[Rarebooks] FS: 1860 American Manuscript Fourth of July Oration - Hancock Massachusetts

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

Massachusetts Manuscript: Fourth of July Oration Delivered at Hancock 
July 4th 1860.

A manuscript Fourth of July oration touching at length on slavery and 
the ongoing political struggles on the eve of the Civil War. The 
anonymous author provides a fairly standard recitation of the events 
leading to the Revolution, reminds the audience that the period after 
the Revolution and before the adoption of the Constitution was one of 
great peril, controversy and struggle, and then muses, at some length, 
that it is ion adversity and “agitation” that both individuals and 
nations find their greatest strengths and that our prior struggles “have 
given tone and vigor to out national character”. I think we all see 
where he is going with this- mention is made of politicians and others 
who agitate for their own ends and interests and advocate disunion, “But 
I trust that the sound strikes upon your ears as did the British balls 
upon the cotton bales of New Orleans, only to rebound”. He hopes that 
eventually the time will come “when the South shall not only feel the 
injustices of their ‘peculiar institution’, but shall see that interest 
alone requires them to unite in making this a truly free and independent 
nation”. He then discusses the ongoing Presidential election and hopes 
that those on the losing side may take their loss with grace and 
understanding. The oration closes by noting a large number of things 
that Americans, even in these troubled times, have to be grateful for, 
and concludes by quoting a Longfellow poem. A fine snapshot of public 
feelings, at least Northern ones, on the eve of the Civil War.

Self-wrappers. 8”x10”, lined paper, string bound. Title and 13 numbered 
pages. Minor soil, light wear. [43550]  $750

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