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Civil War and Reconstruction |
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Senator Sprague of Rhode Island Writes About Fascinating Debates in Congress Involving Freedom for the Families of African American Recruits and the Limits of Free Speech in the Senate
[AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIERS],
William Sprague, Autograph Letter Signed, to William D. Ely, January 28, 1864, Washington, D.C. 2 pp., 5 x 8 in.
“a discussion upon a section of a Malitia bill freeing the wife & children of the slave that enlist will occupy most if not all the day.”
Item #26531, $1,250
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The Drafter of the 14th Amendment Quotes Abolitionist Congressman Thaddeus Stevens
STEPHEN NEAL,
Autograph Note Signed. 1 p., 8¼ x 4¼ in.
Item #23151, $1,200
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A Map of the Baruch College Area of New York City
ALEXANDER STEWART WEBB,
Autograph Letter Signed “Webb,” as President of City College of New York, to General F.A. Walker. New York, N.Y. March 20, 1888. 3 pp., 8⅜ x 13 in. With holograph map.
Stewart sending thanks, urging General Walker to visit.
Item #22259, $1,250
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Civil War Hero David Dixon Porter Expresses Support for the Chinese in a Time of Hostility
DAVID DIXON PORTER,
Autograph Letter Signed, to John Philip Newman, March 14, 1879, Washington, D.C. 3 pp., 5 x 8 in.
“As you and I have both expressed friendly sentiments towards the citizens of the Flowery Kingdom, we may hope to be in high favor should we live till that time.”
In this humorous letter to Methodist minister John Philip Newman, retired Admiral and Civil War naval hero David Dixon Porter complements the pastor on his recent lecture on the Chinese and sends him a copy of Porter’s recent article from a monthly military affairs journal about the Chinese. Both men viewed the anti-Chinese hysteria in the United States as irrational and unworthy of a nation founded on the declaration that “all men are created equal.” Their lecture and article expressed admiration for Chinese accomplishments and urged public leaders not to give way to the anti-Chinese frenzy. Sadly, three years later, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first act restricting immigration into the United States.
Item #22730, $2,000
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Advertisement for Temperance Restaurant in New York City
[TEMPERANCE],
Advertising card for “McElree’s Temperance Restaurant & Lunch Room” The other side promotes “McElree’s Centennial Mead” for 5¢ per glass, claiming that it is “Healthful and Cooling” and “pleases ALL NATIONALITIES and tastes,” ca. 1876, New York. 2 pp., 5 x 1¼ in.
Item #26460.02, $300
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Seesaw - Gloucester, MA - Drawn by Winslow Homer
[HARPER’S WEEKLY],
Newspaper. Harper’s Weekly, September 12, 1874.
Item #H-9-12-1874, $295
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A Georgia Man Writes from Frederic City, Maryland, Hoping to Liberate Some ‘greenies’ from the “Hamites or the ‘freedmen’” Celebrating Passage of the “dirty 15th Amendment”
THOMAS FAYETTE,
Autograph Letter Signed, to “Dearest cousin Mattie & Co.,” Frederic County, Maryland, June 3, 1870, 4 pp. 7¾ x 9¾ in.
The Fifteenth Amendment provides that voting rights could not be based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude (slavery). It was ratified by enough states to become part of the Constitution on February 3, 1870. Maryland rejected it on February 26, 1870 – but finally did ratify it on May 7,1973.
Item #22490, $375
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Vibrant Print of Fifteenth Amendment Celebrations
[FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT],
The Fifteenth Amendment, Celebrated May 19th 1870, hand-colored lithographic print. New York: Thomas Kelly, 1870. From original design by James C. Beard. 1 p., 30 x 24 in.
