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Subject: [ARCRAWFO] November 23, 1860 Van Buren Press
Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2000 17:30:11 EST

November 23, 1860
Van Buren Press

Crawford County's View of the Impending Civil War

On January 5, 1861, a mass-meeting was held at the court-house in Van Buren.
Henry Wilcox was made chairman, and John B. Ogden, secretary. A committee on
resolutions were chosen, embracing Jesse Turner, Samuel Harrington, C. A.
Carroll, Jacob Meadows, Josiah Harral, Robert Sutherland, Jesse Marshall,
James Heard, Whitfield Bourne, Andrew Couch, Hiram Brodie, Thomas Walden and
J. S. Dunham. After an eloquent address by Gen. Thomason, this committee
reported the following resolutions:

Resolved, In view of the alarming crisis which is upon us, that the rights
and institutions of the slave-holding States ought to be maintained and
defended at every hazard, and to the last extremity.


Resolved, further, that we view the personal liberty bills of certain
non-alave-holding States, passed for the purpose of defeating the fugitive
slave law, not only as unfriendly in spirit, but as palpable infraction of
the Federal Constitution, and gross violation of the plighted faith of these
States, and that we insist on their speedy repeal, and a faithful execution
of said law, as one of the conditions of fraternal relations between the
slave-holding and non-slave-holding States of the Union.


Resolved, further, in view of impending dangers to our beloved country, that
it is our ardent desire to preserve this Union, if it can be preserved
consistently with the honor, rights and interests of the slave-holding
States; and that, for the purpose of deliberation upon this momentous
subject, we are in favor of a conference of all the slave-holding States, to
be held at Nashville, at such a time as may be agreed upon, and if need be
that a convention of all the States be held at such a time and place as may
be agreed upon, in order that an effort be made to adjust and settle on a
satisfactory basis all the disturbing controversies which have arisen between
the slave-holding and non-slave-holding States.

Resolved, further, that in the event of a failure of the slave-holding States
obtaining such guarantees of their rights in the Union as may be compatible
with their honor and interests, that they then insist upon a fair and
equitable division of the public property, including the common territory of
the United States, they assuming their proportionate share of the public
debt, and that, if this cannot be obtained, they separate from their northern
confederates, not peaceably, but that they draw the sword and fight for their
rights to the bitter end.


Resolved, further, that we are opposed to separate State action, and
especially to the secession of Arkansas from the Federal Union, without
co-operation with her sister States of the South.


Resolved, further, that in a spirit of conciliation, and in view of the
calamities which, we believe, would attend a dissolution of the Union, we are
willing that time should be given to the non-slave-holding States to retrace
their steps, to repeal their unconstitutional laws, to depose their
unprincipled leaders, and to give the South such satisfactory guarantees as
will secure their rights and equalities in the Union.


Resolved, further, that while we deplore the election of Abraham Lincoln to
the presidency, upon a purely sectional issue, and upon the ground of his
hostility to Southern institutions, as an event justly calculated to excite
our alarm, and a sufficient cause to warrant us in demanding additional
guarantees for the protection of our rights and equality in the Union, yet we
unhesitatingly declare that, in our opinion, it is not in itself a sufficient
cause for the dissolution of the Union.


Resolved, further, that we heartily tender the thanks of this meeting to
Messrs. Crittenden, Butler, Bigler, Rust and others for their patriotic and
unwearied efforts in Congress to heal the unhappy dissensions which have
arisen between the North and the South, and to preserve our Federal Union
consistently with the rights and honor of all the States.

Resolved, further, that we are in favor of a State convention, to be held at
an early day, with power to appoint delegates to a Southern conference or
convention, with such other powers as legitimately belong to such a
convention.


Fran Alverson Warren

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