Item #79787 Speech of the Hon. W. H. Seward, on the Admission of California. William H. SEWARD.

Speech of the Hon. W. H. Seward, on the Admission of California

Item #79787

SEWARD, William H. Speech of the Hon. W. H. Seward, on the Admission of California, and the Subject of Slavery; Delivered in the United States Senate, on Monday, March 11, 1850. Boston: Redding & Company, 1850. 1st ed. 26pp. Orig. printed wrappers. Wrappers starting to separate, some water stains to wrappers, else very good. Seward's so-called "Higher Law" speech remains one of the most significant "maiden" speeches in the history of the Senate. Not only was it his first address to the Senate, it was also one of his two most influential orations during a twelve-year legislative career; it immediately established Seward as a major national antislavery leader. He acknowledged that the Constitution's framers had recognized slavery's existence and protected it where it existed, but the new territory was governed by a "higher law than the Constitution" by a moral law established by "the Creator of the universe." The New York senator, opposing all legislative compromise as "radically wrong and essentially vicious," demanded the unconditional admission of California as a free state. He warned the South that slavery was doomed and that secession from the Union would be futile.

Price: $75.00

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