“I
want men gentlemen North and South to mark my words:
when . . . this
country should be laid waste; when shipping in our ports shall be
destroyed, when our institutions of learning and religion shall wither
away or be torn down; when your cities shall be given up for plunder and
for slaughter; when your sons and my sons, your neighbors and my
neighbors, shall be carried from this bloody field of strife; and our
mothers, our sisters, our wives, and our daughters, shall assemble
around us, and, with weeping eyes and aching hearts, say:
“Could you not
have done something, could you not have said something, that would have
averted this dreadful calamity?
I want to feel in my conscience and in my soul that I have done my duty.”
*****************************
North
Carolinian John A. Gilmer of Guilford County struggled mightily with
the Republicans to find compromise but failed. The same was done by
Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis who said in July 1864: "I
tried in all my power to avert this war. I saw it coming, and for 12
years, I worked night and day to prevent it, but I could not. The North
was mad and blind; it would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war
came, and now it must go on till the last man of this generation falls
in his tracks, and his children seize the musket and fight our battle,
unless you acknowledge our right to self-government”
The refusal of the Republican party to pursue peaceful compromise
caused the war, and subsequent loss of the Founders’ Constitution.
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
Rejecting the Time-Honored Spirit of Compromise
“Gilmer turned to Republicans in the [US House] chamber.
“I
would say to my Northern friends . . . that you have it in your power .
. . to crush this [talk of disunion] out in one hour.” Simply allow
both sections equal rights in the territories and there would be “a
speedy end to the ambitious schemes of disunion politicians.” The
endless debate was no more than “an excuse for agitation” that
accomplished nothing.
“I
incline to the opinion that in the future, as heretofore, soil,
climate, and productions would settle the question of slavery in the
Territories, if peace and quiet were restored. After all that has been
said and done, Congress has never made a free State out of any Territory
that nature intended for a slave State, and has never made a slave
State out of territory where free labor could be profitably employed.”
Gilmer
pleaded with his Republican colleagues to consider any compromise, any
concession that might deprive secessionists of their arguments.
Southern fears were real and would continue to be exploited if
Republicans kept silent or ignored the problem.
“You
say you have elected your President constitutionally,” said the North
Carolinian. “I admit it. You express wonder and surprise that the South
should be alarmed at this. Now, let me reason with you . . . Suppose
the positions of the two sections of the union were reversed; suppose
the [Southern] States were eighteen, and the [Northern] States fifteen;
suppose the [Southern] States had a majority in this House . . . [and
the Senate and electoral college, and nominate a Southern president and
vice-president, and all adopt] a resolution intimating that it is in the
power of Congress, as well as the duty of Congress, to provide that no
more free States shall be admitted into the Union . . .
[S]uppose
all these things were to happen, and then speeches, assurances, and
telegrams, should be freely circulated throughout your country, that the
South intended to make all the States slaveholding States: I submit to
you, my Northern friends, would you not be very much warmed up against
that Southern movement, and begin to feel that you were but small folks
in this Government? Would you not feel like looking out for yourselves,
at least to the extent of asking for some guarantees?”
Settlement
of every sectional dispute was within reach if only the time-honored
spirit of compromise could be revived. “Is it possible that the sons of
American fathers cannot agree on this trifling matter?” What would the
Founding Fathers do under these circumstances? Would they let matters
go on until blood was shed? Should compromise fail and conflict come,
Gilmer knew it would be his duty to stand by North Carolina.
“I
want men gentlemen North and South to mark my words: when . . . this
country should be laid waste; when shipping in our ports shall be
destroyed, when our institutions of learning and religion shall wither
away or be torn down; when your cities shall be given up for plunder and
for slaughter; when your sons and my sons, your neighbors and my
neighbors, shall be carried from this bloody field of strife; and our
mothers, our sisters, our wives, and our daughters, shall assemble
around us, and, with weeping eyes and aching hearts, say: “Could you not
have done something, could you not have said something, that would have
averted this dreadful calamity?
I want to feel in my conscience and in my soul that I have done my duty.”
(Taking a Stand, Portraits From the Southern Secession Movement, Walter Brian Cisco, 1998, White Mane Books, pp. 97-98)
Not much has really changed with the Union government. Except the size of the globe.
ReplyDeleteYes, just gotten worst.
Delete