4. George W[ashington] P[arke] Custis, Address by George W. P. Custis, of Arlington (Washington, DC: Henry Polkinhorn for the National Monument Society, 1850). (6 p.)


Speech at the Washington Monument by the George Washington’s stepson and Robert E. Lee’s father-in-law. Toward the end of the speech, Custis proclaims, “Reflect, Americans, what a pretence our sectional differences afford to the despots of Europe to decry republican institutions; and how they exult in the hope that the failure of self-government in the United States may lead to the establishment of monarchy throughout the world.”