...West unsuitable for the plantation system of the South. "I would not take pains," Webster declared, "uselessly to reaffirm an ordinance of nature, nor to re-enact the will of God." Stephen A. Douglas held the same belief when he proposed to stop the quarrel with his plan of "popular...

...Such a prohibition would be idle, as it respects any effect it would have upon the Territory ; and I would not take pains uselessly to reaffirm an ordinance of nature, nor to reenact the will of God. I would put in no Wilmot Proviso for the mere purpose of a taunt or a reproach. I would put into it...

..."Such a prohibition would be idle, as it respects any effect it would have upon the territory ; and I would not take pains uselessly to reaffirm an ordinance of nature, nor to re-enact the will of God."1 Had Webster turned his mind to the discovery of the place where the ordinance of nature and...

...exclude slavery in the Southwest, he concurred with Clay that there was no need to exercise it there. "I would not take pains uselessly to reaffirm an ordinance of nature, nor to reenact the will of God. I would put in no Wilmot Proviso for the mere purpose of a taunt or a reproach."2 He would also join...

...Free-Soilers, and he ridiculed the human effort to prohibit it there: "I would not take pains needlessly to reaffirm an ordinance of nature, nor to reenact the will of God." 98 Stretching nature to cover both Union and antislavery, Webster opened up the fissure between them....

...Do not "taunt or reproach" the South with the Proviso. Nature would exclude slavery from New Mexico. "I would not take pains uselessly to reaffirm an ordinance of nature, nor to re-enact the will of God. " As for disunion, Webster warned fireeaters that it could no more take place "without convulsion"...

...past. Do not "taunt or reproach" the outh with the Proviso. Nature would exclude slavery from New Mexo. "I would not take pains uselessly to reaffirm an ordinance of nature, or to re-enact the will of God. " As for disunion, Webster warned fireaters that it could no more take...

...declaring that since nature had already determined that slavery could not go into the new territories, he would not "take pains uselessly to reaffirm an ordinance of nature, nor to reenact the will of God." By this Webster won the opprobrium of the antislavery forces and the bitterness of Whittier's "Ichabod,"...

...civil war and redress should be given to the South's legitimate grievances: "I would not take pains to reaffirm an ordinance of nature nor to re-enact the will of God. And I would put in no Wilmot Proviso for the purpose of a taunt or a reproach. I would put into it...

...would be a useless taunt and wanton insult to the South, The famous sentence in which he said that he " would not take pains uselessly to reaffirm an ordinance of nature, nor to reenaet the will of God," was nothing but specious and brilliant rhetoric. It was perfectly easy to...