CHAPTER XIV THE ORDINANCE OF SECESSION (Jan. 7-11, 1861) 1. Early Political Differences.-There have always been two great political parties in this country. In the early history of the nation Alexander Hamilton was the leader of one party, and Thomas Jefferson of the other. Hamilton believed in a strong centralized government, which means a government after the order of a monarchy. He wanted the ruling power to be exercised by the general government and not by the several States. He believed in government for the people, but not by the people. He may be called the father of the present Republican party. Thomas Jefferson believed that all just powers of the government are vested in the consent of the governed. In other words, he wanted to keep power as much as possible with each State and its people rather than to give it to the general government. His views on this subject formed the basis of the doctrine of States rights. The party to which he belonged, which is now the Democratic party, maintained that the constitution of the United States was made in accordance with his views about States rights. Daniel Webster, adopting the opinions of Hamilton, construed the constitution as giving to the general government all powers not expressly for bidden. Mr. Calhoun, following the views of Mr. Jefferson, construed the constitution as reserving to the States all powers not expressly given to the general government. This difference in construing the constitution gradually brought many unpleasant issues of politics, the chief of which were States rights and slavery. The discussion of these two issues raged for many years. They aroused much bitter feeling and finally brought on the war between the North and the South. 2. Slavery in the North and in the South.-Negro slavery was very early introduced into all the colonies of America, and it existed in all of them at the close of the Revolutionary War. The question of slavery was fully and freely discussed by those who made the constitution of the United States. If it had not been fully understood that white people might own negro slaves, the States would not have agreed to form the Union. The people of the North gradually sold off their slaves because in their climate of long winters negro labor could not be used profitably. For a long time after this, however, New England vessels continued to bring negroes from Africa to be sold into slavery in the Southern States. Just after the formation of the United States many representative men in the South believed hegro slavery to be wrong, and more Colonization Societies were formed in the South than in the North. The object of these societies was to free the negroes and settle them in colonies in Africa and elsewhere. Washington, Jefferson, John Randolph, and other leading Southerners freed a number of their slaves. 3. First Advocates of Secession.-In accepting the constitution of the United States and thus joining the Union, all of the States believed that they had the right to withdraw from it. The New England States bitterly opposed the purchase of Louisiana in 1803 on the ground that it would give the South too much power in the general government. Massachusetts went so far as to threaten to withdraw from the Union because of the purchase. These same States and the Northern middle States so strongly opposed the War of 1812 that a member of Congress from Massachusetts declared in the house of representatives that the Union ought to be dissolved. The cause of this opposition was that the war cut off the large ocean trade in which the New England States were engaged. Delegates from four of these States met at Hartford in secret convention with the supposed purpose of taking steps to withdraw from the Union. 4. Missouri Compromise.-The Territory of Missouri had been settled by slaveholding emigrants from Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. The constitution presented by Missouri when it requested to be admitted to statehood contained a clause which permitted negro slavery. Mr. Tallmadge, a congressman from New York, proposed to change the constitution so as to make it unlawful to take any more slaves into Missouri, and to compel masters to free all negro children born in the State after they 1803 1814 1882 1836 to 1840 should reach twenty-five years of age. After long and bitter debates a compromise was made. By the terms of this compromise the Territory was admitted as a slave State, but slavery was excluded from all territory to the north and west of it down to the parallel of 36° 30'. This gave the South great offense and made so great a change in the opinions of the Southern people that they lost confidence in the justice of Northern policies. 5. Nullification in the South.-The ill-feeling of the North against the South was aroused by the South Carolina "Ordinance of Nullification." The tariff laws of 1824, 1828, and 1832 protected Northern manufacturers and raised the price of goods to Southern farmers. The people of South Carolina thought that these laws were unjust to the South, and in convention assembled they passed an "Ordinance of Nullification." This ordinance declared null and void the tariff laws. The claim of a State to the right of refusing to obey a law of Congress is known as the doctrine of nullification. 6. Slavery Question in Congress.-The North and South were further aroused by the passage in Congress of a number of resolutions relating to slavery. One of these resolutions provided that in future Congress would refuse to consider "all petitions, memorials, resolutions, or propositions bearing in any way, or to any extent whatever, on the subject of slavery." 7. Abolitionists and Free Soilers.-People who wanted to do away with slavery altogether were called Abolitionists. Their banner bore the inscrip |