Identifier: slaveryfouryears01keif (find matches)
Title: Slavery and four years of war : a political history of slavery in the United States, together with a narrative of the campaigns and battles of the Civil War in which the author took part, 1861-1865
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors: Keifer, Joseph Warren, 1836-1932
Subjects: Keifer, Joseph Warren, 1836-1932 Slavery United States
Publisher: New York  London : G.P. Putnam's Sons
Contributing Library: Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection
Digitizing Sponsor: The Institute of Museum and Library Services through an Indiana State Library LSTA Grant

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ed States. This habit de-stroyed in some degree national patriotism, and promoted aState pride, baleful in its consequences. In many of the slaveStates voting was done vive voce; that is, by the voter an-nouncing at the polls to the judges the name of the personfor whom he voted for each office. This, it was contended,promoted frankness, manliness, independence, and honesty inelections. On the other hand, it was claimed, with muchtruth, that it was a most refined and certain method of coercingthe dependent poorer classes into voting as the dominant classmight desire, and hence almost totally destructive of inde-pendence in voting. An anecdote is told of John Randolph of Roanoke, who,when at the Court of St. James (England) was conspicuous forhis boasting that he was a Virginian. He was introduced byan English official for an after-dinner speech with a requestthat he should tell the distinguishing difference between aVirginian and a citizen of the American Republic. He curtlyresponded:
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Secession of the States 125 The difference is in the system of voting on election days ; inVirginia a voter must stand up, look the candidates in the eye, andbravely and honestly name his preference, like a man ; while gener-ally a voter in other States of the Union is permitted to sneak tothe polls like a thief, and slip a folded paper into a hole in a box,then in a cowardly way steal home ; the one promotes manliness,the other cowardice. XXIII SECESSION OF STATES—1860-I From what has been said, it will be seen the hour had arrivedfor practical secession—disunion—or a total abandonment bythe South of its defiant position on slavery. The latter wasnot to be expected of the proud race of Southern statesmenand slaveholders. They had pushed their cause too far to re-cede, and the North, though conceding generally that therewas no constitutional power to interfere with slavery where itexisted, was equally determined not to permit its extension.In secession lay the only hope of eithe

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