3. I observe that the north begins in some sort the learning of the two lessons above mentioned. But now comes one which seems hard indeed. Calhoun, Toombs, Davis, and the other pro-slavery leaders, ought to be thoroughly studied and impartially estimated. They were not agitators, nor factionists, nor conspirators. They were the extreme of conservatism. Their conscientious faithfulness to country has never been surpassed. Their country was the south, whose meat and bread depended upon slavery. The man whose sight can pierce the heavy mists of the slavery struggle still so dense cannot find in the world record of glorious stands for countries doomed by fate superiors in moral worth and great exploit. In their careers are all the comfort, dignity, and beauty of life, supreme virtue, and happiness of that old south, inexpressibly fair, sweet and dear to us who lived in it; and in these careers are also all the varied details of its inexpressibly pathetic ruin. What is higher humanity than to grieve with those who grieve? Brothers and sisters of the north, you will never find your higher selves until you fitly admire the titanic fight which these champions made for their sacred cause, and drop genuine tears over their heart-breaking failure.
The foregoing summarizes the larger obstacles which bar true sight of the south and the north. The devastation attending Sherman’s march beyond Atlanta, the alleged inhumanity at Andersonville, and many other things that were bitterly complained of during the brothers’ war, and afterwards, by one side or the other, seem to me almost forgotten and forgiven. Brothers who wore the gray with me, brothers who wore the blue against me, I would have all of you freed from the delusions which still keep you from that perfect love which Webster, Lincoln, and Stephens gave south and north alike. I am sure that you must make the corrections indicated above before you can rightly begin the all-important subject of this book. With this admonition I commit you to the opening chapter, which I hope you will find to be a fit introduction.
JOHN C. REED.
Atlanta, Ga.,
September, 1905.
Contents
| Chapter | Page | |
| [I.] | Introductory | [1] |
| [II.] | A Beginning made with Slavery | [35] |
| [III.] | Unappeasable Antagonism of Free and Slave Labor | [45] |
| [IV.] | Genesis, Course, and Goal of Southern Nationalization | [51] |
| [V.] | American Nationalization, and how it made the Bond of Union stronger and stronger | [62] |
| [VI.] | Root-and-Branch Abolitionists and Fire-eaters | [84] |
| [VII.] | Calhoun | [93] |
| [VIII.] | Webster | [130] |
| [IX.] | “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” | [161] |
| [X.] | Slavery impelled into a Defensive Aggressive | [208] |
| [XI.] | Toombs | [212] |
| [XII.] | Help to the Union Cause by Powers in the Unseen | [282] |
| [XIII.] | Jefferson Davis | [296] |
| [XIV.] | The Curse and Blessing of Slavery | [330] |
| [XV.] | The Brothers on Each Side were True Patriots and Morally Right—both those who fought for the Union and those who fought for the Confederacy | [346] |
| [XVI.] | The Race Question: General and Introductory | [359] |
| [XVII.] | The Race Question: the Situation in Detail | [378] |
| Appendix | [429] | |
| Index | [451] |