Historic Signed Documents from The Raab Collection

Ten years before Lincoln was elected, Congress reached a compromise that was supposed to protect the nation from the war that arose just as he took office. The Compromise of 1850 provided benefits for both North and South as they debated over the issue of slavery. For the North, it allowed California to enter the Union as a free state, and prohibited the trading of slaves in the nation's capital. For the South, it allowed the other territories acquired through the Mexican War to determine for themselves whether to enter the Union free or slave. Previously, the Missouri Compromise had prohibited these territories from ever becoming slave states. Additionally, and nothing stuck in the North's craw like this one, it adopted a Fugitive Slave Law that required northerners to help track down and return escaped slaves. President Zachary Taylor opposed this compromise, foreseeing its failure, but when he died in office, his successor, Millard Fillmore, approved and signed the legislation. Item 52 is a letter from President Fillmore, dated December 19, 1850, to Senator Daniel Webster, extolling the virtues of the compromise. Webster was the great orator and beloved Massachusetts Senator who signed on to the compromise, believing it would save the Union, and saving the Union was paramount to all else. In the process, Webster destroyed his reputation in the North where the Fugitive Slave Law was considered an abomination. In his letter, Fillmore writes of attending a meeting of Union (compromise) supporters in Boston and marveling at the size and intelligence of the attendees. "I cannot yet doubt that the law will be maintained in such a community, & that the Union is safe in such hands." Fillmore could not have been more wrong. $12,000.

Item 28 is a letter from another compromiser, indeed the Great Compromiser himself, Henry Clay. Clay was instrumental in the aforementioned Compromise of 1850. However, this letter goes back to 1837, and it deals with Clay's farm. It acknowledges receipt of "hemp seed" from scientist O.A. Hall, which Clay notes, "It has reached me in good time to have it sowed at the best period…" Was Clay growing pot on the side? No, it was nothing so radical. Hemp was grown for making ropes, an important product in the era of sailing ships. $1,100.

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