It is indeed
true, therefore, that neither North nor South has an historical
monopoly of the support of slavery!
It is but fair to add that, so far as the movement to reopen the
slave trade found favor outside the slave barons and their New
York allies, it was advocated as a means of political defense, of
increasing Southern population as an offset to the movement of
free emigration into the North, and of keeping the proportion of
Southern representation in Congress. Stephens, just after Cass
had successfully twisted the lion's tail, took this position in a
speech that caused a sensation. In a private letter he added,
"Unless we get immigration from abroad, we shall have few more
slave states. This great truth seems to take the people by
surprise. Some shrink from it as they would from death. Still,
it is as true as death." The scheme, however, never received
general acceptance; and in the constitution of the Southern
Confederacy there was a section prohibiting the African slave
trade. On the other of these two issues--the independence of the
South--Yancey steadily gained ground. With each year from 1856
to 1860, a larger proportion of Southerners drew out of political
evasion and gave adherence to the idea of presenting an ultimatum
to the North, with secession as an alternative.
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