The National Anti-Slavery Standard 1868 Issue on Reconstruction Politics, the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, and the Continuing Fight for Black Enfranchisement After Emancipation

The National Anti-Slavery Standard

Periodical

The National Anti-Slavery Standard, February 29, 1868 issue four days after the House of Representatives voted to impeach Andrew Johnson, covering the Reconstruction government, Black suffrage, and federal enforcement in the South. Articles include “The President Impeached!”, stating that Johnson had become “the chief disturbing force since the surrender of Lee,” while “Johnson Impeached! The Vote” prints the impeachment resolution and records the House tally of 126 yeas to 47 nays. “The Rebellion of Alabama” attacks organized white refusal to participate in Reconstruction elections after Alabama voters failed to ratify the new state constitution, and “Petition of the White People of Alabama” argues against Black political participation by claiming that “nearly all of the education, intelligence, and civilization of the State are found in our race.” The same issue prints “Distress of Colored People in Mississippi,” a memorial from Black Mississippians seeking congressional aid to emigrate to Liberia, and “Does Slavery Yet Exist in Delaware?,” recounting the seizure of a Black child from Henry E. Morris of Sussex County under conditions the paper identifies as involuntary servitude. The issue records abolitionists confronting the political settlement and continuing racial inequality that followed emancipation.

National Anti-Slavery Standard. Vol. XXVIII, No. 43. New York: American Anti-Slavery Society, February 29, 1868. Four pages printed recto-verso on two folio sheets, 26 x 19 inches. The masthead carries the paper’s slogan, “Without Concealment — Without Compromise.” Additional contents include “The Situation,” discussing Gen. Grant, congressional impeachment strategy, and Reconstruction policy; “Our Boston Correspondence,” concerning disputes within the Boston Tract Society; “A Peace Convention at Washington,” reporting proceedings of the Universal Peace Society attended by Alfred H. Love, Rachel Love, Joshua Hutchinson, and James M. Peebles; notices of Wendell Phillips’s western lecture tour; and coverage of women’s suffrage lecturer Mrs. E. A. Kingsbury and lecturer Ella Davis Rockwood’s Cambridge address “Young America.” A prospectus for the National Anti-Slavery Standard on the final page declares that the paper would advocate “entire freedom and immediate enfranchisement for the colored race.”

This issue was published during the first presidential impeachment in United States history and amid congressional battles over the Reconstruction Acts and Southern state constitutions. Its contents move from impeachment proceedings in Washington to Black labor coercion in Delaware, constitutional conflict in Alabama, colonization debates tied to Liberia, antislavery organizational disputes in Boston, and suffrage activism in the North. Few abolitionist newspapers survived into the final years of Reconstruction with the political prominence still held by the National Anti-Slavery Standard and the American Anti-Slavery Society in early 1868. Partially separated at crease with complete separation at center fold; fragile newsprint with chipping and losses to margins; scattered toning, staining, and handling wear. Overall fair to good only condition for large-format newsprint of this age.

Item #23490

Price: $285.00