Lot 476

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Description:

JAMES BUCHANAN
(1791 - 1868) Fifteenth President of the United States whose hands-off attitude toward states' rights directly contributed to the start of the Civil War. BUCHANAN ACCUSES HIS EX-CABINET MEMBERS OF 'BARE-FACED DESERTION' Fine content, despairing post-presidential A.L.S. "James Buchanan", 2pp. 8vo., Wheatland, Oct. 29, 1862 to his ex-secretary and longtime friend, powerful Pennsylvania politician Adam J. Glossbrenner. At this low point in the Civil War, Buchanan was in a deep depression: the public widely blamed him for the war, five of his ex-cabinet members had joined the Lincoln administration and refused to support him, and even Gen. Winfield Scott was writing newspaper articles denigrating the ex-president. Buchanan opens his letter mentioning local politics and supports his friend telling him that the public will undo the "injustices" done him. He continues: "…You have seen Gen. Scott's letter which I will not characterize as it deserves. I sent an answer to it yesterday to… the National Intelligencer… My cabinet have gone into the service of Mr. Lincoln's administration except Judge Black & I have no member of it to sustain me at this crisis; but I put my trust in God & my country. I am not disheartened. I have known no case of such a barefaced desertion from past fidelity in the history of free Governments. They will yet receive their reward…". Very good. Buchanan would slowly recover from these blows, as his rebuttal to Scott's attacks gained him public favor as did the publication of his "Mr. Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of Rebellion" in 1866.

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May 24, 2016 10:30 AM EDT
Chesapeake City, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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