“THE CONFEDERACY MAY ACQUIRE TERRITORY, AND SLAVERY SHALL BE ACKNOWLEDGED AND PROTECTED BY CONGRESS”: NINE VINTAGE ISSUES OF THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE CHRONICLING THE ORIGINS OF THE CIVIL WAR

(CIVIL WAR). President Lincoln's Inaugural: Opinions of the Press. IN: The New York Tribune, March 8, 1861. WITH: Eight subsequent issues from March 12 to May 3, 1861, reporting "The Evacuation of Fort Sumter," "The Pro-Slavery Rebellion," and "The War for the Union" New York: The New York Tribune, 1861. Nine issues. Tabloids on wove stock (16 by 21-1/2 inches). $2200.

Original New York Tribune reports of events pursuant to the formal declaration of the Civil War, including reactions to Lincoln’s first inaugural address, the siege of Fort Sumter, Lincoln’s acknowledgment of a state of “insurrection,” and the blockade of Southern ports.

"When Abraham Lincoln, a known opponent of slavery, was elected president, the South Carolina legislature perceived a threat. Calling a state convention, the delegates voted to remove the state of South Carolina from the Union. The secession of South Carolina was followed by the secession of six more states— Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas (and the threat of secession by four more: Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina). These eleven states eventually formed the Confederate States of America" (Joanne Freeman). In his inaugural address, President Lincoln had been generally conciliatory to the South, declaring that he had "no purpose… to interfere with the institution of slavery." But he went on to warn that "no state, on its own mere action, can get out of the Union." If there were to be disagreements, they would be over secession, not slavery. When Lincoln sent additional supplies to Fort Sumter, South Carolina sensed a military build-up. On April 12, the Civil War began with shots fired on the fort, which eventually was surrendered to South Carolina. These nine issues of the Tribune document those early events.

Some issues separated along folds. A significant historical record in fairly good condition.