parties. It declared the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional; that slave-owners could carry their slaves into any of the Territories, and that the people of those Territories could not lawfully hinder them; that a negro was not a citizen, and by terms of the Constitution could not become a citizen of the United States. A mandate was issued directing the suit to be dismissed for want of jurisdiction. Dred Scott soon obtained, by grace of his master, that freedom which the courts denied him.

By this decision of the Supreme Court, which is considered the most infamous of all its decisions, slaves could be taken anywhere, and slavery made national. Instead, however, of extending the institution, as was the intention of the judges (a majority of whom were from slave States), it united the people of the North in a more determined opposition to the extension of slavery.

ANTI-SLAVERY PUBLICATIONS.-The opinions on the slavery question separated the people of the North and South. The effort on the part of the South to extend the institution was the source of the most bitter friction between the two sections. A majority of the people of the North at the time of the Missouri Compromise had not thought of abolishing slavery in the Southern States; in fact, this was not their intention at the beginning of the Civil War. There were some inspired souls in the North, however, who at an early date devoted their talents to the abolition of slavery. Some of the most prominent deserve mention. The press and the platform were used with great effect to arouse the public conscience to a realization of the great national wrong.

The "Liberator," a weekly journal published by William Lloyd Garrison, then a youth of twenty-six, appeared in Boston in 1831. The spirit of the paper is indicated by his words in the first issue:

"I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to speak or think or write with moderation. No! No! I am in earnest-I will not equivocate I will not excuse-I will not retreat a single inch-and I will be heard!"

He was dragged through the streets of Boston with a rope around his body; he was threatened with death if he did not desist; but he still continued to publish his paper and to organize abolition societies, until the great wrong he assailed was eradicated.

Frederick Douglass, a runaway slave from Maryland, edited the "North Star" at Rochester, New York.

Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy attempted to establish a religious and anti-slavery paper, first at St. Louis, Mo., and then at Alton, Ill., 1835-37. Three times in one year a pro-slavery mob destroyed his press. While engaged in setting it up a fourth time, a proslavery mob attacked him. While defending his property, he was killed.

John G. Whittier, the Quaker anti-slavery poet, whose burning lyrics flew across the country and moulded sentiment against slavery, narrowly escaped death at the hands of a mob at Concord, N. H., in 1836, while attending an anti-slavery meeting.

Of the literary forces that aided in directing sentiment against slavery, the most weighty was the book "Uncle Tom's Cabin," written by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. It first appeared as a serial in the "National Era," an anti-slavery newspaper at Washington, D. C., but attracted little attention. The great book houses were afraid to publish it lest it should hurt their Southern trade. A new house in Boston published it, in 1852. It at once attracted great attention, and became one of the most popular novels ever written. Whittier wrote to Garrison: "What a glorious work Harriet Beecher Stowe has wrought! Thanks to the Fugitive Slave Law. Better for slavery that that law had never been enacted, for it gave the occasion for‘Uncle Tom's Cabin." The sale of the book was almost without limit, at home and abroad. Its greatest success, however, was its moral weight in unifying and antagonizing the Northern conscience to the iniquities of the slave-power.

"The Impending Crisis of the South" was an argument against slavery on moral and economic grounds. Its author, Hinton Rowan Helper, was one of the non-slaveholders of the South, who pleaded for the rights of his class. The book at the time created quite a strong sensation.

The constant discussion and agitation aroused fears and animosities. The mails were regularly searched in many Southern postoffices, and any anti-slavery literature was taken out and burned. "Abolitionist " became the severest term of reproach in the South. The churches became violently agitated over the

burning issue. Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian denominations separated, North and South, on the subject of slavery.

From the influence of platform, pulpit, society, and press, arrayed against the encroaching steps of slavery upon the territory formally dedicated to freedom, there came a crystallized sentiment expressed in the principles of the Republican party in its platform of 1856.

ANTI-SLAVERY PARTIES.-In 1840 the "Liberty Party " put a national ticket in the field. James G. Birney was nominated, but received only a small vote. Four years later he received more than 62,000 votes on the same ticket. The party favored the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia and in all national territory. It favored the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law, favored the prohibition of slavery in new Territories and new States, was opposed to the internal slave trade, and opposed the annexation of Texas. Its adherents joined fortunes with the Free-Soil party in 1848.

The "Free-Soil party " was organized by bolting Whigs and Democrats, who held advanced views on the slavery question. It was joined by the followers of the old Liberty party. Among some of its leaders were Charles Francis Adams, Salmon P. Chase, Charles Sumner, William H. Seward, John P. Hale, John A. Dix, and Henry Wilson.

The Presidential candidates in 1848 and 1852 received a considerable popular vote, but not sufficient to carry the electors in any State.

It advocated non-interference with slavery where it already

existed, but opposed all compromises with slavery, or the formation of any more slave territory, or the admission of any slave State.

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.-The constant and resolute aggressions of the slave-power called forth an equally aggressive freesoil movement in the North. Whigs, Wilmot-Proviso Democrats, and the Free-Soilers united to form a new party, to prevent the spread of slavery into new territory. The various elements opposed to slavery were thus skillfully and smoothly kneaded into the new Republican party. John C. Frémont was the first candidate for President. He received 114 electoral votes; Buchanan, 174; and Fillmore, 8. This formidable vote might well have carried dismay into the pro-slavery columns. The election of Buchanan on a pro-slavery platform gave the South little ground for complaint, but as events have shown, it afforded them an opportunity to prepare for war. Through the treachery of the Secretary of War, John B. Floyd, and the indifference of the administration at Washington, large amounts of arms, ammunition and stores were transferred to the South.

When the time came to choose a President, the people were divided into four parties. The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln on the platform that there was no law for slavery in Territories, and no power to enact one, and that Congress. was bound to prohibit it in or exclude it from all Federal territory. John C. Breckinridge was nominated by the Southern Democracy, on a platform distinctly favoring the extension of slavery. Stephen A. Douglas was nominated by the Northern