1860 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Wilson Argues Abolition of Slavery is "the" Moral Issue of Abraham Lincoln Election.

This speech by Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts represents a key piece of Republican campaign literature during the pivotal 1860 United States presidential election. In that election, the political landscape was deeply fractured over the debate surrounding slavery. Abraham Lincoln ran on the Republican platform, which firmly opposed the expansion of slavery into the Western territories. In contrast, John Bell ran as the candidate for the newly formed Constitutional Union Party. Seeking to bypass the volatile debate over human bondage, Bell's party adopted a deliberately vague platform centered simply on upholding the Constitution, the Union, and the enforcement of laws.

The significance of Wilson's address lies in its direct critique of Bell’s attempt to remain neutral on the issue of slavery. Delivered in Boston less than two months before the election, Wilson argued that no candidate or party could legitimately take a non-committal stance on slavery. He contended that Bell's platform was deceptive and that a vote for the Constitutional Union Party ultimately aided pro-slavery interests by ignoring the aggressive territorial demands of Southern slaveholders. By attacking Bell, Wilson sought to prevent moderate Northern voters and border-state voters from defecting to a third-party compromise candidate, framing Lincoln as the only viable candidate willing to actively resist the expansion of slavery.

The pamphlet underscored the Republican strategy to frame the 1860 election as a stark moral and political choice between Abraham Lincoln's principled resistance to slavery's expansion and the conciliation offered by rivals like Bell. 

Of special note on page 7 is an advertisement by C. H. Brainerd [Publisher] for lithographic portraits of Abraham Lincoln, John A. Andrew, Charles Sumner, and John P. Hale, as well as an image entitled, A Wide Awake Picture, with "life like portraits of Lincoln and Hamlin, surrounded by emblematic designs, including the American Eagle reposing upon a rail fence, and a view of the future residence at Washington of Abraham Lincoln." And page 8 advertises the upcoming elections, "National Republican Nominations. Election in all the States, Tuesday, November 6, 1860. For President, Abraham Lincoln of Illinois; for Vice-President, Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine. 

Wilson, Honorable Henry. The Position of John Bell and His Supporters. Speech of Hon. Henry Wilson, at Myrick's, September 18, 1860. From the Verbatim Report in the Daily Atlas and Bee. Boston. The Bee Printing Company. 1860. 8pp.

Very good in original string tied binding, a bit of light handling at extremities. Near fine.