...Constitution." While deprecating violence or any illegal action, he avowed his conviction that slavery must give way "to the salutary instructions of economy and to the ripening influences of humanity ;" that " all measures which fortify slavery or extend it, tend to the consummation of violence, — all that...

...crisis can be foreseen, when we must foresee it. * * * I feel assured that slavery must give way; * * * that emancipation is inevitable, and is near; that it may be hastened or hindered ; and that whether it shall be peaceful or violent depends upon the question whether it be hastened...

...note of aggression in the challenging phrase, "a higher law" — asserting that slavery must yield "to the salutary instructions of economy and to the ripening influences of humanity." Around this "higher law doctrine" the Abolition movement now began to crystallize, having as its object...

...Constitution." While deprecating violence or any illegal action, he avowed his conviction that slavery must give way "to the salutary instructions of economy...and to the ripening influences of humanity ; " that " all measures which fortify slavery or extend it, tend to the consummation of violence, — all that...

...influence? He would, therefore, bar its extension by all legal means. "I feel assured," he declared, "that slavery must give way, and will give way, to the salutary instructions of economy and the ripening influences of humanity; that emancipation is inevitable, and is near ; that it may be...

...jurisprudence. Having defied Calhoun on every point, Seward boldly declared to his astounded auditors that "emancipation is inevitable and is near; that it may be hastened or hindered; and that whether it shall be peaceful or violent depends upon the question whether it be hastened or...

...superior to slavery that it could triumph peacefully, even constitutionally. As he had said earlier, "Slavery must give way, and will give way, to the...instructions of economy, and to the ripening influences of humanity."97 Even while heralding a revolution, Seward did not relinquish his Whig devotion to peace...

...northern Democratic critics), Seward went on to suggest the ultimate irrelevance of such legal mechanisms: "I feel assured that slavery must give way, and will...and is near; that it may be hastened or hindered" (Seward, Works of Seward\:?•~i). 68. Foner, Free Soil, Free labor, 53; Gunja SenGupta, For God and...