Item #36394 Can a State Secede? Sovereignty in its Bearing upon Secession and State Rights. Emory Washburn.

Can a State Secede? Sovereignty in its Bearing upon Secession and State Rights.

Cambridge: Printed by Dakin and Metcalf, 1865. 36 pp. 8vo. Stitched paper wrappers. First edition. Corner chipped, author's inscription on front wrapper, owner's book plate at end of preface, closed tear on rear wrapper and two leaves, mail fold; overall still a very good copy. Bartlett 5659. Item #36394

Presentation copy, inscribed by the author to J. W. [Watts] de Peyster, whose resume is on his book plate dated 15th June, 1869. Emory Washburn (1800-1877), a Governor of Massachusetts for one term, served for many years on the faculty of Harvard Law School. Written as the war was concluding, Washburn undertook to analyze the important question of what to do with the southern states and their citizens once the war ended. He felt all this hinged on whether in fact the states could actually secede, and concluded that a state could not secede and ends with the crucial points that no state can be punished due to acts of individuals, nor can it be put out of the Union, and that Congress has no power to exclude a portion of these individuals, by the way of punishment, from the rights and privileges of citizens, for acts done, war levied, or treason committed, by others than themselves and only if convicted "by due process of law."

Price: $125.00

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