THE FUGITIVE
Few of the 500,000 Northern blacks had supported Lincoln’s nomination. They knew that the Republican platform, while seeking to prevent slavery’s spread, did not threaten it in the states, and that it favored colonization as a means of ridding the nation of free blacks. Those who did support Republicans had preferred William Seward or Salmon Chase as presidential candidates, both of whom called for resisting and repealing the fugitive slave law, arguing that it was unconstitutional. Lincoln, by contrast, consistently defended it.
Few of the 500,000 Northern blacks had supported Lincoln’s nomination. They knew that the Republican platform, while seeking to prevent slavery’s spread, did not threaten it in the states, and that it favored colonization as a means of ridding the nation of free blacks. Those who did support Republicans had preferred William Seward or Salmon Chase as presidential candidates, both of whom called for resisting and repealing the fugitive slave law, arguing that it was unconstitutional. Lincoln, by contrast, consistently defended it.
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