ADDRESS OF CERTAIN SOUTHERN MEMBERS OF CONGRESS


TO OUR CONSTITUENTS.



This document was presented to President James Buchanan on Dec. 14, 1860.  The list of names has been slightly rearranged for the sake of space and clarity, but no names were omitted.

Source:  Nicolay, John G., and Hay, John, Abraham Lincoln: A History, Vol. II, p. 436.




 WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 1860.

 

The argument is exhausted. All hope of relief in the Union through the agency of committees, Congressional legislation, or constitutional amendments is extinguished, and we trust the South will not be deceived by appearances or the pretense of new guarantees. In our judgment the Republicans are resolute in the purpose to grant nothing that will or ought to satisfy the South. We are satisfied the honor, safety, and independence of the Southern people require the organization of a Southern Confederacy—a result to be obtained only by separate State secession—that the primary object of each slave-holding State ought to be its speedy and absolute separation from a Union with hostile States.

J. L. Pugh of Alabama. Burton Craige, of North Carolina.
David Clopton of Alabama. Thomas Ruffin, of North Carolina.
Sydenham Moore of Alabama. John Slidell, U. S. Senator, Louisiana.
J. L. M. Curry of Alabama. J.P. Benjamin, U. S. Senator, Louisiana.
J. A. Stallworth of Alabama. J. M. Landrum of Louisiana.
J. W. H. Underwood, of Georgia. Louis T. Wigfall, U. S. Senator, Texas.
L. J. Gartrell of Georgia. John Hemphill, U. S. Senator, Texas.
James Jackson of Georgia. J. H. Reagan, of Texas.
John J. Jones of Georgia. M. L. Bonham, of South Carolina.
Martin J. Crawford of Georgia. Wm, Porcher Miles, of South Carolina.
Alfred Iverson, U.S. Senator, Georgia. John McQueen, of South Carolina.
George S. Hawkins of Florida. John D. Ashmore, of South Carolina.
T. C. Hindman of Arkansas. Wm. Barksdale of Mississippi.
Jefferson Davis, U. S. Senator, Mississippi. O. R. Singleton of Mississippi.
A.G. Brown, U. S. Senator, Mississippi. Reuben Davis of Mississippi.






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Source:
  Nicolay, John G., and Hay, John, Abraham Lincoln: A History, Vol. II, p. 436..

Date added to website:  January 10, 2025.