Ben-Gurion Attempts to Convince the Israeli Government to Attack Jordan, After Jordan Violated the Cease-fire Ending the Six Day War
Autograph Letter Signed, to ?, April 10, 1970, Sde Boker, Israel. In Hebrew. 2 pp., 4.75 x 7.5 in. "I brought to the Government a proposal, since Jordan violated the conditions of the cease-fire I proposed starting a war with Jordan. . The Government rejected this proposal, even though we were sure that in a week or ten days we would conquer the entire Jerusalem and Hebron District." Translated Excerpt"In the Six Day War we conquered all the western part of our land, the Sinai, Golan - and Old Jerusalem. Till the Six Day War I considered it an irreparable disaster. The second cease-fire was arranged on condition Jordan would not damage the Jerusalem pipeline which was in its territory (the pipeline from Ras al to Jerusalem). They did not honor the decision and destroyed the pipe. After this was reported to the Command I brought to the Government a proposal, since Jordan violated the conditions of the cease-fire I proposed starting a war with Jordan for the purpose of conquering all the territory south of Ramallah to Aquaba, that is to say the entire Jerusalem District and Hebron District. The Government rejected this proposal, even though we were sure that in a week or ten days we would conquer the entire Jerusalem and Hebron District. As far as I know, in the annals of Israel there was not a continuum in matters of tradition, but there were changes from time to time. But I don't have the will or need to prove this, because I respect the opposite opinion."Historical BackgroundIn May 1967, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping, which Israel considered a cause for war. On June 5, Israel launched a series of pre-emptive airstrikes against Egyptian airfields, destroying nearly the entire Egyptian air force. Israelis simultaneously launched a ground offensive into the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. Jordan joined the conflict on the side of Egypt as part of a defensive pact signed a week before the war began. On June 11, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria signed a ceasefire. In addition to the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, Israel also seized the West Bank from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria.David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973) was born in the Kingdom of Poland, then part of the Russian Empire, as David Grün, and he studied at the University of Warsaw. In 1906, he immigrated to Palestine, which was part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1912, he moved to Constantinople to study law and adopted the Hebrew name Ben-Gurion. He supported the Ottoman Empire in World War I, but was deported to Egypt and traveled to the United States, where he remained for three years. After the Balfour Declaration of 1917, he joined the Jewish Legion of the British Army. He returned to Palestine after the war and became a leader of the Zionist movement. As head of the Jewish Agency from 1935, Ben-Gurion was effectively the leader of the Jewish population before there was a nation. He accepted the 1947 partition plan as a compromise that would establish a Jewish state, and declared the independence of the state of Israel in May 1948. After leading Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Ben-Gurion won election as Prime Minister of Israel in 1948 as head of the Mapai political party in the Knesset. He resigned in December 1953, effective January 26, 1954, then resumed office in November 1955 and served as Israeli Prime Minster until 1963. He then moved to Sde Boker, a kibbutz in the Negev desert, where he lived until his death.
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British Literary Magazine Early Printing of the Declaration of Independence
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE The Westminster Magazine; or, The Pantheon of Taste, August 1776. London: Thomas Wright, [1776]. Folding engraved map; lacking an engraved view and a piece of music, 52 pp. (395-448), 5 1/8 x 8 in. "We hold these Truths to be self-evident; that all Men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."The Westminster Magazinewas one of several London periodicals to include the Declaration in their August issue; the full text appears on pages 431-32, without comment. The issue opens with "A Concise Account of the British Colonies in America," accompanied by an engraved, fold-out "Map of the present Seat of War in North America," which provides a brief geographic description of each colony, including Newfoundland, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and East and West Florida.Excerpts from more than three pages of "American Intelligence" (p442-45).General William Howe letter to Lord George Germain, July 1776, Staten Island:"the Rebels.are numerous, and very advantageously posted with strong intrenchments, both upon Long Island and that of New York, with more than 100 pieces of cannon for the defence of the town towards the sea, and to obstruct the passage of the fleet up the North river, besides a considerable field train of artillery." (p442/c2)"I propose waiting here for the English fleet or for the arrival of Lieut. General [Henry] Clinton, in readiness to proceed, unless by some unexpected change of circumstances, in the mean time, it should