[Reconstruction]: Appleton, John:

[Manuscript Letter on Reconstruction by Noted American Politician John Appleton, Writing to Maine Senator William Pitt Fessenden Regarding Reconstruction Policies].

Bangor, Me. March 11, 1866. [3]pp., on a single folded sheet, docketed on verso of second leaf. Original folds, very short split along one fold line, light wear. Very good. Item #4727

An enthralling political letter authored by John Appleton, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, who was writing to noted Maine Senator William Pitt Fessenden during early Reconstruction. In fact, much of Appleton's letter pertains to Reconstruction, and is worth quoting practically in full: "I am at a distance from the centre of political affairs but my anxiety is intense. To what are we coming? Is the reign of Chaos & night to succeed? The States cannot be kept out long? It will be impossible. To give the South representation upon the basis of the whole population is a deliberate transfer of political power to the South - now and for an indefinite future. The constitution as to the question of negro suffrage can never be changed after the Southern states come back - at any rate - not earlier than the millennium - of the coming of which the prospect is not immediate. The change proposed, if not all that is desirable, would by indication accomplish that result & the result is what we are after. Now what in the name of Heaven is Sumner thinking of. He makes a speech which every copperhead from the Sabine to St. John would denounce. He gives a vote which they hail with delight. You must have a proposed amendment - as a sine qua non - to go before the people. Why not take Doolittle's proposition. The basis of voters is a fair one - no matter how it affects particular states. The people will sustain it. Indeed, when I consider the evasion & frauds which might be perpetrated under Blaine's proposition - why is it not preferable? Sumner forgets that slavery is abolished only by war & nothing else."

Appleton seems to be discussing issues of representation and African American voting rights which would eventually coalesce into the Reconstruction Act of 1867, passed in March of that year. Fessenden, Sumner, Doolittle, and Blaine were all serving in the Senate at this time, and trying to iron out the policies of Reconstruction to present to the southern states, especially relating to southern acceptance of the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution. Eventually, the U.S. Congress demanded that southern states re-entering the Union ratify new state constitutions mandating universal male suffrage (including African American men) and passage of the 14th Amendment. The present letter contains much of interest to the legislative process in the midst of the Reconstruction debate, written by a notable American politician.

Price: $850