Part 39 (1/2)

323. Growth of Slavery in the South.--South of Pennsylvania and of the Ohio River slavery had increased greatly since 1787 (p. 136).

Was.h.i.+ngton, Jefferson, Henry, and other great Virginians were opposed to the slave system. But they could find no way to end it, even in Virginia. The South Carolinians and Georgians fought every proposition to limit slavery. They even refused to come into the Union unless they were given representation in Congress for a portion at least of their slaves. And in the first Congress under the Const.i.tution they opposed bitterly every proposal to limit slavery. Then came Whitney's invention of the cotton gin. That at once made slave labor vastly more profitable in the cotton states and put an end to all hopes of peaceful emanc.i.p.ation in the South.

[Sidenote: Proposal to end slavery with compensation.]

[Sidenote: The _Liberator_.]

324. Rise of the Abolitionists.--About 1830 a new movement in favor of the negroes began. Some persons in the North, as, for example, William Ellery Channing, proposed that slaves should be set free, and their owners paid for their loss. They suggested that the money received from the sale of the public lands might be used in this way. But nothing came of these suggestions. Soon, however, William Lloyd Garrison began at Boston the publication of a paper called the _Liberator_. He wished for complete abolition without payment. For a time he labored almost alone. Then slowly others came to his aid, and the Antislavery Society was founded.

[Sidenote: Anti-abolitionist sentiment in the North. _Higginson_, 268.]

[Sidenote: Disunion sentiment of abolitionists.]

[Sidenote: The Garrison riot, 1835. _Source-Book_, 248-251.]

325. Opposition to the Abolitionists.--It must not be thought that the abolitionists were not opposed. They were most vigorously opposed.

Very few Northern men wished to have slavery reestablished in the North.

But very many Northern men objected to the antislavery agitation because they thought it would injure business. Some persons even argued that the antislavery movement would bring about the destruction of the Union. In this idea there was a good deal of truth. For Garrison grew more and more outspoken. He condemned the Union with slaveholders and wished to break down the Const.i.tution, because it permitted slavery.

There were anti-abolitionist riots in New York, New Jersey, and New Hamps.h.i.+re. In Boston the rioters seized Garrison and dragged him about the streets (1835).

[Sidenote: Nat Turner's Rebellion, 1831.]

[Sidenote: Incendiary publications in the mails. _McMaster_, 313-314.]

326. Slave Rebellion in Virginia, 1831.--At about the time that Garrison established the _Liberator_ at Boston, a slave rebellion broke out in Virginia. The rebels were led by a slave named Nat Turner, and the rebellion is often called ”Nat Turner's Rebellion.” It was a small affair and was easily put down. But the Southerners were alarmed, because they felt that the Northern antislavery agitation would surely lead to more rebellions. They called upon the government to forbid the sending of the _Liberator_ and similar ”incendiary publications” through the mails.

[Sidenote: Right of pet.i.tion.]

[Sidenote: J.Q. Adams and antislavery pet.i.tions, 1836. _Hero Tales_, 151-159.]

[Sidenote: The ”gag-resolutions.” _McMaster_, 314-315.]

327. The Right of Pet.i.tion.--One of the most sacred rights of freemen is the right to pet.i.tion for redress of grievances. In the old colonial days the British Parliament had refused even to listen to pet.i.tions presented by the colonists. But the First Amendment to the Const.i.tution forbade Congress to make any law to prevent citizens of the United States from pet.i.tioning. John Quincy Adams, once President, was now a member of the House of Representatives. In 1836 he presented pet.i.tion after pet.i.tion, praying Congress to forbid slavery in the District of Columbia. Southerners, like Calhoun, thought these pet.i.tions were insulting to Southern slaveholders. Congress could not prevent the antislavery people pet.i.tioning. They could prevent the pet.i.tions being read when presented. This they did by pa.s.sing ”gag-resolutions.” Adams protested against these resolutions as an infringement on the rights of his const.i.tuents. But the resolutions were pa.s.sed. Pet.i.tions now came pouring into Congress. Adams even presented one from some negro slaves.

[Sidenote: Growth of antislavery feeling in the North.]

328. Change in Northern Sentiment.--All these happenings brought about a great change of sentiment in the North. Many people, who cared little about negro slaves, cared a great deal about the freedom of the press and the right of pet.i.tion. Many of these did not sympathize with the abolitionists, but they wished that some limit might be set to the extension of slavery. At the same time the Southerners were uniting to resist all attempts to interfere with slavery. They were even determined to add new slave territory to the United States.

CHAPTER 32

THE MEXICAN WAR

[Sidenote: The Mexican Republic, 1821.]

[Sidenote: Texas secedes from Mexico, 1836, _McMaster_, 320-322; _Hero Tales_, 173-181.]

329. The Republic of Texas.--The Mexicans won their independence from Spain in 1821 and founded the Mexican Republic. Soon immigrants from the United States settled in the northeastern part of the new republic. This region was called Texas. The Mexican government gave these settlers large tracts of land, and for a time everything went on happily. Then war broke out between the Mexicans and the Texans. Led by Samuel Houston, a settler from Tennessee, the Texans won the battle of San Jacinto and captured General Santa Anna, the president of the Mexican Republic. The Texans then established the Republic of Texas (1836) and asked to be admitted to the Union as one of the United States.

[Sidenote: Question of the admission of Texas to the Union.]