Autograph Letter Handwritten and Signed by Samuel Nelson as Supreme Court Justice.

Washington: no publisher, 1861. Handwritten. Near fine condition. Unbound. Signed by Author(s). Octavo (8vo). [SUPREME COURT]. Samuel Nelson (1792-1873). Three and a half page letter dated February 24, 1861, describing the mood of the nation after the Washington Peace Conference to E. W. Stoughton, noted New York attorney. After informing the correspondent of the adjournment date of the Supreme Court, Justice Nelson describes the climate in the immediate aftermath of the unsuccessful Peace Conference to avert Civil War that had just concluded in Washington. Nelson writes "...We are in despondency about the country again. The Peace Congress adjourned last (truncated) evening in a good deal of division: and, despair on the part of the conservatives. Every device is resorted to by extreme republicans to defeat a peaceful result. New England, except Rhode Island, tabled -- N.Y. ditto -- that is a majority -- and the feeling is that the peace of the country is being sacrificed to the hatred of Seward among the leaders of the party. We will triumph if peace, -- fall if otherwise. The question now will depend upon Mr. Lincoln and from his light and eccentric course since he left home nobody can foretell the issue. The strife is for the possession of him. He, undoubtedly, can turn the scales either way, and if S[eward] and his friends should gain ascendancy, then there is still hope. A day or two will decide the fearful question..." The Border Slave State Convention, also called the Peace Convention or Conference, met in Washington, D.C., February 4-27, 1861, on call by the Virginia legislature, in an attempt to satisfy the states of the far South on the slavery issue. Twenty-one states were represented, with the border states most active. The seven states which had already seceded did not send delegates. Former President John Tyler was chosen president of the Convention, and he was quoted as saying its purpose was "to bring back the cotton states and thereby restore the Constitution of the United States." The Crittenden Compromise plan, which formed the basis of discussion, was so modified by further compromise in the course of deliberations that the final recommendations of the Convention satisfied no one. The recommendations, submitted to Congress on February 27, 1861, constituted the last attempt at conciliation on the slavery question in the territories. This letter, with magnificent historic content, was written just ten days before Lincoln was inaugurated, during one of the most critical periods in American history. Folded for mailing, and some ink smudged by the author; otherwise in excellent condition.. (Inventory #: 020222)