The cry at once went up, “Put down the discussion and silence the agitation!” It was indeed a question that could not survive debate. As a matter of fact, the opposition which Abolition aroused was the one thing that insured its final triumph. Men felt instinctively—it was the republican habit of mind—that there must be something essentially unsound in a system that could not tolerate open and free discussion. Hence it was that every attempt to suppress the agitation defeated its own purposes. The characters who now began to push to the front in the ranks of the Abolitionists were men of stern American fibre. Facts, figures, and arguments began to pile up which showed that this country could not long exist “half-slave and half-free.” The terms “pro-slavery” and “anti-slavery” came into the vocabulary of political discussion during this new conflict. The breach between the forces represented by these names grew wider and wider as the strife continued. The very nature of the issue caused a degree of bitterness that has never before or since been equaled in political argument in the United States. There could be no such thing as compromise. A test of moral and physical strength was sooner or later inevitable.
The issues of the contest may be summarized with advantage.
Pro-Slavery
The powers and privileges the conservative party sought to maintain and defend were:
The unlimited authority of the master or owner of slaves.
Abrogation of marriage and the family relation among slaves.
The power to enforce labor without wages.
Incapacity of the slaves to acquire and hold property.
Incapacity to enjoy civil, domestic, and political rights.
Incapacity to make contracts or bargains.