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Extremely Rare Anti-Slavery Broadside "TO THE OPPONENTS OF SLAVERY-EXTENSION", Circa 1855. ...
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Description
Fighting for Abolition: Organizing the Republican Party at its Inception
Extremely Rare Anti-Slavery Broadside "TO THE OPPONENTS OF
SLAVERY-EXTENSION", Circa 1855. One page,
6" x 9.5". Washington: Buell & Blanchard, Printers, [1855]. Issued
by one of the founding members of the Republican Party, Lewis
Clephane (1824-1897). Not in OCLC, this is the only known
example.The Republican Association of Washington, D.C. was formed in the summer of 1854 in the wake of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The association had its first informal meeting in May 1854 only months after the first Republican meeting in Ripon, Wisconsin. Israel Washburn, who presided over the Washington meeting, has been given credit for suggesting the name "Republican" for the fledgling party, although a Pennsylvania newspaper editor has also been cited as suggesting the name. In spite of the presence of an organization in the nation's capital, the Republican Party did not immediately establish a national organization; rather, it was formed on a state-by-state basis with varying degrees of success. The most successful was this Washington group. Upon formation, they sought to convince Francis P. Blair to serve as its president -- an invitation he declined. This association published and distributed various manifestos and publications throughout the country in an effort to foster the growth of the new party. This led to the first organizing convention in February 1856 in Pittsburg and subsequent presidential nominating convention in Philadelphia that chose John C. Frémont as the first Republican standard-bearer. For reasons unknown, Clephane represents the organization here simply as "The Publishing Association of Washington" as opposed to "The Republican Association of Washington, D.C." as seen in the few extant imprints from the period that also cite Clephane as Secretary. The circular notes that the "Publishing Association...intend to stereotype the Speeches delivered in Congress during the present session, and other Documents, suitable for use in the coming Presidential Campaign. In order to facilitate their circulation as much as possible, the Association will furnish and mail them, singly, to such names and post offices as may be desired, at one dollar per hundred for documents of eight pages, free of postage. For packages of one hundred, or more, sent at the cost of purchasers, documents of eight pages, sixty two cents, and documents of sixteen pages, one dollar and twenty-five cents..."
The Republican Association published numerous speeches and tracts beginning in 1855. Each articulated the Republican cause before high-ranking politicians and common citizens alike. The Association went to great lengths to publish some of the most stirring pro-Republican addresses for mass distribution including titles authored by William Seward, George Weston, and other prominent anti-slavery men. Such speeches primarily focused on the key issues of slavery's dangers to the entire nation and outrage over affairs in Kansas serving to increase the profile of the fledgling political party that would become a dominant political force in less than a decade.
This is one of the first imprints issued by this organization; the only earlier imprint is the 1854 constitution of the Washington group, of which the only extant example is found in the Library of Congress. There is one other imprint, issued in 1856 by the Association (OCLC 22941697), that lists some of the publications offered by the society of which there are but four extant institutional examples. An important imprint laying the groundwork of the Republican Party.
Condition: Light creases with minor paper loss along margins. Corners bumped.
Auction Info
2023 September 21 Historical Manuscripts Signature® Auction #6272 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
September, 2023
21st
Thursday
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