"We have dissolved the late Union chiefly because of the negro quarrel. Now, is there any man who wished to reproduce that strife among ourselves? And yet does not he, who wished the slave trade left for the action of Congress, see that he proposed to open a Pandora's box among us and to cause our political arena again to resound with this discussion. Had we left the question unsettled, we should, in my opinion, have sown broadcast the seeds of discord and death in our Constitution. I congratulate the country that the strife has been put to rest forever, and that American slavery is to stand before the world as it is, and on its own merits. We have now placed our domestic institution, and secured its rights unmistakably, in the Constitution. We have sought by no euphony to hide its name. We have called our negroes 'slaves', and we have recognized and protected them as persons and our rights to them as property."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Robert Hardy Smith, as quoted in An Address to the Citizens of Alabama on the Constitution and Laws of the Confederate States of America (1861), Mobile, p. 19. As quoted in The Confederate Constitution of 1861: An Inquiry into American Constitutionalism (1991), by Marshall L. DeRosa, Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, p. 66.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/American_Civil_War
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
American Civil War
485 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by American Civil War →
Related Quotes
"The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states, …"
"The General Assembly shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves."
"I am rejoiced that slavery is abolished. I believe it will be greatly for the interests of the South. So fully am I s…"
"There lies the most perfect ruler of men the world has ever seen. Now he belongs to the ages."
"If you surrender, you shall be treated as prisoners of war, but if I have to storm your works, you may expect no quar…"
"The General Assembly shall, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and every tenth year thereafter, c…"
"The river was dyed with the blood of the slaughtered for two hundred yards. The approximate loss was upward of five h…"
"As ensigns of an unholy cause the Confederate flags are, and of right ought to be, odious to the eyes of loyalty."
"War means fighting, and fighting means killing."
"No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be p…"