The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-22

iltlDDlSIS naQ alTeaUN klltSu IIut COHl~ peace 1t brought about and they had created sentiment that nullified the geogra2aisal line upon which i ot t was was In 1851 made it perfectly clear to as tute politicians" as MT Rhodes says. that n dissolution of parties was of slavery. the different clements must be fused into an or~anzed whole, It might be called Whig. or some other principle of the wllmot proviso," which proviso was a defiance of the great compromise.
 condensing MT, Rhodes's Idea. the new party was already in the womb: and it may be added that as the cleo toral vote of the North was now 15o North had matorities in the House and only awaiting the calf to act as ac- eoueheurs. The new party was soon than Whig by which 1t was to be bap- that this eminent and conscientious statement, should dpasaT ister aattempt D0t to prove that the raison detre" Of the Republican party. whose prenatal ex- the Kansas -Nebraska act. passed some three years later, but In this he is fol- lowing the generally accepted north ern theory. that the .Southerners were
 
 promise and that they. by their own folly in voting for the Kansas Nebras-1 ka act in 1854. called into. existence the party that subsequently, over
 The. truth is that nothing was need ed. after 1851. to bring about the but the signal defeat of that one of the two great parties which in the North might prove to be. most thou oughly imbued with anti-slavery ideas and this 6Crnrre6 in fha nragtdonff~f election of 1852 The whigs had Si' 1S44 achieved their only victory in many years. and that was the result opponents. The election in 1852 was the Whig waterloo. They could tber- after have no doubt except in fusion with anti-slavery Democrats To help Where s %hss Toms caeln asesns eam out that same year, and this book as leading emancirafionist said did than ever before was accomplished by any single book of fiction"
 It is perfectly true that the infant .sa ssr0ts tse ibt inbfina of ddS H ana sns was christened Republican" shortly after the passage. May 2s. 1854. of the
 ng ths rsaa1 aeas ssf
 mise and allowing new states thereaf- ter to come in with or without slavery as their people might decide. Rut
 
 braska act would have been an appli- cation of territory to come Into the Union as new state with slavery, South of s6 degrees, 30 minutes
 No doubt the same result would have followed even a dramatic episode at- tending nn attempt to capture a fugi- tive slave. Indeed, nothing except ab- iect surrender by the South could now anti-slavery party. based on the Will mot proviso This proviso represented a majority sentiment at the North. The voters who held to this sentiment would naturally. politicians would see to it that there should be no unnecessary delay in organizing. Nicolav and Hay in their Life of Lincoln. Uife of
 meeting in Fon du Lac. Wis. in the early months Of 1854, where fusion of | town leaders took place and the name "Repuhllcar' was suggested: and these similar demonstrations"
 The eKansas-Nebraska act, in spite of l the fact that reiterated assertions of partisan historians has created a wide within itself embodied no unreasonable | contention. Its claim was that United States territories were the common property of all the States, and that the an equal right to take their property there. This claim was afterwards full | ly sustained by the supreme court of 1 the United States in the Dred Scott
 case. Chief Justice Fancy. next to
 decision was spurned. trampled under | foot, and finally buried at the election
 in 1S6o, under the ballots of people.
 many of whom had never read the Con Marshall in ability and equal to him | in purity of character, delivered the l opinion. Rut so rabid then was anti slavery sentiment in the north. that the stitution of their country which was the basis of the decision. The plain truth is that with the year 1854 had come the fullness of time when. as had accomplished Its work. and when the cause (of anti-slavery) was to be consigned to political party that brought to a succesSful conclusion the movement begun by the moral senti- ment of the community. lRhodes. Vol 1, p. G6.) The movement begun by the moral sentiment of the community" (abolitionisIn) was for the freeing of the slaves in the Southern States "un- conditionally' and the successful con- clusion" of this movement was &C., complished by the successful war. The Abolition party had sowed the seed
 The Republican party was the flower. The fruits were secession, civil war, and emancipation. The aftermath was reconstruction and universal suffrage for the recently enfranchised slave. The conservative force in the north upon which the South relied to stay the tide of anti-slavery was the Dem ocratic party. By its aid one more vic- tory was achieved in 1856, but that was simply delaying the inevitable. Nothing could have turned back the tide that had set in.
 The Republican party was to be in it's early history greatly aided by, but certainly had not owed its existence to, the unwise Kansas-Nebraska act; and in view of what we have seen, it is marvellous that q usually well-in- formed public should now accept the partisan statement, gb because it has been 1 often repeated, that the country was in | 1854 at peace on the slavery question, | and that that peace was disturbed by | the passage of that law.
 | lu4Le fortunate IL was for the Re- pup44can Farty, wblch couIo onIy ex- | kecU to live Dy continuance of the | sCrlIe out of which u was porn, tna. | ahoIner exciting incident soon occur | rsd-"Doruer Warfare m Kansas. The exas operated South had lost it's Head anu | IrIeo to make oL that territory slave SIate. The AbolitonisLs and RepuDu- Cans were determined to make It free State. Arme0 men rom Doth sec tlons poured into the terrlIory, Ms scuri save SIaLe men being 1lrsc on the ground. But the 0ouLn Was no match for toe "Snarpes rifles ana Bibles | that were mustered in py the organized | abolition societies in the North. There was rumanlsm on both sldes in Kan sas, anu there the tlrst blood was shed l IF war between the North and South. | Ihe North won. Bleeding Kansas
 had adued to the excitement, North and | South, and the Republican Party pros- pered. When, Tn 1896, this party had | put it's sectional candidates Tor Presi- | oent and Vice. President in the field, upon a sectional platform. Rufus ICnoate, the great Massachusetts lawyer, heretofore Whig, voiced the senIi- nent oT conservative people by declar- | ing it to be the duty Of every one to