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William Yancey's
Speech on the Secession Crisis
September 21, 1860
Speech of Hon. Wm. L. Yancey
Fellow citizens I am no party man, and I do not address you as a party man to night. — Strange as if may seem to you, after what you have heard from some quarters, I come before you this evening as the friend of the Constitution, [good,] and the Union under the Constitution, [good, and better,] and as the enemy of any other Union, coming from what source it may. [Vociferous cheering; "that's right,"] — During my brief political career, my countrymen — — [just here the speaker was interrupted by some drunken individual.]
[A Voice. Put him out.]
Mr. Yancey. Oh, no; let him alone. No harm can be done to me by any man, of any party, who listens to me. [A voice— that's so.] I have no sentiments to conceal from any man of any party. I hope men are here representing all parties, with the exception of that party which is the enemy of the Constitution— the Black Republican party.
[Loud and enthusiastic applause.]
My friends, there is one issue before you, and to all sensible men but one issue, and but two sides to that issue. The slavery question is but one of the symbols of that issue; the commercial question is but one of the symbols of that I issue; the Union question is but one of those symbols; the only issue before this country in this canvas is the integrity and safety of the Constitution. [Great applause, and cries of "good."] He is a true Union man who intends to stand by that Constitution with all its checks and balances. He is a disunion man who means to destroy one single letter of that sacred instrument. It has been said that the South asks you to trespass upon the Constitutional rights of the other States; it is said that the South seeks to aggrandise itself at the expense of other sections; that we want this Government to carry slavery and force it upon a people who do not desire it. With all proper respect for those who say this, I, as a Southern man, say that in every iota of its utterance it is false. [Good] The South has aggressed upon no section, nor does she propose aggression upon any section. She asks no section to yield anything that is hers for her safety or for her protection. All that the South has ever asked of the Government is to keep its hands off of us, and let the Constitution work its own way. [Applause.] The South has been aggressed upon; the South has been trenched upon; four-fifths of its territory, in which she has equal rights, has been torn from her; and by the acts of Government she has been excluded from it.
Revenues have been raised at the rate of two or three dollars in the South to one from any other section for the support of this great Government; but the South makes no complaint of mere dollars and cents. Touch not the honor of my section of the country and she will not complain of almost anything else you may do; but touch her honor and equality and she will stand up in their defence if necessary in arms. [Applause.]
All, then, that the South asks in this contest is that you shall observe the constitutional checks and balances with reference to her.— She is not willing that her rights shall be submitted to the will of mere numerical majorities. For our fathers, our
This document appears in the Compendium: Chapter 12
Annotation:
Yancey frames the sectional crisis as a “constitutional issue,” arguing that the federal government had been perverted from its original compact into an instrument of Northern domination hostile to Southern Honor. He contends that the Constitution, properly understood, "...is based upon a recognition of negroes as an inferior race, that is based upon the recognition of property in slaves, that is based upon its recognition as a state institution, based upon its recognition as property, which requires that property to be delivered up by the hostile states into which it may become fugitive... " , and that Northern refusal to uphold these guarantees released the South from its obligations to the Union and justified secession.
Author:
Transcript and image source: https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84024735/1860-09-25/ed-1/?sp=2&st=pdf&r=0,0.513,1.193,1.193,0
ancestors, and the great patriots of the North agreed that it should be otherwise. It was the written compact of our fathers that the minority should receive protection from the Constitution against the mere selfish and avaricious will of a preponderant majority. Parties divided themselves originally in this country upon that great principle. — One desired that the majority should rule in all things, while the other — the State-rights party of the country — desired it should be different. This latter party carried the day in the formation of the Constitution, and placed checks upon the advancement of the majority. And this written Constitution was the compact by which majorities should restrain themselves with reference to the rights of minorities. Majorities need no protection save their own power. Hence it is easy for the North to cry out for the Union at all hazards and under all circumstances. It is easy for the North, with its majorities of millions, to say they are for this Union any how. No matter who may be elected, no matter what may be done, still they will stand to the Union as the great cause of their prosperity. Why? Because with no Constitution at all, the North can protect themselves with the predominant vote in the country. But how is it with the South?— How is it with the minority of the country — the minority States of the Government? If they leave it to the mere will of preponderant majorities in Congress, the North, as in all other cases, will seek its advancement of power, will seek its own selfish aggrandizement, and will distribute the money of the Government among themselves, raise as much as they please, and do all for their own advancement at the expence of minorities. Minorities, gentlemen, are the true friends of our Constitution, because that Constitution is their shield and their protection against the unchecked anil unlicensed will of the majority.