be found expedient to act with the present force." (p443/c1)"Governor Franklyn [William Franklin], who for a long time maintained his ground in Jersey, has been lately taken into custody at Amboy, and is at this time detained a prisoner in Connecticut: And the Mayor of New-York [David Mathews] was confined a few days ago upon a frivolous complaint of sending intelligence to Governor [William] Tryon, brought to trial, and condemned to suffer death; but, by the last intelligence, the sentence was not carried into execution."Notwithstanding these violent proceedings, I have the satisfaction to inform your lordship, that there is great reason to expect a numerous body of the inhabitants to join the [British] army from the provinces of York, the Jerseys, and Connecticut; who, in this time of universal oppression, only wait for opportunities to give proofs of their loyalty and zeal for Government. . Several men have within these two days come over to this island, and to the ships, and I am informed that the Continental Congress have declared the United Colonies free and independent States." (p443/c1)Additional ContentShort articles include "The Pleasures of Poverty: or, Adventures in a Coffee-House" (p405-6); "The Anxieties of Irresolution" (p406-7); "An Essay on the Variety of Opinions, Whence It Proceeds, and the Uncertainty of Human Knowledge" (p413-15); "On the Varieties, Uses, &c. of Potatoes" (p419-20); and "Biographical Memoirs of William King" (p422-26); original poetry (p433-41).The Westminster Magazine; or, The Pantheon of Taste(1773-1785) was a monthly literary magazine published in London. Among its publishers over its twelve-year run were William Goldsmith (d. 1796), William Richardson (1701-1788) & Leonard Urquhart, Thomas Wright (d. 1797), John Cooke (1731-1810), John Fielding & John Walker, and John Walker.Condition: Some soiling at top margin; disbound.- $3,000
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Georgia Constitution of 1798 Prohibits Both the Importation of Slaves and Emancipation by Legislation
GEORGIA The Constitution of the State of Georgia. As Revised, Amended and Compiled, by the Convention of the State, at Louisville, on the Thirtieth Day of May, MDCCXCVIII. Augusta: John Erdman Smith, 1799. 36 pp., 4 3/4 x 8 in. Browned throughout; half calf over marbled boards. "There shall be no future importation of Slaves into this State, from Africa or any foreign place, after the first day of October next. The legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of each of their respective owners, previous to such emancipation."This 1798 Georgia Constitution, the state's third, better defined legislative power, established popular elections for the governor and authorized a state supreme court. Unlike its predecessors that made no mention of slavery, this Constitution prohibited the further foreign importation of slaves into Georgia. However, it also forbade the legislature from emancipating slaves without the consent of their owners or restricting the immigration of slaves from other states with their owners. Practically, it also did not prevent the extensive internal slave trade from other slave-holding states. Historical BackgroundGeorgia adopted its first Constitution in 1777 to replace its colonial government. It became the fourth state, and the first in the South, to ratify the proposed U.S. Constitution on January 2, 1788. Weeks later, the Georgia Assembly appointed delegates to be convened after nine states had ratified the federal Constitution "to take under their consideration the alterations and amendments that are necessary to be made in the Constitution of this State." When New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution in June 1788, the new federal compact became effective, and the Georgia State Constitutional Convention convened in Augusta in November 1788. Rather than amending the 1777 Constitution, the convention proposed an entirely new Constitution to conform to the newly adopted U. S. Constitution, which was referred to a second convention that assembled in Augusta in January 1789, and adopted on behalf of the people by a third convention in May 1789. The new Georgia Constitution mirrored the U.S. Constitution by establishing three branches of government and providing for a bicameral legislature and a single chief executive. It also provided for a convention in five years to consider alterations.In 1794-1795, Georgia Governor George Mathews and the Georgia legislature approved the sale of more than forty million acres of Georgia's western lands (modern Alabama and Mississippi) for $490,000 to four companies at approximately 1½ cents per acre. In exchange for their cooperation, the companies offered Georgia officials shares in these companies or bribes. After initially vetoing a similar bill, Governor Mathews signed the bill authorizing the sale into law, known as the Yazoo Act, on January 7, 1795. When the details of this wholesale legislative corruption became known, there was widespread public outrage and protests to the federal government. Reformer Jared Irwin was elected Governor of Georgia and in February 1796 signed a bill nullifying the Yazoo Act. Another reformer, U.S. Senator James Jackson succeeded Irwin as governor from 1798 to 1801. The state refunded money to many people who purchased land, but others refused the refund, preferring to keep the land. When the state did not recognize their claims, the matter ended up in the courts, eventually reaching the U.S. Supreme Court in 1810. In the landmark decision of Fletcher v. Peck, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned a state law by deciding that the land sales were binding contracts and could not be retroactively invalidated by legislation. In 1802, because of the controversy, Georgia ceded all of its claims to lands west of its modern border to the federal government.When the convention called for in the 1789 Constitution convened in May 1795, ou. (See website for full description)- $19,000
