Gallison’s entries for July, 1819 cover three of his main interests: Federalism, Unitarianism, and the law. On the Federalist side, he was invited to be the speaker at the annual meeting of the Peace Society, a notoriously Federalist organization founded after the disastrous War of 1812. He eventually chose to address Christian ethics and political life, building on a foundation from Channing’s sermon during President Monroe’s famous visit to Boston in 1817. His first thought, however, was to talk about privateering, a subject that was on the mind of the Society, and would absorb a great deal of his attention in the following year.
Otherwise, along with some notes on his legal work and study, he left richly detailed impressions of the Sunday sermons and other religious meetings he had attended.