According to Webster however, the main culprit in this dynamic is the rhetoric of the abolition societies. While the author acknowledges that these societies include mostly honorable and just people who believe in their cause, he also holds that their rhetoric has become unacceptably emotional and their tactics, such as spreading anti-slavery literature to the South, essentially dishonorable. According to the author, such tactics ironically lead only to strengthen the Southern cause and increase enmity and violence.
Resolution
William Henry Seward believes that the abolishment of slavery is inevitable as the economy and humanitarian institutions grow. According to this author, the institution is simply an "accidental" institution that came into being as a result of a combination of certain factors at a certain time. As times are changing, Seward appears to believe that the institution will become obsolete to make ways for new and more humane institutions. He however also sees the possibility of violent conflict in the attempt to either hasten or slow this development. Interestingly, he projects that attempting to perpetuate slavery is more likely to lead to violence than hastening its abolition.
Calhoun also suggests that a resolution is the responsibility of the North. He however bases this view not upon the moral right of the North or indeed the fact that slavery should be abolished. Instead,...
Being much stronger, the former should then focus upon a more inclusive Constitution that offers a compromise between the slave states and the free states, so that the latter has an equal right to property, revenue, and all the privileges the North enjoys. Like Seward, Calhoun also believes that his suggestion for resolution can occur in a peaceful manner.
Like both the others, Webster also believes in a peaceful resolution, simply because he does not believe the enmity existing at the time as worthy of the Constitution. He speaks most strongly against secession, and does not believe that such action on the part of the South could possibly be peaceful. Indeed, he echoes Calhoun's sentiment that, to expect the south to simply abolish their institutions for the sake of those of the North would be even worse than perpetuating slavery. Indeed, it appears that both Calhoun and Webster promote a resolution that would repair the relations between North and South, with a compromise that would continue to allow slavery. Seward's solution contrasts strongly with this; the only possible peaceful resolution in his view is that slavery dies a natural and peaceful death. For Seward, the slavery issue itself is at the center of conflict, whereas the other authors give more subtle reasons and therefore different paradigms of resolution.