Hence it is that ray section of the South stands by that Constitution. You do not hear so much said there with such flippant tongues about the Union as you do at the North; but you hear much said there about the Constitution; about its strict construction about the rigid enforcement of its checks, and its balances in favor of these minorities, because to them it is a thing of life and death. Within this Government that Constitution must prevail, or the minority will he placed as a "lamb that is led to the slaughter." But let that Constitution be observed, and the rights of all sections under that Constitution be preserved, and the South is content to abide its fate under the workings of that instrument. The North may well cry out Union Union! Union! at all hazards, and to the last extremity. And the North, even now, I understand, at midnight, is arming itself and training its midnight hands for the purpose of forcing the Union of a mere majority upon the South. I understand these are "Wide Awakes," as they call themselves — that is, they think themselves very wide awake," but they will find some men in the Southern States, gentlemen, sufficiently "wide awake" to meet them. ["That's so." Applause.] A brave people and a true people, gentlemen, will fear no Wide Awakes.
No man is more wide awake than he who a loves his own fireside, his own wife, his own child, and aggresses on nobody, but determines, as far as Cod gives him power, that nobody shall aggress on him [Applause.] And there are no men who hear me to-night who would flinch like cowards if they found that others were merely bent upon aggressing upon their people when they could do so! [That's so!] As a distinguished friend of mine said to me the other day, the battle of the revolution was fought with shot-guns. Our people were not furnished with the great armament of modern warfare then, but being armed with the right, they were enabled to meet the powerful array of the then greatest nation of the earth, and wipe out the British lion from out of the country. [Applause.]
Now, I desire simply to say to you to-night, that the South, standing on nothing but the Constitution, fears no aggression, fears no section, and that Constitution the South intends to stand by. If, in the progress of party division; party dissension and party elections, that Constitution shall be trampled under foot; if a government shall he instituted here which shall be a usurpation on the government of Washington and our fathers; if this temple of liberty, based upon that Constitution shall be subverted, and, instead of a constitutional government a "higher-law" government shall be established, you will find, gentlemen, that the Constitution will have friends, even in that hour; and if driven from all other sections of the country, and there is no other spot where the ark of the covenant of our safety can rest and be protected, it will be on Southern soil, where the friends of the Constitution live.
[Loud Applause.]
We do not desire, at the South, disunion; I know of but few advocates, at the South, of this measure. I can point to hundreds of distinguished Northern men who are far in advance of any men at the South upon the question of disunion. I know, in the Northern States, men
who want a "higher law," who want a different Constitution, who want another Bible— aye, and who, in religion, even call for another Jesus
Christ. [Laughter and applause.] Disunion, per ae, exists in that region. I know of no disunion, per ae, at the South. The humble individual who addresses you to-night has probably been more denounced as a disunionist than almost any other man in the Union. I tell you, gentlemen, my disunionism consists in this: I stand by the Constitution. I intend that the provisions of that Constitution, which I look upon as the shield of the South in this Union, shall be carried out and enforced. If that Constitution is taken away from the South in this Union, and the South is then to remain in the Union, I consider that we would then
have no rights, for we would then be placed at the feet of a dominant sectional, abolition majority. [Applause.]
A Voice.— We'll stand by you.
Mr. Yancey.— I say, then, that the South stands by the Constitution, as a shield in this Union. When that shield shall be taken from their breasts by a dominant sectional majority, who seek to reduce this Government to the will of a mere majority, for its own sectional purposes — who intend to make us hewers of
tvood and drawers of water?we intend to take
;hat Constitution with us; and, gentlemen, im
tating the mighty example of George Washngtun,
if there is no other place where we can
reel and keep this Constitution, we will take
;he banner of liberty and plant it on the mounains
of Augusta, and there we will entrench j
mrselves as a body of freemen. [Applause.]
