Robert Barnwell Rhett

"Sir, if a Confederacy of the Southern States could now be obtained, should we not deem it a happy termination—happy beyond expectation, of our long struggle for our rights against oppression? I fear that there is no longer hope or liberty for the South, under a Union, by which all self-government is taken away. A people, owning slaves, are mad, or worse than mad, who do not hold their destinies in their own hands. Do we not bear the insolent assumption by our rulers, that slave labour shall not come into competition with free? Nor is it our northern brethren alone—the whole world are in arms against your institutions. Every stride of this Government, over your rights, brings it nearer and nearer to your peculiar policy; and even now, it stands, with the Bill of Blood in one hand, and the Sword in the other, and Carolina must bow her dishonoured head, and breathe forth the slavish or hypocritical profession of "ardently attached to the Union of these States." Sir, let slaves adore and love a despotism—it is the part of freemen to detest and to resist it."

"Free debate no longer exists in the House of Representatives of this Congress of the United States. The people, through their Representatives, have no longer the right of speaking to the taxes imposed upon them. Tyranny, in the shape of a majority, is erected in the Capitol. The new reign of terror is begun."

"The real issue involved in the relations between the North and the South of the American States, is the great principle of self-government. Shall a dominant party of the North rule the South, or shall the people of the South rule themselves. This is the great matter in controversy. After the lapse of eighty-four years, this party of the North set up the same pretension the British Parliament claimed over our ancestors in 1776. As the British crown contended, that the British Parliament was omnipotent in its Legislation over the Colonies, so the Northern people now contend, that the Congress of the United States through their majority, is omnipotent in its legislation over the people of the South."

"Let us present a hollow square to our enemies, in the great battle now raging between the North and South. Nineteen years, have I served as a representative of the people of South Carolina, in her long contest for her rights and liberties. I began in 1828. For thirty-two years, have I followed the quarry. Behold! it, at last, in sight! A few more bounds, and it falls—the Union falls; and with it falls, its faithless oppressions—its insulting agitations—its vulgar tyrannies and fanaticism. The bugle blast of our victory and redemption is on the wind; and the South will be safe and free."