the arguments so vehemently urged as the contest proceeded, or to develop the various phases which it assumed. The incidents of the struggle are matters of history, though often unfairly treated by dishonest historians, and distorted by partisan coloring.

The political agitation, which did not arouse serious apprehensions, gradually developed the growth of a fanatical element, small at first, and condemned even at the North, which demanded the abolition of slavery in the United States by act of the general government. This abolition element proposed to override the Constitution, and appealing to a "higher law," pursued its purpose with the zeal and tenacity characteristic of fanatics.

The political truth that the Constitution of the United States reserved to each State the control of its own domestic institutions was so plain that the great mass of the people, North and South, conceded that the general government had no power to abolish slavery in any State. Gradually, however, a strong feeling of hostility to slavery grew in the North; yet, restrained by respect for the Constitution, the majority of the people of the North did not, prior to the Civil War, contemplate forcible abolition. The political contests over the limitations of slavery in the Territories, and the admission of new States, constantly tended to array parties on the geographical division of "Mason and Dixon's Line," and its western equivalent, the thirty-six degrees thirty minutes' line. This agitation fanned the flame of Northern hostility to slavery, while increasing Southern resentment and distrust.

From the date of the amendment of James Tallmadge, of New York, which passed the House of Representatives February 16, 1819, and which refused admission to Missouri as a slave State, the history of American politics is one of aggression on the part of the Northern section and defence on the part of the South. In this contest, the South was aided for many years by strong Northern allies who believed her position constitutional and just, but farseeing Southern

leaders could not fail to read the future and to note that whenever agitation was temporarily allayed it was always by means of Southern sacrifice. The Missouri Compromise was followed by the contest for the settlement of the Territories. Yet so great was the confidence of the great bulk of the Southern people in the bulwark of the Constitution, that they felt no serious alarm for the permanency of slavery, and the maintenance of their political status.

The Territory of Louisiana was in the shape of a triangle with its apex to the south and a broad base to the north. There was but little territory south of the line of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes that was available for the formation of new States. This limited area was lessened by the appropriation of the Indian Territory to purposes which precluded it from becoming a State. Thus, only Arkansas was left, and, outside of Louisiana, the South had no material for a new State, except Florida. North of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes was a vast stretch of territory acquired by Southern policy, but now a menace to the South. Before the prophetic vision of Calhoun, there were expanded Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, the two Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington-all soon to be applicants for statehood. What would become of the balance of power? What protection would the Constitution afford when all the machinery of the Federal government should come into the hands of a party hostile to the institution of slavery?

Calhoun was an ardent lover of the Union, and sought to avert its disruption. He proposed two remedies. In the first he was defeated by Andrew Jackson, and in the second by James K. Polk. His first expedient was to make use of the tariff excitement to establish the precedent of nullification as an accepted construction of the Constitution, which would serve as a bulwark to protect the South when the lost balance of power in the Union should threaten her. When Andrew Jackson gave the toast "Our Federal Union: it must and shall be preserved," the Southern line of defence

was broken, and Calhoun was forced to yield to those who, according to their convictions, were no less honest or patriotic than himself. Calhoun regarded the maintenance of the balance of power between the North and the South as essential to the preservation of the Union. When he was appointed secretary of state by President Tyler in 1843, his efforts were directed at once to preserving that balance of power. This could be done only by the acquisition of new territory in the Southwest. It was impossible for the South to compete in the settlement of the Northwestern country. Her sparse population and the limitations thrown around the introduction of slavery into the Territories precluded a large immigration from the South into these areas. Meanwhile, the fanatical elements at the North had entered zealously and systematically into the work of colonization. Migration aid societies were established. Abolition agents scoured the Northern States and Europe. Emigrants imbued with sentiments hostile to the South, and favoring forcible emancipation, were poured into the Territories preparing for statehood. The balance of power must inevitably be lost to the South, and the time was near at hand.

Texas afforded the opportunity for Calhoun's second expedient. His plan was to admit Texas, divide it into five or six States, and thus offset the new States which were rapidly preparing for admission as allies of the Northern section. He strongly opposed the Mexican War, because he foresaw that it would result in the acquisition of Mexican territory north of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, which would more than offset all that he hoped for from the acquisition of Texas. The admission of Texas was accomplished, as the last act of Tyler's administration. Calhoun earnestly desired a position in Polk's Cabinet that he might complete his Texan policy, but Andrew Jackson was still living, and his voice was still powerful, despite his retirement at the Hermitage. Calhoun could hold no post of power under Jackson's friend. Texas entered as a single State. It brought to the Southern cause only two senators

instead of ten or twelve. President Polk adopted the policy of war with Mexico. The Mexican acquisitions added a vast area of territory north of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes to bring strength to the enemies of the Southern States. Gold was discovered in California, and the settlement of the Mexican acquisitions hastened the crisis. The Senate was lost to the South, and with it was lost the last hold on

the balance of power. Calhoun now despaired of saving the Union, and in 1850, for the first time, he uttered disunion sentiments. The rapidly approaching position of impotence of the South in the Federal government stared her people in the face. The tone of the Northern press, the growth of abolition sentiment, the nullification of the Fugitive Slave Law by Northern States, seriously alarmed them. The wonderful popularity of Uncle Tom's Cabin made it an exponent of Northern sentiment,-hostile, unjust, and insulting to the South. John Brown's raid aroused a storm of indignation. The danger which Calhoun had so long foreseen was now at hand, and the Southern people had at length come to realize it.

Notwithstanding the growth of hostile sentiments, North and South, the day had not yet arrived for secession, though it was apparent to the most casual observer that in a short time the whole machinery of government-executive, legislative, and judicial-must be in the hands of the free States, and the slave States would be as impotent in constitutional power as New England had been in 1814; yet with one important difference. In 1814, no domestic institution of New England was threatened. She suffered some temporary injury to her commerce, as did all the States, but these restraints on her trade and injury to her commerce were incidents of the war in which the country was engaged, and should have been borne with patriotic patience. Yet, at that time, New England had threatened to secede, and even took steps looking to that end, and no one disputed her constitutional right to secede. Now, the South, approaching a more disastrous condition of impotence in the government

naturally turned to the same measure of redress, but the time was not yet ripe. The South felt in 1859 the same restraining influence which had controlled New England in 1814-the innate love for the Union, and confidence in American institutions.

One hope still remained. Slavery had followed the geographical line; but with this the demarcation between political parties had not coincided. Although the balance of power was coming inevitably into the hands of the free States, yet there was a strong party in the North which held to the Southern view in construing the Constitution. The South had looked to these allies to unite with the Southern people in protecting her threatened domestic institution, and in preserving the Constitution, but she soon came to a point where she was forced to question the probability of assistance from this source. With sentiments of distrust and apprehension the two sections entered upon the memorable political campaign of 1860. The result dissipated the last hope of the South for an equal standing in the national legislature. It showed that political parties were at length arrayed on the same geographical line which divided the free States from the slave States. This conviction was confirmed at the November election, when one hundred and eighty presidential electors pledged to Lincoln were elected, all from the free States, while those opposed to him were but one hundred and twenty-three. The total electoral vote from the free States was one hundred and eighty-three, from the slave States one hundred and twenty. In the legislative branch the Senate stood: senators from free States, thirty-six; from slave States, thirty. The House stood: representatives from free States, one hundred and forty-seven; from slave States, ninety. The slave States were powerless to protect themselves in the Union, while their Northern allies were either alienated or powerless.

The argument of the rights of the Southern States under the Constitution was unanswered and unanswerable, but argument could no longer protect them. The situation is