The Defense of Massachussets

In a 1856 Congressional speech, Massachusetts Representative Anson Burlingame projected the first public indication that the North was willing to fight for the preservation of the U.S. Constitution and the abolition of slavery. As historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote in her Letters from an American column …: "Forgotten now, Burlingame’s speech was once widely considered one of the most important speeches in American history. It marked the moment when northerners shocked southern leaders by calling them out for trying to destroy democracy. Northerners rallied to Burlingame’s call, and to the new Republican Party he was helping to build, because he had shown it would stand up for their rights." (Summary by John Greenman & Heather Cox Richardson, with permission)