In this essay, students will again be using evidence (both primary.docx

In this essay, students will again be using evidence (both
primary and secondary sources) to make a historical argument.
Essays will be examined for three key components:
· Does the essay have a clear argument?
· Is the essay organized in a clear manner, with paragraphs that
are structured by theme?
· Is the argument supported by specific evidence from the
source materials?
_____________________________________________________
____________________________________________
Please answer the following question:
Why, by 1860-61, were Northerners and Southerners no longer
willing to compromise over slavery?
1. Essays must be
4 pages long. More than 4 pages is too long and you
have
probably written too much; less than 4 pages is too short
and you probably have
not written enough. You may argue for either side
(Northern or Southern), but
you
must only argue one side of the conflict, North or South. You
also need to be
specific with regards to whom you are writing about.
2. Students are required to use 3 primary sources (no more, no
less) in their papers.
Students are also allowed to use the textbook, but sparingly.
No other sources of any kind may be used in this paper.

If you use other sources, you will automatically fail. You must
choose from the primary sources which we have read in class.
3. Writing will be, as always, a significant factor in your grade.
Your writing should
be clear, concise, well-organized, and free from all spelling
and grammatical
errors and typos. If your paper lacks an argument, your
essay will be marked down
three full grades. Please see the “Writing Guide” (posted
on Blackboard) for
stylistic and formatting rules, as well as hints for finding
and correcting common
writing errors.
4. Citations for all material used in the paper are required.
Plagiarism will not be
tolerated—any evidence of plagiarism or academic
dishonesty of any kind (including
failing to properly cite evidence) will result in an automatic
failure.
On Wednesday, November 14, 2022, students will submit their
thesis statements and list of sources.
Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address (1865)
Fellow-Countrymen:
AT this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential
office there is less occasion for an extended address than there
was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course
to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration

of four years, during which public declarations have been
constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great
contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the
energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The
progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as
well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust,
reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope
for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all
thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All
dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address
was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to
saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city
seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the
Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated
war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation
survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish,
and the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not
distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the
southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and
powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the
cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this
interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the
Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to
do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither
party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which
it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the
conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself
should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result
less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and
pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the
other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a
just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of

other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged.
The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has
been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe
unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that
offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense
cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of
those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs
come, but which, having continued through His appointed time,
He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and
South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the
offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those
divine attributes which the believers in a living God always
ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that
this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God
wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the
bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall
be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall
be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three
thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of
the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in
the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to
finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to
care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow
and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just
and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
John C. Calhoun Claims that Slavery is a “Positive Good”
(1837)
I do not belong, said Mr. C., to the school which holds that
aggression is to be met by concession. Mine is the opposite
creed, which teaches that encroachments must be met at the
beginning, and that those who act on the opposite principle are

prepared to become slaves. In this case, in particular I hold
concession or compromise to be fatal. If we concede an inch,
concession would follow concession, compromise would follow
compromise, until our ranks would be so broken that effectual
resistance would be impossible. We must meet the enemy on the
frontier, with a fixed determination of maintaining our position
at every hazard. Consent to receive these insulting petitions,
and the next demand will be that they be referred to a
committee in order that they may be deliberated and acted upon.
At the last session we were modestly asked to receive them,
simply to lay them on the table, without any view to ulterior
action. . . . I then said, that the next step would be to refer the
petition to a committee, and I already see indications that such
is now the intention. If we yield, that will be followed by
another, and we will thus proceed, step by step, to the final
consummation of the object of these petitions. We are now told
that the most effectual mode of arresting the progress of
abolition is, to reason it down; and with this view it is urged
that the petitions ought to be referred to a committee. That is
the very ground which was taken at the last session in the other
House, but instead of arresting its progress it has since
advanced more rapidly than ever. The most unquestionable right
may be rendered doubtful, if once admitted to be a subject of
controversy, and that would be the case in the present instance.
The subject is beyond the jurisdiction of Congress - they have
no right to touch it in any shape or form, or to make it the
subject of deliberation or discussion. . . .
As widely as this incendiary spirit has spread, it has not yet
infected this body, or the great mass of the intelligent and
business portion of the North; but unless it be speedily stopped,
it will spread and work upwards till it brings the two great
sections of the Union into deadly conflict. This is not a new
impression with me. Several years since, in a discussion with
one of the Senators from Massachusetts (Mr. Webster), before
this fell spirit had showed itself, I then predicted that the