But, as I said to you, we hope that day is
ar distant from us, and that none of us may
ivc to see its dawn. I, so help me God, will
:onsider that to be an evil hour when this
Government shall be so rent by factions that
he charter of our liberties shall be trodden
jnder foot, and the compact of our fathers disregarded
by their degenerate sons. It would
jc indeed an evil hour, but we are compelled
.0 look it in the face. A large party, nuiiijcring
in itself now, it is said, a plurality, if
tot a majority, of the people in this country,
Dandetl together with a discipline such as in
ithcr party has, having hopes which no other
uarty has, led by men of eminent ability, with
Abraham Lincoln its candidate, with Seward
Is chief statesman and chief advocate, who
rota Maine to the furthest frontier of civilization,
proclaims a war, an 'irrepressible war,"
ipon the institutions of one-half of this Union;
ivho proclaims, gentlemen, that the manner in
which he interprets the Constitution is that it
shall give freedom to everything in human
shape upon the face of the earth; who pro:lainis,
gentlemen, therefore, that this Constitution,
which is based upon a recognition of
I^O 1 I
Lhc recognition of property in slaves, that is
based upon its reuognitiion as a State institution,
based upon its recognition as property,
tvhich requires that property to he delivered up
by the hostile States into which it may become
fugitive? that this Constitution is to he utterly
disregarded by him, and only his wild, insane,
revolutionary, and incendiary notions are the
interpretations to be placed upon the Constitution
by this new government, if elevated to
power.
Suppose that party gets into power; suppose
another John Brown raid takes place in a frontier
State; suppose "Sharpe's rifles'' and pikes
and bottic knives, and all the other implements
of warfare are brought to bear upon an inoffensive,
peaceful and unfortunate people, and that
Lincoln or Seward is in the presidential chair,
where will then be a force of United States
marines to check that band? Suppose that, is
the cast?that the frontiers of the country will
be Iigh?d up by flames of midnight arson, as
it is in Texas; that towns are burned; that the
peace of our families is disturbed; that poison
is found secreted throughout the whole country
in immense quantities; that men ate found
prowliag about in our land distributing that
poison in order that it runy he placed in our
spring.1 and our wells; with arms and ammunition
pltccd in the hands of this semi-barbarons
people, what will be our fate? Where will lie the
United States Marshals to interfere? Where
will be the dread of this General Government
that cists under this present administration
Where will be the fear of Federal ofliccr-', ol a
United States army to intimidate or prevent
such movements? Why, gentlemen, if Texas
s now in flames, and the peace of Virginia is
nvaded now under this administration, and
inder the present aspect of affairs, tell nie
what it will be when a '"higher law" governnent
reigns in the city of Washington Where
hen will be our peace, where will be our safe.y,
when these people are instigated to insur ection;
when men are prowling about throtighut
this wlulc country, knowing that they are
jrotected bj an administration which says that
ay the Constitution freedom is guaranteed to
;rery inditidual on the face of the earth??
Jan you ei'ject any people of spirit or courage,
;rue to themselves, true to their firesides, true
:o their own families?can you expect such a
people, I say, to give up all regard for the Conititution,
permit it to be trampled under foot,
10 acknowledge this "higher law" government,
lo give it tl.eir assent?can you expect, I say,
my brave end heroic people thus to he untrue
lUol.. r.^ilinc tlir.ir ni.,1 I.. I Iw.
,\J Hit, I I l?Ull ?VC HUM VIJV.II III V. IMV.lf 44JIV4 I" UH
jreat principles of eternal freedom and selfpreservation
voice?Never, never.
T7e will preserve those rights; and those
ivho would fail to rise in their defence arc deserving
of '.lie execration and conteinp'., not
)f all mankind only, but of every Republican
who would plncc this government over us. We
ivould deserve to bo pitched out of this land
nto the sea, and drowned in the surf that
Dreaks upon its shores. We would deserve
;liat there should be no further propagation of
such a race of cowards. We will remember
hat Washington, the greatest rebel the world
:xcr produced, led the way in defence of the
jreatprincijlu of freedom?in defence of those
nstitutions upon which our Government is
lased, and under which it has so long prosperal
as a nation.
I say to ycu, then, that though we deprecate
lisunion, we will have the Union of our fathers,
t has been Slid that the South has aggressed
ipen the North. When and where lias my
icoplc ever aggressed upon the people of any
ithcr section When and where has any
iouthern Statesman proposed a wrong to he
lone to the West, the Northwest, the East, or
he Northeast":
A voice?Never.
Mr. Yancey. Never. History will proclaim
t. This age proclaims it. Our enemies will
iroclaim it by their silence when we defy them
o answer the question.
Ours, then, is a position of defence within
he limits of the Constitution. We uphold its
lanner. Wo intend to defend its principles.?
Vc ask only equal rights in our common Govrnment.
