SPEECH OF THE HON. JOSIAH QUINCY, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE U.S. JANUARY 14, 1811, ON THE PASSAGE OF THE BILL TO ENABLE THE PEOPLE OF THE TERRITORY OF ORLEANS, TO FORM A CONSTITUTION AND STATE GOVERNMENT; AND FOR THE ADMISSION OF SUCH STATE INTO THE UNION

Baltimor, 1811. 23pp. Dbd. Spine reinforced with tissue, later stitching. Extensive contemporary ownership markings to titlepage. Some light toning and foxing. About very good. Vehement speech by Massachusetts Congressman Josiah Quincy III, opposing Louisiana's entry into the Union. In his speech, Quincy declares that "if this bill passes [to allow Louisiana into the Union], the bonds of this union are virtually dissolved; that the states which compose it are free from their moral obligations, and that as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some to prepare, definitely, for a separation; amicably, if they can, violently, if they must." Quincy objects to the admission of any new states into the Union by an expansion of U.S. territory, interpreting the Constitution to mean that new states may be admitted only within the current boundaries of the country. Quincy's speech failed to rally support to block Louisiana's admission, and it joined the United States as the eighteenth state in April 1812. Quincy (1772- 1864), the son of the Revolutionary War patriot of the same name, left Congress the following year. He later served as mayor of Boston and president of Harvard University