before the Convention assembled, decidedly opposed it. The last
of May it said, 'not a Whig paper in the State approves'." In the
latter part of March, not more than a quarter of sixty papers
from ten slave-holding states took decided ground for a Southern
Convention.[50] The Mississippi Free Trader tried to check the
growing support of the Compromise, by claiming that Webster's
speech lacked Northern backing. A South Carolina pamphlet cited
the Massachusetts opposition to Webster as proof of the political
strength of abolition."[51]

[50] Ames, Calhoun, pp. 24-27.

[51] Hearon, pp. 120-123; Anonymous, Letter on Southern Wrongs .
. . in Reply to Grayson (Charleston, 1850).


The newer, day by day, first-hand evidence, in print and
manuscript, shows the Union in serious danger, with the
culmination during the three weeks preceding Webster's speech;
with a moderation during March; a growing readiness during the
summer to await Congressional action; and slow, acquiescence in
the Compromise measures of September, but with frank assertion on
the part of various Southern states of the right and duty of
resistance if the compromise measures were violated. Even in
December, 1850, Dr. Alexander of Princeton found sober Virginians
fearful that repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act would throw
Virginia info the Southern movement and that South Carolina "by
some rash act" would precipitate "the crisis". "All seem to
regard bloodshed as the inevitable result."[52]