THE CRISIS, Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 27, 1862

• Famous Abraham Lincoln letter
• "A Prayer of Twenty Millions" reply
• Tribune publisher Horace Greeley

This anti-war newspaper insisted slavery should not be abolished, so consequently much content has an anti-North bias.
Certainly the most notable content is one of the more famous letters from Abraham Lincoln, being his reply to Horace Greeley's editorial of August 20, "A Prayer of Twenty Millions", which urged emancipation. Following Greeley's letter, Lincoln replies, which includes his famous quote: "...My paramount object...is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it...", signed in type: A. Lincoln.
This was a significant letter expressing Lincoln's views on slavery from the middle of the Civil War, and is doubly noteworthy to have this in an anti-war newspaper.
Other fine content within includes: "Letter from Jeff. Davis to Gen. Lee" signed in type: Jeff. Davis; "General Lane's Order on the Enlistment of Negroes" and so much more.
Eight pages, great condition.

Background: "A Prayer of Twenty Millions," written by Horace Greeley and published in the New York Tribune in1862, urged President Abraham Lincoln to more forcefully enforce the Confiscation Acts and take stronger action against slavery. Speaking on behalf of loyal Union citizens, Greeley criticized Lincoln for moving too cautiously on emancipation, arguing that ending slavery was both a moral duty and a strategic necessity to defeat the Confederacy. The editorial sparked Lincoln’s famous public reply, in which he stated that his foremost goal was to preserve the Union, regardless of the impact on slavery—though he was already planning the Emancipation Proclamation at the time.

Described as "The Hottest Rebel Sheet to be found in the North or the South", this newspaper opposed the war and attracted the hatred of the Republicans and the Lincoln administration. It insisted that slavery could not be prohibited by law. So obnoxious was this paper to Unionists that it was denied circulation in some cities. In 1863 the press was raided by a hateful mob.