Mar 19, 2015 - Sale 2376

Sale 2376 - Lot 8

Price Realized: $ 2,375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
DAY BEFORE END OF WAR: "IS NOT THIS AN IMMENSE SOCIAL REVOLUTION?" (CIVIL WAR.) SUMNER, CHARLES. Autograph Letter Signed, to an unnamed recipient ("My dear Sir"), apologizing that the memorandum accompanying the sender's letter was lost, requesting that it be resent, expressing satisfaction that slavery had been overcome, stating that Lincoln's assassination was a natural outcome of slavery, and expressing confidence that equal rights would eventually ensure security. 4 pages, 8vo, written on a folded sheet; faint dampstaining to first page along center vertical fold, moderate bleedthrough (but still legible), upper edge trimmed (without affecting text), minor smudges to signature and scattered text. Washington, 8 May 1865

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". . . You will enjoy the overthrow of Belligerent Slavery. In assassinating our good Pres'dt it acted naturally, logically & consistently. And yet there are foreigners here who are astonished that J[efferson] D[avis] can be thought guilty of such an atrocity. For 30 years such things have been done by Slavery.
"There are some who have said that we could not Conquer the Rebellion who now say that we cannot tranquillize the rebel country. This is a mistake. With equal rights to all without distinction of color the future is secure. Of this do not doubt. But it will take time; for is not this an immense social revolution?"
On May 9, 1865, President Johnson issued a proclamation declaring that the rebellion of the southern states had ceased.