The papers of Duff Green (1716-1883) span the years 1716-1883, with the bulk of the material in the period 1827-1845. The papers consist largely of correspondence, financial and legal records, speeches and writings, maps, printed matter, and several oversize items.

The correspondence documents Green’s interest in the defense of the political rights of the South in the Union, the retention of a free press, the promotion of industrial enterprise, and the political and economic realities of international trade. Many of Green’s social and political ideas are contained in letters to John J. Cabell, editor of the Jeffersonian , Lynchburg, Virginia, and to Richard K. Crallé focusing largely on issues such as states rights, tariff laws, and slavery, and on Green’s support of various presidential candidates. Letters to George M. Dallas, John H. Eaton, William Henry Harrison, and Zachary Taylor reveal Green’s influence in shaping public opinion during the course of several presidential elections.

Correspondence during his tenure as unofficial representative of President John Tyler in England and France from 1840-1844, reflects Green’s free trade ideas and his desire to obtain commercial treaties between the United States and England and demonstrates his concern over his many business ventures at home. Letters for the period 1842-1859 also cover such topics as the abolition of slavery in Texas, the Oregon question, and what Green saw as the conflict between states rights and the power of the federal government. Among the correspondents for this period are James Buchanan, Lewis Cass, Richard Cobden, Sir Henry Ellis, Edward Everett, John Macgregor, Sir Robert Peel, and Daniel Webster. Typed copies of letters from Duff Green to his wife, Lucretia, are also included for the period August-November 1859.

Important supplements to the correspondence are two letterbooks in the miscellany file. The first contains copies of outgoing letters for the period August 1827-April 1830, during part of which time Green was a member of Andrew Jackson’s "Kitchen Cabinet." An alphabetical index lists correspondents addressed in this volume, the more prominent being John C. Calhoun, Isaac Hill, Andrew Jackson, Amos Kendall, James Madison, and Martin Van Buren. The second letterbook contains copies of letters exchanged by Green and Edward Everett from May to December 1843 concerning Green’s status as unofficial representative in England.