The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-20
April 18th
U. D. c. Medal Contest.

As an incentive to closer study and broader information, the Troy Chapter, U. D. C., last year offered a gold medal to that student of the Seventh and Eighth Grades of both the State Nor nal College and City School, who should | write the best composition on The Causes of the War Between the States" Tho College declined to compete. deeming it non pedagogical. but the Seventh and Eighth Grades of the City School entered the contest.
 The subject was selected by Superin- tendent Harrison of the Union Springs School out of a list of. subjects submit ted, and was sent in a sealed envelope to the U. D. C. Chapter in Troy. The envelope was not opened until the morning of the contest, when it was announced to the contestants-the stu dents of the Seventh and Eighth Grades.
 The papers were written under the surveillance of the teachers, and when completed the compositions were num- | bered and given for examination to a Bowles, Mrs. Carl Tutwiler, Mrs. SChas. Henderson. Mrs. Key Murphree and Hon. W. H. Sanford. who fixed the grades.
 No names being used on the compo- sitions, the judges did not know the name of the winner until the awards were made and returned.
 The result of the contest was an nounced publicly at the closing exer- cises of the city school in May-the pa- pers having been written some weeks before. To quote from The Troy Mes senger. Another feature of the after noon program was the announcement of the winner of the U. D. C. contest medal.
 Leo Bashinsky received the honor and the medal will be presented to him at the Jefferson Davis Memorial ex- ercises on June 8. ..|
 Miss Sallie Mae Clark received the | second honor; Miss Leila Nall third honor; Miss Lena Phelps fourth honor. These students. with the exception of the latter, are in the Seventh Grade. the latter being in the Eighth. Leo Bashinsky Is very bright boy and has received excellent since September, which is the highest attainable grade at the City School.
 | The judges recommended many of the forty compositions as worthy of note, and to Miss Williams. the teacher of history of these two grades. much credit is due for the thorough instruc- tion of the children"
 The Causes of the War Betwee the States.
 | Tn. causes of the war between the | States had their origin in colonial times. when prejudice existed among the Cavaliers and Roundheads. The | former settled in Virginia, the latter in Massachusetts. and class prejudice existed even at that early period. 1 The most. general cause of the war was the different conception and inter l pretation of the Constitution The North held that the power should be vested in the general government, and | that the State should be subordinate to the Union that the highest allegiance
 of a citizen is due to the Union, and
 that all attempts of disunlon were dis
 loyal and reasonable. On the other
 hand the South held that the State
 should be sovereign; and that the high
 est allegiance of citizen Is due, first
 to his Stat3. not to the general gov
 ernment; that all attempts at nullifi-
 cation and disunion were justifable and
 honorable, and that any State had a
 perfect right to secede when there was
 an aggressive act passed by the Fed
 eral Government. And there was a
 time when the New England States
 agreed with us for when the embargo
 act was passed they were on the very
 point of joining Canada, and the non-
 intercourse act was enforced tc keer
 them from leaving the Union.
 The second great cause of this awful 1 Stl uBeIe was the ClnerenC system Ol
 labor in the North and the South. Slav-
 cry was first introduced by the North
 They were brought over from Africa
 by slave traders. Later a large num-
 Der of them were sold to Southern
 planters but the importation of slaves
 continued direct from Africa to the
 southern States and traffic in them be-
 came general The North found slaves
 unprohtable for that section needed
 sklll ed workers Tn their factories. The
 south found slaves profitable for they
 needed them in their broad cotton
 helds- There was thus a dividing llna
 through the Union, On one side there
 was slavery. on the other free labor
 A powerful agonism arose on this
 account Ind gave rise to many bitter disputes The following incidents in
 the history of the country were direct
 results of the disputes over slavery.
 Missouri Compromise The cause of the
 making of this compromise was to ad mlt Maine as a free State and Missouri as slave State. During this agitation
 threats of dissolvng the Union were | freely made both in the North and the south Omnibus Bill. Fugitive Slave
 Laws these laws claimed that if slaves | ran away they should be sent back to ! their rightful owners when captured i F0VrteAn Northern States nuIlified these | Ia" Dredd Scott decision: This de- olslo0 claimed that slaves were prop eFtY and like any other property could