ht of woman to choose her own sphere of activity and usefulness If
she sees fit to navigate vessels, print newspapers, frame laws and
select her rulers, I know no principle that justifies man in placing
any impediment to her doing so." The letter used above shows, however,
that not even so great a paper as the Tribune could endure the
misrepresentation heaped upon every one who advocated the unpopular
doctrine of woman's rights.]

CHAPTER X.

CAMPAIGNING WITH THE GARRISONIANS.

1857--1858.

One scarcely could imagine a more unfavorable time than the winter of
1857 for a campaign under the Garrisonian banner of "No Union with
Slaveholders." The anti-slavery forces were divided among themselves,
but were slowly crystallizing into the Republican party. The triumph of
the Democrats over Republicans, Know Nothings and Whigs at the recent
presidential election had warned these diverse elements that it was
only by uniting that they could hope to prevent the further extension
of slavery. The "Dred Scott decision" by the Supreme Court of the
United States, declaring "slaves to be not persons but property" and
the Missouri Compromise to be unconstitutional and void, had roused a
whirlwind of indignation throughout the Northern States. Those who were
seeking to prevent the extension of slavery into the Territories were
stigmatized by their opponents as traitors defying the Constitution.
While this supported the claim of the Garrisonians that the
Constitution did sanction slavery and protect the slaveholder, yet the
majority of the anti-slavery people were not ready to accept the
doctrine of "immediate and unconditional emancipation, even at the cost
of a dissolution of the Union." The Republicans had polled so large a
vote as to indicate that further extension of slavery could be
prevented through that organization, and they were excessively hostile
toward any element which threatened to antagonize or weaken it. Thus
into whatever town Miss Anthony took her little band, the backbone of
the Garrison party, they had to encounter not only the hatred of the
pro-slavery people, but also the enmity of this new and rapidly
increasing Republican element, which at this time did not stand for the
abolition of slavery, but simply for no further extension.

The first year of Mr. Buchanan's administration was marked by a severe
and widespread financial stringency. A decade of unparalleled
prosperity, with its resultant speculatio