ntered the arena of
party warfare and strife, and the families and neighborhoods were
so divided and furious and bitter against one another, that it
seemed a regular civil war might be the result. Many personal
combats were indulged in on the question, and the whole country
seemed, at times, to be ready and willing to resort to physical
force to decide the contest. All the means known to man to convey
ideas to one another were resorted to, and practised with energy.
The press teemed with publications on the subject. The
stump-orators were invoked, and the pulpit thundered anathemas
against the introduction of slavery. The religious community
coupled freedom and Christianity together, which was one of the
most powerful levers used in the content. At one meeting of the
friends of freedom in St. Clair county, more than thirty
preachers of the gospel attended and opposed the introduction of
slavery into the State.

This contest has been further described by W. H. Brown. He says:

The struggle which now commenced, and was continued through the
succeeding eighteen months, was one of no ordinary character. Our
previous elections had been conducted with warmth and zeal; but
into this canvass was infused a bitterness and malignity which
the agitation of the Slavery question only engenders. Why it
always produces this result, is worthy of the investigation of
the moralist and philosopher. Other great evils, political or
moral, are discussed with freedom, and measures for their
amelioration or prevention meet with no outward opposition; but
call in question the right of one man to enslave another, or even
make an effort to confine this gigantic sin to the territory in
which it exists, and the fiercest passions are aroused in the
hearts of its advocates, and the lack of power alone, saves their
opponents from utter destruction.

In this spirit was the contest of 1823-4 waged. Old friendships
were sundered, families divided and neighborhoods arrayed in
opposition to each other. Threats of personal violence were
frequent, and personal collisions a frequent occurrence. As in
times of warfare, every man expected an attack, and was prepared
to meet it. Pistols and dirks were in great demand, and formed a
part of the personal habiliments of all those conspic