Slavery: What it was, what it has done, what it intends to do / Speech of Hon. Cydnor B. Tompkins, of Ohio

The speech contends that slavery dominates national politics because of pro-slavery agitation and defends Republican attention to the issue as necessary. It reviews Revolutionary-era and early-American resolutions and statements to show widespread early opposition to the slave trade and slavery, and cites leading figures' expressed hopes for eventual abolition. The speaker condemns pro-slavery calumny, hostile presses, and threats to free speech and travel in slave states, and warns that slavery endangers liberty. He urges measures to confine the institution within existing limits, abolish the African slave trade, and keep federal territories free for free men.