they can get it cheapest' and that a treaty with China should stand. The sheet states that Garfield had denied writing it, asserts that it is 'true', and closes 'resolve to vote for Gen. Hancock, the honest friend of American labor'. The letter was a forgery. The sheet appeals to wage-earners' fear of Chinese labour competition.
- Date
- October 1880
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- Pro-Hancock newspaper extra (an 'Advertiser Extra'; publisher not named on the sheet)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Newspaper pages
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Hayes Administration
- Leader
- Rutherford B. Hayes
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Event
- 1880 US Election
- Techniques
- Fear appealScapegoating
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- Library of Congress, retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (US, 1880); LOC: no known copyright
Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Printed Ephemera Collection, Portfolio 160, Folder 14b
