Partial autograph letter. Willard's Hotel, Washington D.C., 18 February 1856. 4 pages, 4to. Incomplete, lacking page(s).

A letter revealing fascinating insight into the inner workings of the Democratic Party in the lead up to the contentious 1856 Democratic Convention. Even though the letter is missing its final page(s), the content is significant.

The author, although unidentified, is clearly in the inner circle of the Democratic Party, and the recipient would also likely have been among the Democratic elite. He opens with an astute assessment of the current candidates, including that of President Franklin Pierce and his preference for Buchanan: "The President is making a desperate struggle to carry New Hampshire in the Spring Election as his last card to secure the nomination at Cincinnati. Outsiders would regard his chance hopeless in any event, but he lives in a false atmosphere & is therefore unable to get at the real feeling of the American people - My own opinion is that if he persists in being a candidate he will have a plurality possibly a majority but not two thirds of the Cincinnati Convention - Upon the surface it looks as though Mr. Buchanan has the inside the track now but it is impossible to tell what new principles & issues may be evolved before June. [Stephen] Douglas will be preferred by the South & I think has been packing Ohio & the north western States for himself - a majority of senators seem to favor Hunter. This is Broadhead and Bright's combination. The latter intends to be on the ticket as Vice President. If Douglas cannot be nominated himself, he will strive to throw the nomination South in order to stand in the line again in 1860. These four are really the only Candidates now -- Hunter, Pierce, Douglas & Buchanan - of all these I prefer Buchanan notwithstanding his Dan Sickles & Geo. Saunders and Ostend surroundings. First I think he is able & conservative & second, it will have the effect to keep Bright & Douglas and all other northern rascals & thieves off for eight years at least, as next time the nomination must go South."

The author continues with a recounting of a recent meeting with Stephen Douglas, where the Illinois Senator attempted to convince the author of his true intentions at the 1852 Baltimore Democratic Convention: "After Douglas came back here last week I met him accidentally in the Senate & he asked me to his house - I went & he took more than two hours to try to satisfy me that he voted against me by a mistake as to my position in the Baltimore convention. When he got through I was convinced that he had traded me off for Nebraska votes and got deceived & betrayed by the party he attempted to bribe. He is terribly bitter...in fact all that I have conversed with from the south say they were deceived as to my political sentiments & admit that they think the grossest injustice was done me by Douglas & Bright who misled them. They would doubtless reverse their vote if they had a chance - they say my position was not explained, & want to know why some of my friends in Congress did not put them right. Where was Geo. Hastings? I intend to 'nurse my wrath and keep it warm' against the hour of need."

The details suggesting the author's identity are tantalizing. The author clearly was deeply involved in the 1852 Democratic National Convention, possibly even a candidate in the dramatic nomination. The reference to George Hastings, a Representative from New York, suggests that the author may have been Henry C. Murphy who lost the presidential nomination to Franklin Pierce by one vote in 1852. He remained an active in Democratic politics and very likely would have been a delegate at the upcoming convention in Cincinnati - prompting Douglas's attempt at reconciliation. The author also notes that he was offered the position of United States Minister to the United Kingdom, however he notes that: "I could not afford to go as Secretary of Legation to England - the salary is only $2500 & it would cost me double that sum to live there with my family - It is generally believed that the senate would have confirmed my nomination, but Mr. Dallas wanted the Salary in the family & I promptly told Gov. Marcy I would not have my name presented..."

Regardless of the author's identity, the letter's content reveals deep insight into the complex politics of the 1856 election, with several insights into what would come to pass in 1860. Buchanan did indeed win the nomination, bolstered by his insulation from the handling of the Bleeding Kansas Crisis as he had been serving overseas as the Minister to the United Kingdom. Franklin Pierce and Stephen Douglas were both seen as too embroiled in the conflict causing them to lose broad support.

A significant political letter from the antebellum era.

[Politics, Bleeding Kansas, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Stephen Douglas, Lewis Cass, Democratic Party, Known Nothing Party, Letters, Documents, Manuscripts, Ephemera, Civil War, Union, Confederate, Slavery, Abolition, Enslavement, Emancipation, African Americana, African American History]