DEFENCE [SIC DEFENSE] OF THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY AGAINST THE ATTACK OF JUDGE DOUGLAS- CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF THE STATES. SPEECH...OF LOUISIANA. DELIVERED IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, MAY 22, 1860

No Place (Washington?), 1860. No Date (1860) 1st edition. No cover, as issued, with simple caption title at top, 8vo, 32 pages. The first Jew to serve in the U. S. Senate who did not renounce his Judaism, and future secretary of State for the Confederacy, Louisiana Senator Benjamin levels both barrels at Senator Stephen A. Douglas and his Popular Sovereignty doctrine. An important marker in the dismantling of the National Democratic Party. Signaling Southern repudiation of the Illinois Senator as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, Benjamin argues that the South will be satisfied only by guarantees for the protection of slavery-- regardless of popular feeling-- in the Territories. In the course of arraigning Douglas, Benjamin discusses in some detail the former's debates with Abraham Lincoln in the Illinois senatorial contest two years earlier (the famous the "Lincoln-Douglas Debates") . Sabin; 4701. SUBJECT(S) : Campaign literature -- United States. Slavery -- United States -- Extension to the territories. Presidents -- United States -- Election -- 1860. Campaign literature. Politics and government Presidents -- Election. Slavery -- Extension to the territories. Though several editions of the speech were published, this is the longest (32 pages) and scarcest edition, with only 15 copies listed in OCLC/Worldcat. Tiny notches in spine from earlier binding, Good+ Condition. (kh-5-59).