To walk in the furrow and take the short end,
Seemed ever the fate of the Ox to attend,
While the Ass, having learned a political trick,
Knew wickedly well how to bray and to kick.
But patience wears out, though it ever adorns,—
The ears are now feeling the push of the horns,
And wonders of justice are coming to pass:—
The North is the Ox and the South is the Ass.
From 1789 to the outbreak of the Rebellion, Slaveholders occupied the Presidential chair for 48 years, and Northern sympathizers with Slavery for 12 years more—leaving only 12 years for Freedom-proclivities in the President. Although greatly outnumbered by the North, the South almost uniformly ruled in Congress. Not getting all it demanded, the Tariff was made a pretext for secession. "The next pretext," said Jackson, "will be the Negro or Slavery question."