Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - October - 2004 Issue
America's Paper Trail: Amazing Manuscripts<br>From The Raab Collection
T.R. advises
Christmas of 1860 was not a very celebratory time in South Carolina. On December 20th, the South Carolina Convention voted to secede from the Union. However, South Carolina was alone at the time, and it would need the support of the other southern states to make it hold up. On the 24th, the state prepared a document to be sent to its southern neighbors, to be sent to "the people of the slaveholding states of the United States." In it, they described the U.S. constitution as an "experiment," one which "consisted in uniting under one Government different peoples, living in different climates, and having different pursuits of industry and institutions." They then say, "The experiment has failed." Lest anyone forget the purpose, they conclude, "We ask you to join us in forming a confederacy of Slaveholding States." On the following day, Christmas, 1860, the South Carolina Convention resolved to have the state's governor send its documents of secession to the other southern states to gain their support. Raab offers that resolution, as signed by the Clerk of the Convention. $130,000.
The preceding document could be described as one which started the rebellion. Here's one which started the Civil War. By April of 1861, the nation was on the brink of war. General Winfield Scott had prepared a plan for President Lincoln to strangle the South early on. It called for a naval blockade of its ports. Such a blockade would prevent importation of arms and export of cotton and other goods for cash. Ultimately, it was one of the major reasons for the South's eventual defeat. However, a blockade was considered an act of war, and a tacit admission that the Confederacy had become a separate nation. Once Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter, Lincoln realized he could no longer worry about such technicalities. A week later, on April 19th, Lincoln issued his proclamation blockading the Southern ports, perhaps the official start of war from the Union side. That signed proclamation is offered in this catalogue. $900,000.
In 1900, Theodore Roosevelt was a reform governor of New York. He found himself in battles with his own party's bosses, who would be happy to see him kicked upstairs shortly to the office of vice-president. Roosevelt was determined not to reappoint a corrupt insurance commissioner who had the support of the Republican bosses, and succeeded in outmaneuvering his opponents. Here he writes to an ally, Assemblyman Henry Sprague, on the success. Says Roosevelt, "I have always been fond of the West African proverb: 'Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.'" T.R. perhaps spoke more boisterously than softly, but he did carry a big stick, and he did go far. While the "you will go far" part has been forgotten, the rest remains the motto associated with this man who is surely one of the greatest presidents this nation has ever seen. $200,000.
