Free apostles of disunion essay sample

Secession commissioners were slave-owning politicians from the South. They were determined to defend slavery and mobilize other politicians from the South to separate from Abraham Lincoln’s Union. The Southerners claimed that the objective of quitting from the Union was not destructive but rather help in saving the tenets of the constitution. They believed that the slave system of the South would not thrive under the rule of the Republicans. The commissioners included state appointed individuals such as Jabez Curry, John Smith Preston, William L. Harris and Stephen F. Hale. They were a total of fifty-two commissioners with diverse experiences and affiliations to various parties but this did not obstruct them from unifying themselves for a common goal; defending slavery.
The Republicans believed in equality among all the races. Therefore, the ascent of a Republican into power posed as serious threat to the secession commissioners as this would lead to the whites being crashed out of power. This was evidently declared by Mississippi Commissioner during his speech to Georgia legislature when he openly said that the government was established to be run by a white man. He undermined the black people as unlearned and inferior and should not associate in equal terms with the knowledgeable and superior white men. Some commissioners from North Carolina also claimed that racial equality would make their future generations compelled to run away from their ancestral land and the slaves they had preserved for their children as inheritance would be elevated to the status of being equal to them. Abolition of slavery was therefore considered as a means by which the Republicans would elevate the slaves to equality with the whites. Equality with the blacks was considered as a hostile affair and individuals in support of the Republicans policy of social and political equality were accused of losing their dignity and moral excellence.
Abolishing slavery was also believed to cause racial war among the two races. Mississippi Commissioner Alexander Handy disgustfully mentioned that equality would make slaves wish to do away with their masters by killing them. In their speech, the secession commissioners would advocate for slavery to be upheld as abolishing it will lead to the slaves wanting to subdue their masters to the extent that it will lead to bloodshed as the slaves fight for their rights. This would thus imply that the Southerners would have no other choice apart from accepting the Republicans’ move to abolish slavery or be ready to face a series of master-servant wars. The commissioner to Albama, David Clopton, predicted that the rise of the Republicans into power would destroy the peace and tranquility in homesteads. Racial wars between the blacks and whites would break out in all sectors of the economy and thus lead to civil wars. This would eventually lead to one of the races being completely wiped out.
The most dreaded consequence of abolishment of slavery was racial amalgamation. The white race was seen to be the ‘ pure race’ whereas the black people were viewed as an ‘ impure race’. Matrimonial equality would thus encourage the blacks to intermarry with the whites therefore this will render their daughters impure. Equality would therefore impurify the daughters of the Southerners through inter-marriages. Equality was also threat to the daughters of the whites as the Negros might rape them thus making them impure. Commissioners such as Henry Benning could not have the thought of their daughters suffering in the hand of the blacks as they satisfy the black man’s lust.
The secessionists viewed their move to detach themselves from the union as constitutional so that they can clearly articulate their grievances on abolishment of slavery. Slavery had been in existence and the Southerners therefore depended on the slaves to help them in running their day to day activities. Therefore, abolishment of slavery was like infringement of their rights to liberty. The Southerners considered the slaves as personal property that could be inherited by future generations as they were bought at a price. The whites therefore believed they had ownership rights on the slaves and abolishing slavery would make loose what legally belongs to them.
In conclusion, the white secessionist commissioners would thus not be able to allow for the abolition of slavery. The thought of being degraded to the level at which they would have been equal to the blacks in social and political scenarios was unbearable to them. They deemed this as a way by the Republicans to undermine the dignity that they had upheld for many years. Secession was the only possible way that they could protect their interests from the Republican principles even if it meant going to war.