Webster's plea

Lincoln

growing difference between the North and the South, leaders of the South began to insist upon liberty as against union. They stood for what seemed to them the liberty of their own part of the country to manage its affairs as it pleased. They feared that with the rapid increase of free territory the South would be out-voted. They wished, therefore, to leave the Union. The great advocate of union was Daniel Webster. His eloquent addresses did much to strengthen the passionate desire for the Union which had gradually been growing. In his great reply to Hayne he ended with the words which became classic and stirred a great depth of feeling for the Union. He prayed that his last look might be upon the flag of the Republic,

"not a stripe erased or polluted, not a single star obscured, bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory what is all this worth?' Nor those other words of delusion and folly, 'Liberty first and Union afterwards' but . . . that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart, Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!" (Second Reply to Hayne.)

But Webster, like many others of his day, did not see clearly that the Union could not be preserved by any words however eloquent so long as the cause of division was not removed. The foresight of Lincoln was more penetrating. He declared: "A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free." It should have been possible to remove slavery without bloodshed. From a financial point of view it would have been comparatively a light expense for the government to purchase all slaves and free them. But at that time men could not reason calmly

And

and wisely. The Civil War was the outcome.
since the Civil War the United States has been a
nation in a sense in which it was not before.

can do

Few in the South would now wish to have two nations A united instead of one even if this were possible. The fact is people that the great interests of trade, of common ancestry, great and common purpose, are so strong that the country things is naturally adapted for one great nation. The interests of each part are so bound up with the interests of the rest that all gain from union. The tasks which lie before us are tasks which we can only accomplish as a united people. Only through mutual help and coöperation can we do the largest things.

(1) Race problems

In the
South

CHAPTER XXXVI

PRESENT PROBLEMS OF UNION

HE present problems of union arise in part from our inheritance and in part from new tasks with

TH

which the country is confronted. These are (1) union between different races, (2) union between different classes, (3) union for the great tasks of conservation of resources, improving health, and protecting the individual. In short, the need of union is to do together what we cannot do separately. In early times this meant chiefly defense against enemies; now it means chiefly control over nature, defense against disease, and finally defense against harsh or unfair treatment of one class by another.

It is hard to say whether the most difficult problem of our country today is the race problem or the labor problem. The race problem is probably as old as the human race itself. At any rate, as far back as we can go in history we find people of different tribes and races fighting with one another. We have seen that in savage society all of the same tribe or group stood closely by one another and practised blood revenge upon any other group in case of injury by some one of that group. When certain tribes or races, such as the Assyrians or Romans, grew strong, they set out to conquer all other peoples. In some cases they even exterminated those whom they conquered. In other cases they made slaves. In our country it was the desire of men to gain wealth and property which led

Each

After

to the bringing in of negroes for slaves. So long as the negroes were in slavery there does not seem to have been so much race feeling against them. They acted as nurses, and housekeepers, and personal servants. In many cases they were greatly attached to those whom they served and, on the other hand, the whites felt strong affection for them. Many illustrations have been given of the devotion of each to the other. It has frequently been noted that during the Civil War the men of the South were almost as a rule away from their homes. The negro servants were left in charge of property and families, and were faithful to the trust. Moreover, it is an interesting fact that the negroes themselves owned slaves. No less than eighteen thousand slaves were the property of negro masters. There was no competition between white and black. had his separate sphere and remained within it. emancipation the whole situation was changed. By the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution the negro was granted civil rights; then, by the Fifteenth Amendment, the right to vote. In many states there were more negro voters than white voters. Governments elected by the negro majorities were often extravagant and plunged the states into debt. Naturally those who had been for centuries slaves and without any training or education in self-government could not be expected to become at once intelligent citizens. Various other occasions for conflict arose. The habit of steady labor has been acquired by the white races through long development and under the influence of many motives-gain, reputation for thrift, and industry. The white man of today has very largely come to feel that labor is honorable, although large numbers of white men still regard any kind of manual labor as dishonorable and

In the
North

beneath a gentleman. The negro associated work with slavery just as the earlier gentlemen of the white race had associated manual work with slavery. Hence when he was freed, he in many cases thought it would be a disgrace to work as he had done. This made it very difficult for the Southern farmers to obtain help. Or again, the colored man might work for a time but leave just as the crop needed his attention, and thus cause great loss. For these and various other reasons there has been an unhappy condition of discord.

In the North the race problems have been of another kind. The early settlers in the country were very largely English. A considerable number of Scotch and Irish settled in the interior of Pennsylvania and along the upland and mountainous ridges extending southwest through Virginia and the Carolinas. There was also a German population in Pennsylvania which for many years used the German language and had little to do with the English-speaking neighbors. But the British stock in 1790 composed a little more than ninety per cent. of all the white population, the Germans less than six per cent., and the Dutch two per cent. English and Dutch had some race feeling. The New England phrase for something very outlandish or extraordinary was "That beats the Dutch." Better acquaintance overcame the trivial differences between these races. The great streams of immigration which have come to the country since 1840 have raised problems not so much of social unity as of industrial competition or political organization. The Irish began the great movement, driven from home by famine. A great German immigration was caused by efforts at revolution in Germany which were severely put down by the government. In recent years immigration has largely ceased

soon