OF WAR

CHAPTER I
SLAVERY: ITS POLITICAL HISTORY IN THE UNITED STATES
(I.) Introductory--(II.) Introduction of Slavery into the Colonies
--(III.) Declaration of Independence--(IV.) Continental Congress:
Articles of Confederation--(V.) Ordinance of 1787--(VI.) Constitution
of the United States--(VII.) Causes of Growth of Slavery--(VIII.)
Fugitive-Slave Law, 1793--(IX.) Slave Trade Abolished--(X.) Louisiana
Purchase--(XI.) Florida--(XII.) Missouri Compromise--(XIII.)
Nullification--(XIV.) Texas--(XV.) Mexican War, Acquisition of
California and New Mexico--(XVI.) Compromise Measures, 1850--(XVII.)
Nebraska Act--(XVIII.) Kansas Struggle for Freedom--(XIX.) Dred
Scott Case--(XX.) John Brown Raid--(XXI.) Presidential Elections,
1856-1860--(XXII.) Dissolution of the Union--(XXIII.) Secession of
States--(XXIV.) Action of Religious Denominations--(XXV.) Proposed
Concessions to Slavery--(XXVI.) Peace Conference--(XXVII.) District
of Columbia--(XXVIII.) Slavery Prohibited in Territories--(XXIX.)
Benton's Summary--(XXX.) Prophecy as to Slavery and Disunion.

I
INTRODUCTORY

Slavery is older than tradition--older than authentic history, and
doubtless antedates any organized form of human government. It
had its origin in barbaric times. Uncivilized man never voluntarily
performed labor even for his own comfort; he only struggled to gain
a bare subsistence. He did not till the soil, but killed wild
animals for food and to secure a scant covering for his body; and
cannibalism was common. Tribes were formed for defence, and thus
wars came, all, however, to maintain mere savage existence. Through
primitive wars captives were taken, and such as were not slain were
compelled to labor for their captors. In time these slaves were
used to domesticate useful animals and, later, were forced to
cultivate the soil and build rude structures for the comfort and
protection of their masters. Thus it was that mankind was first
forced to toil and ultimately came to enjoy labor and its incident
fruits, and thus human slavery became a first step from barbarism
towards the ultimate civilization of mankind.

White slavery existed in the English-American colonies antecedent
to black or African slavery, though at first only intended to be
conditional and not to extend to offspring. English, Scotch, and
Irish alike, regardless of ancestry or religious faith, were, for
political offenses, sold and transported to the dependent American
coloni