Item No: #361605 A Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the State of Florida at Its Ninth Session. Florida 1858.
A Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the State of Florida at Its Ninth Session
A Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the State of Florida at Its Ninth Session

Anticipating the Civil War

A Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the State of Florida at Its Ninth Session

Notes: With most of the legislature's time taken up with questions of infrastructure, particularly the Florida railroad, Governor Madision S. Perry uses his annual address to warn of coming conflict with the north and to encourage the spread of slavery. This is a nicely-bound volume of the daily legislative log and the accompanying state office reports. The session ran from November 22, 1858, to January 15, 1859.

In his prescient call for funding a militia (an action that the legislature does not appear to have discussed seriously), Gov. Perry warns that "the late elections in the non-slaveholding States forebode no good to us in the South... He would be a false sentinel, who under the present aspect of affairs, would cry peace" (pp. 27–28). He then observes that many (White) Floridians are ambivalent about slavery, and he encourages the legislature to make changes in the law to encourage slaveholding (another action the lawmakers seem to have not spent much time on).

Another subject that Perry devotes time to is the forcible removal of Native Americans from Florida. After twenty years of conflict, the federal government had recently declared victory and ended the war. Both the governor and the legislature make appeals in this document to continue the effort until all the Seminoles and other tribes are gone from the state.

456 (journal), 70 (reports) pages. According to the daily log, the print run of this issue was 700 copies.

Edition + Condition: Contents heavily foxed; title page laid down on paper; some loss to the margins; fifth gathering duplicated in error; corner loss to final leaves of the reports section, with no loss of text. Finely bound in three-quarter's leather and marbled paper-covered boards. The spine has raised bands and is stamped in gilt. A truly lovely period-style binding.

Publication: Tallahassee, FL: Office of the Floridian & Journal, Printed by Jones & Dyke, 1858.

Item No: #361605

Price: $300