We ask protection for these right*
n our common Government. Nothing more,
nd, so help me God, we will submit to nothing
sss. [Applause.
Now, my fellow-citizens, I do not intend to j
ddrcss you at length to-night. I am wearied, i
laving traveled all night, and having been drained
on the way by an accident on the radond.
I have spoken four times this week, and
nee I had the modesty to address an audience j
3ur hours. [A voice, "(iive us lour hours i
lore to-night" I, therefore, have no physical
bility to detain you any longer to-night. I j
onceive that you have met here to night nnt j 1
roin any special respect to an individual, hut
hut you have recognised ine as one earnestly 1
triving to advance the cause of the Cunstitu-
ion; and in that spirit, and in that only, have i
liown your respect for the cause ol iJemoeru- j
y?something that is deserving ol that ri-
pect?for that 1 most sincerely thank you. 1
rust that 1 shall never deserve a want of re- i
pect at your hands, or at those of anvonei
Ise, by proposing aggression on arty, or by j I
roposing any measure not in accordance with j 1
strict construction of the Constitution.
A Voice. What will the liouth tin in the
vent of Lincoln's election
Mr. Yancey. I don't know what she will
o, but I will say to you?I put it to you, my
iend. Now if you live in a slaveliohiing 1
tate? j i
The same voice. 1 do, sir.
Mr. Yancey. Well, then, if John Brown
jnimits a raid on that Stale while in the peace j
f God, and while in the pence of the country,
nder the peace of the Constitution that is sup- i
osed to protect it?if he comes with pike,
ith musket and bayonet and cannon; if he
anghter an inoffensive people; if his uiyrmi3ns
are scattered all over our country, where
is supposed rests this institution which is so
npalatable, inciting our slaves to midnight
son, to midnight murder, and to midnight in-
irrection against the sparsely scattered white
cople; if the brotherhood of this nation shall j
e broken up, and the common citizenship shall
he ignored; if the protection that is due from i
every citizen to every otiier citizen shall be no
longer afforded; if, in the place of it, a wild
and blood-thirsty spirit?not of revenge, for we
have done no wrong to he revenged?but a
blood-thirsty spirit of assassination, of murder,
and of wrong takes its place, and we find scat j
tcred throughout all our borders these people,
and we find the midnight skies lighted up by
the fires of our dwellings, and the wells from
which we hourly drink poisoned by strvcb-
nine; and our wives and our children, when we
are away at our business, are found inur-
dered by our hearthstones, my answer, my j
friend,is in those words: What would do? 1
[Loud applause.]
A voice. I would top him before he got
that far.
Mr. Yance\. 1 believe that the Hod ol liber- j
iv, to whom it is our duty at all times to pray;
lie who holds in his hands tiie very destinies of
nations?will so turn the hearts of our people
that such an event shall not happen.
A Voice. Amen.
Mr. Yancey. For myself, 1 do hope that in
the Northern States, which hold this ipiestion
in their hands, in some way a feeling of justice
will Ire aroused in the minds uf the people, and
they will consider this matter, and prevent this
dire result. As for the South, we are in a minority.
We cannot prevc-nt it, however much we
desire to do so. The North is now the dominant
section of this country. It has 18:1 electoral
votes to our 120, It is for them to say
what is to he our destiny within this Government.
It w not. thank God, for the North to
say what shall in- the- destiny of Southern freemen.
["Good," and applatwc.] That we hold
in our own hands, t ur prosperity, our safety,
our institutions do not depend upon anv vote
fl". Viirtli t ,i?, ..ii',? in tine iti'i t f.n- ic linn, i^ I
wo are true to ourselves. Tlicy itro safe,
though the Constitution mav be rent asunder.
Wo jirofor our protection ami our ilefonco within
the lines of the (iovornmont of Washington
ami .Jollei'soii ami of Hancock, but if if is not
given to us, wo know that we have freeiloin
within our own breasts. Hut within this
Union, this Union must lie preserved by Northeni
votes.
The issue is now left with the North, ami it
is tendered her to save the I nion and the Constitution
by |iulting down the I Hack Republican
party. [Good, j They can do it bv a
union of all parties against the common enemy.
If they doit, the Union will be safe, and
we will be rejoiced to lender our acknowledgments
to our Northern brethren that they have
preserved the Union. [Good.] Hut if tliev
do not picserve the Union; if they choose to
divide it into factions looking after the State
spoils, ami without reference to the safety of.
this great country, ami this party is elected, i
and (he South is driven to the wall, then let j
not the North complain if Northern commerce, j
that rests upon Southern industry, becomes
destroyed, and they become beggared by the
operation.
