1858 President James Buchanan Annual Message to Congress – Official First

An original 1858 government printing of President James Buchanan's Second Annual Message to Congress, issued for the commencement of the Second Session of the Thirty-Fifth Congress and printed in Washington by William A. Harris, Printer.

This official congressional pamphlet contains Buchanan's complete 33-page Annual Message [State of the Union Address] delivered on December 6, 1858, one of the most significant presidential communications issued during the turbulent years immediately preceding the American Civil War.

Within the message Buchanan addresses the Kansas territorial crisis, sectional conflict over slavery, the nation's financial condition following the Panic of 1857, Utah affairs, foreign relations with Mexico and Spain, federal expenditures, and colonization efforts involving liberated Africans—issues that dominated national politics in the years leading to secession.

The pamphlet remains in good condition with its original stitched binding intact, complete text, moderate folding from period storage, scattered foxing, light edge wear, and a small tear at the binding margin that does not materially affect readability.

A desirable original government publication documenting one of the last presidential annual messages before the nation descended into civil war. An excellent addition to collections of presidential history, Civil War antecedents, congressional documents, and nineteenth-century Americana.