With Malice Toward None: A Biography of Abraham Lincoln

by Stephen B. Oates

In Washington, Southern leaders kept up a steady roll of accusations against the Republicans. They cried out that Harpers Ferry was the inevitable results of Seward’s irrepressible-conflict doctrine, that Seward, Sumner, Chase, Thaddeus Stevens, and many other Republicans had all masterminded Brown’s invasion of Southern territory. In righteous indignation, Southern leaders launched a Senate investigation to root out Republican suspects. And Northern Democrats, hoping to capitalize on Harpers Ferry in forthcoming state elections, emphatically agreed with their Southern colleagues. Douglas announced that Harpers Ferry was indeed the “natural” and “logical” consequence of the teachings and doctrines of the Northern Republican party.

Harper's Ferry.