[Sidenote: Slavery Inherited.]
The United States inherited, and had to accept, from the colonial
system, a great moral and social wrong. Slavery, planted on our soil
soon after its first settlement, had spread not only through the South,
but had existed for a time even in the Puritan colonies of New England.
An active slave-trade had grown up, and was still flourishing at the
time that the constitution was framed. There is every reason to believe
that the most eminent and enlightened even of Southern statesmen, in
the very infancy of the Republic, regarded African bondage as not only
a moral, but, in many regards, a material evil. Washington and Jefferson
especially uttered, in no doubtful accents, their dislike of the system;
while such northern statesmen as Franklin, Adams, and Roger Sherman
protested in yet sterner tones against its continuance.
[Sidenote: Strength of the Slave Power.]
[Sidenote: The Missouri Compromise.]
But slavery, like many traditional abuses of nations, was so securely
lodged, so difficult to uproot, that wise men at once deplored its
presence and despaired of its abolition. While, therefore, the framers
of the constitution refused to insert a direct recognition of slavery in
that instrument, choosing to regard it as temporary, and likely in
time to become extinct, other subjects, crowding upon the attention of
statesmen at the period of political formation, pushed this of slavery
for a while into the background. The first definite collision between
the upholders and the opponents of slavery occurred when, as a
consequence of the rapid growth of the country, the territories began
one after another to knock for admission into the household of States.
The dispute came to an issue in the year 1820. Missouri sought admission
into the Union, and it was attempted to admit her as a slave state. Then
the Northern statesmen declared that some limit or restriction should be
placed upon future admissions of States, in regard to slavery.
[Sidenote: The "Slavery Agitation."]
The debates in Congress were long and warm. Every argument which has
since become so familiar on the subject was advanced on one side and on
the other. The moral evil of slavery, its demoralizing influence upon
freeman and bondman, its cruelties in practice, were dilated upon by
some; others pictured "the peculiar institution" in its more patriarchal
and pleasant aspects. Finally, the northern members agreed to admit
Missouri as a slave State, on condition that thenceforth all new states
north of the line of 36°30'north latitude--known as "Mason and Dixon's
line"--should be free; while all new states south of that line should
decide for themselves whether they should be free or slave. It was the
vain hope of the statesmen of Monroe's time that this settlement, known
in history as the "Missouri Compromise," would be accepted as final, and
that the mutual ill-feeling which had already become bitter between the
sections would be finally allayed by it.
They flattered themselves that they had put a period to the agitation,
and that the irritating question was now cast outside the domain of
American politics. Perhaps they did not sufficiently reflect that the
same power which had established the boundaries of slavery might,
when the opportunity was ripe, erase them. The slavery agitation was,
however, only in its infancy. It had within it a vital and irrepressible
element of growth. With the advance of civil liberty, the growth of
education, it, too, must necessarily make progress. As yet it was in the
hands of so-called "fanatics." Respectable statesmanship, having made
the Missouri Compromise, would have no more of it.
[Sidenote: The "Liberty Party."]
[Sidenote: Garrison.]
It was early in General Jackson's presidency that the small but
determined "Liberty party" of the North began to attract attention
by what was considered the extravagance of its utterances, and the
absurdity of its proposals. The Quaker Lundy published his "Genius of
Universal Emancipation"; Garrison put forth the "Liberator" at Boston;
and soon, in various parts of the Union, abolition tracts and fanatical
orators brought down upon them not only the execration of the South,
but the assaults of northern mobs. An insurrection, under the lead of
a negro named Turner, broke out in Virginia, and massacres and burnings
followed. The Georgia Legislature put a price upon Garrison's head; and
that devoted advocate of human freedom responded by founding the New
England Anti-Slavery Society--an example soon followed in various places
through the North.
[Sidenote: Sympathy for the Slaves.]
[Sidenote: Lovejoy Killed.]
