Brigham rejects abolitionists in the North and the Southern slaveholders alike.

Date
Jul 28, 1861
Type
Speech / Court Transcript
Source
Brigham Young
LDS
Hearsay
Scribed Verbatim
Reference

Brigham Young, "Gathering of the Saints—Honoring the Priesthood, Etc.," Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool: George Q. Cannon, 1862), 9:143

Scribe/Publisher
George D. Watt
People
George D. Watt, Brigham Young
Audience
Latter-day Saints
Transcription

The South say, “We could not bear the insults and the affliction heaped upon us by the North. We cannot help revolting from the rank Abolitionists that would destroy us and our negroes; we will not hold fellowship with the North any longer, but we will come out from them and be separate.” The Abolitionists would set free the negroes at the expense of the lives of their masters; they would let the negroes loose to massacre every white person: that is the spirit of many of the Abolitionists that I have conversed with. Proslavery men are determined to hold their negroes, and the North reply—“It is false language to say that we are in a free and independent government that holds four millions of persons in abject slavery: we do not believe in it, and they shall be free.” How natural it is for the two parties to come to the sword, to the cannon's mouth, and fight. “We of the North are fighting to emancipate four millions of people that are in bondage,” and “we of the South are fighting for our liberties;” and the right will continue until the earth is empty. Will it be over in six months or in three years? No; it will take years and years, and will never cease until the work is accomplished. There may be seasons that the fire will appear to be extinguished, and the first you know it will break out in another portion, and all is on fire again, and it will spread and continue until the land is emptied.

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