The Address of the Hon. Abraham Lincoln, in Vindication of the Policy of the Framers of the Constitution and the Principles of the Republican Party, Delivered at Cooper Institute, February 27th, 1860, Issued by the Young Men’s Republican Union.

LINCOLN, Abraham.

Item Number: 121088

New York: George F. Nesbitt, 1860.

First edition of this scarce pamphlet printing of then candidate Abraham Lincoln‘s famous speech at the Cooper Institute in New York City delivered on February 27th, 1860 which, along with Mathew Brady’s portrait photograph of him taken that same day, he credited with his election win, stating “Brady and the Cooper Union speech made me President.” Octavo, original wrappers. Association copy, inscribed on the title page by Cephas Brainerd, “J.E. Hadnett, Esq. with the respects of Cephas Brainerd.” A member of the Board of Control, Brainerd is listed on the title page and contributed the notes to the present volume. The recipient, J.E. Hadnett, was a prominent New York attorney throughout the mid 1800s. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Rare.

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States of America. He was the first Republican president and his victory was entirely due to his support in the North and West. No ballots were cast for him in 10 of the 15 Southern slave states, and he won only two of 996 counties in all the Southern states, an omen of the impending Civil War. The South was outraged by Lincoln's election, and in response secessionists implemented plans to leave the Union before he took office and on February 8, 1861, declared themselves to be a sovereign nation, the Confederate States of America.