Faulkner, Charles James.

TO THE VOTERS / OF / BERKELEY, JEFFERSON & CLARKE. / [followed by four columns of dense text]. Signed in type at the end “Chas. Jas. Faulkner / July 22, 1850.”

[Martinsburg, VA?]: 1850. Printed broadside, 19 x 13 inches, the heading in two sizes of bold capitals. Hummel More Virginia Broadsides 495 (West Virginia, photocopy at Virginia). Apparently not recorded on OCLC. Folded (long tear through margin into text repaired on verso with old cello-tape). Very good. Item #64930

In the midst of a campaign for election as delegate to the 1850 Virginia Constitutional Convention, Faulkner writes: “My name has been placed before you as a candidate of a seat in the approaching Convention of Virginia … [here are] my opinions on such points as I believe the voter may desire information: … extend the right of suffrage to every male citizen of mature years … in the apportionment of Representation in the General Assembly, regard should be had to the white population exclusively [three columns of explanation follows] … election of the Governor by the people … one constitutional Court [abolishing County Courts] … officers of the state should be elected, not appointed … one of the highest duties of a Republic [is] to supply every destitute child within its limits the means of a Primary education … I would prohibit the General Assembly from making any loans to, or guaranteeing the bonds of incorporated companies. With Faulkner having won election to the convention, three of his positions held sway after the voting: the Assembly-appointed Governor’s Council was abolished and judges on various state courts would face election by an expanded electorate, and property requirements for voting were abolished (at several places in the address, Faulkner expresses the need to consider the wishes of the residents of Western Virginia as being “as worthy of confidence” as those of Eastern Virginia). Faulkner (1806-1884), a native of Martinsburg, Va., won office regularly to Virginia’s General Assembly in the 1830s and 1840s, advocating emancipation during the early years; he then served in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1851-1859. During the Civil War, Faulkner served as Assistant Adjutant General to Stonewall Jackson; following the war he was engaged in railroad enterprises and represented West Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1875-1877.

Price: $1,250.00