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216

SECESSION NO PROTECTION

was to be found her surest defense against all their assaults. By secession she would surrender her interest in the territories and all claim of right to introduce slaves therein. By secession she would forfeit all the benefits of the Fugitive Slave Law. By secession she would lose the strong arm of the National Government to defend her against assaults, whether by lawless bands or the legislative enactments of hostile states. Even with respect to servile insurrections her withdrawal from the Union would in no way abate the danger but only lessen her power to cope with the problem. John Brown and his band were captured by United States soldiers and the flag of the Union carried protection to the inmates of every lonely manor house and cabin throughout her borders, whether menaced by the slaves themselves or the emissaries of those who plotted against her peace. Of all these facts the Abolitionists had the profoundest appreciation. Hence for years they advocated disunion as a condition precedent to the attainment of their great end-the abolition of slavery.

THE ABOLITIONISTS AND DISUNION

THE disunion sentiments and efforts of the Abolitionists may be traced through the declarations of their leaders and the platforms of their societies, enunciated from time to time, during a long series of years antedating the Civil War. Thus in January, 1843, the Massachusetts AntiSlavery Society adopted the following resolution:

"That the compact which exists between the North and the South is a covenant with Death and an agreement with Hell-involving both parties in atrocious criminality, and should be immediately annulled."

These sentiments were affirmed and reiterated by the American Anti-Slavery Society at its tenth anniversary meeting in New York City, May, 1844, where among other declarations the Federal Constitution was denounced as "a covenant with Death and an agreement with Hell," and the motto adopted "No Union with Slaveholders."

In 1854, William Lloyd Garrison declared, "There is but one honest, straightforward course to pursue if we would see the slave power overthrown-the Union must be dissolved." And Wendell Phillips re-echoed the sentiment in the no less explicit declaration, "As to disunion, it must and will come. Calhoun wants it at one

William Lloyd Garrison, by his children, Vol. III, p. 88.
'Idem, p. 100.
Idem, p. 414.

218

WORCESTER DISUNION CONVENTION, 1857

end of the Union, Garrison wants it at the other. It is written in the counsel of God."

Mr. Schouler, referring to the foregoing declaration of Mr. Garrison and the occasion, says: "And such was the general tenor of anniversary speeches and resolutions through the next six years, whenever and wherever meetings were held of our Anti-Slavery Societies."

These disunion sentiments continued with growing insistence in the declarations of leading Abolitionists and in the platform of their societies. On the 15th of January, 1857, there assembled at Worcester, Mass., the "Disunion Convention." This body adopted, among other resolutions, one demanding the immediate dissolution of the Union, and declaring that "The sooner the separation takes place, the more peaceful it will be; but that peace or war is a secondary consideration in view of our present perils. Slavery must be conquered, peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must." This convention appointed a State Committee of seven, of which the Rev. Thomas Wentworth Higginson was made chairman, to direct the propaganda of the new movement and a general convention composed of delegates from all the free states was recommended. A call for the latter convention was accordingly issued in July, 1857, signed by Mr. Higginson, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, and other leading Abolitionists. Cleveland, Ohio, was selected as the place for the convention, because a majority of the signers to the call, some seven hundred in number, were citizens of that state. The 28th of October was fixed as the date for the meeting of the convention. This body,

Wendell Phillips, Martin, p. 207.

"History of United States, Schouler, Vol. V, p. 319.

William Lloyd Garrison, by his children, Vol. III, p. 457.

GARRISON URGES DISUNION

219

however, failed to assemble because of the terrible financial panic which began in September of that year,—the leaders deciding to postpone the "projected Northern Convention until a more auspicious period."

In his speech before the "Disunion Convention" at Worcester, Mass., above referred to, William Lloyd Garrison said:

"Again, I am for the speedy overthrow of the Union because, while it exists, I see no end to the extension of slavery. I see everything in the hands of the Slave Power now-all the resources of the country,-every dollar in the Treasury, the Navy, the Judiciary, everything in its grasp; and I know that with all these means and facilities and the disposition to use them, nothing can successfully contend against it.

"I am sure of another thing-that when the North shall withdraw from the Union, there will be an end to Southern filibustering and schemes of annexation. Then the tables will be turned and we shall have the slaveholders at our doors crying for mercy. Rely upon it, there is not an intelligent slaveholder at the South who is for a dissolution of the Union. I do not care what the folly or insanity of the Southern Nullifiers may be; . . . not one of them is willing to have the cord cut and the South permitted to try the experiment. If it be otherwise, God grant that she may soon take this step and see whether she will be able to hold a single slave one hour after the deed is done."2

No opportunity was neglected to inculcate sentiments of disloyalty to the Union, hatred of the constitution, and disregard of the statutes enacted by the Federal Government bearing upon slavery. Sometimes the Abolitionists would emphasize their position and lend a touch of

1Idem, p. 463.
Idem, pp. 456-7.

220 ABOLITIONISTS' ASSAULTS ON EMINENT MEN

realism to their sentiments by burning before the multitudes copies of the constitution and obnoxious laws passed by Congress.

Thus at Framingham, Mass., on the fourth of July, 1854, at the open-air celebration of the day by the Abolitionists, William Lloyd Garrison burned copies of the constitution, the Fugitive Slave Law, and the opinions of several Judges of the Federal Courts in Massachusetts. The Liberator records that Mr. Garrison, "holding up the United States constitution branded it as the source and parent of all the other atrocities-a covenant with Death and an agreement with Hell-and consumed it to ashes on the spot, exclaiming, 'So perish all compromises with Tyranny,' and 'Let all the people say Amen,' and a tremendous shout of 'Amen' went up to Heaven in ratification of the deed."

No eminence of public station nor personal worth availed to shield from the assaults of these Abolition leaders. William Lloyd Garrison alluding to Webster's eulogies upon the constitution declared, "Let Daniel Webster, the greatest and meanest of his countrymen, exhaust his powers of eulogy upon it if he will; the effort will but render his character base and contemptible with posterity."

Wendell Phillips, referring to the "Defender of the Constitution," said: "God gives us great scoundrels for texts to anti-slavery sermons. See to it, when nature has provided you a monster like Webster, that you exhibit him— himself a whole menagerie-throughout the country. Subsequently in an article in The Liberator on Mr.Lincoln― then but recently nominated for the Presidency, headed

1Idem,
p. 412.
'Idem, p. 184.

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Speeches, Lectures and Letters, Wendell Phillips, Lee & Shepard, 1892, p. 48.

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