Disunion Feed

America has argued itself to the edge before. The words come from 1854–1861; the arguments are the ones we are still having.

Weekly North Carolina Standard @NCStandard · Raleigh, N.C.

The despatch may not be strictly accurate, but enough is perceived to authorize the opinion: this is the most important decision ever made by any Court in this country. It fortifies as by a wall of brass the rights of the slaveholder in the States and in the common territories.

Original passage & context
"We give these points as we find them summed up in the telegraphic despatch, and this statement of them may not be strictly accurate; but enough is perceived to authorize the opinion that this is the most important decision every made by any Court in this country, and that it fortifies as by a wall of brass the rights of the slaveholder in the States and in the common territories. [...] The idea of the abolitionists, that a slave is free as soon as he touches the soil of a free State, is again exploded"

Between the posts · the narrator, not the paper

March 11. The full opinion is now in the papers. Editors on both sides stop summarizing the holding and start counting what it costs them.

The Standard numbers the holdings one through six off the telegraphic dispatch and warns its own readers the summary "may not be strictly accurate." "every made" is the printed text, for "ever made." A Southern paper drawing the conclusion Northern editors most feared: the free states' soil no longer frees anyone.

Cleveland Plain Dealer @ClevelandPlainDealer · Cleveland, Ohio

Men may conscientiously hold opinions against this Bench, but in legislative action every man is in honor bound to respect the supreme law of the land. No man is justifiable in advocating a "higher law" — it is treason against the cornerstone of republican institutions.

Original passage & context
"Men may, conscientiously we dare say, entertain opinions in opposition to those declared by this Bench, but, so far as legislative action is concerned, every man is in honor bound to respect the supreme law of the land. No man is justifiable in advocating a "higher law" -- it is treason against the cornerstone of republican institutions."

A Northern Democratic paper answering William Seward's "higher law than the Constitution" of 1850. Note the Plain Dealer's own account of the vote is garbled — it lists Curtis with the majority and Nelson as a dissenter, the reverse of the fact. Early reports of the lineup varied for days.

Where this sits

Both of these were printed on Mar 11, 1857, inside the Dred Scott decision — 28 posts, each linked to its primary source.

Part of 134 verified passages across 5 flashpoints, Jan 6, 1854 – Apr 13, 1861 — read the feed from the start.

How this was made