A group of six (6) pamphlets published in the immediate antebellum era and during the Civil War regarding slavery and abolition. Titles include: 

1. Aaron H. Cragin (1821-1898). Jefferson Against Douglas. Speech of Hon. A.H. Cragin, of New Hampshire, in the House of Representatives,
August 4, 1856. Washington, D.C. : Buell & Blanchard, 1856. 8vo, 14, [2] pp. Disbound. FIRST EDITION.

Aaron Cragin, the representative from New Hampshire, makes an impassioned rebuke of slavery: "the demands of Slavery for extension and political power have become so unreasonable, persistent, and violent, that no man who values the welfare of his country, and desires the perpetuity of the great truths established by the Revolution, can be a silent or indifferent spectator in the momentous struggle now pending." Advertisments to the last page associate the pamphlet with the Republican Association of Washington City, with several other abolitionist pamphlets listed for sale.

2. [John Townsend (1799-1881)]. The Doom of Slavery in the Union: Its Safety Out of It. Charleston, South Carolina: Evans & Cogswell, 1860. 8vo. 39, [1] pp. Stapled (as issued) wrappers. Second edition. Howes T-316; Sabin, 20615.

Urging immediate secession if Lincoln is elected, with various arguments in fervent defense of slavery. A South Carolina state representative, Townsend would sign the South Carolina Secession Ordinance just a few months after publication. 

3. [James Freeman Clarke (1810-1888)]. Secession, Concession, or Self-Possession: Which? Boston: Walker, Wise, and Company, 1861. 8vo, 48 pp. Original printed wrappers. FIRST EDITION. Provenance: George Hambrecht (bookplate to interior front wrapper). Sabin 13417. 

Addressed to abolitionist Charles Sumner, the Unitarian minister and Transcendentalist expounds at length on the issues of slavery and secession. 

4. M. Russell Thayer (1819-1906). A Reply to Mr. Charles Ingersoll’s “Letter to a Friend in a Slave State.” Philadelphia: John Campbell, 1862. 8vo, 26 pp. Original front wrapper.

The reply to Ingersoll’s public letter to a Southern friend, urging settlement of differences by giving in to Southern demands. Thayer urges no compromise, supporting the Union on constitutional and other grounds. He mentions the Missouri Compromise, the Lincoln elections, and, as he puts it, the mock President of the Confederacy. He cites the struggles of 1776 and the North’s rise to end the secession by force of arms and to end slavery once and for
All.

5. [Peter Sinclair]. Freedom or Slavery in the United States. [London: Job Caudwell, 1862?]. 8vo, 160 pp. Disbound. FIRST EDITION of this controversial pamphlet prepared by the abolitionist Sinclair following his return to England. from a trip to America. A second edition followed the next year. Sabin 81406.

6. Loyal Publication Society. New York, 1863. Four (4) issues (incomplete), as bound: No. 32, [(circa June 1863)]. "War Power of the President. Summary Imprisonment. Habeas Corpus.; No. 26. "Letter of Gen. A.J. Hamilton of Texas, to the President of the United States. July 28, 1863."; No. 23. January 1862. "Letter of Peter Cooper, on Slave Emancipation."; No. 28, [September 1863]. "The Death of Slavery. Letter from Peter Cooper to Governor Seymour." 8vo. Contemporary paper wrappers. FIRST EDITION. 

The Loyal Publication Society was a pro-Union publication founded in 1863 with an aim to bolster Union support. 
 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [African Americana, African American History, Black History, Slavery, Enslavement, Abolition, Emancipation]  [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] [Ephemera, Pamphlets, Publications, Booklets]