This is an extraordinary collection of 62 individual "speeches" delivered (primarily) in the United States Senate and House of Representatives by various politicians in 1858 (with one document dated 1843). The speeches have been custom-bound into a hardcover volume with marbled covers, and leather over the cover corners and spine. Of notable interest are speeches regarding slavery and how the issue was viewed by the northern and southern states, and by Republican and Democrat lawmakers. Much of the slavery debate centers around the conflict in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas"), and the Lecompton Constitution. A remarkable assemblage of debates, many of which foreshadow the American Civil War.
The following 62 speeches are included:
SLAVERY / KANSAS / LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION (37)
* Kansas - Lecompton Convention - On the President's Message by Stephen Douglas (December 9, 1857).
* On the Acquisition of Territory in Central and South America, to be Colonized with Free Blacks, and Held as a Dependency by the United States by Frank P. Blair, Jr. (January 14, 1858).
* On Our Central American Relations and the Admission of Kansas into the Union by William T. Avery (January 27, 1858).
* On the Slavery Question by Reuben Davis (January 27, 1858).
* Speech of James Dixon, of Connecticut (February 9, 1858).
* Views of the Minority on the Constitution of Kansas, Adopted by the Convention which Met at Lecompton on Monday, the 4th of September, 1857 by Jacob Collamer (February 18, 1858).
* On the Kansas - Lecompton Constitution by Stephen Douglas (February 18, 1858) [there are 2 of these Reports in the volume].
* On the President's Kansas Message by Sherrard Clemens (February 18, 1858).
* The Lecompton Constitution - A Measure to Africanize the Territories of the United States by Calvin C. Chaffee (February 24, 1858).
* On the Regularity of the Kansas-Lecompton Constitution by Reuben Davis (February 24, 1858).
* On the Admission of Kansas into the Union by M.J. Crawford (February 24, 1858).
* Extracts from Lecompton Views on Free Labor - In Advocacy of the Lecompton Constitution, and in Reply to Hon. William H. Seward by James H. Hammond (March 4, 1858).
* The Kansas Question by Thomas S. Bocock (March 8, 1858).
* The Lecompton Constitution Founded Neither in Law Nor the Will of the People by Henry L. Dawes (March 8, 1858).
* Kansas - Lecompton Constitution by Z. Chandler (March 12, 1858).
* Kansas - The Law of Slavery by Daniel Clark (March 15, 1858).
* Kansas - The Lecompton Constitution by J.J. Crittenden (March 17, 1858).
* Against the Admission of Kansas by Garnett B. Adrain (March 20, 1858).
* Kansas - The Lecompton Constitution by Schuyler Colfax (March 20, 1858).
* On the Lecompton Conspiracy by Charles H. Durkee (March 20, 1858).
* Against the Admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution by Stephen Douglas (March 22, 1858).
* Against the Admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution by D.C. Broderick (March 22, 1858).
* In Favor of the Admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution by H.C. Burnett (March 23, 1858).
* On the Kansas Question by Francis P. Blair, Jr. (March 23, 1858).
* Kansas - The Lecompton Constitution by James Buffinton (March 24, 1858).
* Upon the Subject of the Admission of Kansas as a State under the Lecompton Constitution by H.F. Clark (March 24, 1858).
* Kansas - Slavery - The Lecompton Constitution by Sidney Dean (March 25, 1858).
* Kansas and Slavery by Henry Bennett (March 29, 1858).
* An Appeal to Patriots against Fraud and Disunion by Anson Burlingame (March 31, 1858).
* Report of the Joint Committee of Conference on the Disagreeing Votes between the Senate and House of Representatives upon the Bill for the Admission of Kansas. Also Remarks of Hon. Wm. H. English, of Indiana, on the Bill Reported by the Joint Committee (April 23, 1858).
* The Kansas Conference Bill by J.J. Crittenden (April 27, 1858).
* Report of the Kansas Conference Committee by Jacob Collamer (April 27, 1858).
* On the Conference Bill for the Admission of Kansas by John A. Bingham (April 28, 1858).
* On the Kansas-Lecompton Constitution, and the Report of the Committee of Conference by Stephen Douglas (April 29, 1858).
* Success of the Absolutists. Their Idealism; What and Whence is it? by Philemon Bliss (May 24, 1858).
* On the Kansas Question by Aaron H. Cragin (May 24, 1858).
PACIFIC RAILROAD (4)
* The Pacific Railroad by Charles Billinghurst (January 22, 1858) [there are 2 of these speeches in the volume].
* On the Pacific Railroad Bill by Stephen Douglas (April 17, 1858).
* Pacific Railroad by F.P. Blair, Jr. (May 25, 1858).
MISCELLANEOUS (21)
* Message from the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress, at the Commencement of the First Session of the Thirty-Fifth Congress by James Buchanan (December 8, 1857).
* On the Neutrality Laws by Garnett B. Adrain (January 7, 1858).
* On the Fifteen Million Loan Bill by Samuel G. Andrews (May 31, 1858).
* Distribution of Public Lands - Increase of Taxation by L. O'B. Branch (May 12, 1858).
* Increase of the Army by John A. Bingham (March 17, 1858).
* Virginia Bill of Rights - New Constitution, etc. Adopted by the Virginia Convention August 1, 1851 (1851).
* Life of John C. Calhoun - Presenting a Condensed History of Political Events from 1811-1843 (1843).
* On the Neutrality Laws by James B. Clay (January 13, 1858).
* In Defence of the Financial Institutions of Massachusetts by Linus B. Comins (January 28, 1858).
* On the Bill Donating Lands for Agricultural Colleges by Williamson R.W. Cobb (April 22, 1858).
* On the Neutrality Laws by James B. Clay (January 13, 1858).
* Against the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, and in Favor of American Ascendency in the Gulf of Mexico and Central America by Thomas L. Clingman (May 5, 1858).
* Bill Granting Pensions to the Soldiers of the War of 1812 by J.L.M. Curry (April 27, 1858).
* On the Bill Introduced to Repeal the Fishing Bounties by C.C. Clay Jr. (May 4, 1858).
* The Central American Question by Samuel R. Curtis (January 15, 1858).
* Justification of Commodore Paulding's Arrest of Walker and His Command at Punta Arenas by James R. Doolittle (January 21, 1858).
* The Mormon Rebellion and the Bill to Raise Volunteers by Samuel R. Curtis (March 10, 1858).
* On the Bill Granting Pensions to Soldiers Who Served in the Last War with Great Britain and the Indian Wars Preceding by Samuel R. Curtis (April 27, 1858).
* On the Preservation of Life and Property on the Coast of New Jersey by Isaiah D. Clawson (May 19, 1858).
* On the Tariff Question by Nathaniel B. Durfee (May 22, 1858).
* French Spoilations by Timothy Davis (May 22, 1858).
[4]