Description:

James Buchanan Signs a Copy of James K. Polk's First Annual Message, "an act by Congress to admit the State of Texas into the Union" Incredible Content and Association

Secretary of State James Buchanan presented this printed copy of President James K. Polk's first annual message to Congress to future Congressman John R. Edie of Buchanan's home state of Pennsylvania. In November 1845, Edie was elected as a Whig member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. This publication includes the full text of Polk's message and many letters regarding the annexation of Texas, including six written by and twenty-seven written to Buchanan, and the complete 1845 constitution of the State of Texas. Also appended is correspondence with the British minister related to the Oregon Country, including two letters written by and one written to Buchanan.

JAMES BUCHANAN, Printed Document Signed, James K. Polk, "Message from the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress, at the Commencement of the First Session of the Twenty-Ninth Congress," December 2, 1845, Washington, D.C. Also signed by Congressman John R. Edie. 192 pp., 7" x 10.125". Modern binding; untrimmed edges; some staining and toning; very legible; very good.

Excerpts
"The terms of annexation which were offered by the United States having been accepted by Texas, the public faith of both parties is solemnly pledged to the compact of their union. Nothing remains to consummate the event but the passage of an act by Congress to admit the State of Texas into the Union upon an equal footing with the original States. Strong reasons exist why this should be done at an early period of the session." (p4)

"This accession to our territory has been a bloodless achievement. No arm of force has been raised to produce the result. The sword has had no part in the victory. We have not sought to extend our territorial possessions by conquest, or our republican institutions over a reluctant people. It was the deliberate homage of each people to the great principle of our federative union.
"If we consider the extent of territory involved in the annexation, its prospective influence on America, the means by which it has been accomplished, springing purely from the choice of the people themselves to share the blessings of our union, the history of the world may be challenged to furnish a parallel." (p4)

"I regret to inform you that our relations with Mexico since your last session have not been of the amicable character which it is our desire to cultivate with all foreign nations. On the 6th day of March last the Mexican envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the United States made a formal protest in the name of his Government against the joint resolution passed by Congress 'for the annexation of Texas to the United States,' which he chose to regard as a violation of the rights of Mexico, and in consequence of it he demanded his passports. He was informed that the Government of the United States did not consider this joint resolution as a violation of any of the rights of Mexico, or that it afforded any just cause of offense to his Government; that the Republic of Texas was an independent power, owing no allegiance to Mexico and constituting no part of her territory or rightful sovereignty and jurisdiction. He was also assured that it was the sincere desire of this Government to maintain with that of Mexico relations of peace and good understanding. That functionary, however, notwithstanding these representations and assurances, abruptly terminated his mission and shortly afterwards left the country. Our envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Mexico was refused all official intercourse with that Government, and, after remaining several months, by the permission of his own Government he returned to the United States. Thus, by the acts of Mexico, all diplomatic intercourse between the two countries was suspended." (p5)

"Since that time Mexico has until recently occupied an attitude of hostility toward the United States—has been marshaling and organizing armies, issuing proclamations, and avowing the intention to make war on the United States, either by an open declaration or by invading Texas. Both the Congress and convention of the people of Texas invited this Government to send an army into that territory to protect and defend them against the menaced attack. The moment the terms of annexation offered by the United States were accepted by Texas the latter became so far a part of our own country as to make it our duty to afford such protection and defense. I therefore deemed it proper, as a precautionary measure, to order a strong squadron to the coasts of Mexico and to concentrate an efficient military force on the western frontier of Texas. Our Army was ordered to take position in the country between the Nueces and the Del Norte, and to repel any invasion of the Texan territory which might be attempted by the Mexican forces." (p5)

"My attention was early directed to the negotiation which on the fourth of March last I found pending at Washington between the United States and Great Britain on the subject of the Oregon Territory. Three several attempts had been previously made to settle the questions in dispute between the two countries by negotiation upon the principle of compromise, but each had proved unsuccessful.
"These negotiations took place at London in the years 1818, 1824, and 1826...." (p9)

"All attempts at compromise having failed, it becomes the duty of Congress to consider what measures it may be proper to adopt for the security and protection of our citizens now inhabiting or who may hereafter inhabit Oregon, and for the maintenance of our just title to that Territory. In adopting measures for this purpose care should be taken that nothing be done to violate the stipulations of the convention of 1827, which is still in force. The faith of treaties, in their letter and spirit, has ever been, and, I trust, will ever be, scrupulously observed by the United States." (p11)

"The rapid extension of our settlements over our territories heretofore unoccupied, the addition of new States to our Confederacy, the expansion of free principles, and our rising greatness as a nation are attracting the attention of the powers of Europe, and lately the doctrine has been broached in some of them of a "balance of power" on this continent to check our advancement. The United States, sincerely desirous of preserving relations of good understanding with all nations, cannot in silence permit any European interference on the North American continent, and should any such interference be attempted will be ready to resist it at any and all hazards." (p14)

Historical Background
As early as 1836, when Texas became an independent republic, the issue of annexation divided the United States. While popular in the South, the idea of adding Texas to the Union was very unpopular in much of the North because it would add another slaveholding state to the fragile balance established by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Former President and member of Congress from Massachusetts John Quincy Adams was the most outspoken abolitionist in the country and strongly opposed the annexation of Texas. In 1838, he led a 22-day filibuster in the House of Representatives to block the annexation of Texas. In June 1844, the U.S. Senate rejected a treaty of annexation that Secretary of State John C. Calhoun had secretly negotiated with Texas officials.

