Those who viewed it and used it merely as a system of labor, naturally desired peace and dreaded commotion.

Those who used it as a political engine for the consolidation of political power had views and ambitions inconsistent with the plans and hopes of law-abiding citizens.

It was only by strenuous effort on the part of the latter class that an apparent majority of the Southern people committed themselves to the desperate design of destroying the National Government.
The first effort at secession was made, as might have been expected, by South Carolina.

She did not wait for the actual result of the election, but early in October, on the assumption of Lincoln's success, began a correspondence with the other Cotton States.

The general tenor of the responses did not indicate a decided wish or purpose to separate from the Union.