Disunion Feed

"There is only one evil greater than disunion, and that is the loss of honor and Constitutional right. That evil the people of the South will never submit to. [...] But not now! — the non-slaveholder says not now! — the slaveholder, whose property civil war would involve in imminent peril, says not now! — millions of our friends in the free States say not now!"

William W. Holden's paper, the leading voice of North Carolina conditional Unionism — it would resist actual federal aggression but rejected secession over the mere election of Lincoln, absent an overt act. The Upper-South counterweight to the fire-eaters. Text from the AHA "Sixteen Months to Sumter" reproduction of Dumond (transcription). Fragments joined with [...].

Read it in the original — North Carolina Standard, Dec 1, 1860 ↗

"What, then, has been gained to the anti-slavery cause by the election of Mr. Lincoln? [...] Lincoln's election has vitiated their authority, and broken their power. It has taught the North its strength, and shown the South its weakness. [...] Hitherto the threat of disunion has been as potent over the politicians of the North, as the cat-o'-nine-tails is over the backs of the slaves. Mr. Lincoln's election breaks this enchantment, dispels this terrible nightmare, and awakes the nation to the consciousness of new powers."

Douglass concedes Lincoln is no abolitionist yet argues the election shattered the slaveholders' half-century grip on the Republic and broke the 'enchantment' by which disunion threats had cowed the North. Douglass' Monthly was a monthly, so no day is printed; dated to the first of the month. Verified via House Divided (Dickinson College) transcription of the December 1860 issue (primary scan at NYS Historic Newspapers). Fragments joined with [...].

Read it in the original — Douglass' Monthly, Dec 1860 ↗