doctrine of the proclamation and the Force Bill that this
Government had a right, in the last resort, to determine the
extent of its own powers, and enforce its decision at the point of
the bayonet, which was so warmly maintained by that Senator,
would at no distant day arouse the dormant spirit of
abolitionism. I told him that the doctrine was tantamount to the
assumption of unlimited power on the part of the Government,
and that such would be the impression on the public mind in a
large portion of the Union. The consequence would be
inevitable. A large portion of the Northern States believed
slavery to be a sin, and would consider it as an obligation of
conscience to abolish it if they should feel themselves in any
degree responsible for its continuance, and that this doctrine
would necessarily lead to the belief of such responsibility. I
then predicted that it would commence as it has with this
fanatical portion of society, and that they would begin their
operations on the ignorant, the weak, the young, and the
thoughtless and gradually extend upwards till they would
become strong enough to obtain political control, when he and
others holding the highest stations in society, would, however
reluctant, be compelled to yield to their doctrines, or be driven
into obscurity. But four years have since elapsed, and all this is
already in a course of regular fulfilment.
Standing at the point of time at which we have now arrived, it
will not be more difficult to trace the course of future events
now than it was then. They who imagine that the spirit now
abroad in the North, will die away of itself without a shock or
convulsion, have formed a very inadequate conception of its
real character; it will continue to rise and spread, unless prompt
and efficient measures to stay its progress be adopted. Already
it has taken possession of the pulpit, of the schools, and, to a
considerable extent, of the press; those great instruments by
which the mind of the rising generation will be formed.
However sound the great body of the nonslaveholding States are

at present, in the course of a few years they will be succeeded
by those who will have been taught to hate the people and
institutions of nearly one-half of this Union, with a hatred more
deadly than one hostile nation ever entertained towards another.
It is easy to see the end. By the necessary course of events, if
left to themselves, we must become, finally, two people. It is
impossible under the deadly hatred which must spring up
between the two great nations, if the present causes are
permitted to operate unchecked, that we should continue under
the same political system. The conflicting elements would burst
the Union asunder, powerful as are the links which hold it
together. Abolition and the Union cannot coexist. As the friend
of the Union I openly proclaim it and the sooner it is known the
better. The former may now be controlled, but in a short time it
will be beyond the power of man to arrest the course of events.
We of the South will not, cannot, surrender our institutions. To
maintain the existing relations between the two races, inhabiting
that section of the Union, is indispensable to the peace and
happiness of both. It cannot be subverted without drenching the
country or the other of the races. . . . But let me not be
understood as admitting, even by implication, that the existing
relations between the two races in the slaveholding States is an
evil: far otherwise; I hold it to be a good, as it has thus far
proved itself to be to both, and will continue to prove so if not
disturbed by the fell spirit of abolition. I appeal to facts. Never
before has the black race of Central Africa, from the dawn of
history to the present day, attained a condition so civilized and
so improved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually.
In the meantime, the white or European race, has not
degenerated. It has kept pace with its brethren in other sections
of the Union where slavery does not exist. It is odious to make
comparison; but I appeal to all sides whether the South is not
equal in virtue, intelligence, patriotism, courage,
disinterestedness, and all the high qualities which adorn our
nature.

