The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-10
THE CIVIL WAR.

In writing of this dark period of our country's history, it is right that we should first, consider the conditions or causes which led to disunion.
 We must remember that the earliest English colonies in the United States were settled by the Cavaliers in Virginia and the Puritans in Massachusetts.
 !, They represented two hostile people, who in England had opposed each other on very nearly all religious and political questions.
 These earliest settlers made an indeli- 'ble impress upon those which followed, and in time, to a remarkable degree, a difference was noticeable in the thought and development of the two sections, as we'll as in their manner of living.
 In the North the people were frugal and saving, and as they cultivated small farms, could live near together, and sometimes for mutual protection their farm houses were grouped into villages. Manufactures and commerce soon devel- oped. The climate was vigorous. In the South agriculture was the chief interest. Large plantations were owned and culti- vated, therefore families lived far apart frequently ones nearest neighbor was miles distant
 The climate was mild and the virgin soil yielded 80 abundantly that habits of | GAITdNdBdnCe uCNclOpCus anu at tHC OiA plantation homes a hospitality of so princely and lavish style was dispensed that traditions of 1t finger with us to- day.
 The North and South were not only unlike in their manner of life and in their business interests. but from differ ent environment they drifted easily into the habit of viewing political questions from a different standpoint, where such differences exist misunderstanding read fly arise.
 In colonial times slavery existed in the North as we'll as in the South, and was recognized by the constitution of the United States.
 The first slave ship entered Boston har- bor: and New England ships engaged in the trade and sold the slaves in Nortn- ern and Southern ports; but, as early as this period. there were those in both scc- tinns who opposed slavery, in the South r.otably Tromas Jefferson.
 The conditions in the North. the small sarms. whicl the owners could cultivate with little assistance, together with tho severe climate, made slave labor unprof- table.
 IF the South the miider climate, the vast plantations, the raising of cotton, sugar cane and tobacco made slave la boI most profitable, therefore the system flc urished here.
 It should be mentioned incidentally that our prudent residents of the North were careful to sell their own slaves to their neighbors beyond Mason and Dixon's line before they were actively eager to free them. It should also be mentioned that never within our knowledge of the ne- gro race were they as happy and con tented as in the days when they were slaves on the old plantations of the South. Never has the negro question been a more serious problem to our coun- try than it is todey, and never has it been a greater menace to the peace of the American nation.
 Ever since the foundation of the Gov ernment the statesmen of the South had ccp pslstently upheld the theory of the Fed eral Constitution. which regarded the ul- innate sovereignty as resting in the in- divldual States themselves. and not in the nation as a whole-the States were held to be supreme and independent common. wealths. From the Southern standpoint these Southern States had entered into a compact or union with the other States for mutual advantage; this partnership like others was to endure only so Ione as it's original purpose was maintained ir regard to all the States