ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, PREPARED BY JOHN M. BERRIEN, AND REPORTED BY THE COMMITTEE OF FIFTEEN AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE ADDRESS REPORTED BY J.C. CALHOUN

  • [Washington , 1849
By Berrien, John M.
[Washington, 1849. 8pp, folded folio sheet, untrimmed and uncut. Caption title [as issued]. Near Fine.

Berrien of Georgia issues a dramatic, taut, and well-reasoned statement of the Southern position at the height of the dispute over slavery in the Mexican Cession. The Founding Fathers deemed "slavery as an elementary principle of the Constitution." The duty of Sister States to cooperate in the rendition of fugitive slaves is expressly mandated, yet systematically breached by the North.
Most significantly, Berrien argues-- well in advance of the heated debates over the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act-- that the 1820 Missouri Compromise, barring slavery north of the compromise line, is unconstitutional: "the Territories of the United States are open to all the world-- to citizens and foreigners, without discrimination as to character, profession, or color. All, whether savage or civilized, may freely enter. Shall the people of the South alone be excluded...?"
The South is not unaware of the dangers facing her "peculiar and cherished institutions." Unless slavery is protected in the Union, the South will leave it.
FIRST EDITION. OCLC 4214656 [7]. Not in De Renne, Sabin, Eberstadt, LCP, Blockson, Work.

Details

Title

ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, PREPARED BY JOHN M. BERRIEN, AND REPORTED BY THE COMMITTEE OF FIFTEEN AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE ADDRESS REPORTED BY J.C. CALHOUN

Author

Berrien, John M.

Condition

Unknown

Publisher

[Washington

Date

1849


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