Then the Northern people began to preach, to lecture, and to write about the
sin of slavery... And when the territories were settled they were not willing for
any of them to become slaveholding. This would have made the North much
stronger than the South; and many of the men said they would vote for a law to
free all the negroes in the country. The Southern men tried to show them how
unfair this would be, but still they kept on In the year 1860 the Abolitionists became strong enough to elect one of
their own men for president. Abraham Lincoln was a weak man, and the South
believed he would deprive them of their rights. So the Southern states seceded,
and elected Jefferson Davis for their President. This so enraged President
Lincoln that he declared war, and has exhausted nearly all the strength of the
nation, in vain attempt to whip the South back into the Union. Thousands
of lives have been lost, and the earth has been drenched with blood; but still
Abraham is unable to conquer the "Rebels" as he calls the south. The South
only asked to be let alone, and divide the public property equally. It would have
been wise in the North to have said to her Southern sisters, "If you are not con-
tent to dwell with us longer, depart in peace. We will divide the inheritance with
you, and may you be a great nation."
-Geographical Reader of the Dixie Children
textbook for schoolchildren in the Confederacy, 1863