In 1838, Congress adopted the notorious "gag rule" that declared that all petitions related to slavery or the abolition of slavery would be immediately tabled, and Congress would take no further action on them. In 1840, the House of Representatives passed a new rule that prohibited even the reception of anti-slavery petitions. Throughout the period, Congressman John Quincy Adams evaded the rule by using parliamentary maneuvers. In December 1844, Congress finally rescinded the gag rule in a resolution written by Adams. This legislative success ensured that petitions that opposed the annexation of Texas would at least reach Congress.

In April 1844, President John Tyler, who had been expelled from the Whig Party in 1841, submitted a treaty for the annexation of Texas to the U.S. Senate. The treaty forced all candidates for the Presidency to take a position on the controversial issue of Texas annexation. While Whig candidate Henry Clay reluctantly opposed annexation, Democratic candidate James K. Polk supported immediate annexation.

On June 8, 1844, the Whig-controlled Senate overwhelmingly rejected the annexation treaty. In his final annual message to Congress in December 1844, President Tyler insisted that the recent Polk victory was a mandate for the annexation of Texas. He proposed that Congress annex Texas through a joint resolution (requiring a simple majority in both houses) rather than by treaty (requiring a two-thirds majority in the Senate). A deeply divided Congress followed Tyler's suggestion and passed a joint resolution admitting Texas on February 28, 1845.

The annexation of Texas was formalized on March 1, when President Tyler signed the joint resolution to annex Texas, just days before Polk took office. As Clay and Van Buren predicted, Mexico refused to accept the American annexation of Texas, leading to the Mexican War in 1846, and more broadly, an increase in North-South sectional tensions over the issue of slavery.

James Buchanan (1791-1868) was born in Pennsylvania and graduated from Dickinson College in 1809. He served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a Federalist from 1814-1816. With the collapse of the Federalist Party, Buchanan became a Republican-Federalist and served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1821 to 1831, where he largely supported Andrew Jackson. He served as ambassador to Russia for eighteen months in 1832 and 1833, then as U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania from 1834 to 1845. President James K. Polk appointed him as Secretary of State, a position he held from 1845 to 1849. President Franklin Pierce sent Buchanan as the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, a position he held from 1853 to 1856. Being out of the country in the increasing sectional tensions caused by the Kansas-Nebraska Act and other controversies aided Buchanan's political fortunes in 1856, when he won the Democratic nomination on the 17th ballot over incumbent Pierce and Stephen Douglas of Illinois. Buchanan supported Douglas' doctrine of popular sovereignty, hoping to keep the divisive issue of slavery out of Congress and national debate. Two days after his inauguration, the Supreme Court issued its Dred Scott decision, declaring that Congress could not outlaw slavery in the territories. Far from settling the issue, the Court's decision fueled more sectional outrage. He took little direct action in response to the Panic of 1857, which hit northern cities and states hardest. Buchanan's poor handling of the Utah War and Bleeding Kansas also contributed to his poor reputation as president. As he left office, he famously declared that the southern states had no right to secede and that the federal government had no right to prevent them. He spent the Civil War weakly supporting the Union war effort and writing a memoir in defense of his presidency, published in 1866. Buchanan never married, the only president to remain a bachelor.

John R. Edie (1814-1888) was born in Pennsylvania and attended Emmitsburg College and the U.S. Military Academy. He served as principal of the Gettysburg schools for several years before studying law. He gained admission to the bar in 1840 and began a practice in Somerset, Pennsylvania. He married Mary Kiernan (1817-1892) in 1839, and they had at least two children, including a son who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1861. Edie served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1846-1847), deputy attorney general (1847-1850), and Somerset County district attorney (1850-1854). He was elected to Congress in 1854 and served from 1855 to 1859 as an Opposition Party and then as a Republican member. In 1861, he received a commission as a major in the 15th U.S. Infantry and served in the western theater with the Army of the Cumberland. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 8th U.S. Infantry in September 1864 and brevetted colonel in the same month. He remained in the U.S. Army until honorably discharged in January 1871. He resumed his law practice in Somerset until his death.

Provenance: Doris Harris Auction (the ex wife of Charles Hamilton, January 28, 1983, lot 175. Sold for around $400 then which was when Lincoln documents signed sold for about the same

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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