Under all the
circumstances, perhaps, this was not wrong. There were other points of
dispute connected with the general question of Slavery, which equally
needed adjustment. The South clamored for a more efficient fugitive slave
law. The North clamored for the abolition of a peculiar species of slave
trade in the District of Columbia, in connection with which, in view from
the windows of the Capitol, a sort of negro livery-stable, where droves
of negroes were collected, temporarily kept, and finally taken to
Southern markets, precisely like droves of horses, had been openly
maintained for fifty years. Utah and New Mexico needed territorial
governments; and whether slavery should or should not be prohibited
within them was another question. The indefinite western boundary of
Texas was to be settled. She was a slave State, and consequently the
farther west the slavery men could push her boundary, the more slave
country they secured; and the farther east the slavery opponents could
thrust the boundary back, the less slave ground was secured. Thus this
was just as clearly a slavery question as any of the others.
These points all needed adjustment, and they were held up, perhaps
wisely, to make them help adjust one another.
Pages:
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229