Defenceless Condition of the Southern Coast of the United States and Gulf of Mexico

[Washington, DC]: (n.p.), 1842. First Edition. Ephemera. Very good. An appeal to the federal government to attend to the military defense of Florida. The author, Charles Fenton Mercer, was a former member of Congress who left his post for financial reasons and took a job at a bank in Florida, where he was working when he wrote this plea. Prior to moving to Florida, he was active in the effort to settle free Blacks in Liberia. Soon after this, he left for Texas, where he founded the Mercer Colony.

"Statement submitted by the Chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs to the House of Representatives... May 12, 1842." 7 pages (a single sheet, folded to make 8 pages, including a final blank). 27th Congress, 2d Session. House of Representatives Doc. No. 224. A bit foxed, but otherwise fine; never sewn or bound, entirely as issued.