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Boston Newspaper Publishes Former Governor Hutchinson’s Letters
REVOLUTIONARY WAR The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, December 11, 1775. Watertown, Massachusetts: Benjamin Edes. 4 pp., 10 x 15 1/4 in. This newspaper features a masthead by noted silversmith and engraver Paul Revere, first used on January 1, 1770. The masthead features an illustration of a seated woman on the right with a laurel wreath on her brow and a lance with a liberty cap in her hand and the shield of Britain at her feet. She is opening the door to a birdcage and releasing a dove. A tree adorns the left side, and a town is visible in the distance. Beneath the image is the epigram, "Containing the freshest Advices, Foreign and Domestic."This issue publishes a series of letters from Thomas Hutchinson in the late 1760s, demonstrating that Hutchinson had sought the post of governor. The publication of these and other letters by Hutchinson convinced many that he had conspired with Parliament to deprive the American colonists of their rights. Hutchinson left Boston for England in early 1774, and his request for leave was granted. General Thomas Gage replaced him as governor of Massachusetts Bay in May 1774, but Hutchinson's letters continued, even in December 1775, to be evidence to American patriots that the British sought to strip them of their rights. Historical BackgroundAlthough Paul Revere is most remembered for his "midnight ride" of April 18-19, 1775, he was an engraver and silversmith by trade. Although the plates for eighteenth-century newspapers and publications are frequently referred to as woodcuts, they were usually engraved on type-metal, an alloy of lead, antimony, and tin.Excerpts"In this and some following papers the public will be favour'd with a number of letters, from which they will perceive with what art Mr. Hutchinson conducted, that so he might gain the chair." (p1/c1)[Letter of Thomas Hutchinson, July 18, 1767:]"Mr. B--, soon after my misfortune applied for leave to go home, and I was in hopes to have been left in command, at least during his absence, which would have been of pecuniary advantage to me, and if I had gained any reputation might have established me in the government, if he had been otherwise provided for: but it was not thought adviseable for him then to leave the province, and I doubt that he himself is fond of a voyage to England now at his own expence, so that I see no prospect of rising." (p1/c2)[Letter of Thomas Hutchinson to the Duke of Grafton, February 3, 1768:]"I have the unexpected honour of receiving a letter from your Grace, signifying your favourable opinion of my past services and your intention to name me to his majesty for a seat at the board of customs whenever a vacancy shall happen, if you shall know that it will be agreeable to me. The place your Grace proposes has more than three times the emoluments of the post I now hold of chief justice; and as I have several children to introduce into the world, this pecuniary advantage would not be unwelcome, but I may not dispense without acquainting your Grace, that these two posts are thought to be incompatible, and that I very much doubt whether it should remain the [?] and interest which I have in the people, and be as able to contribute to the preserving or ratherrestoring order and a due subordination to the supreme authority of the whole empire, was I to hold a place in the customs, as I might in my present post, or any other place not immediately related to the revenue." (p1/c2-3)[Letter of Thomas Hutchinson, November 14, 1768:]"I Believe he (the governor) has no thoughts of leaving the province this winter. The hint you have given me of my succeeding him has by other hands been given to others, and raised a general expectation. I know too well the weight of the trust to be very eager in seeking for it, but my friends tell me if the appointment should be thought a proper measure, I ought not to decline it [no, or ever really designed to decline it, for it was what he was assiduously and conver. (See website for full description)- $2,500
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Booker T. Washington Writes Brief Notes for Speeches
