Abraham Lincoln Address (1861)


The Message of the President of the United States, to the two Houses of Congress, at the commencement of the first session of the thirty-seventh Congress is a government publication from 1861 of President Abraham Lincoln's first address to a joint session of Congress on July 4th after his inaugural address in March of that year. (1) The book itself is simple. It is blue and the cover simply reads the title in gold text. Released shortly after his address, this book was released by the Government Printing Office. The Government Printing Office was created in 1860 by a resolution of congress and signed by President James Buchanan but didn't start operations until March 4th, the day Lincoln was inaugurated president. (2) The Office is charged with all the printing of government documents including the speech and reports that are in this book.

The book contains three sections: Lincoln's address, the War Department report, and the report of the Navy. Lincoln's speech is the first time he addressed Congress about the Civil War, which began in April of 1861, and it is also a message to ask for validation for action he took addressing the war without Congressional authorization. (1) The speech was given to a joint session of Congress, but one thing to note about this session is the likelihood of a distinct lack of people from southern states. By this time in 1861, upwards of 14 senators would not have been present, not including representatives, due to their home states leaving the union. (3) One notably likely attendee, though, would have been a lonely southern senator, Hon. Andrew Johnson, who remained in the union despite his home state succeeding and later became Lincoln's Vice President. An important argument Lincoln makes in the speech is about the unconstitutionality of succession, and how any actions he has taken to save the union fall under the purview of the Constitution. That argument is supported in part by what Johnson said several months earlier in December of 1860 citing Chief Justice John Marshall as an authority against the constitutionality of succession. (4)

On the inside cover there is a bookplate for Mary Jo and Bob McIntosh. (5) The McIntosh's were from Detroit and moved to Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1962 to take over the WKDL radio station. (5 and 7) They had a large collection of Civil War material especially on Lincoln. In 1974, the McIntosh's sold the collection to the University of Southern Mississippi when Dr. William D. McCain, university president at the time, heard it was up for sale over the radio. It's reported that when McCain heard the collection was for sale, he sent someone to buy it on the spot. (6) This McIntosh material is under the Earnest A. Walen Collection in Special Collections. The speech is not found in the Lincoln Collection where other materials from the McIntosh's are located - likely because of a library relocation that happened sometime later. (7)

To view this book, visit Special Collections in McCain Library & Archives room 305. The library is open Monday – Friday from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. If you have any questions about the item, contact Jennifer Brannock at .

Written by Joseph Reosti, USM sophomore studying political science and history.
**Items of the Month featured in 2023 and part of 2024 will be the work of Southern Miss students who took HON 303, a seminar held in Fall 2022 focusing on archives and special collections.




More information and sources:

  • Text of speech and explanation  
  • GPO history
  • Senate history
  • Speech located in the USM Special Collections by A. Johnson: The constitutionality and rightfulness of secession: speech of Hon. Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, in the Senate of the United States on Tuesday and Wednesday, December 18 and 19, 1860.
    • "[Can a] community of states, of its own will, without the consent of the rest,... withdraw itself (secede)... One of the community… has no right without [universal] consent to withdraw from the [constitution]."
  • WKDL Radio discussion post talking about Bob Mcintosh
  • "Lincoln Collection Gone," The Clarksdale Press Register. March 22, 1974,  p. 1.
    "1989 Hall of Fame," The Clarksdale Press Register. November 25, 1989, p. 1B. 
  • Lincoln Collection Case File
    • Walen Collection Case File