o the secessionist movement after the Fort Sumter incident. "The Northern backbone is much stiffened already. Many who stood up for 'Southern rights' and complained of wrongs done the South has fired the first gun, they are ready to go all lengths in supporting the government...." "From all I can learn, the effect of this on Democrats, heretofore Southern and quasi-treasonable in their talk, has fully justified the sacrifice. I hear of [prominent conservative Democrats] denouncing rebellion and declaring themselves ready to go all lengths in upholding government. If this class of men has been secured and converted to loyalty, the gain to the country is worth ten Sumters...." It seems that the South surrendered all credibility and by attacking did unify the Union. "We are living a month of common life every day...the attitude of New York and the whole!
             North at this time is magnificent. Perfect unanimity, earnestness, and readiness to make every sacrifice for the support of law and national life...."
             In the South, move toward secession and actual secession are quite evident. The South felt they were not in control of their own destiny and only by exiting the Union could they truly be the "masters" (no pun intended) of their own destinies. Senator John C. Calhoun's last address to the Senate indicated that if the rights of the South were not protected, the Union would collapse. This speech was brought about by the Compromise of 1850. "How can the Union be saved? There is but one way by which it can with any certainty; and that is, by a full and final settlement, on the principle of justice, of all questions at issue between the two sections. The South asks for justice, simple justice, and less she ought not to take....Nothing else can, with any certainty, finally and for ever settle the questions at issue, terminate agitation, and save the Union."
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