That should have sparked secession. But it didn't. Instead it sparked talk, and more talk, and compromise. Clay's Compromise of 1850, to be exact, saying that while California would enter as a free state, New Mexico and Utah would be territories, and the citizens themselves could decide about slavery. John Calhoun tried to tell us we should leave the union then, but we didn't listen. (Naden & Blue, 2000).

             Then, in 1854, came Kansas and Nebraska. Some wanted to cling to that damn outdated Missouri Compromise and have both states enter the union as free states. Nonsense! Then Stephen Douglas came along--a pugnacious little man from Illinois--and suggested the Kansas-Nebraska compromise which would allow the people of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether they wanted to be slave states or free states. And didn't that end up a nice mess, with Kansas having two governments, no one sure which to acknowledge.

             And now we've got an ape of a president who opposes any further spread of slavery. Even though you and I don't always agree, Trevor, I'm sure you can see how the South has been insulted and belittled again and again. It is time to divorce ourselves from the union that has never been kind to us. If that means war, well, let it be war.

             Yours, Beau.

             March 30, 1861.

             Dear Trevor,.

             Hello from your abolitionist friend. You asked me once how I came to be so militant. My father and mother were part of the Great Awakening in the 1820's, and I inherited my faith in God and my passion for freedom from them. Though I know you've always felt me too radical, I must point out that history is proving out the words of Mr. John Brown, who repeatedly said that the issue of slavery can only be settled through violence. Eight states have now seceded from the union, and President Lincoln is vowing war to hold the union together. Honestly, I do wish the man were a bit more of an abolitionist! He would have gladly left slavery untouched in the South, merely would have forbid any new territories from entering the union as slave states.