The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

by Erik Larson

“No, sir, you dare not make war on cotton. No power on earth dares make war upon it. Cotton is King.” He also used the occasion to argue that the enslavement of Blacks simply fulfilled a societal imperative. Someone had to do the menial work,

“It is proper,” the jury declared, “that the line of demarcation between the castes should be broad and distinct, more particularly at this time for reasons which need not be mentioned. It is full time that slaves and free persons of color should know and understand their position.”