California, Union, and Freedom / Speech of William H. Seward, on the Admission of California. Delivered in the Senate of the United States, March 11, 1850: California’s Admission to Statehood, 1850

Seward's first address to the Senate was one of his most influential orations and immediately established him as a national antislavery leader.

1st ed. 8vo, 16 pp., Disbound from a larger volume; no outer wrappers.

Seward acknowledged that the Constitution's framers had recognized slavery's existence and protected it where it existed, but the new territory was governed by a "higher law than the Constitution" -- a moral law established by "the Creator of the universe." Opposing all legislative compromise as "radically wrong and essentially vicious," Seward demanded the unconditional admission of California as a free state.

CONDiton: Good; a clean copy overall but disbound from a larger volume and the pages starting to separate at left edge, which also shows rough trimming. First and last pages lightly toned; several of the pages were printed off-center, although the text is fully present.