While the north received an area capable of
being organized into many free states, the south could expect from
the remaining territory awarded her only one state.
Among the immediate effects of the contest was its influence upon
Monroe, who was the more ready to relinquish the American claim to
Texas in the negotiations over Florida, because he feared that the
acquisition of this southern province would revive the antagonism of
the northern antislavery forces. [Footnote: Monroe, Writings, VI.,
127; cf. Adams, Memoirs, V., 25, 54, 68.]
The south learned also the lesson that slavery needed defense
against the power of the majority, and that it must shape its
political doctrine and its policy to this end. But it would be a
mistake to emphasize too strongly the immediate effect in this
respect. Slavery was not yet accepted as the foundation of southern
social and economic life. The institution was still mentioned with
regret by southern leaders, and there were still efforts in the
border states to put it in the process of extinction.
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