LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 October Rare Books & Manuscripts #675  / 

30184

George William Curtis; AMS; 1856; slavery

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 700.00 USD
George William Curtis; AMS; 1856; slavery
<B>George William Curtis Autograph Manuscript Signed in full.</B></I> Ten pages on blue paper, 8" x 10", New York, September 5, 1856. Curtis, an accomplished author and orator, was one of founding members of the Republican Party. Here he writes what he styles as "<I>a speech instead of a letter. I only wish I could come and say it instead of sending it...</B></I>" In heated reaction to the caning of Sumner and the bloody events in Kansas that summer, Curtis lambastes Millard Fillmore for sowing the seeds of disunion, as well as any others who promoted slavery in the western territories, in very small part: "<I>...Millard Fillmore's supporters in Congress, voted, to a man, against all investigations into, and redress of, the Kansas outrages - To a man, with one exception, they voted to allow the army to sustain the laws which a Missouri mob imposed upon Kansas. Their Council in the State of New York has expressly refused to condemn the Kansas tragedy, and it sustains Preston S. Brooks in his attack upon Charles Sumner. Their Council in the State of Alabama declared that any congressional act prohibiting the introduction of slaver into the territories, makes disunion a duty. The leader of Millard Fillmore's party in congress, Humphrey Marshall of Kentucky, declared 'I will first take care of the niggers and then take care of the Irish and Dutch'...one of his supporters in from Tennessee has also stated in Congress that the South would not submit to any slavery restrictions in the territories...the slave class in the country will resort to the right of revolution in such legislation is attempted...when he</B></I> Fillmore <I>became President he made his own Cabinet a majority from the slave-states. He placed Daniel Webster at its head, after Mr. Webster had denied his whole political career in supporting the slave policy...Lusting for the Presidency he smiles a bland 'Union, Union , by all means', to the earnest prayer of the country...Without dignity, without the lustre of a solitary great principle; without a respectable chance of carrying a single state for himself, but possibly able to confuse the choice...by distracting votes..."</B></I> This piece contains further fine content. Usual folds, a few minor chips at left margin, else fine. <I>Ex. Henry E. Luhrs Collection.</B></I><BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Flat Material, Small (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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