They had won the land, and now victory would be turned to
defeat if the new states were admitted as free states.
So they threatened, as they had threatened before, to break away
from the Union if they were not listened to.
No sooner was Taylor inaugurated than he had to turn his attention
to this great matter. The Southerners were determined to use all
their power to get their way, and Senator John Caldwell Calhoun, an
old man, who for years had been a champion of slavery, determined
to speak once more for the cause.
Calhoun was so old and ill that he could hardly walk, and he tottered
into the Senate Chamber leaning on the arms of two friends. He was
far too feeble to read his speech. So, pale and deathlike, he sat
in his chair while a friend read it for him.
"The South must have a share in the new territory," he said. "If
you of the North will not do this, then let our Southern States
separate and depart in peace."
This was the great statesman's last word to his country. Three weeks
later he lay dead. He was the greatest of Southern politicians.
He really believed that slavery was a good thing, and that life in
the South would be impossible without it. And loving his country
deeply, he could not bear to think of its ruin.
"The South! the poor South! he murmured, as he lay dying. "God
knows what will become of her.
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