I read liic other day a very statesmanlike
speech by Mayor Wood, of New York, at the
great Union meeting, in which he spoke of
commerce and the value of commerce to the
whole country. Hut I would commend to the
Northern people this idea, which did not enter
into the speech of Mayor Wood: Commerce is
not merely the handmaid of agriculture, hut it
is the creature? of agriculture. Commerce is j
the mere means of interchanging the column- i c
diiits which an- made by industry, by thengri-
cultural and mechanical arts. It is true that i
if we make no surplus there will lie no com- j i
mcrce, hut still agriculture will exist, and the j
mechanic arts will exist lor our own stibsis- j c
tencc. If the South ever undertakes to nnike j
other marts than New Ymk, and if the North
does not uphold this Union, hut permits it to 1
be destroyed, the South intends to make
her Haliiinurc, her Norfolk, her Charleston, i
her Savannah, her I'eiisacola, her Mobile,
ami her New It-leans, her marts. Rivals, not
livaK merely, hut substitutes fur New York, t
will rise tip all along the southern border.? 1
Three hundred ami sixteen millions of exports K
in the last year were all given to New York and v
New Knglaml commerce, the coasting and ship- 1
ping and foreign trade of the North, and inter-
changes usually make that right. $25u uOfi/iOO 1
of this amount were the sole results of Southern
industry. This $250,000,000 a year can
make commerce at other ports than New York.
I.et New York see to it, my countrymen. If
sin.* loves nor commerce mm mves nor palatini n
houses ami princely merchants, let tlieni see to a
it that the South, driven to the wall, does not
make Xev. ^'c-rlvs of her Baltimore, Xorftlk, a
Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans, and sl
grass "row in (tie streets of Xew York. We
can do without her commercial facilities, but
she cannot do without c nr agricultural labor.
We can Bring tbe shipping of the world to our p
ports, and make our own shipping to carry y
away 250 millions of the hid millions. She
cannot supply the 250 millions of our Southern
labor, if over she does permit that division to
take place. I say, therefore, to Xew York, in
no spirit of arrogance and pride, that her commerce,
while in some respects it may be
the handmaid, is tire creature of Southern g
industry and Southern wealth, and unless
she chooses to take in hand this question, she,
Boston, anil Philadelphia, and settle it so as to
preserve the benefits of this Cuion, and the si
Constitution that secures it to her, we will show B
to the Xorth that we can do without Xew York, 1
Boston and Philadelphia, and make other marts 1'
for our industry, while her shipping and wharves I'
and her warehouses will rot for the want of that I'
industry and support. The Cuion is everything 1'
to Xew York. Boston and Philadelphia. The
Cnion is much to the .South; we prefer to 1
have it as it is, and we will deprecate dissolu- I
lion. But if it is dissolved, it shall not lie the 1
South who do it. It shall lie dissolved by
those who are warring on the South, and seek- I
ing to destroy the Constitution and destroy the 1
Cnion that is made hy the Constitution. I.et I
Xorthern men see to it that they preserve that li
Cnion, if they want to preserve their commerce,
if they wish to preserve their manufactures or S
power, and if they wish to preserve the South
as the liest mart fur the side of their products,
the fruits of their industry and their commerce.
If we of the South are driven to support our- V
selves, we are independent of the world we have
the great peacemaker. King Cotton, with
in our midst. I Vociferous applause.
We can supply the looms ami iiiHiiufactorics
of tin." world; we can feed ourselves and clothe jv
tin: world. I'll less the.-e people, therefore, j.*
want to go naked, [Inuglittr.J and show their
nakedness, [renewed laughter,j they had better rJ
come and solicit the support ofoureolion plan*
lers. i A
Now, then, fellow-citizens, I beg you to ex-i c,
etise tne from saying anything further, and for I fi
the desultory character "I the remarks I have
at this time submitted. I close them by tell
ing von that the South loves the I'nion, respecls
the I'tiioii, has all respect for the Constitution,
and will stand by and preserve ihat
instrument intact, with all its checks ami hid-
antes; ami the South ir now sternly resolvid
that every other section shall so preserve it
The South means to defend that Constitution
ngainst all attack*- from the Wide Awake4, the
sleepy abolitionists, or anybody e!-e. Ureal]
applause and laughter J
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