The colorful central image of this lithograph depicts a Black Zouave regiment on parade in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 19, 1870, to celebrate passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. Framing the central scene are vignettes and portraits of individuals important to the cause of African American men’s voting rights. Individuals pictured include Ulysses S. Grant, Frederick Douglass, Martin R. Delany (first U.S. Army African American field officer), Hiram R. Revels (first African American U.S. Senator), Schuyler Colfax, Abraham Lincoln, and John Brown. The portraits are interspersed with vignettes showing scenes of African Americans reading the Emancipation Proclamation, marrying, leading troops in battle, worshiping, voting, sitting in Congress, among other activities, with captions: “We till Our Own Fields; Education Will Prove the Equality of the Races; The ballot box is Open to Us; [Masonic scene]We Unite in the Bonds of Fellowship with the Whole Human Race; Liberty Protects the Marriage Alter; The Holy Ordinance of Religion are Free; Freedom Unites the Family Circle; We Will Protect our Country as it Defends our Rights; Our Charter of Rights is the Holy Scripture.”
Item #27755, $6,500
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A Huge Print of the Great Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON,
Photograph. Mammoth Plate Albumen print, approximately 15 x 19 in. Mounted on original light card board approximately 19 x 24 in. Board worn, some cracks not touching print; minor staining in image area. “William Lloyd Garrison” printed on mount inder image. c. 1870s
An image of an older Garrison, as he appeared after his life’s work of abolition had been successfully completed.
Item #22464, $2,000
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Admiral Porter Reluctantly Turns Down General Sherman’s Invitation to a “Grand Reunion” in Chicago; and Sherman Reads These Excerpts to the Veterans
WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN,
Manuscript Copy of first two pages of a letter from David Dixon Porter, Annapolis, Maryland, December 8, 1868. 2 pp., quarto.
“General Grants election has brought such actual Peace, that there is not a part of a peg even, to hang an excitement on”
General William T. Sherman copies the first two pages of a letter in which Admiral David Dixon Porter, then Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, declines an invitation to a “Grand Reunion of the Western Armies at Chicago.” Porter had commanded the Mississippi River Squadron from October 1862 to 1864, aiding in opening the entire river to Union forces through cooperation with the western armies. Sherman likely read from this copy at the meeting of the Army of the Tennessee in Chicago.
Item #23562.02, $1,000
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President Andrew Johnson’s Copy of “New-York Daily Tribune” Detailing Proposed Regulations for Alaska
[ALASKA],
Newspaper. New-York Tribune, July 17, 1868. Featuring the terms of the “Aliaska” Bill as passed by the Senate. Copy belonging to President Andrew Johnson. New York: Horace Greeley. 8 pp., 18 x 23¾ in.
This copy is stamped “THE PRESIDENT” at the top of the front page, indicating it belonged to President Andrew Johnson. The President would have read this copy of the act before Congress submitted it to him with some amendments on July 25. The report uses the early variant spelling of “Aliaska” for the territory and peninsula.
Item #25042, $2,000
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South Carolina’s Reconstruction Governor’s Copy of Reconstruction Acts, Including Ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment
[RECONSTRUCTION ERA],
Acts of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina, Passed at the Special Session of 1868. Columbia, SC: John W. Denny, 1868. First Edition. Contemporary red morocco gilt, spine in 5 compartments with 4 raised bands, gilt lettering in 2, gilt decorations in others. “Gov. R. K. Scott” in gilt lettering on front board. 165 pp., 6 x 8⅞ in.
Excerpt
“Therefore, resolved, That the said proposed amendment to the Constitution be, and the same is hereby, ratified by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina.” (July 9, 1868)
“it shall be the duty of the State Superintendent of Education, to provide, through the School Commissioner of each County, for the enumeration of all the unmarried youth of the State, between the ages of five and eighteen years, classifying them as colored and white, male and female, and he shall report the same through the Governor of the State to the General Assembly at its next regular session.” (September 15, 1868)
Item #27064.01, $9,500
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Campaign Document Uses Civil War’s Costs Against President Johnson
[ANDREW JOHNSON],
The United States in Account with the Rebellion, Broadside, [October 1866]. 1 pp., 9½ x 11¼ in.
“Stand by Congress!”
