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Robert Toombs
Robert Toombs was a moderate Whig when first elected to Congress in 1845. His support helped pass the
Compromise of 1850 and then gain its acceptance in Georgia. He was always a staunch defender of Southern
"states’ rights," and grew increasingly pessimistic about the Union during the 1850s. The election
of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 was the last blow for Toombs, and he used his final speech to the United States
Senate to denounce the "Black Republicans," explain the guarantees the South required to stay
in the Union, and defend the principle of secession.
Toombs asserted that Southerners wanted only "justice," while maintaining the real spirit and
intent of the Constitution and the Founding Fathers. He claimed great devotion to the Union and blamed
the North in general and Republicans specifically for oppressing the South and causing all the nation’s
problems. Critics noted that Southern respect for and support of the Constitution ended when they lost
control of the White House for the first time since 1840. What do you think? Do you see these Southern
"guarantees of justice" upsetting the Constitution? Do they violate Northern rights just to
protect Southern interests? Is this just a matter of local-interest politics, as Webster suggested thirty
years earlier? How does Toombs justify secession? Does he prove the compact theory any better than earlier
advocates?
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