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON Autograph Manuscript Documents, Notes for Speeches or Reports, ca. 1890-1915. Several pages are written on blank or verso of "Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute" letterhead and one is on the verso of "Grand Union Hotel" stationery from New York City. 17 pp., 5 3/4 x 8 1/2 in. to 8 1/2 x 11 in. "Proud of Race / Serious Problem, / all can help / In & out of slavery"These pages of notes, written by African American leader and educator Booker T. Washington, are not fully developed texts but are likely either speaking points for speeches or points to stress in reports. A few can be tied to specific speeches Washington gave in the mid-1890s, but many refer to anecdotes or themes that he used in multiple speeches over a lifetime of addressing black and white audiences.Washington's approach to the path for African Americans to rise out of the miseries of slavery was more gradual than that of other African American leaders and aimed for accommodation to white hostility, fearing that the more confrontational methods espoused by others would lead to disaster for his race. The educational institutions and business organizations he nurtured created a more confident and capable generation of leaders who led African Americans to demand equal political and civil rights in the mid-twentieth century. Excerpts"Mind and matter in Industrial Education""Tendency toward matter. / Kindergarten &c. / Ind. Ed-mind applied to matter-Conquering forces of nature / more mind more matter""Educational Power of Ind. Ed. / Not for less but for its use. / What to do with that thing, Not what is Known""Liberia-No common schools, No roads, Pointless boy / Liberian student, / Studying oratory"Washington delivered a speech entitled "Mind and Matter" before the Alabama State Teachers' Association in Selma on June 5, 1895."It is said that the strongest chain is no stronger than its weakest link.""In the Southern part of our Country are 20,000,000 of your brethern who are bound to you and to whom you are bound with a indisoluble cord from you can not separate yourselves if you would. / (Aim should be to reach lowest) / Negro can be anything.""two ways of exerting ones strength / Friendship of south""quote from recent report, / Justice, / Teach children to be helpful & kind.""stick to Tuskegee plan. / Influence of Negro leaders"During a speech to the National Education Association in St. Louis on June 30, 1904, Washington, said, "There are two ways of exerting one's strength; one in pushing down, the other in pulling up. It is a sign of the highest civilization when individuals reach that point where their strength is used in pulling every human soul up to the very highest point of its usefulness and service."[1] The first sentence became an oft-repeated inspirational quotation."Trustee meeting / Land sale""Lease land. / New trustees""All under law. / 1 weak religious restraint / 2 Exciting passions, / 3 ministering to wicked appetites""Reputation-its value, / Publishing bad actions, / Be charitable in judging, / Ridicule / when to speak out, / to protect Soc. / to protect the innocent, / To protect the offender / Shun company of wicked.""It is a great satisfaction to belong to a race just now when white Americans are likely to find themselves intermingled with the Mongolian and the malay from the far East and the Latin races from the South, & say that under such circumstances it is a supreme satisfaction to belong to a race that has such a potent drawing power as is true of my race."This quotation comes from an address Washington delivered to the Christian Endeavor Society on July 7, 1898, in Nashville, Tennessee. His speech was entitled, "The Mutual Dependence of the Races." The Christian Endeavor Society was founded in 1881 as an interdenominational Christian youth society and spread throughout the United States."How not to work""Dignifying labor / girl / white worker"In his 1903 speech, "Industrial Education for the Negro. (See website for full description)- $11,000
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Early Printing of a Bill to Establish the Treasury Department
ALEXANDER HAMILTON The Pennsylvania Packet, and Daily Advertiser. Newspaper, June 11, 1789 (No. 3233), Philadelphia: John Dunlap and David C. Claypoole, including the Bill to establish the Treasury Department, 4 pp., 11 x 18.25 in. Excerpt"it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, to digest and report plans for the improvement and management of the revenue, and for the support of public credit-To prepare and report estimates of the public revenue, and the public expenditures-To superintend the collection of the revenue-To decide on the forms of keeping and stating accounts, and making returns, and to grant, under the limitations herein established, or to be hereafter provided, all warrants for monies to be issued from the Treasury, in pursuance of appropriations by law-To conduct the sale of the lands belonging to the United States, in such manner as shall be by law directed-To make report, and give information to either branch of the Legislature, in person or writing, (as he may be required) respecting all matters referred to him by the Senate or House of Representatives, or which shall appertain to his office, and generally to do or perform all such services, relative to the finances, as he shall be empowered or directed to do and perform." (p3/c2) Historical BackgroundThe First Congress of the United States under the U.S. Constitution convened in New York City on March 4, 1789. In May, the House of Representatives resolved that the new federal government should have a Department of Foreign Affairs, a Treasury Department, and a Department of War, and appointed a committee to prepare bills establishing these departments. In June, Abraham Baldwin of Georgia presented a bill from the committee to establish the Treasury Department, and it is