About this Item
8vo (9" x 5.5"), self-wrappers. 8 pp., text in 2 columns below title. CONDITION: Very good, toning and light staining to pp. 1 and 8; light staining throughout. A fascinating pamphlet issued during the 1864 presidential campaign, printing an address by the Chairman of the National Democratic Committee protesting violations of civil liberties under Union/Republican military rule amid the ongoing Civil War, along with a searing speech by Abraham Oakey Hall taking President Lincoln to task for his sundry "crimes." Apparent second issue of this publication first published as No. 13 of the Democratic Party s campaign documents. The opening text by August Belmont, the Chairman of the National Democratic Committee, addresses the people of the United States "without distinction of party." Belmont calls attention to "certain grave acts of usurpation and wrong now practised upon the citizens of Maryland and of Tennessee, but involving the dearest rights of all the people, in all the States, and the very existence of those constitutional remedies against executive wrongdoing." He focuses on two "equally lawless" acts one in Maryland, the other in Tennessee both of which were committed on September 30th, 1864. He turns first to Maryland, noting that the Evening Post the only Democratic journal issued in Baltimore published the electoral ticket of the Democratic Party of the state. In response, the Post was suppressed by an order of Maj.-Gen. Wallace, a commander of Union troops in Baltimore. Wallace s "pretext" for the order was his fear that, stirred up by an announcement posted on the bulletin board of the Post s office, his soldiers would riot in the streets and destroy the paper s property. The announcement described a recent Cincinnati riot "during which a Lincoln club procession from Kentucky fired upon the citizens," killing and wounding several. Belmont condemns the pretext as "disgraceful" to the military officer who, in issuing it, confessed his failure to restrain his soldiers from military insubordination and civil outrage. Belmont reveals, however, that the suppression of the Post was actually "designed by the Executive, for the express purpose of depriving the political opponents of the existing Administration in that city of their sole means of advocating their opinions and even of disseminating the information necessary to guide the votes of their party to intelligent action at the polls." Emphasizing that Maryland is a loyal state (a fact he underscores with a quote from President Lincoln, as well as the reminder that "no enemy now treads her soil"), Belmont points out that "her people are as fully entitled to absolute freedom at the polls and in the discussion of all political questions." Depriving them of this freedom, he maintains, is an overstep of the Executive Branch that violates civil liberties. Belmont then turns to an offense in Tennessee by Brig.-Gen. Andrew Johnson then military governor of the state, as well as the Republican vice presidential candidate. Johnson issued a military order "commanding an election for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency to be held in that State, and prescribing arbitrary qualifications for voters at the election," namely, an oath to be taken at the polls wherein the voter pledges, among other things, to be "an enemy of the so-called Confederate States." Belmont argues that this oath constitutes a form of voter intimidation, since it pressures all loyal citizens of Tennessee to either vote "for the Republican candidate or to abstain from the polls." Summing up, Belmont states that "to control those votes in the way attempted by Mr. Johnson, in Tennessee, and by General Wallace, in Maryland, is to plan a crime against liberty and the republic." He also briefly notes that Louisiana occupied by the Union army is currently subject to a similar "military governor" whose administration is "without authority of law." This is followed by a blistering speech delivered by Democrat Abraham Oak.
Seller Inventory # 5238
Contact seller
Report this item
