Hannibal Hamlin In 1858
Senator Hamlin of Maine is responding to a speech by Senator Hammond of South Carolina in 1858 as part of the Kansas Lecompton Constitution debate. The Lecompton Constitution contained slaveholding provisions. The previous essay demonstrated that there were significant sectional feelings even though Hamlin claimed he saw just one country. In the next part of his speech, he reviews history and claims the South is not remaining true to the founding principles.
“But, sir, what was the early action of the Government to which I have referred and upon which our Government was based? It was the principle of freedom.”
He does not immediately provide details of what he means by freedom and after a few sentences gets to what he means.
“When our Constitution was formed, nobody doubted, everybody expected, that the institution of slavery, so deleterious in its effects, would fade away.”
It is true that some or even many expected it to fade away. That they did not provide a plan for it to be eliminated in the Constitution and devised a compromise on how to count slaves for purposes of representation, shows it was not a fait accompli as he makes it sound.
“The invention of the cotton-gin made the production of cotton profitable; and, with that power which belongs to the pocket-nerve, public sentiment has changed in the South, and too much in the North.”
This is a strong point and made stronger by the recognition that the North had a role to play in the acceptance of slavery to that point in history.
“We had the maxims and the teachings of Jefferson and all the wisest and best statesmen of the South against slavery.”
His mention of Thomas Jefferson being against slavery is important, especially today. Mary Grabar does a brilliant job in her book, Debunking The 1619 Project, explaining how this is the case. Both Senator Hamlin and Ms. Grabar are also highlighting, intentionally or not, the difficulty the country had in coming up with a plan that would eliminate slavery, something that is missing in dialogue today.
