You and I have talked about our peculiar institution, and I know you disapprove, but then, you have not been around Negroes. They are not our equals. They need us to care for them and direct them, and we need them to work the fields and keep our farms and plantations running. There is no immorality, no terrible sin. Merely an advantageous arrangement for both sides. But the Yankees don't see it that way. They want to do away with slavery, even though God knows they don't want to live and work next to a Negro man. So, their compromises began.

First was the Missouri compromise. That one came in along in 1820. Basically, Missouri entered as a slave state, Maine a free state. And then it banned slavery in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase north of 36 degrees, 30 minutes. That one was bad news, and the South knew it.

And now we've got an ape of a president who opposes any further spread of slavery. Even though you and I don't always agree, Trevor, I'm sure you can see how the South has been insulted and belittled again and again. It is time to divorce ourselves from the union that has never been kind to us. If that means war, well, let it be war.

What will come now? War, I imagine. Probably soon. Lincoln has said he will fight to keep the union together, and that does appear to be one thing he's resolute about. The South is confident they will win, just as they were when they foolishly split their ticket three ways during the election (Catton, 1961). I see a different outcome. The North is the industrial society, the South houses a bunch of indolent farmers. We can make guns and submarines and war supplies. They can grow cotton. Cotton which they won't even be able to export once we blockade their ports.

Secession might also have happened a little more than ten years ago, in 1846, when Wilmot tried to pass his bill saying that no slavery could exist in any of the lands conquered in the Mexican War. Even though it never passed the Senate, you should have heard the hue and cry down here. Worse, a few years later Taylor--a Southerner of all people--betrayed us by allowing California to enter the union as a free state. That should have sparked secession. But it didn't. Instead it sparked talk, and more talk, and compromise. Clay's Compromise of 1850, to be exact, saying that while California would enter as a free state, New Mexico and Utah would be territories, and the citizens themselves could decide about slavery. John Calhoun tried to tell us we should leave the union then, but we didn't listen. (Naden & Blue, 2000).

Hello from your abolitionist friend. You asked me once how I cam

Some common words found in the essay are:
Slave Act, Dear Trevor, Harper's Ferry, President Lincoln, Kansas Nebraska, South Carolina, Trevor Hello, Taylor--a Southerner, Andrew Jackson's, Stephen Douglas, union free, enter union free, secession happened, california enter, enter union, kansas nebraska, peculiar institution, south carolina, dear trevor, missouri compromise,
Approximate Word count = 1205
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)