ABSTRACT
The Hartford Convention of 1815 had hinted at this, but the Webster-Hayne debates of 1830 established the ground on which Northern sentiment would be predicated: the North as the national norm, the South as the sectional other. The Republicans challenged Justice Taneys 1857 ruling in the Dred Scott case, and asserted: That the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of Freedom: That as our Republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all our national territory, ordained that no person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, it becomes our duty, by legislation, whenever such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution, against all attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any Territory of the United States.
