African Americana

Acts of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina, Passed at the Special Session of 1868. Columbia, SC: John W. Denny, 1868.

8vo (6 x 8 13/16 in.). Marginal titles. Contemporary red morocco gilt, spine in 5 compartments with 4 raised bands, gilt lettering in 2, gilt decorations in others (rubbing, tear to spine). Provenance: Robert Kingston Scott (1826-1900), 74th Governor of South Carolina (6 July 1868-1872) ("Gov. R.K. Scott" gilt lettered to front board). 

FIRST EDITION and personal copy of Governor Robert Kingston Scott. A member of the abolition Liberty Party, he served in the Federal Army during the Civil War, enlisting on 1 October 1861, and commissioned as a major in the 68th Ohio Infantry. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel (30 November 1861), colonel (5 July 1862), brevet brigadier-general (25 January 1865), brigadier-general (31 March 1865), and brevet major general (5 December 1865). He was a POW on 22 July 1864, confined at Macon, GA. He was transferred to the US Volunteers General Staff when promoted to brigadier general. After the war, he served as the assistant commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau before resigning his commission and entering politics. He was elected the first Reconstructionist governor of South Carolina. SCARCE, OCLC locates no copies of these Acts published separately from the Constitution.

[With:] BRUCE, Blanche K. (1841-1898). The Mississippi Election. Speech of Hon. Blanche K. Bruce, of Mississippi, in the United States Senate, March 31, 1876. Washington: N.p., 1876.

8vo. (Toned.) Original publisher's wrappers. FIRST EDITION. Bruce, born enslaved, was the second Black man elected to the United States Senate, and the first to a full term. This pamphlet represents one of his first political acts, demanding an inquiry into the violence perpetrated during the 1875 Mississippi gubernatorial election. He was successful in getting the Senate to pass a bill to investigate the situation, however, the Democratic-led House did not act upon the legislation.

[Also with:] SUMNER, Charles (1811-1874). The Equal Rights of All; The Great Guarantee and Present Necessity, For the Sake of Security, and to Maintain a Republican Government. Washington: Congressional Globe Office, 1866. -- The Real Questions Before the Country. New York: J.F. Trow, 1866. Sabin 68246. --  HOAR, George Frisbie (1826-1904). Address of Hon. Geo. F. Hoar at the Organization of the Grant and Wilson Club of Worcester, in Mechanics Hall. Worcester, MA: Worcester Evening Gazette Office, 1872. -- CABLE, George Washington (1844-1925). The Southern Struggle for Pure Government. Boston: Press of Samuel Usher, 1890. -- Together, 4 pamphlets, all FIRST EDITION, 8vo, all in original wrappers except as noted, condition generally very good.