The cause was right, and grew despite every obstacle of mob violence,
persecution, contempt, and, not the least, the indignant hostility
of respectable statesmanship. Yet evidences began to appear, here and
there, that the sympathy even of official responsibility was gradually
leaning to the principle of liberty. The Massachusetts Supreme Court
declared the child Med, whose master had brought her to Boston, to have
become by that act free. There was still, however, much suffering in
store for the anti-slavery advocates. Garrison, in attempting to speak
before the Female Anti-Slavery Society in Boston, was dragged through
the streets by an enraged mob, and was only saved from death by being
hurried to the jail as a refuge. A hall in Philadelphia which had been
desecrated by an abolition conference, was burned. Elijah Lovejoy, an
Illinois abolition editor, was killed by a mob. These are a few among
many examples of the violence with which the abolitionists were treated.
The old "Liberty party," however, grew gradually into the larger and
more powerful "Free Soil" party, of which the venerable John Quincy
Adams became the champion in the House of Representatives, and Martin
Van Buren the presidential candidate in 1848. It was still, of course,
a small minority, but its influence was now distinctly felt in the
legislative councils and in the politics of the country. The petitions
in favor of abolition which invaded Congress created alarm in the South,
and at last the southern members found it necessary to pass a rule
excluding these "incendiary documents" altogether.
[Sidenote: The Compromise of 1850.]
If the Free Soilers were becoming formidable, the South was also
resolved to assume the offensive. Its triumph in securing the annexation
of Texas as another slave State was followed, a few years after, by the
celebrated "Compromise" of 1850; by which, while California was admitted
as a free State, and the slave trade was abolished in the District of
Columbia, the Fugitive Slave Law was also conceded. This aroused the
indignation of very large numbers in the North, and the treatment of
fugitives under it, notably that of Jerry in New York State, and
of Anthony Burns in Boston, did much to develop and strengthen the
anti-slavery feeling. The outrageous character of the law was too
palpable to be unperceived and unresented.
[Sidenote: The Free Sellers.]
[Sidenote: Border Ruffianism.]
The next effort of the slave power provoked the formation of a great
national anti-slavery party, out of the old Free Soil elements. This
effort, which, by the aid of the Pierce administration and some Northern
statesmen, was successful, was to destroy the Missouri Compromise of
1820 and thus open the way to the creation of slave States north, as
well as south, of Mason and Dixon's line. The immediate object of
this policy was to make slave States of Kansas and Nebraska, two great
territories which were ready for admission into the fatuity of the
Union. No sooner had the Nebraska Bill passed, in May, 1854, than the
terrible scenes of "border ruffianism" began. As the new law required
that the inhabitants of the territories should themselves decide whether
slavery should exist or not, the attempt was made to convert Kansas into
a slave State by invasions of "border ruffians" from Missouri. After
a long and bloody struggle, the cause of freedom triumphed in the two
disputed territories.
[Sidenote: The "Irrepressible Conflict."]
The events in that part of the Union served to win many converts to the
anti-slavery cause in the North. The Republican party was organized on
the eve of the Presidential election of 1856. Its chief doctrine was
that no more slave States whatever should be admitted to the Union. It
put a ticket into the field with Colonel John Charles Fremont as
the candidate for President, and William L. Dayton of New Jersey for
Vice-President. It could not be expected that so young a party would
triumph at its first essay; but when Fremont received 113 electoral
votes, while Buchanan had only 177, it was appreciated everywhere
that the "irrepressible conflict" between slavery and liberty was fast
approaching its crisis.
[Sidenote: John Brown's Raid.]
The self-sacrificing heroism of a fanatic, the most salient incident of
the slavery agitation during the Presidency of Buchanan, had a marked
influence in hastening the final issue. This was John Brown's raid upon
Harper's Ferry, for the purpose of setting free the slaves. The old
man's courage, his utter self-devotion to his cause, his noble death,
his simple and sincere character, appealed most strongly to the sympathy
of the opponents of slavery, and even compelled words of strong praise
from the lips of Henry A. Wise, the Virginia Governor, who signed his
death-warrant.
[Sidenote: The South Prepares to Secede.]
The cause of free soil at last attained its triumph in the election
of 1860. All things foreshadowed the success of Abraham Lincoln. The
northern people were ripe for decisive action against the extension, at
least, of human bondage. The Democratic party divided into two factions
at Charleston, and the factions put each a candidate into the field,
mutually to destroy each other. The South so far gave up the contest as
to make preparations, while the presidential battle was yet raging,
to withdraw from the Union. Then, as the grand, bitter, but necessary
result of the long-continued slavery agitation, the war came, and wiped
out slavery with the blood of patriots.