Cotton is king, and pro-slavery arguments : $b comprising the writings of Hammond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartwright, on this important subject
History
Cotton is king, and pro-slavery arguments : $b comprising the writings of Hammond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartwright, on this important subject
Scott, Dred, 1809-1858; Slavery -- Justification; Slavery -- United States; United States -- Fugitive slave law (1850)
Mr. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, said: "My constituents may be said to be a
grain-growing people. They raise stock, and their surplus grain is
converted into spirits. Where, I ask, is our market? . . . . Our market
is where our sympathies should be, in the South. Our course of trade,
for all heavy articles, is down the Mississippi. What breadstuffs we
find a market for, are principally consumed in the States of
Mississippi, Louisiana, South Alabama, and Florida. Indeed, I may say,
these States are the consumers, at miserable and ruinous prices to the
farmers of my State, of our exports of spirits, corn, flour, and cured
provisions. . . . . We have had a trade of some value to the South in
our stock. We still continue it under great disadvantages. It is a
ready-money trade--I may say it is the only money trade in which we are
engaged. . . . . Are the gentlemen acquainted with the extent of that
trade? It may be fairly stated at three millions per annum."
Mr. Benton urged the Western members to unite with the South, "for the
purpose of enlarging the market, increasing the demand in the South, and
its ability to purchase the horses, mules, and provisions, which the
West could sell nowhere else."
The tariff of 1828, created great dissatisfaction at the South. Examples
of the expressions of public sentiment, on the subject, adopted at
conventions, and on other occasions, might be multiplied indefinitely.
Take a case or two, to illustrate the whole. At a public meeting in
Georgia, held subsequently to the passage of the "Woolens' Bill," the
following resolution was adopted:
_Resolved_, That to retaliate as far as possible
upon our oppressors, our Legislature be requested
to impose taxes, amounting to prohibition, on the
hogs, horses, mules, and cotton-bagging, whisky,
pork, beef, bacon, flax, and hemp cloth, of the
Western, and on all the productions and
manufactures of the Eastern and Northern States.
Mr. Hamilton, of South Carolina, in a speech at the Waterborough
Dinner, given subsequently to the passage of the tariff of 1828, said:
"It becomes us to inquire what is to be our situation under this
unexpected and disastrous conjunction of circumstances, which, in its
progress, will deprive us of the benefits of a free trade with the rest
of the world, which formed one of the leading objects of the Union. Why,
gentlemen, ruin, unmitigated ruin, must be our portion, if this system
continues. . . . . From 1816 down to the present time, the South has
been drugged, by the slow poison of the miserable empiricism of the
prohibitory system, the fatal effects of which we could not so long have
resisted, but for the stupendously valuable staples with which God has
blessed us, and the agricultural skill and enterprise of our people."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account