They were in a charm, a trance.
Oratory could rise to no greater heights. Then after saying that the
Declaration of Independence did not include the negro, Indians, or Fiji
Islanders, but that all dependent races should be treated nevertheless
with fairness, and that it did not follow that because a negro was an
inferior he must be a slave, he appealed to the rights of the states and
the territories to control slavery for themselves. He closed with these
memorable words:
"Why can we not thus have peace? Why should we allow a sectional party
to agitate this country, to array the North against the South, and
convert us into enemies instead of friends merely that a few ambitious
men may ride into power on a sectional hobby? How long is it since these
ambitious northern men wished for a sectional organization? Did any one
of them dream of a sectional party as long as the North was the weaker
section and the South the stronger? Then all were opposed to sectional
parties; but the moment the North obtained the majority in the House and
in the Senate by the admission of California and could elect a
President without the aid of southern votes, that moment ambitious men
formed a scheme to excite the North against the South and make the
people be governed in their votes by geographical lines, thinking that
the North being the stronger section would outvote the South and
consequently they, the leaders, would ride into office on a sectional
hobby.
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