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Anti-Lincoln Pamphlet Issued by Democratic Executive Committee
Anti-Lincoln Pamphlet Issued by Democratic Executive Committee
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Description:

Abraham Lincoln
Washington, DC, ca. 1860
Anti-Lincoln Pamphlet Issued by Democratic Executive Committee
Printed document
[ABRAHAM LINCOLN.] The Great Issue to be Decided in November Next! Shall the Constitution and the Union Stand or Fall, Shall Sectionalism Triumph? Lincoln and His Supporters. Washington, DC: National Democratic Executive Committee, [1860]. 24 pp., 5.625" x 8.75". Disbound, light toning.
With: Message of the President of the United States, Communicating A Despatch to the Secretary of State from the United States consul at Liverpool and the address of the distressed operatives at Blackburn, England, to the New York relief committee, and the inhabitants of the United States generally. 37th Cong., 3d sess., Senate Ex. Doc. No. 50. March 2, 1863. 2 pp., 5.5" x 8.625". Disbound; some foxing; general toning.

This pamphlet, issued by the National Democratic Executive Committee accuses Lincoln of being a "sectional" candidate and ties him to the abolitionists. It appeals to fears of civil war, African American equality, and even race war to urge all "conservative men" to rally to the Democratic Party to save the Union.

An executive document printed by the U.S. Senate in 1863 reproduces an appeal from textile workers in Lancashire, England, for aid in migrating to the United States to provide labor for northern factories and farms and soldiers for the Union Army. The Union blockade of the Confederacy sharply diminished the flow of southern cotton to English textile mills, throwing many workers out of employment.

Excerpts
[The Great Issue:]
"An awful responsibility rests upon the voters of this country! A great, a fearful, a vital issue is to be decided by them on the 6th day of November next!... the citizens of this great country will be called upon to decide whether the Constitution and the Union our fathers made shall stand or fall—whether this great Government, the freest and the best the sun of Heaven ever shone upon—shall go on in its high career of prosperity and renown, or be torn asunder by civil war! Disguise it as you may, union on disunion is the question to be decided in November." (p1)

"To preserve the Union we must keep the bond our fathers made, and crush out and exterminate this hydra-headed monster of abolitionism. The man who casts his vote for Lincoln, in that act, deliberately, solemnly, and knowingly, votes for a dissolution of the American Union!" (p1-2)

"This Black Republican maniac [Cassius M. Clay] raves at the Constitution because it does not guaranty the equality of the negro with the white man!" (p3)

"The disregard of the Black Republican Party for Law! They spit upon the Constitution and the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States!" (p6)

"The Black Republican Party inciting the slaves of the South to insurrection, and justifying the massacre of the whites in the southern states!" (p12)

"Other infamous sentiments of the Black Republican leaders, revolutionary in their character, blasphemous in their expression, and insurrectionary in their designs." (p17)

"What does it all mean? The dissolution of the American Union, the emancipation of the Southern slaves, and the reduction of the Southern States and Southern men into the abject position of colonies and vassals. This is the ‘bloody goal' at which Black Republicanism strives." (p24)

"There is but one political organization in this country that has the power to resist and roll back the waves of fanaticism. That organization is the National Democratic party. Firmly planted in the hearts of the American people, descended from the purer and better days of this Republic, contemporary with Washington, and Jefferson, and Jackson, it stands forth to-day, as it has ever stood the champion of the Constitution and the Union. It has encountered and overthrown the Black Republican disunion party upon one battle-field. Let the conservative men of the country now rally to its standard, and it will again meet, overthrow, and vanquish this dangerous enemy to the Republic, and give peace and security to the Union." (p24)

[Message:]
"I transmit for the consideration of Congress a despatch to the Secretary of State from the United States consul at Liverpool, and the address to which it refers.... Abraham Lincoln." (p1)

"I have the honor to enclose you a memorial of the distressed operatives in Blackburn.... The subject of emigration to the United States seems to be exciting considerable attention here at the present time.... There are thousands of English and Irish ready and anxious to go to our country if they can procure passage over.... Most of the Irish, however, would go with the intention of joining the army, while the English would go with the view of cultivating the land and working in the shops and mills.... Thomas H. Dudley." (p1)

"Your memorialists beg to suggest that the benevolent object you have in view would be more effectually accomplished by affording to distressed operatives free or assisted passage to some port in the United States, where employment could be afforded them.... Your memorialists are of opinion that ten thousand families might be removed from Lancashire to America within six months if the means of transport were available, and especially if a well-grounded assurance of employment could be held out.... James Cunningham, Chairman of the meeting and one of the Aldermen of the said Borough [Blackburn]." (p2)

Historical Background
Democratic President James Buchanan had pledged to serve only one term as president, so the field was open for his chief rival, Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, to seek the Democratic nomination. However, the slavery issue that had been so divisive in 1856 became more so by 1860. Southern Democrats refused to support Douglas and broke up the Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina, in early May. When it reconvened in Baltimore in mid-June, a majority nominated Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia as the Northern Democratic ticket. Some delegates broke away and nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky and Joseph Lane of Oregon as the Southern Democratic candidates.

The Republican National Convention met in Chicago in May 1860. On the first ballot, delegates pledged to various opponents of William H. Seward voted for their favored candidates, denying the nomination to Seward. On the second and third ballots, many of them switched to Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, giving him the nomination. The Convention chose Hannibal Hamlin of Maine as their vice-presidential nominee.

The Constitutional Union Party Convention met in Baltimore in May and nominated John Bell of Tennessee and Edward Everett of Massachusetts as their candidates in an effort to bridge sectional divisions and avert conflict over slavery.

Although the election of 1860 was a four-way race among Douglas, Breckinridge, Lincoln, and Bell, sectionalism largely forced it into two parallel contests: one between Lincoln and Douglas in the North, and the other between Breckinridge and Bell in the South. Each man had a particular view on the expansion of slavery, which had become the dominant issue in American politics. Lincoln opposed slavery and especially its expansion; Douglas remained committed to "popular sovereignty," his plan to let each state's voters decide slavery's status for themselves; Breckinridge was the unabashedly proslavery candidate; and John Bell ran on the single issue of preserving the Union above all else (with slavery). All candidates declared that the future of the Union and the Constitution was at stake in the election.

In the election on November 6, 1860, Lincoln won a plurality of 39.8 percent of the popular vote to Douglas' 29.5 percent, Breckinridge's 18.1 percent, and Bell's 12.6 percent. Lincoln carried 17 northern and western states and received a majority of New Jersey's electoral votes. Breckinridge won 11 southern states with 72 electoral votes. Bell carried Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee with their 39 electoral votes, while Douglas carried only Missouri and the rest of New Jersey for a total of 12 electoral votes.

South Carolina seceded six weeks later, and before Lincoln was inaugurated, six more states followed and formed the Confederate States of America.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 5.625" x 8.75"
  • Medium: Printed document

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