Re: america
blah b b blah (jrovira@juno.com)
Thu, 01 Apr 1999 18:04:35 -0500 (EST)
Thanks, Liz, for the further details, etc, etc. The Slavery issue was so
hotly debated in the Constitutional Convention (the original) that it
came down to, "Slavery with an America, or no union in the colonies at
all."
If you read people from the mid 1800s -- evangelist Charles Finney comes
to mind -- you come up with some pretty interesting stuff. That America
was so divided over the issue that people from opposing camps couldn't
even TALK about it peaceably. That there was talk of passing legislation
FORBIDDING the discussion of the slavery issue in public.
Finney's point was that if we can't even discuss the matter, then
something's REALLY wrong. He was a hellfire and brimstone evangelist
(makes Jerry Falwell seem gentle and kind) who served as President of
Oberlin College for a time, a leader in its day in the antislavery and
women's rights movements.
So deep, moral divisions existed from day one, really, and a series of
compromises were made to keep the country together. And it all came to a
head eventually.
As you pointed out, the war didn't end the compromises -- they lasted
into the late 60s and early 70s, and we are still battling their effects
today.
Jim
"The written word is a power of such magnitude that only pedants would
try to reduce it to rules. Or the French."
--F.K.
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