that bill that appears in this issue of the Pennsylvania Packet. After debating the bill for several months, Congress passed "An Act to Establish the Treasury Department," and President George Washington signed it into law on September 2, 1789.On September 11, Washington nominated Alexander Hamilton as the first Secretary of the Treasury. The Senate approved the nomination, and Hamilton took the oath of office that very day. Hamilton held the office until January 31, 1795.Additional ContentThis issue also includes a letter reprinted from the Virginia Journal recommending Jedediah Morse's The American Geography to "my countrymen" and providing an excerpt related to the Potomac River (p2/c1-2); an ordinance for regulating the High Street market in Philadelphia (p2/c2-p3/c2); excerpts from an act "to prevent poor and Impotent persons being imported into the Province of Pennsylvania" (p4/c4); and many notices and advertisements, including one offering a $20 reward for the return of a twenty-four-year-old African American slave from the West Indies (p4/c3).The Pennsylvania Packet, or the General Advertiser (1771-1800) was founded by John Dunlap (1747-1812) in late 1771 as a weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, though it relocated to Lancaster during the British occupation of Philadelphia in 1777-1778. In 1776, Dunlap became the official printer for the Continental Congress, and he printed the first copies of the Declaration of Independence. On May 30, 1783, Benjamin Towne turned the Pennsylvania Evening Post into the first daily newspaper in the United States. However, with Towne branded a traitor and forced to hawk his own papers on the street, the newspaper collapsed the following year. John Dunlap and David Claypoole (1757-1849) then made their Pennsylvania Packet the first successful daily newspaper beginning on September 21, 1784. It was the first newspaper to print the U.S. Constitution in 1787 and the first to publish George Washington's Farewell Address in 1796. It underwent numerous name changes in the 1790s until sold in 1800 and renamed Poulson's American Daily Advertiser.- $2,000
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General Hugh Mercer’s WillNoting the Plantation he Purchased from George Washington (Ferry Farm, Washington’s Boyhood Home), and Instructions to Executors to “hire negroes” to Work the Plantation for the Benefit of his Wife and Children
REVOLUTIONARY WAR. SLAVERY. GEORGE WASHINGTON. HUGH MERCER Manuscript Document, Contemporary Copy of Last Will and Testament, March 20, 1776, Fredericksburg, Virginia. 4 pp., 7 1/2 x 11 5/8 in. "I direct that after my decease my dear Wife Isabella (if she survive me) and my children do reside on my plantation in King George County adjoining to Mr James Hunter's Land which Plantation I purchased from General George Washington and that my Executors hereafter named out of my personal Estate purchase or hire negroes as they shall think best to work the said Plantation.""I further direct my Books Drugs surgical Instruments shop utensils and Furniture to be sold and also such Household Furniture Negroes or stocks of Cattle and Horses as may appear to my Executors hereafter named to be for the benefit of my Personal Estate."Written shortly after Hugh Mercer became the colonel of the 3rd Virginia Regiment of the Virginia Line, his last will and testament disposed of his real and personal property, including slaves among his wife Isabella Gordon Mercer and children, including one yet to be born.After playing a key role in the Battles of Trenton, in January 1777 at the Battle of Princeton, Mercer's horse was shot from under him, and he was mortally wounded. Vastly outnumbered and mistaken by the British for George Washington, he was ordered to surrender. Instead, he drew his sword, and was bayonetted seven times. He died nine days later. Historical BackgroundGeorge Washington's family moved to Ferry Farm, outside of Fredericksburg, in King George County, Virginia, in 1738, when he was six years old. His father died in 1743, while they lived there, and George Washington eventually inherited the farm and lived there with his mother and siblings until his early 20s. His mother lived there until 1772, when she moved to a house in Fredericksburg. After leasing the tillable and pasture lands of Ferry Farm for two years, George Washington sold it in April 1774 to Scottish physician and fellow French and Indian War veteran Hugh Mercer for £2,000 Virginia currency, due in five annual payments plus interest.Mercer was appointed colonel of what became the 3rd Virginia Regiment of the Virginia Line in January 1776. Both future President James Monroe and future Chief Justice John Marshall served as officers under his command. By June 1776, the Continental Congress had appointed him as a brigadier general in the Continental Army, and he left for New York to oversee the construction of Fort Lee on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River.Mercer played major roles in the First and Second Battles of Trenton on December 26, 1776, and January 2, 1777. While he was leading a vanguard of soldiers to Princeton on January 3, Mercer's horse was shot from under him. British soldiers mistook Mercer for Washington and ordered him to surrender. Instead, Mercer drew his saber and attacked though heavily outnumbered. The British troops bayonetted him seven times and