Alfred H. Stone Collection
Volume: 60

2. A Citizen of Virginia, The Union, Past and Future: How It Works, and How To Save It (Charleston, [SC?]: Walker & James, 1850). (55 p.)

Essay complaining of how the Southern states have been taken advantage of by their Northern counterparts. The author claims that “Whatever of greatness our country has attained has been chiefly due to the administrative talent of Southern men, and above all to the Southern vote, which, while it was yet strong enough to be heard, restrained the disposition of the North to convert this Federal Union into a grand consolidated State, on the French model, where the numerical majority might have absolute sway.” The two main issues appear to be a tax burden that penalizes the South unfairly and the North’s failure to enforce fugitive slave laws. Five tables with figures concerning imports, exports, duties, taxes paid, etc. appear at the end of the text. The author concludes with a threat. “The South loves the equal Union of our forefathers for its historic associations, and the world-wide glory of its stars and strips. But she will not tamely submit to see her stars changed into satellites. She wishes to preserve the Union; but in any event, come weal, come woe, her course if fixed. She has cast the die—she has passed the Rubicon, and no power may stay her onward march to EQUALITY or INDEPENDENCE” (emphasis in original).