Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1861-04-10
For the Daily State Sentinel
History of AhOlitiOniSrn


For the Daily State Sentinel.
History of AbOlitiOnism.
Our glorious Union, ere it has reached the age
of man. is dissolved, and civil war is close upon
Business is paralyzed property is deprecated,
labor is unemployed, the poor are crying for
bread and crime riots and mobs must follow in
the train.
Whence comes this condition of things? Who
is responsible for it, Who is to bear the curses
which are surely in store for its authors? These
are questions which, by and by, will have terri
bic import, and must be answered by the truth of
history. To that source of truth it is time the
public eye was being earnestly, steadily directed.
In 1859 were inaugurated the first President
and Vice President of the United States-George
Washington, a STAKEHOLDER of Virginia, and John
Adams, a non STAKEHOLDER of Massachusetts The
two sections of the Union-the slaveholding and
neutrality-suspicious. by these noble
patriots, stood upon equality, were mutually re-
garded with fraternal affection, and the citizens
of each as standing morally, reigiously, poti
cally, socially and intellectually, upon an equally
elevated platform. All was harmony, happiness,
prosperity, and advancement to national and in
dividual greatness and glory. What has wrought
the wonderful the disastrous, the melancholy
change that we behold? That is the question.
| Let history answer it. That answer will be found
in the history of Northern fanaticism, of anti
slaveryism, Abolitionism, modern Republicanism,
synonymous terms, which should be at once
written by some competent hand, and disseminated
among the people.
| 1. recollect when boy of hearing and read
ing of Abolition societies, Anti Slavery societies,
county, State, and national, as thev called them
selves, affiliated all over the Northern States,
holding meetings, establishing newspapers, paying
lecturers to travel over the free States &C.; and
what was their avowed object? Why simply to
poison the North against the South-to hold up
the latter as soul murderers, God forsaken, hea-
thenish tyrants, and prepare the North to exer-
else her power to abolish slavery in the Southern
States by law. | remember well of hearing the
names of Arthur Tappan, Gerret Smith, Slade of
Vermont, Lovejoy of Illinois, Birney, Morris,
Chase, Giddings, and others of Ohio, Julian,
Harding, Robinson, Ovid Butler and others of
, Indiana Sumner, c.. F. Adams and others of
Massachusetts, being engaged in these societies.
Was this the way to treat equals in the Union,
and preserve fraternal feeling?
2. / remember that the Northern opposition
commenced through these organizations, to con-
| tinually food Congress with most gross and in
sulting petitions, followed up with most irritating
and scurrilous speeches on the part of those pre-
senting Them for the abolition of slavery by that
body. Thus was the South irritated and abused
session after session by these threatening attempts
to accomplish unjust and unconstitutional in.
vasion of their rights.
Was this the course to treat equals in the I'm
ion, and preserve fraternal feeling?
/ remember that they then proceeded to food
the mails with incendiary documents, including
offensive and irritating pictures and representa-
tons calculated to insult and wound the feelings
of the white person to whom they were sent, and
incite the slaves to deeds of murder and insur-
rection. This abuse was carried so far that Gen
jackson, in his last annual message but one
brought the subject earnestly before Congress and
asked legislation to protect the South from this
most dangerous outrage. In connection with
these documents they sent secret agents to dis
tribute them among the slaves; but the South was
was able to avert this part of the outrage by seiz
ing and furnishing the offenders, of whom recol
lect Crandall was one.
Was such the course for the North to pursue
toward the South if she loved the Union and re
spected the rights of its members? Was the
South to forever submit to such treatment.
A. At length these fanatics got possession of 8
portion of the churches of the North, and ex
PEELED all SoutheTners from their communion OF
the ground that every slave holder was child Of
hell and could not be Christian Was this the
way to preserve the Union of these States?
Following up tie strain, the preachers of thes,
churches all turned political crusaders against tn,
South, Peters the hermit, and denounced all slav,
holders as infides, with whom no faith was to b,
kept, asserted the Union to be a league with hell
and called up the voters in their churches to pa,
no regard to the Constitution If it stood in tn,
way of abolishing slavery-putting it speedily 'ir
the process of ultimate extinction" And th:
they did right in the face of the bible which sane
toned slavery and forbid interference with it.
have now before me Greek, Latin and al
| English testament. j find the word translated
servant from the Greek is doulos. / find tn,
word translated servant from the Latin is sfrrus
/ find both these words in the original language.
mean sidre, and that they are the same words
which, in all profane authors translated Stare
See numerous examples collected in Becker:
| Chronicles
The fanatical preachers, then, were acting
directly against the commands Of God, in urging
the Northern people to disregard the Constitution
and override the South.
s. | remember that when Missouri asked ad
mission into the Union, when Arkansas asked adj
mission, when Florida, Louisiana and Texas asked
admission, they were opposed to the death by
those fanatics because they were slave holding,
though such opposition an insult to the feel
ings and an outrage upon the rights of the South
| | remember, Also the continued stealing of slaves
obstructing the fugitive slave law, passing per
sona liberty bills-al to outrage the rights of the
South
6. remember that these fanatics began by
changing their organization from a moral and re
lgious, to a political one, determined TO obtain
political power and accomplish, in fact, what
they argued for in their moral and religious h.
sociations. They nominated Presidential ticket
of Northern men in lS40 and have perseveringly
adhered to it, till finally in 1860, they succeeded,
under the name of Republicans i'm achieving
their object. And was not the South justified by
the law of self preservation, the first law of ma
ture. in seeking to escape from the threatened
action of these persevering fanatics of thirty
years standing and effort, and threats? Let the
reader judge. Many more outrages might be
brought forward, especially the great outrages of
excluding them from our common territories,
but must close. JUsrIcE.