The
following essay by Joseph Addison Turner of Georgia summarized the fear
of servile insurrection faced by Southerners in mid-1860, and presented
practical solutions to deal with the threat. To better understand the
reason why the American South did not return to the Union in early 1861
after Northern promises that slavery would be forever protected, the
issue of incessant Northern incitement of servile insurrection is a most
important one. This passage is taken from DeBow’s Review, Volume XXIX,
July 1860, pp. 70-77.
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"
What Are We To Do?
“In
view of the Harper’s Ferry affair, and the developments that have
followed it, a question of grave import presents itself to the Southern
people. What steps are we to take to effectually resist the spirit and
the attacks – the actual invasions, of Northern abolitionism? It is our
intention to discuss this question calmly and dispassionately, with all
the reason, all the judgment, which nature has allowed us.
[To]
those who are our determined and uncompromising enemies, who are ready
to apply the torch of the incendiary to every house in the sunny South,
who are all the time compassing heaven and earth to obtain the means
necessary to kindle a servile war, and to raise the assassin’s knife
against every Southern breast – to which we have no word of explanation,
farther than to say, that in meting out justice even to you, we would
let reason and not passion direct.
In
order to protect ourselves and our families, we must first find out who
are they that threaten us. What we are called on to guard against now –
this very day, this very hour – is the host of abolition emissaries who
are scattered abroad throughout the length and breadth of our land, who
permeate the whole of Southern society, who occupy our places of trust
and emolument.
Let
us examine for a moment, the plans of these people. [The] Yankees who
come among us as teachers, preachers, merchants, drummers, peddlers,
etc., are base, bitter, malignant abolitionists, bearing in their hearts
a determined and implacable hatred toward us and our institutions;
always seeking every opportunity to instill the poison of their opinions
into the minds of our slaves; working silently, slowly, insidiously,
but constantly, till, as they imagine, they shall be able to kindle a
fire of servile insurrection, which shall wrap in flames and involve in
ruin the whole broad expanse of our now happy and prosperous Southern
country.
It
is folly – it is willful blindness – any longer to shut our eyes to the
fact. The danger is in our midst, and we must meet it, now.
On
the maps found in John Brown’s possession, were certain marks,
designating certain localities all over the Southern country – in
Georgia, as well as other States. What mean these marks? They at least
indicate that abolition emissaries have been on these spots, and have
cast an evil eye – an eye of blighting – upon these portions of our
beloved soil. These our homesteads have been polluted by the tread of
vile murderers, who have, doubtless, partaken of our hospitality, while
they were taking counsel how they might assassinate us. Which of them
are wolves in sheep’s clothing, which of them are worthy of hanging as
traitors, we cannot often determine.
We
must patronize home industry. At the risk of doing injustice to a great
many Northern men who come among us, merely with the view of improving
their private fortunes, and who attend strictly to their own business,
leaving us to manage ours, we must set our faces against immigration
into our borders from the North. Especially must we frown upon all
itinerants and stragglers from beyond Mason and Dixon’s line.
Let
us in no instance, trade with a fresh Yankee merchant, employ a raw
Yankee teacher, or mechanic, or in any manner tolerate a Yankee peddler.
Let them all be placed under a ban. Let them all be watched, and let
them know they are objects of suspicion.
Southerners
should also content themselves within their own limits. Let those who
have money to spend distribute it, in future, among their own friends
and neighbors. For those who have the means and the leisure to make a
tour every summer . . . there are numberless places of interest in our
own borders.
On
the other hand, it cannot be denied that many of our Southern teachers
and mechanics are so idle and worthless that they allow these shrewd,
hard-working Yankees to slip in before them and bear off the palm on all
occasions. It is the great fault of Southern people that they are too
proud to work! The truth is, all of us – employers and employees,
capitalists and laborers, rich and poor, producers and consumer -- all
have acted wrong, and it remains for us to reform.”
(The Cause of the South, Selections from DeBow’s Review, 1846-1867, Paskoff and Wilson, editors, LSU Press, 1982, pp. 213-219)
along with images of an exploded missile that hit the third floor of a
building in the city of el-Arish last week. The post said terrorist
forces targeted the North Sinai Security Directorate office with a
ballistic missile that struck the third floor facade of the building,
leaving three soldiers injured. While attacks in the Sinai, which
borders Gaza and is a haven for terrorist activity, have become
commonplace, the prospect that militants have U.S. weapons typically
fired from helicopters at their disposal is especially alarming.
