QUESTIONS PROPOUNDED TO THE CANDIDATES FOR SPEAKER, AND THEIR RESPONSES. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 1856.
[Washington, D.C. Republican Association; Buell & Blanchard, Printers, 1856]. 8pp. Caption title [as issued], printed in double columns. Folded [split along spine fold], untrimmed [light edgewear], partly uncut. Light toning. Good+.
The contest for Speaker of the House at the opening of the Thirty-Fourth Congress illustrated the deeply divisive issue of slavery in the Territories acquired from Mexico. Representatives made the issue a litmus test for the candidates. Nathaniel Banks of Massachusetts was the candidate of Republicans, anti-slavery Whigs, and Know-Nothings; he would eventually prevail, after two months of bitter competition. Under close questioning from Barksdale of Mississippi and others, he asserts here that the Wilmot Proviso, which would prohibit entry into the Union of any Slave States from the Mexican Cession, was constitutional; and that "the doctrine of the Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal," meant just what it said: men are to be judged by their "capacity" and not their race. Banks's election was a major victory for the new Republican Party.
Sabin 3206n. OCLC notes 9 copies under 3 accession numbers. Not in LCP or Dumond. Item #27807
Price: $250.00