JOURNAL OF THE CONVENTION OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS. WHICH WAS BEGUN AND HELD IN THE CAPITOL IN THE CITY OF LITTLE ROCK, ON MONDAY, THE FOURTH DAY OF MARCH, ONE THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED AND SIXTY ONE.

Little Rock: Johnson & Yerkes,, 1861.. Arkansas Debates Secession in the Month Before the Attack on Fort Sumter, and Offers a Staunch Defense of Slavery An account of the proceedings at the first meeting of the Secession Convention held in Arkansas, in March 1861. This was the beginning of the secession debate in Arkansas - they would put off the final decision until August. This convention calls for an election over the issue of secession, includes a draft of an Arkansas secession ordinance ("An Ordinance, To dissolve the Union between the State of Arkansas and the other States united with her under the compact entitled 'The Constitution of the United States of America'"), and prints the South Carolina secession ordinance in the Appendix, along with detailed arguments for secession. Inevitably, the convention addressed the question of African-American slavery; a resolution from March 11, shrouding a pro-slavery argument in the cloth of the Constitution, reads: "Resolved, That it is the deliberate sense of this convention, that African negroes, and the descendants of the African race, denominated slaves by all the constitutions of the southern slaveholding states, is property to all intents and purposes, and ought of right to be so considered by all the northern states, being expressly implied by the constitution of the United States; and a denial on the part of the people of the northern states, of the right of property in slaves of the southern states is, and of right ought to be, sufficient cause, if persisted in by northern people, to dissolve the political connection between said states." This resolution was thereby referred to a committee. Perhaps surprisingly, at this initial assembly, the delegates actually voted to remain in the Union and to reconvene later in the year to take up the issue again, at which point they eventually did choose to secede. Very rare. Parrish & Willingham record a dozen institutional copies, but only one copy has appeared at auction since 1918. 144pp. Half calf and marbled boards in antique style, leather label. Light soiling and foxing on titlepage, else internally clean. Very good. PARRISH & WILLINGHAM 2707. HARWELL 425.