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A Slave Power Conspiracy 7 with What They Style the Pro-Slavery Party 6 Alexander H. Stephens A Slave Power Conspiracy 7 with what they style the Pro-Slavery Party. No greater miustice question of Slavery, in the Federal Councils, from the beginning, could be doue auy public men, aud no greater violence be done to was not a contest between the advocates or opponents of that the truth of History, thau such a classification. Their opposition to peculiar Institution, but a contest, as stated befor,, _\:>et.we,n the that measure, or kindred subsequent ones, sprung from no attach­ §J!J2pOrters of a strictly Federative Government, on the m:i:e.. sid�, __ and ment to SJavery; but, as Jefferson's, Pinckney's aud Clay's, from ...a. thQroughly National one, on the other. their strong convictions that the Federal Government had no right­ It is the object of this work to treat of these opposing prin­ ful or Constitutional control or jurisdiction over such questions; ciples, not only in their bearings upon the minor questipn of Slavery, aud that no such action, as that proposed upon them, could be as it existed in the Southern States, aud on which they were bronght taken by Congress without destroying the elementary aud vital into active collision with each other, but upon others (now that this principles upon which the Government was founded. element of discord is removed) of far more transcendent importance, By their acts, they did not identify themselves with the Pro­ looking to the great future, and the preservation of that Constitu­ Slavery Party (for, in truth, no such Party had, at that time, or at tional Liberty which is the birthright of every American, as well as auy time in the History of the Country, auy organized existence). the solemnly-guaranteed right of all who may here, in this new They only identified themselves, or took position, with those who world, seek au asylwn from the oppressions of the old .... maintained the Federative character of the General Government. In 1850, for instance, what greater injustice could be done auy one, or what greater violence could be done the truth of History, Henry Wilson thau to charge Cass, Douglas, Clay, Webster aud Fillmore, to say nothing of others, with being advocates of Slavery, or following in A SLAVE POWER CONSPIRACY the lead of the Pro-Slavery Party, because of their support. of what were called the adjustment measures of that year? Henry Wilson was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1854 after the American, Or later still, out of the million aud a half, aud more, of the or Know Nothing, party captured the legislature of his home state, Mas­ votes cast, in the Northern States, in 1860, against Mr. Lincoln, sachusetts. Although he had gained this high office with Know Nothing support, he was able nonetheless to maintain his credentials as a member how rnauy, could it, with truth, be said, were in favor of Slavery, of the new antislavery party, the Republicans. Having started out as a or even that legal subordination of the Black race to the White, shoemaker and becoming known as "the cobbler of Natick," he was which existed in the Southern States? responsive to the demands of workingmen as well as to the dangers of Perhaps, not one in ten thousand! It was a subject, with which, an expanding system of slavery. He became vice president (1873-1875) they were thoroughly convinced, they had nothing to do, aud could during Grant's second term but died while in office. have nothing to do, under the terms of the Union, by which the Like many others in the Republican party, Wilson perceived the South's States were Confederated, except to carry out, aud faithfully per­ efforts during the 1!!�.!lJ to retain power and influence in the federal government as a £2!!�J!iracy headed by the slaveholders, who began to form, all the obligations of the Constitutional Compact, in regard be referred to as the Slaveiower. The idea was widespread that the to it. republic's values and institutions were being subverted by this conspira­ They simply arrayed themselves against that Party which had torial interest. Wilson's three-volume vindication of the North's stand virtually hoisted the barmer of Consolidation. The contest, so com­ against this internal threat-The History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave menced, which ended in the War, was, indeed, a contest between Power in America (1872-1877)-never explicitly identifies the conspir­ opposing principles; but not such as bore upon the policy or irn­ ators but merely asserts their existence. The only specifics about this policy of African Subordination.They were principles deeply un­ putative conspiracy that Wilson offers appear toward the end of the derlying all considerations of that sort. They involved the very nature From The History ofthe Riseand Fall of the Slave Power in America, by Henry Wilson. aud organic Structure of the Government itself. The conflict,on this Vol. 1, pp. 1-2; Vol. 3, pp. 127-35. 