
Transcriber's Note
SOUTHERN AND WESTERN EDITION.
FOR SALE BY THE PRINCIPAL PUBLISHERS THROUGHOUT THE UNION.
ST. LOUIS, MO.: PUBLISHED BY L. BUSHNELL. 1860.
In this polemical work, the author launches an urgent, highly charged appeal to the American public on the eve of the Civil War. Written in the persuasive style of mid‑nineteenth‑century pamphleteering, the text indicts the nation’s political and moral direction, warning that the Republic teeters on the brink of ruin. It blends biblical allusion, constitutional argument, and vivid metaphor to argue that the institution of slavery is not only lawful but essential to preserving the country’s stability.
The essay proceeds by dissecting contemporary criticisms of slavery and presenting a stark, uncompromising defense rooted in the author’s vision of natural law and social order. Readers will encounter a fervent voice that casts the conflict in terms of national destiny, urging citizens to choose what the writer calls “the right” over “the wrong” before “the penalty of doing wrong” arrives. The opening pages set a tone of moral urgency that captures the intensity of the era’s public debate.
Language
en
Duration
~1 hours (89K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from scans of public domain works at the University of Michigan's Making of America collection.)
Release date
2008-05-01
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
b. 1815
A little-known 19th-century American writer, he is remembered today for a fiercely pro-slavery tract published in St. Louis on the eve of the Civil War. Surviving records also link him to poetry and a later oration on George Washington, hinting at a broader literary life than his best-known title suggests.
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