panic which Helper's publication created. A debate which should
follow the line of this old division between the peoples of the
Atlantic slave States would, under existing conditions, be fatal
to the institution of slavery. West Virginia did become a free
State at the first opportunity. Counties in western North
Carolina claim to have furnished a larger proportion of their men
to the Union army than any other counties in the country. Had the
plan for peaceable emancipation projected by abolitionists been
permitted to take its course, the uplands of South Carolina would
have been pitted against the lowlands, and Senator Tillman would
have appeared as a rampant abolitionist. There might have been
violence, but it would have been confined to limited areas in the
separate States. Had the crisis been postponed, there surely
would have been a revival of abolitionism within the Southern
States. Slavery in Missouri was already approaching a crisis.
Southern leaders had long foreseen that the State would abolish
slavery if a free State should be established on the western
boundary. This was actually taking place. Kansas was filling up
with free-state settlers and, by the act of its own citizens, a
few years later did abolish slavery.

Republicans naturally made use of Helper's book for party
purposes. A cheap abridged edition was brought out. Several
Republican leaders were induced to sign their names to a paper
commending the publication. Among these was John Sherman of Ohio,
who in the organization of the newly elected House of
Representatives in 1859 was the leading candidate of the
Republicans for the speakership. During the contest the fact that
his name was on this paper was made public, and Southern leaders
were furious. Extracts were read to prove that the book was