ed to see just how a Union of
Free and Slave States could endure; not because of any visionary theory
of political action or the structure of society he cherished; but,
strangely enough, because _he stood-up for man and his divine right to
freedom_. This was what the aristocracy hated in him, and this is what,
with inexpressible rage, it saw gaining in the North. It truly said that
our education, our arts, our literature, our press, our churches, our
benevolent organizations, our families, all that was best in Northern
society, even our politics, were being consolidated by this
'fanaticism,' Puritanism,' 'Abolitionism'--otherwise, by _reverence for
man and his right to freedom_.

It grew, however, almost as fast as the material power of the
North--this moral conviction of the divine right of man to liberty; grew
so fast, that in 1860, South Carolina glanced over the November election
returns, saw the name of Abraham Lincoln at the head, shrieked, '_The
North is abolitionized!_' and rushed out of the Union, with ten other
Slave States at her heels, while four more were held back by the strong
arm of the national power. The North is not yet 'abolitionized,' but
every volley fired at liberty by the Slave Power these last three years,
has killed a lover of slavery, and made an Abolitionist; as the juggler
fires his pistol at your old black hat, and, when the smoke clears up, a
white dove flutters in its place. If the Slave Power shoots at us long
enough, we shall all become Abolitionists, and all learn to love our
fellow man and protect him in the enjoyment of every right given him by
God!

Thus had the Free States, the people's part of the Union, gone up
steadily to overshadowing material, intellectual, moral power. But up to
1850 this mighty growth had got no fit expression in State or national
politics. All the great parties had mildly tried to remonstrate with the
slave aristocracy, but quickly recoiled as from the mouth of a furnace.
A few attempts had been made to organize a party for freedom, but
nothing could gain foothold at Washington. A few noble men had lifted
their voices against the rampant tyranny of the slaveholders: chief
among these was John Quincy Adams, the John the Baptist crying in the
desert of American partisan politics the coming of the kingdom of
Heaven! But when the people had come up to a consciousness of their
consolidated power, and the reverence for human right was changing and
polarizing ev