But I take higher ground. I hold that in the present state of
civilization, where two races of different origin, and
distinguished by color, and other physical differences, as well
as intellectual, are brought together, the relation now existing in
the slaveholding States between the two, is, instead of an evil, a
good, a positive good. I feel myself called upon to speak freely
upon the subject where the honor and interests of those I
represent are involved. I hold then, that there never has yet
existed a wealthy and civilized society in which one portion of
the community did not, in point of fact, live on the labor of the
other. Broad and general as is this assertion, it is fully borne out
by history. This is not the proper occasion, but, if it were, it
would not be difficult to trace the various devices by which the
wealth of all civilized communities has been so unequally
divided, and to show by what means so small a share has been
allotted to those by whose labor it was produced, and so large a
share given to the non-producing classes. The devices are
almost innumerable, from the brute force and gross superstition
of ancient times, to the subtle and artful fiscal contrivances of
modern. I might well challenge a comparison between them and
the more direct, simple, and patriarchal mode by which the
labor of the African race is, among us, commanded by the
European. I may say with truth, that in few countries so much is
left to the share of the laborer, and so little exacted from him,
or where there is more kind attention paid to him in sickness or
infirmities of age. Compare his condition with the tenants of the
poor houses in the more civilized portions of Europe, look at
the sick, and the old and infirm slave, on one hand, in the midst
of his family and friends, under the kind superintending care of
his master and mistress, and compare it with the forlorn and
wretched condition of the pauper in the poorhouse. But I will
not dwell on this aspect of the question; I turn to the political;
and here I fearlessly assert that the existing relation between the
two races in the South, against which these blind fanatics are
waging war, forms the most solid and durable foundation on

which to rear free and stable political institutions. It is useless
to disguise the fact. There is and always has been in an
advanced stage of wealth and civilization, a conflict between
labor and capital. The condition of society in the South exempts
us from the disorders and dangers resulting from this conflict;
and which explains why it is that the political condition of the
slaveholding States has been so much more stable and quiet than
that of the North. . . . Surrounded as the slaveholding States are
with such imminent perils, I rejoice to think that our means of
defense are ample, if we shall prove to have the intelligence and
spirit to see and apply them before it is too late. All we want is
concert, to lay aside all party differences and unite with zeal
and energy in repelling approaching dangers. Let there be
concert of action, and we shall find ample means of security
without resorting to secession or disunion. I speak with full
knowledge and a thorough examination of the subject, and for
one see my way clearly. . . . I dare not hope that anything I can
say will arouse the South to a due sense of danger; I fear it is
beyond the power of mortal voice to awaken it in time from the
fatal security into which it has fallen.
"The 'Mudsill' Theory," by James Henry Hammond
Speech to the U.S. Senate, March 4, 1858
In all social systems there must be a class to do the menial
duties, to perform the drudgery of life. That is, a class requiring
but a low order of intellect and but little skill. Its requisites are
vigor, docility, fidelity. Such a class you must have, or you
would not have that other class which leads progress,
civilization, and refinement. It constitutes the very mud-sill of
society and of political government; and you might as well
attempt to build a house in the air, as to build either the one or
the other, except on this mud-sill. Fortunately for the South, she
found a race adapted to that purpose to her hand. A race inferior
to her own, but eminently qualified in temper, in vigor, in
docility, in capacity to stand the climate, to answer all her

purposes. We use them for our purpose, and call them slaves.
We found them slaves by the common "consent of mankind,"
which, according to Cicero, "lex naturae est." The highest proof
of what is Nature's law. We are old-fashioned at the South yet;
slave is a word discarded now by "ears polite;" I will not
characterize that class at the North by that term; but you have
it; it is there; it is everywhere; it is eternal.
The Senator from New York said yesterday that the whole world
had abolished slavery. Aye, the name, but not the thing; all the
powers of the earth cannot abolish that. God only can do it
when he repeals the fiat, "the poor ye always have with you;"
for the man who lives by daily labor, and scarcely lives at that,
and who has to put out his labor in the market, and take the best
he can get for it; in short, your whole hireling class of manual
laborers and "operatives," as you call them, are essentially
slaves. The difference between us is, that our slaves are hired
for life and well compensated; there is no starvation, no
begging, no want of employment among our people, and not too
much employment either. Yours are hired by the day, not cared
for, and scantily compensated, which may be proved in the most
painful manner, at any hour in any street in any of your large
towns. Why, you meet more beggars in one day, in any single
street of the city of New York, than you would meet in a
lifetime in the whole South. We do not think that whites should
be slaves either by law or necessity. Our slaves are black, of
another and inferior race. The status in which we have placed
them is an elevation. They are elevated from the condition in
which God first created them, by being made our slaves. None
of that race on the whole face of the globe can be compared
with the slaves of the South. They are happy, content,
unaspiring, and utterly incapable, from intellectual weakness,
ever to give us any trouble by their aspirations. Yours are
white, of your own race; you are brothers of one blood. They
are your equals in natural endowment of intellect, and they feel
galled by their degradation. Our slaves do not vote. We give

