Description:

JEFFERSON DAVIS' RESPONSE TO THE RESULTS OF THE "PEACE COMMISSION"
Rare Confederate imprint, Message of the President. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America., 4pp. 8vo., [Richmond, 1865], the text of Davis Feb. 6, 1865 submission of the report of the "Peace Commissioners" following his unsuccesful attempt to have emissaries discuss peace terms with Lincoln three days earlier. Davis had appointed a Alexander Stephens, Robert M.T. Hunter, and John A. Campbell to go to Hampton Roads to meet with Secretary of War William H. Seward to discuss peace terms. Abraham Lincoln joined the meeting at the last moment. Hunter proposed an armistice and a convention of states. No armistice, said Lincoln; surrender was the only means of stopping the war. Lincoln insisted on the abolishment of slavery, but offered up to $400 million to recompense slave owners. Whatever their personal preferences, the commissioners had no power to negotiate such terms. They returned to dejectedly to Richmond. In his submission, Davis claims that the union demanded "unconditional submission to their rule...emancipation of all the negro slaves...the right on the part of the Federal Congress, to legislate on the relation between the white and black population...". The commissioners' report makes note of the fact that Lincoln refused to accept the Confederacy's continued existence as a sovereign nation, but did note that he would treat federal lawbreakers with as much leniency as possible. Also published is an extract of Lincoln's statement of Dec. 1, 1864 in which he set forth his opinion as to what conditions would be required for peace withthe southern states. Fine. Sold with a scarce Confederat eimprint, 1p. 8vo., Richmond, dec. 16, 1864, a Confederate House Resolution authorizing Jefferson Davis to appoint 13 commissioners, "one from each of the Confederate States", to negotiate peace. That failing, they are to make efforts to obtain an immediate exchange of prisoners and discuss a way to mitigate the war's "horrors and atrocities". The terms Lincoln set enraged Southerners, and provoked them to remain in the war for more than a year more...costing many thousands more dead.

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September 27, 2012 11:00 AM EDT
Stamford, CT, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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