left him for dead. General Washington rallied Mercer's men, pushed back the British regiment, and continued the attack on Princeton. Despite medical attention from Dr. Benjamin Rush and local Quakers, Mercer died nine days later from his wounds.In 1791, Painter John Trumbull used Mercer's son Hugh Tennent Weedon Mercer, who was five months old when his father died, as a model for the large painting, The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777, on which Trumbull worked for many years.Hugh Mercer (1726-1777) was born in Scotland as the son of a minister in the Church of Scotland. He studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen's Marischal College and graduated as a physician in 1744. He served as an assistant surgeon under Bonnie Prince Charlie and was present at the army's defeat at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746. He went into hiding and fled to America in 1747, settling in Pennsylvania, where he practiced medicine. During the French and Indian War, he joined a Pennsylvania regiment as. (See website for full description)- $12,500
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California Constitution First Printing in Book FormOne of Earliest Printings in San Francisco
CALIFORNIA Constitution of the State of California. San Francisco: Office of the Alta California, 1849. 16 pp., 5 3/4 x 9 5/8 in. "We, the People of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings, do establish this Constitution." (p3)Art. I, "Sec. 18. Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crimes, shall ever be tolerated in this State." (p4) Historical BackgroundIn January 1848, a carpenter first found gold at a sawmill owned by John Sutter on the South Fork American River northeast of Sacramento, launching the California Gold Rush. As news of the discovery spread, prospectors flocked to the new U.S. territory of California, 81,000 arriving in 1849 and another 91,000 in 1850. Over the next seven years, approximately 300,000 people came to California seeking gold or supplying prospectors. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican War in February 1848 made California, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado and parts of New Mexico and Arizona American territory.On June 3, 1849, Brigadier General Bennett C. Riley (1787-1853), the ex officio governor of California under U.S. military rule, issued a proclamation calling for a constitutional convention and the election of delegates to it on August 1. Voters elected 48 delegates, who convened in Monterey for six weeks in September and October 1849. William E. Shannon (1822-1850) of Sacramento proposed a section declaring that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude "shall ever be tolerated in this State," which was unanimously adopted and made part of the bill of rights in the first article. The constitution also guaranteed the right to vote to "every white male citizen of the United States, and every white male citizen of Mexico, who shall have elected to become a citizen of the United States" who was also at least twenty-one years old. The office of the Alta California newspaper in San Francisco printed this pamphlet for California's citizens to review before casting their ballots. Voters ratified the new state constitution on November 13. On December 1, 1849, the issue of the Alta California for the Steamer Unicorn reported early results on the ratification of the constitution and election of state officers: "From every precinct yet heard from, the meagerness of the vote is accounted for by the fact that the rain fell in torrents. Some complaint is also made that the printed copies of the Constitution were not properly circulated, and that is said to be one reason of the large vote against it in the Sacramento District." According to the precincts reporting from the Sacramento District, 5,002 voted in favor of the constitution and 603 against it. The final vote of the state was 12,061 for the constitution, and 811 against it.The rapid expansion of California's population inspired discussions of its status within the Union. In his annual message to Congress in December 1849, President Zachary Taylor noted the constitutional convention recently held and his expectation that California would soon apply for statehood, which he encouraged. Two months later, President Taylor submitted this California Constitution and a proposal to admit California as a new state to Congress. Taylor's death on July 9, 1850, elevated Millard Fillmore to the presidency. Fillmore supported the Compromise of 1850, engineered by Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky. One of the five acts that composed the Compromise of 1850 was "An Act for the Admission of the State of California into the Union." On September 9, 1850, Fillmore signed the act into law, and California became the 31st state in the Union.The Alta California began publication on January 4, 1849, as a weekly newspaper. Edward C. Kemble, Edward Gilbert, and George C. Hubbard were the first publishers. The newspaper became a daily in January 1850 and continued publishing until 1891.Condition: Small accession number stamped in margin of upper cover; scatt. (See website for full description)- $17,500
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J.E.B. Stuart Writes to Legendary Confederate Spy Laura Ratcliffe
