ble and clearly defined in the spirit of that declaration which rests the right to govern on the consent of the governed, but because I foresaw that the wickedness of the North would precipitate a war upon us. Those who supposed that the exercise of this right of separation could not produce war, have had cause to be convinced that they had credited their recent associates of the North with a moderation, a sagacity, a morality they did not possess. You have been involved in a war waged for the gratification of the lust of power and of aggrandizement, for your conquest and your subjugation, with a malignant ferocity and with a disregard and a contempt of the usages of civilization, entirely unequalled in history. Such, I have ever warned you, were the characteristics of the Northern people--of those with whom our ancestors entered into a Union of consent, and with whom they formed a constitutional compact. And yet, such was the attachment of our people for that Union, such their devotion to it, that those who desired preparation to be made for the inevitable conflict, were denounced as men who only wished to destroy the Union. After what has happened during the last two years, my only wonder is that we consented to live for so long a time in association with such miscreants, and have loved so much a government rotten to the core. Were it ever to be proposed again to enter into a Union with such a people, I could no more consent to do it than to trust myself in a den of thieves.
Jennifer Garcia on 03 Mar 11"This teaching resource includes digitized selections from the Cameron Family Papers extracted from the Southern Historical Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill. The resource is designed for non-commercial use by educators and students interested in themes associated with antebellum plantation life. The original Cameron Family Papers (1757-1978) include some 35,000 undigitized items available for public perusal in the university's Wilson Library. This web resource presents only a small fraction of the total available documents, as identified and digitized by the site designers to best represent themes associated with traditionally underrepresented persons on antebellum plantations, namely slaves, women, and children. The Camerons regularly communicated by post with their family, friends, and business associates (overseers, tradespersons, and merchants). The level of detail provided in their personal communication provides a rich context for the study of antebellum plantation life in the southern United States. Site users may either search for letters related to a particular theme, or browse available letters using the index of letters page. All letters have been tagged by subject/theme. Letters are available in Macromedia Flashpaper format (.swf). Users may choose to view the original source letter, a typed transcription of the original text (easier to read), or both. The transcription is recommended to teachers and students with limited time, given the difficulty in deciphering original text. "
