The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-02-13

FRANK M. BUCKLEY
 in his will asnancipated his slaves, and at the same time Jefferson fear ed the woe that the Almighty might visit upon his countrymen for this blight upon the national honor. But the spirit of compromise was evinced at the Constitutional meeting as it was in many subsequent to it, and not only was no remedial legislation adopted against it's spread but the prohibition of importation was post poned for a period of twenty years.
 Time passed, the cotton-gin was in- vented, cotton became the leading staple product of the South. the negro was found to be indispensable to his master. and in consequence there were not wanting multitudes of de- lenders of this iniquitous system which threatened to undermine the st,- c1al structure of the country. The agi- tation spread. the walls of Congress hearkened unto the voice of the Northern delegates who opposed sIay- cry extension and denounced the in stitution as unjust and nefarious no less than to the Southern representa- tive who not only upheld it's legality end necessity, but even sought to in troduce 1t into states nonainalIy free
 Every measure of importance of the several decades preceding the Civil War was subjected to the test of the power that might accrue to either sec ton of the nation. Compromises were made only to be broken when the whfm Of the party in power suited and patriotic men of light and lead ing who read the signs of the times ar1ght looked with trembling and fear upon the consequenceS of the per-
 
 rooted in the Southern section of the American soil
 The sovereign rights of the indi- vidual states to secede and to nullify the avowed policy of the South to ex- tend slavery into the great states west of the Mississippi river after the re- peal of the Missouri Compromise, the persistent attempts of it's delegates to Justify and to defend slavery at all times and under all circumstancesHall these declarations stirring the feelings and awakening the conscience of the North led directly to the establish ment of the Republican party which formulated as its fundamental tenet direct opposition to slavery extension Into the formation of the Republf- can party Lincoln threw himseIfswith all the vigor and enthusiasm that characterized his energetic soul. The days intervening between 1849 and | l of legal practice and in the serious re- hection upon the problems of the hour. It was the KansaS-Nebraska Act in 1854 which opened up the large region west of Missouri and Iowa to slavery 1 interests that brought Lincoln to the realization of the countrys danger. From that hour his acts take on a ma | tional significance and run like a l thread of gold through OUT illustdous
 annals.
 f.tNothing is more remarkable in po- l 1itica1 history than the transforna- l ton of this quiet Illinois lawyer who | for several years had tired of politics 1 dominated the minds of even the most l independent thinkers of the country, i dictated the general policy of the ris- 1 ing political party and animated the patriotism of weakening souls.
 l Resting his principles upon the bed rock of Christianity and the DecIara- ton of Independence, he launched | forth tnunderbolts agaainst the breast ! works of slavery. maintaining that il 1 was founded on injustice and bad pol | icy, that it's very existence in Ameri- ca deprived our republic of an ex- ample of it's just influence on the world
 and that it forced many otherwise just men into open war with the | very fundamental principles of cfvi liberty. He took the broad ground tha- life, liberty and pursuit of happiness 1 are mans ina1ienable rights and thai 1 these are best guaranteed by a gov | ernment that derives its power from the consent of the governed.
 1 Prom his tireless voice and per there came the fullest inspiration and | most ready argument in the white l heat of the movement against slavery l and in the memorable so-called slos speech which was delivered at the first Republican state convention il | Bloomington, Illinois, in 1856 ht struck the keynote of 1oftiest patriot ism in these words: We must highly | resolve that Kansas shall be free; WI must reinstate the birthday pro1nis, of the Republic; we must reaffirm tn, | Declaration of Independence; ". must make good in essence as well a, in form Madison's avowal that 'th, U word slave ought not to appear in tn, Constitution and we must go ever 1 further, and decree that only 1oca law, and not that time honored instru
 nent, shall shelter a s1ave-ho1der.
 We must make this land of lib
 erty in fact as it is in name. Bu in seeking to attain these results, st indispensable if the liberty which i
 our pride and boast shall endure, W,
 will be loyal to the Constitution, anC
 to the flag of our Union, and mat II ter what our grievance even thoug1 Kansas shall come in as slave stat land no matter what their-even i
 we shall restore the Compromises, will say to the Southern Disunionists Il We won't go out of the Union, ant