J.E.B. STUART Autograph Letter Signed "S", to Laura Ratcliffe. April 8, 1862. 3 pp., 3 7/8 x 6 in. Full of braggadocio, Confederate cavalryman J.E.B. Stuart gives early mistaken reports of the Battle of Shiloh to an informant, the famous Confederate spy Laura Ratcliffe."We are here quietly waiting for the yankees and if they ever come we will send them howling." Complete Transcript Rappahannock April 8 1862My Dear Laura - We are here quietly waiting for the yankees and if they ever come we will send them howling - through Fairfax again. We have won a glorious victory in New Mexico, capturing the whole Federal command 5000 - under Genl Canby. We have also won a glorious victory near Corinth on the Tenn. Captured 3 genls Smith McClernand & Prentiss, & six thousand prisoners, all [2]their artillery & camp equipage & rumor says we are sure to bag the remainder who are in full retreat, A.S. Johnston was killed. Beauregard & Bragg were there - I have thought of you much, & hope soon to see you all again. Before another week we expect to win another glorious victory. Hurrah! Hurrah!! I wish I could see you read this -- [3] My regard to your folks - The bullet-proof is all right. Yours ever truly S__[envelope:] Miss Laura Ratcliffe / Beauty's Bower Historical Background Laura Ratcliffe lived in Fairfax, Virginia, and her home was sometimes used as headquarters by the ranger John Singleton Mosby. Ratcliffe used to hide messages and money for Mosby, and once hid him from a search party of Federal troops. Among other Confederate officers to whom she offered various types of support was J.E.B. Stuart, who corresponded with her and occasionally even sent her poetry.Stuart rapturously recounts a recent series of Confederate victories and anticipates others. "We are here quietly waiting for the Yankees and if they ever come we will send them howling through Fairfax again." Apparently dependent on early newspaper reports, Stuart is mistaken about the Battle "near Corinth." On April 4 and 5, 1862, after near-victory on the first day, General Albert S. Johnston's Army of Tennessee was defeated by Ulysses Grant at the Battle of Shiloh. Stuart was correct in noting, however, that Johnston was killed at this battle.The envelope for the letter bears the engraved address of "Head Quarters Cavalry Brigade, Army of the Potomac." The Confederate Army of the Potomac was commanded by P.G.T. Beauregard, but in June 1862 it was renamed as the First Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia when Robert E. Lee assumed command. Beauregard had been sent west to be second-in-command to Albert Johnston, and led the Army of Tennessee on the second day of Shiloh. Stuart's cavalry was soon transferred from north central Virginia (this letter is dated "Rappahannock") to the Peninsula, where Union General George McClellan had landed his Army of the Potomac in an attempt to advance on Richmond from the southeast with the help of Union Navy transport vessels.Laura Ratcliffe (1836-1923) was a legendary Confederate spy who operated a safe house in Fairfax County, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. She met cavalrymen J.E.B. Stuart and John S. Mosby early in the war, when she and her sister were nursing wounded soldiers, and soon began providing information on Union troop activity as the Confederate Army was forced south. In 1862 and 1863, when Stuart commanded Robert E. Lee's entire cavalry corps, he made several raids on the Fairfax County area, often visiting Laura at her home. In the winter of 1862, Mosby was granted permission to stay with Ratcliffe and nine soldiers. There was a rock at the top of Squirrel Hill on her property where she would leave messages for Mosby or Stuart. She was never charged with a crime.James Ewell Brown ("Jeb") Stuart (1833-1864) was the most famous Confederate cavalryman and one of General Lee's principal lieutenants in the Army of Northern Virginia. A Virginian, he graduated from West Point in 1854 and gained use. (See website for full description)- $7,800
- $7,800
Rare Abraham Lincoln 1860 Campaign Sash for Rally at Boston’s Faneuil Hall
ABRAHAM LINCOLN Portrait Sash from Faneuil Hall Rally, May-November, 1860, Boston, Massachusetts. 1 p., 29 x 2 1/4 in. It features a portrait of Lincoln engraved from an 1858 photograph taken in Springfield by Christopher S. German. The first owner wore this sash at one or more of the Lincoln Rallies during the 1860 presidential campaign season. The two most prominent were at the beginning and end of the season. Historical BackgroundOn May 24, 1860, an "immense meeting" opened the Republican campaign in Massachusetts. The Daily Advertiser reported, "Faneuil Hall never rocked under the feet of a larger, a more unanimous, patriotic and enthusiastic audience, than filled its walls to overflowing last evening. The enthusiasm that was kindled, will spread throughout the country, and bear Lincoln and Hamlin in triumph to the goal."[1]On October 16, 1860, Wide Awake and other Republican groups from throughout New England again assembled in Boston for a "grand Republican demonstration and torchlight procession." William Lloyd Garrison's Liberator called it "the most brilliant and imposing political demonstration ever witnessed in Boston on any occasion" and asserted that ten thousand Wide Awakes "all in full dress" paraded through the streets of Boston, including several hundred African Americans.