Election 1860 (4 results)

Original Wraps. Condition: Near fine. The first edition of an Address of the Free Constitutionalists to the People of the United States, published in 1860 by Lysander Spooner. An attack on the major political parties during the 1860 election, following the Dred Scott decision. (illustrator). First Edition, First Printing. Octavo, 54pp. Original wraps, bound at the spine with string. The first printing, published in September; a second edition was published in November. Light sunning along top edge, faint foxing to both covers, text block solid. Internally clean. (Sabin 397) (Sabin 89604) (Afro-Americana, 87) (Not in Dumond). A scarce work, with only two known copies to reach the public market. This address was issued at the height of the 1860 presidential election. Spooner and his allies argued that the U.S. Constitution, properly interpreted, was an anti-slavery document and that federal and state governments had a moral and legal duty to end slavery. The address condemned both major parties for tolerating or enabling the institution and called on citizens to support a new political movement grounded in natural rights and individual liberty. It reflected Spooner's broader belief in using legal arguments to oppose slavery and promote justice.

8pp, caption title [as issued]. Disbound with light wear, Good+. Breckinridge, Buchanan's Vice President, was the 1860 presidential standard-bearer of the Southern Rights branch of the Democratic Party, which had split with Stephen Douglas supporters during the 1860 nominating convention. Douglas had defied Buchanan and broken with him over the Kansas issue. This campaign piece, demonstrating Northern support for the Breckinridge-Lane ticket, charges the Douglas faction with unfairness, hypocrisy, and illegal attempts to silence the Southern Democrats at the abortive Democratic Convention at Baltimore. LCP 4504.

Campaign pamphlet for the candidacy of John C. Breckinridge and John Lane for President and Vice President in 1860. Breckinridge was then Vice President under James Buchanan. These were the nominees of a Southern, pro-slavery faction of the Democratic Party. This pamphlet uses quotes from speeches of these gentlemen and their opponents to argue that the election of any of the other three sets of candidates in 1860 would likely result in Civil War. The other tickets were: Stephen Douglas and Hershel V. Johnson (Democratic), John Bell and Edward Everett (Constitutional Union), and Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin (Republican). Very good, with some light soil, a few short edge tears, two old horizontal fold creases, and separation along spine fold of first and last leaves. Folded but not bound or opened. Octavo. 8 pages.

32pp. Folded and untrimmed. Scattered light foxing. Very Good. Caption title, as issued. The Southern wing of the Democratic Party, taking time away from its massive assaults on fellow Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, attacks the Constitutional Union Party headed by John Bell of Tennessee. Bell is portrayed as an unprincipled friend of Compromise who often voted with the Abolitionists, and is unsound on the Kansas Question and the Dred Scott Decision. Sabin 7673 [ref.]. Not in Miles, LCP.