This broadside, presented in the form of a balance sheet, gives an account of the money and men the northern states spent in suppressing the rebellion and the results it had received, including the “Murder of President Lincoln” and the massacre of black and white Unionists in Memphis (May 1866), New Orleans (July 1866), and Platte City, Missouri (September 1866). It concludes that loyal people, both black and white, must stand by Congress against President Andrew Johnson.
Item #27504, ON HOLD
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South Carolina’s Governor on the War’s Outcome: “the Union has been preserved... and now give justice and equality to all its members.” (SOLD)
JAMES L. ORR,
Autograph Quotation Signed as Governor. Columbia, S.C., September 14, 1866. 1 p., 7¾ x 6½ in. On State of South Carolina letterhead with embossed Great Seal of the affixed at upper left.
Gov. James L. Orr, a former Speaker of the United Sates House, who then raised a Confederate regiment and served in the CSA’s Senate, notes the war’s two key outcomes: establishment of the “indissolubility” of the Union, which now must “give justice and equality to all its members.”
Item #22736, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Responding to Grant’s Postwar Request for a Report of Guns Captured at Fort Donelson, His First Success
[ULYSSES S. GRANT]. FRANKLIN D. CALLENDER,
Manuscript Letter Signed as Lt. Col of Ordnance and Brevet Brigadier General, to Adam Badeau, Grant’s Military Secretary, St. Louis, Arsenal, Mo., August 1, 1866. 2 pp., 7¾ x 9½ in.
Item #22955, $495
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Edwin M. Stanton Portrait, Based on a Photograph by Matthew Brady
[HARPER’S WEEKLY],
Newspaper. Harper’s Weekly, May 26, 1866.
Item #H-5-26-1866, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Lincoln’s Vice President Talks Local Politics
HANNIBAL HAMLIN,
Autograph Letter Signed, to Sidney Perham, Boston, May 4, 1866. 2 pp., 5 x 8 in., marked “Private” and docketed “H Hamlin.”
Lincoln’s first vice president, discusses local Maine politics regarding the replacement of a longstanding U.S. District Court Judge.
Item #22863, $600
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Edwin Stanton ALS Prelude to Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Autograph Letter Signed as secretary of war, to Major General Henry W. Halleck on War Department letterhead. Washington, D.C. April 26, 1866. 2 pp., 7¾ x 9¾ in.
“I am still tugging at the oar as hopelessly & almost as painfully as a galley slave”
Item #21929, $3,750
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Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant Portraits by William E. Marshall
[ABRAHAM LINCOLN; ULYSSES S. GRANT],
William E. Marshall, Engraved Prints: “Abraham Lincoln,” New York, 1866, 20 x 25⅝ in. framed to 28½ x 35 in. And “Gen. U. S. Grant,” New York, 1868, 17⅛ x 22½ in., framed to 26 x 31¼ in. Ex Louise Taper Collection.
Considered the “finest line-engraving” of Lincoln, Marshall created this in 1866 from his painting of the martyred President. In November 1866, Ticknor and Fields of Boston announced that they would publish Marshall’s engraving on a subscription basis.
Item #26757, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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The Defense in Ex parte Milligan Argues That Even During War the Federal Government Can’t Use Military Trials Where Civilian Courts Are Operative
[LAMBDIN P. MILLIGAN],
Printed Book. D. F. Murphy, reporter, Supreme Court of the United States. In the Matter of Lambkin [sic] P. Milligan, William A. Bowles, Stephen Horsey, Under Sentence by Military Commission. Argument of David Dudley Field, Esq. for the Petitioners. March 12 and 13, 1866. New York: Williams J. Read, 1866. 97 + 104 pp., 6⅝ x 10⅛ in.
Court reporter records the impassioned defense, before the U.S. Supreme Court, by David Dudley Field of Lambdin P. Milligan and others, who were tried by military commission in Indiana during the Civil War and sentenced to death for disloyal activities. The court’s landmark decision agreed with Field’s reasoning that the federal government could not employ military tribunals where civilian courts were in operation.
Item #25148, $1,250
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