There were many points of view during the "popular sovereignty" debate of course, and as is true today, the majority of Americans were too busy just trying to live their lives to become actively involved. Just as movement conservatives today are always busy pushing the boundaries of corporate power, through regressive tax cuts, deregulation, privatization, and so on, the slave power constantly pushed the limits of the "peculiar institution" beyond its base in the South. "Popular sovereignty" was the brainchild of Stephen Douglas and he used it to further the agenda of Democratic power brokers who had a vested interest in extending their holdings into the territory conquered from Mexico by establishing a precedent in the Louisiana territory. If "popular sovereignty" could overturn the law and compromise of 1820 then it could be forced upon any territory, thereby extending the slave power's hold over American political life. This coincided with a propaganda offensive by Southerners to reframe slavery as a "positive good."
Mr. Blankley is just like one of those apologists, endlessly warning of the horrors that await us if our elected government defies the wishes of the "slave power."
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
No comments:
Post a Comment