Alfred H. Stone Collection
Volume: 60

5. John J. Perry, Speech of Hon. John J. Perry, of Maine, on the Comparative Nationality and Sectionalism of the Republican and Democratic Parties (Washington, DC: Buell & Blanchard, 1856). (16 p.)

Response to the charge by members of the Democratic Party that Republicans represent narrow, sectional interests while Democrats are more “national” in their perspective. The speaker insists that it is the Democrats who have abandoned their national agenda in favor of a single, sectional issue, slavery. More specifically, he criticizes Southerners for failing to honor the Missouri compromise by seeking to extend slavery into Kansas and Nebraska.