Unconsciously to him and to his Government, it was
shaping him and fitting him for the great drama just ahead.
For slowly but surely the North and the South were drifting apart. At
first the discussion had been political, but now it was growing more
and more personal and bitter. The disputed questions were slavery and
States' Rights. A preliminary cloud in the sky was the fanatical raid
of John Brown, who, in 1859, tried to stir up the negroes of northern
Virginia against their masters. This raid was promptly crushed at
Harper's Ferry, and Lee with his regiment of cavalry assisted in
restoring order, but though
"John Brown's body lay a'mouldering in the grave.
His soul went marching on."
While many Southerners did not own slaves and did not believe in
slavery, the question of States' Rights found them with undivided
front. Had not this doctrine been expressly implied in the Federal
Constitution? Had not this right been invoked more than once in the
North--by the staunch State of Massachusetts, for example, as early as
1809, and as lately as 1842? Thus they reasoned, and when matters at
last reached a breaking point in 1861, the Southern States, following
South Carolina's lead one by one, felt that they were acting only
within their recognized rights.
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