Comparing Palmer's Speech On Civil War And Secession

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Jesslyn Sewell Professor Gautreaux 3/13/23 History of Louisiana 307-004 Civil War and Secession Palmer, one of the most prominent ministers in the south delivers a speech on thanksgiving in 1860 about the souths peril, slavery. He spoke about how slavery should end and be abolished, but if that were to happen the slaves upon being released would die before they could gain access to Africa where they would be returned to. He spoke about how freedom would ultimately be their doom because they would no longer have protection from others who wanted to gain access to slaves and slavery. “It is not too much to say that if the south should, at this moment, surrender every slave, the wisdom of the entire world, united in solemn council could not …show more content…

He goes on to use the argument of the rapture from the bible in a sense, he uses the argument of God and how doing good will in the end gain you the ultimate reward. “This argument then which sweeps over the entire circle of our relations touches the four cardinal points of duty to ourselves, to our slaves, to the world, and to Almighty God.” (Palmer) In his speech he speaks about how God world frown upon slavery but expects it from the imperfect world, with temptations. He compares the cries of “liberty, equality and fraternity to bondage, confiscation and fraternity.” (Palmer) The south in 1860 palmer describes as being the selected victims of being bound by oaths and covenants and slavery as their continuous issue. Lincolns election was seen by Palmer as a move by the republican party which in previous years has not been the best choice. Palmer ponders why they didn’t continue with the democrats and see how things could have changed or …show more content…

Palmer sees the souths duty to abolish slavery because he sees in the future Louisiana will mimic St. Domingo and the souths soil will be overthrown. He calls upon the south to fight for the uprising in order to save the salvation of the whole country in whole by standing their ground and speaking out against their newly elected officer and what they want for their home and the people whom their share their homes with. The south has this duty to fulfill the responsibility to God and man, Palmer essentially gives this speech in order to tell the south what his future plans would’ve been and that now that he is out of office he needs them to fight the battle he started against slavery. He urges them to abolish slavery for the sake of the South and also the whole country, he reminds them that the social problem rests in their hands and as the new officer has been elected they will be fighting a harder fight to abolish slavery. Palmer implies that no matter the outcome of the south he will always be part of them and accept them as his own. The south fought a long hard battle in order to free the