The Crisis of Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-One In The Government of The United States. Its Cause and How it Should be Met

In presenting this volume to the people, we shall offer no apology. It has been our constant effort to condense into as small a compass as possible our views relative to the cause of our nation’s calamity, and the proper course to be pursued to restore the supremacy of the laws, the integrity of the constitution, and to preserve the Union. We have aimed at nothing but the good of our distracted country. That some will differ with us relative to our proposed plan of managing our national affairs in this hour of peril, is no more than we expect. We are aware that there are true-hearted and well-meaning men who are of the opinion that we had better compromise with the traitors to our country than to use forcible means to compel obedience to the laws. But we think they are seriously mistaken; that such a measure will but produce a temporary calm that will be succeeded by a storm of increased violence. We have labored in the first place to show that our present troubles are owing to a mistaken policy on the part of our government in adopting temporary pacification measures, instead of maintaining the supremacy of the laws. We have also endeavored to show from letters written by some of the founders of our government, that this is a government of the people collectly, and not a government of the States. We have further endeavored to show that the wisest of our statesmen were in favor of enforcing the laws regardless of the feelings of those who rebelled against them; and finally, we trust, that we have shown that a Republican government cannot be maintained unless the people of every section of the country are compelled to submit to the constitutional acts of the majority. We wish our Southern brethren no harm, but they must learn that this is a government composed of freemen who will submit to their dictation no longer; and the sooner they are apprized of this fact the better it will be for all parties concerned. The necessity for a work of this kind has caused us to lay aside most pressing business matters which needed our attention; but in these perilous times we feel it our duty to do all we can to unite the people upon this momentous crisis in our national affairs. The hurried manner in which this work has been prepared, will account for the imperfections.