Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - April - 2010 Issue
The Age of Jackson from the William Reese Co.
Daniel Webster's profile reveals that the great orator ate well.
Daniel Webster never made it to the presidency, but he was America's greatest orator over a period that ranged from before the Jackson era to long after it ended. However, it was during the heart of this period he gave what was probably his greatest speech on the senate floor, a rebuttal of the nullification arguments of South Carolina Senator Robert Hayne. This Speech of Daniel Webster, in Reply to Mr. Hayne in 1830 technically dealt with the issue of western land sales, but in the process Hayne had espoused the theory of nullification, that states had the right to nullify the application of federal laws within their jurisdiction if they so desired. Webster was a proponent of a strong national identity and the federal power that went with it, a position popular in most parts of the country with some exceptions in the South. Webster predicted that nullification would lead to civil war, and delivered his famous line, "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." Abraham Lincoln reportedly described this as the best speech ever delivered. Item 170. $1,250.
Item 137 is a book on agriculture from a man who would make his name for other reasons long after the Jackson era ended. The book is An Essay of Calcareous Manures, published in 1832. This book is undoubtedly as interesting as the title sounds. Author Edmund Ruffin believed that the unproductive soils of the tidewater region could be made profitable for agriculture with the addition of more calcium, either lime or, as the title says, with calcareous manure. Ruffin also talks about the effects of slavery on agriculture in Virginia, and this gets closer to the direction his focus would turn in the 1850s and 1860s. Ruffin became an intense supporter of the southern cause, ardent advocate of slavery, and virulent hater of Yankees. He favored secession so strongly that he moved to South Carolina as Virginia was dragging its feet on the question. For his enthusiasm Ruffin was awarded the right to fire the first cannon on Fort Sumter, the attack which set off the Civil War. Five years later, the South defeated, Ruffin shot himself rather than submit to Northern rule. $750.
The William Reese Company may be reached at 203-789-8081 or amorder@reeseco.com. Their website is www.reeseco.com.
