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Willis, John; et al.

[Letter of Invitation to Sam Houston]

Washington D.C., July 12, 1848. 1 pp., manuscript letter on sheet measuring 8” x 10”.

An intriguing letter to Sam Houston as a U.S. Senator, from a party of Virginia democrats, docketed by Houston.

This is an ostensibly routine invitation to a July 28th and 29th 1848 mass meeting at the Orange Co., Virginia Court House, written by several prominent Virginia Democrats. Though the real purpose of the letter is not stated overtly, the timing as well as a phrase calling Houston an “able and zealous advocate of the true doctrines and just rights of our country” suggest that the invitation is part of a last ditch effort by slave state Democrats to shift Houston’s eventual yea vote on the admission of Oregon as a free territory in August of 1848. Though not an abolitionist, Houston was a staunch supporter of the Missouri compromise and the preservation of the Union. His refusal to support secession would force his ouster as Texas Governor at the outbreak of the Civil War. He remained in the state and would die there in 1863 having never supported the Confederacy.

The letter is signed by/for John Willis, James Newman, Edmund Henshaw, James B. Newman and John M. Chapman. It is docketed thus on the verso in Houston’s hand: “a committee of invitation from Orange Co Va John Willis & Others.”

CONDITION: Damp-stained, old folds.

Item #2806

Price: $475.00