vituperations of a very small
but noisy faction of antislavery men added something to the swift
current of public opinion. But demonstrably the chief cause of this
sudden change of religious opinion--one of the most remarkable in the
history of the church--was panic terror. In August, 1831, a servile
insurrection in Virginia, led by a crazy negro, Nat Turner by name, was
followed (as always in such cases) by bloody vengeance on the part of
the whites.

"The Southampton insurrection, occurring at a time when the
price of slaves was depressed in consequence of a depression
in the price of cotton, gave occasion to a sudden development
of opposition to slavery in the legislature of Virginia. A
measure for the prospective abolition of the institution in
that ancient commonwealth was proposed, earnestly debated,
eloquently urged, and at last defeated, with a minority
ominously large in its favor. Warned by so great a peril, and
strengthened soon afterward by an increase in the market value
of cotton and of slaves, the slave-holding interest in all the
South was stimulated to new activity. Defenses of slavery more
audacious than had been heard before began to be uttered by
southern politicians at home and by southern representatives
and senators in Congress. A panic seized upon the planters in
some districts of the Southwest. Conspiracies and plans of
insurrection were discovered. Negroes were tortured or
terrified into confessions. Obnoxious white men were put to
death without any legal trial and in defiance of those rules
of evidence which are insisted on by southern laws. Thus a
sudden and convincing terror was spread through the South.
Every man was made to know that if he should become obnoxious
to the guardians of the great southern 'institution' he was
liable to be denounced and murdered. It was distinctly and
imperatively demanded that nobody should be allowed to say
anything anywhere against slavery. The movement of the
societies which had then been recently formed at Boston and
New York, with 'Immediate abolition' for their motto, was made
use of to stimulate the terror and the fury of the South....
The position of political parties and of candidates for the
Presidency, just at that juncture, gave special advantage to
the agitators--an advantage that was not neg