A fascinating document in which John S. Millson, Representative to Congress from the State of Virginia, urges Congress to consider that it is not the "expansion" of slavery that the South was willing to secede over, but the fear that expansion of free states would be leveraged to abolish even Southern slavery. And that if Congress would, in light of the questionable Constitutional perspective on slavery, simply enshrine the right to chattel slavery as an inalienable right of the South, secession and Civil War could be avoided.

A scarce drop title offprint.

Millson, John S. Speech of John S,. Millson, of Virginia, on the State of the Union. Delivered in the House of Representatives, January 21, 1861. Printed by Lemuel Towers. 8pp.

A good + copy, bound in wraps, generally solid, uncut, with pages that are a bit handled, and have light foxing.