[2]We aren't aware of any other 1860 presidential campaign sashes with Lincoln's portrait and tied to such a prominent historic location.Faneuil HallIn 1740, slave trader Peter Faneuil offered to build a public market house as a gift to the town of Boston. Built over the next two years, it had an open ground floor to serve as a market house, with an assembly room above. Although the interior was destroyed by fire in 1761, the town rebuilt it in 1762. Expanded to double its original size in width and the addition of a third floor in 1806, the enhanced Faneuil Hall was used for town meetings until 1822 and for public meetings of all sorts thereafter. To the east of Faneuil Hall is the Faneuil Hall Market, begun in 1824, which includes the North Market, South Market, and Quincy Market granite buildings.[1] Boston Daily Advertiser (MA), May 25, 1860, 1:7.[2] The Liberator (Boston, MA), October 19, 1860, 2:3.- $12,500
- $12,500
The Justice Department’s First Publication: Attorney General Edmund Randolph’s Suggestions to Improve the New Federal Judiciary, Including Supreme Court Fixes
EDMUND RANDOLPH Report of the Attorney-General. Read in the House of Representatives, December 31, 1790. Philadelphia: Francis Childs & John Swaine, 1791. 32 pp., Folio 8 x 13 in. The House of Representatives asked Attorney General Edmund Randolph to report on the working of the system established by the Judiciary Act of 1789. Randolph responded with this report, delivered on December 27, 1790, provided criticisms and suggestions that became a blueprint to improve the Federal judiciary. Specifically, Randolph wanted Congress to assert the exclusive jurisdiction of federal courts in certain areas; to relieve Supreme Court justices from the duty of presiding in circuit courts; and to adopt explicitly the common law of the United Kingdom as a basis for judicial decisions unless superseded by specific American legislation. The latter two-thirds of the report presents Randolph's proposal for "A Bill for amending the several Acts concerning the Judicial Courts of the United States," with his explanatory notes. Before Congress acted on Randolph's suggestions, in August 1792, all of the Supreme Court justices complained in a letter to President George Washington that circuit travel was too onerous. In response, Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1793 (see #26594) that required only one, rather than two, justices to sit in each circuit court. Congress did not relieve the justices of circuit-riding duties until 1911. Excerpts"I am persuaded that time and practice can alone mature the judicial system." (p1)"If the United States, as far as they can be a party defendant, should happen to be so, their own courts can alone judge them. To drag a confederate before the courts of one of its members, would reverse the plain dictates of order; hazard the most critical interests of the union upon the pleasure of a single state; and enable every individual state under the pretext of a forensic sentence, to arrogate the general sovereignty." (p4)"We are then led to conclude, that the judiciary of the United States have exclusive jurisdiction in the following cases."1. In those of strict admiralty and maritime jurisdiction."2. Where the United States are a party defendant."3. Where a particular state is a party defendant."4. Where lands are claimed under grants of different states."5. In treason, as described by the constitution, and other crimes and offences created by the laws of the United States, but not consigned to the state tribunals."6. In rights created by a law of the United States, and having a special remedy given to them in federal courts." (p5)"Judicial uniformity is surely a public good, but its price may be too great if it can be purchased only by cherishing a power, which to say no more, cannot be incontestably proved." (p7)"A third alteration, which the Attorney-General cannot forbear to suggest, is, that the judges of the supreme court shall cease to be judges of the circuit courts." (p7)"If the judge, whose reputation has raised him to office, shall be in the habit of delivering feeble opinions, these reports will first excite surprise, and afterwards a suspicion, which will terminate in a vigilance over his actions." (p9)"in one aspect the existence of the common law, as the law of the United States, is equivocal. some parts of the common law.will be estranged from our system. To cut off then such altercation, is not unworthy the care of Congress. It is true indeed, that there ought to be a repugnance to naturalize the statute book of a foreign nation, even for a moment. But the fact is, that the United States have not yet had sufficient leisure to disengage themselves from it, by enacting a code for themselves. The time will come (perhaps it has already come) when such a work will be indispensable. But until it shall be completed, it will be far less disgraceful to accept, under proper restrictions, some part of our law from an alien volume, with which every state is well acquainted, and to which . (See website for full description)- $18,000
- $18,000
Ben-Gurion Attempts to Convince the Israeli Government to Attack Jordan, After Jordan Violated the Cease-fire Ending the Six Day War: https://rarebookinsider.com/rare-books/ben-gurion-attempts-to-convince-the-israeli-government-to-attack-jordan-after-jordan-violated-the-cease-fire-ending-the-six-day-war/