Such was the condition of affairs with respect to the controversy over
slavery in Virginia in the fateful winter of 1860-61. For the
maintenance of the institution stood the constitution and laws of the
Union and the pledges of the Republican Party dominant in their
administration. For the destruction of the institution stood the
Abolitionists, a great fellowship, earnest and aggressive, but without
official power in the National Government and relying upon disunion or a
condition of civil war as the essential prerequisite to the
accomplishment of their plans.
James G. Blaine wrote:
"But for the constant presence of National power and its constant
exercise under the provisions of the constitution, the South would
have no protection against anti-slavery assaults of the civilized
world. Abolitionists from the very beginning of their energetic
crusade against slavery had seen the constitution standing in their
way, and with the unsparing severity of their logic had denounced it
as 'a league with Hell and a covenant with Death.'"[331]