LETTER OF FRANCIS P. BLAIR, ESQ. TO THE REPUBLICAN ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON, D.C.
[Washington: Buell & Blanchard, 1856]. 7, [1 blank] pp. Disbound, clean, Very Good.
Blair's Letter is a significant step in the Democratic Party's split into Northern and Southern branches. Writing from his Maryland home at Silver Spring in December 1855, the venerable stalwart of President Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet denounces his Democratic Party and casts his lot with Republicans, who oppose extending slavery into the Territories. Slavery's expansion will cause "destruction of the Confederacy, on which the welfare of the whole country reposes. Every surrender of the Free States invites invasion."
Blair cites the Founding Fathers' decisions to exclude slavery from the Northwest Territory, to grant Congress power to regulate Territorial matters, and to prohibit the international slave trade. The Democratic Party, which now repudiates the Founders' intentions, has "staked itself on the support of the party of privilege-- of class interest."
LCP 1252. Not in Eberstadt, Decker, Dary, Work, Dumond. Item #18714
Price: $350.00