It threatened the then _status quo_ of property rights, it attacked the fixed social notions, relationships, and prejudices of the South and of the North alike.

The revolution which this new idea involved in the slave States, was of the most radical character, going down to a complete reconstruction of their entire social system.

At once the human hornets were aroused, and in these circumstances, the innocent and the guilty were furiously beset.

Because the new idea which disturbed the South had originated in the North, the wrath of the South rose hot against not the authors of the new idea alone but against the people of that section as well.

But this sectional unpleasantness endangered the stability of the Union, and menaced with obstructions and diversions the golden stream of Northern traffic, dollars, and dividends.