Speech of Hon. J.Z. Goodrich, of Mass., delivered in the Peace Convention in Washington, February, 1861.

This is the story of the February 1861 Washington Peace Conference, the bipartisan, last-ditch effort to prevent the Civil War, an effort that nearly averted the carnage that followed. Most of America's great statesmen came together at the historic Willard Hotel in a desperate attempt to stave off Civil War. Participants included Lincoln himself. Seven southern states had already seceded, and the conferees battled against time to craft a compromise to protect slavery and thus preserve the union and prevent war. Revelatory and definitive, The Peace That Almost Was, demonstrates that slavery was the main issue of the conference, and thus of the war itself, and that no matter the shared faith, family, and friendships of the participants, ultimately no compromise could be reached.
At head of title: Non-extension of slavery the policy of "the fathers of the Republic."--Slavery allowed, though disapproved, in the old states, but absolutely prohibited in the territories and new states. - Effect of this policy, and its bearing upon the modern doctrine of state rights and state equality, stated and considered.
"Appendix:" pages [29]-31.FAU Libraries' copy side stitched with cord.