8 Henry Wilson A Slave Power Conspiracy 9 extract that follows. In the original, they are in Chapter Ten of the third volume. God's Holy Word declares that man was doomed to eat his bread in the sweat of his face. History and tradition teach that the indolent, the crafty, and the strong, unmindful of human rights, have ever sought to evade this Divine decree by filching their bread from the constrained and unpaid toil of others. From inbornindolence, con­ joined with avarice, pride, and lust of power, has sprung slavery in all its Protean forms, fromthe mildest type of servitudeto the harsh and hopeless condition of absolute and hereditary bondage. Thus have grown and flourished caste and privilege, those deadly foes of the rights and well-being of mankind, which can exist only by despoiling the many for the benefit of the few. American slavery reduced man, created in the Divine image, to property. It converted a being endowed with conscience, reason, affections, sympathies, and hopes, into a chattel. It sunk a free moral agent, with rational attributes and immortal aspirations, to mer­ chandise. It made him a beast of burden in the field of toil, an outcast in social life, a cipher in the courts of law, and a pariah in the house of God. To claim himself, or to use himself for his own benefit or the benefit of wife or child, was deemed a crime. His master could dispose of his person at will, and of everythingacquired by his enforced and unrequited toil. This complete subversion of the natural rights of millions, by which they were "deemed, held, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to be chattels personal to allintents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever," constituted a system antagonistic to the doctrines of reason and the monitions of conscience, and developed and gratified Henry Wilson. U.S. senator from Massachusetts, 1854-1872, themost intense spirit of personal pride, a love of class distinctions, and vice president of the United States, 1873-1875. (National and the lust of dominion. Hence arose a commanding power, ever Archives) sensitive, jealous, proscriptive, dominating, and aggressive, which was recognized and fitlycharacterized as the Slave Power. * This slavery am! this Slave Power, in their economical, social, No intelligent and adequate estimate of the Rebellion and its moral, ecclesiastical, and political relations to the people and to the causes, immediate and remote, can be formed without special note government, demoralizing the one and distracting the councils of of the s}11all proportion of the people of the South who were at the the other, made up the vital issues of that "irrepressibleC conflict" outset in favor of thatextreme measure. Even in the six States which which finally culminated in-,civil war that startlec the nations by first seceded, Soutl1 Carolina possibly excepted, there was far from its suddenness, fierceness, and gigantic proportions.... a majority who originally gave it their approval. In the remaining 10 Henry Wilson A Slave Power Conspiracy 11 five the proportion was much smaller; though this large preponder­ The first item or element in the answer now sought must be ance was overcome by able, adroit, and audacious management. By looked for in the mental and moral condition of Southern society. means illegitimate and indefensible, recldess of principle and - of Alluding to this point in his recent History of the Civil War in consequences, a comparatively few men succeeded in dragooning America, the Comte de Paris, says: "Notwithstanding all that has whole States into the support of a policy the majority condemned� been said on the subject [slavery], our people, who fortunately have to following leaders the majority distrusted and most corcualfy-dis­ not had to wrestle with it, are not aware how much this subtle liked. As no sadder and more suggestive commentary was ever poison instils itself into the very marrow of society. .. But the afforded of the utter demoralization of slaveholding society, and of effects of the servile institution upon the dominant race present a the helpless condition of a community that accepted slavery, ,r;d spectacle not less sad and instructive to the historiau and philoso­ accommodated itself to the only conditions on which it could be pher; for a fatal demoralization is the just punishment that slavery maintained, it seems needful, to an intelli�ent apprehension of the inflicts upon those who expect to fuid notliing m lt out profit- and subject, though it will be necessary to anticipate events somewhat, power." Proceeding to demonstrate how this demoralization "is the that notice should be taken here of the process by which this was inevitable consequence of slavery, aud how, by an inexorable logic, done.
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