THE CONSTITUTION: ORIGINATING IN COMPROMISE, IT CAN ONLY BE PRESERVED BY ADHERING TO ITS SPIRIT, AND OBSERVING ITS EVERY OBLIGATION. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY JAMES W. WALL, ESQ., AT THE CITY HALL, BURLINGTON, FEBRUARY 20, 1862, BY INVITATION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY

Philadelphia: King & Baird, 1862. Original printed yellow wrappers [lightly dusted], with "Resps. of Author" written on front wrapper. 60pp. Very Good.

There are a number of Burlingtons in the United States; this one is in New Jersey. Wall lived and practiced law there. His opposition to the Lincoln Administration resulted in his arrest and incarceration for several weeks. The New York Times reported on 11 September 1861. "There is great excitement here, in consequence of a rumor that Col Jas. Wall has been arrested and taken to Fort Lafayette, charged with secession proclivities." This did not deter New Jersey Democrats from electing him to the U.S. Senate for a brief term in early 1863.
Wall's Address deplores "sectional fanaticism" and urges support for compromise and "the Union as it is." The American nation was established "for purposes infinitely higher" than the extension or abolition of slavery. His lengthy analysis of the Constitutional Convention demonstrates that the nation was founded, not on coercion, but in a spirit of compromise and due respect for the diverse interests of the sovereign States of the Union.
As of May 2025 OCLC records ten locations for the Burlington printing of this Address, but facsimiles only for our Philadelphia printing of the same year. Priority is unknown. Bartlett and the Library Company record both, with the Burlington printing in 22 pages.
Bartlett 5639. LCP 10917. Not in Sabin, Marke, or Harv. Law Cat.