The enemies of the Union were the enemies of America and of mankind,
whose success would have plunged their country into an abyss of shame
and misery, and would have arrested for generations the upward movement
of their race.
Eastern Jealousy of the Young West.
Yet, evil though the separatist movements were, they were at times
imperfectly justified by the spirit of sectional distrust and bitterness
rife in portions of the country which at the moment were themselves
loyal to the Union. This was especially true of the early separatist
movements in the West. Unfortunately the attitude towards the Westerners
of certain portions of the population in the older States, and
especially in the northeastern States, was one of unreasoning jealousy
and suspicion; and though this mental attitude rarely crystallized into
hostile deeds, its very existence, and the knowledge that it did exist,
embittered the men of the West. Moreover the people among whom these
feelings were strongest were, unfortunately, precisely those who on the
questions of the Union and the Constitution showed the broadest and most
far-seeing statesmanship. New England, the towns of the middle States
and Maryland, the tidewater region of South Carolina, and certain parts
of Virginia were the seats of the soundest political thought of the day.
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