786 



UNITED STATES. 



APPROXIMATE STATISTICS OP THE PRODUCTS OF INDUSTRY FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 1, 1860. 



Such are the important facts furnished by 

 the census of 1860, so far as they have been 

 compiled. The political affairs of the United 

 States in 1862 is the next topic to be considered. 



Perhaps a brief summary of the opinions 

 which had existed, the declarations which had 

 been made, and the measures which had been 

 adopted up to the close of 1861, will greatly 

 assist in forming a correct view of the course 

 of the Government in 1862, relative to the 

 war, which was the great and absorbing sub- 

 ject of its action. The measures and disputes 

 which resulted in war, all had reference to the 

 existence of slavery in the Southern States. 

 The Federal Government was conducted by 

 those who were mixed up in these measures 

 and disputes on the one side, and the Confeder- 

 ate Government by those involved in them on 

 the other. The opinion entertained by South- 

 ern statesmen previous to the difficulties was 

 that the Constitution of the United States pro- 



tected the institution of slavery in the States, 

 in so far as it withheld from the Government 

 all power to interfere with the institutions of 

 the States, as it required the Government to 

 restore fugitives, as it gave a representation in 

 Congress based upon their numbers, and as all 

 direct taxes were to be estimated on a basis 

 including this population. 



Those known as radical abolitionists in the 

 Northern States held the same opinion relative 

 to the Constitution of the United States, and 

 for this reason they denounced it as "a coven- 

 ant with death and a league with hell." In 

 their view disunion immediate and complete 

 was the only feasible means by which to be 

 released from its obligations. Those known 

 as anti-slavery men had a distinct political 

 organization, and took a position in the rear 

 of the former. They held a similar opinion 

 relative to the powers of the Federal Govern- 

 ment over the institutions of the States, but de- 



