THE PAST, THE PRESENT, AND THE FUTURE OF OUR COUNTRY. INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN OPPOSITION MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF VIRGINIA AND HON. JOHN MINOR BOTTS, JANUARY 17, 1860.
Washington, D.C. Lem. Towers, 1860. 16pp. Caption title [as issued], double columns, disbound. Tanned, scattered foxing. Early ownership signature at head of title. Good+.
Congressman Botts and his fellow Virginia Whigs denounce the Democrats' "design in this State to prepare the hearts and hands of our people for disunion and civil war." John Brown had been executed the previous month; the magnitude of the firestorm thus ignited is difficult to conceive today.
Acknowledging that the John Brown raid and northern refusal to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act are alarming, Botts rebuts the Democrats' charge that the North and the Republican Party have been seized by abolitionist animus; such allegations are incendiary and demagogic. Botts traces the history of Democrats' pro-slavery extremism from Jackson and Van Buren, on through the annexation of Texas and the Mexican War, and the disastrous Kansas policies of the 1850's.
Haynes 1848. Sabin 6831. Item #33706
Price: $150.00