Description:

Horace Greeley Declines Lecturing Commitment "because I am perplexed by the political troubles, yet obliged to go West"

A 1p autograph letter signed by newspaper editor Horace Greeley (1811-1872), as "Horace Greeley" at lower right. Written in New York City on December 25, 1860 on bifold blue-lined stationery with "Office of the Tribune" letterhead. The inner pages are blank, and the last page is docketed presumably in the hand of Greeley's correspondent, J.M. Brown, Esq. Expected light paper folds and isolated edge darkening, else near fine. 5" x 8."

Horace Greeley wrote in part:

"My dear Sir:

I cannot promise to lecture for you on the 8th of February, nor in fact (as yet) on any precise day in that month, because I am perplexed by the political troubles, yet obliged to go West in January - about the middle - and cannot be sure that I can return at the time set. If Friday, Jan. 11th was open, I would gladly give you that; but I infer that it is taken up. So leave me off, make up your appointments without me so far as the middle of February; and then if I do not make you a satisfactory [one] to offer (?), fill up your list without me…"

The "political troubles" which Greeley alluded to related to Southern secession. After the November 6, 1860 presidential nomination of Abraham Lincoln, whose views were vocally anti-slavery, political polarization and regionalism had intensified, and a series of subsequent escalations--including Senatorial and cabinet resignations--forced the country to the brink of chaos. South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 24, 1860, the day before Greeley's letter. This proclamation started a domino effect: over the next month, other slave-holding states would also secede from the Union and the Confederacy would soon be formed.

The identity of Greeley's correspondent J.M. Brown is unknown, but he was almost certainly the organizer of a local chapter of the Lyceum Movement, an intellectual trend popular nationwide after the mid-1820s. The lyceum format, in which lectures were given by notable authors, ministers, artists, and philosophers of the day, was designed to educate and uplift listeners. Horace Greeley was frequently asked to lecture, along with others like Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Horace Mann. If Greeley had been able to finally accept Mr. Brown's invitation to lecture, he probably would have presented a talk similar to the one he gave in Waukegan, Illinois one month later, on January 26, 1861. Greeley's lecture was entitled "American Westward of the Mississippi."

Horace Greeley is best known for founding and later editing the "New York Tribune." This daily subscription newspaper was one of the first of its kind to feature serious news stories of national scope, and to eschew more sensational or unbalanced reporting. Greeley, who was very socially conscious, even used his paper as a platform from which to champion issues like emancipation, communal living, and western migration.

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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