them no political power. Yours do vote, and, being the majority,
they are the depositories of all your political power. If they
knew the tremendous secret, that the ballot-box is stronger than
"an army with banners," and could combine, where would you
be? Your society would be reconstructed, your government
overthrown, your property divided, not as they have mistakenly
attempted to initiate such proceedings by meeting in parks, with
arms in their hands, but by the quiet process of the ballot-box.
You have been making war upon us to our very hearthstones.
How would you like for us to send lecturers and agitators North,
to teach these people this, to aid in combining, and to lead
them?
Transcript of President Andrew Jackson's Message to Congress
'On Indian Removal' (1830)
It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the
benevolent policy of the Government, steadily pursued for
nearly thirty years, in relation to the removal of the Indians
beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy
consummation. Two important tribes have accepted the
provision made for their removal at the last session of Congress,
and it is believed that their example will induce the remaining
tribes also to seek the same obvious advantages.
The consequences of a speedy removal will be important to the
United States, to individual States, and to the Indians
themselves. The pecuniary advantages which it promises to the
Government are the least of its recommendations. It puts an end
to all possible danger of collision between the authorities of the
General and State Governments on account of the Indians. It
will place a dense and civilized population in large tracts of
country now occupied by a few savage hunters. By opening the
whole territory between Tennessee on the north and Louisiana
on the south to the settlement of the whites it will incalculably
strengthen the southwestern frontier and render the adjacent

States strong enough to repel future invasions without remote
aid. It will relieve the whole State of Mississippi and the
western part of Alabama of Indian occupancy, and enable those
States to advance rapidly in population, wealth, and power. It
will separate the Indians from immediate contact with
settlements of whites; free them from the power of the States;
enable them to pursue happiness in their own way and under
their own rude institutions; will retard the progress of decay,
which is lessening their numbers, and perhaps cause them
gradually, under the protection of the Government and through
the influence of good counsels, to cast off their savage habits
and become an interesting, civilized, and Christian community.
What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and
ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic,
studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms embellished
with all the improvements which art can devise or industry
execute, occupied by more than 12,000,000 happy people, and
filled with all the blessings of liberty, civilization and religion?
The present policy of the Government is but a continuation of
the same progressive change by a milder process. The tribes
which occupied the countries now constituting the Eastern
States were annihilated or have melted away to make room for
the whites. The waves of population and civilization are rolling
to the westward, and we now propose to acquire the countries
occupied by the red men of the South and West by a fair
exchange, and, at the expense of the United States, to send them
to land where their existence may be prolonged and perhaps
made perpetual. Doubtless it will be painful to leave the graves
of their fathers; but what do they more than our ancestors did or
than our children are now doing? To better their condition in an
unknown land our forefathers left all that was dear in earthly
objects. Our children by thousands yearly leave the land of their
birth to seek new homes in distant regions. Does Humanity
weep at these painful separations from everything, animate and
inanimate, with which the young heart has become entwined?

Far from it. It is rather a source of joy that our country affords
scope where our young population may range unconstrained in
body or in mind, developing the power and facilities of man in
their highest perfection. These remove hundreds and almost
thousands of miles at their own expense, purchase the lands
they occupy, and support themselves at their new homes from
the moment of their arrival. Can it be cruel in this Government
when, by events which it can not control, the Indian is made
discontented in his ancient home to purchase his lands, to give
him a new and extensive territory, to pay the expense of his
removal, and support him a year in his new abode? How many
thousands of our own people would gladly embrace the
opportunity of removing to the West on such conditions! If the
offers made to the Indians were extended to them, they would
be hailed with gratitude and joy.
And is it supposed that the wandering savage has a stronger
attachment to his home than the settled, civilized Christian? Is
it more afflicting to him to leave the graves of his fathers than
it is to our brothers and children? Rightly considered, the policy
of the General Government toward the red man is not only
liberal, but generous. He is unwilling to submit to the laws of
the States and mingle with their population. To save him from
this alternative, or perhaps utter annihilation, the General
Government kindly offers him a new home, and proposes to pay
the whole expense of his removal and settlement.

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