Archive of Five Congressional Resolutions from President Buchanan and Secretary of War concerning the condition, governance, and expenditures of the United States military establishment.

James Buchanan

Archive

Archive of five congressional documents titled Message of the President of the United States, issued under the administration of James Buchanan, concerning the condition, governance, and expenditures of the United States military establishment. Octavo, measuring 9.75" x 5.75", printed in Washington, 1858–1860. The group consists of five separately issued pamphlets, including multi-paged reports and executive communications to Congress, all war-date printings.

This assemblage reflects the bureaucratic and ideological tensions of the antebellum military establishment on the eve of sectional crisis. One 29-page message, bound with rope and addressed to the Senate, responds to a resolution requesting “information concerning the recent search or seizure of American vessels by foreign armed cruisers in the Gulf of Mexico,” situating the United States within broader imperial and maritime conflicts in the Caribbean basin—an area deeply entangled with slavery, expansionism, and filibustering expeditions. Another three-page report concerns proposed legislation “to regulate the dismissal of officers in the military and naval services,” reflecting anxieties over discipline, patronage, and the professionalization of the armed forces. A report of the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia addresses the politically sensitive issue of unemployed general officers, revealing the structural imbalances of a small standing army in a rapidly expanding nation. Particularly notable is the 12-page report from the Secretary of War titled Contingent Expenses of the Military Establishment (1860), which includes a detailed expense sheet enumerating federal outlays. Among the more revealing line items are funds for “250 copies of Prairie Traveller”—a frontier manual closely associated with westward expansion—“twelve paintings, battles in Mexico,” memorializing the recent U.S.-Mexican War and its territorial consequences, and payment to a soldier for “taking care of an insane soldier en route to the Washington asylum,” a rare bureaucratic trace of mental health management within the ranks. Together, these documents illuminate the administrative culture, fiscal priorities, and imperial posture of the United States military in the immediate pre–Civil War period. Very good overall, with minor edge wear and light handling consistent with congressional issue pamphlets; one document string-bound as issued. A cohesive and research-worthy grouping of antebellum federal military printings, offering granular insight into the governance of the armed forces during a moment of mounting national fracture.

Item #12715

Price: $250.00