Charles Jared Ingersoll

Ingersoll tries to revive the Second Party System’s spirit of compromise–one marked by wilful ignorance of slavery, its horrors, and its legacy.

Ingersoll defends the traditional existence of secession throughout American history, but ultimately condemns it as inadvisable and rash.

“Copperhead” Democrat Charles Jared Ingersoll argues that both warring sections should embrace a large measure of compromise and conciliation.

Fearing for his country’s existence, Ingersoll chastises northern warmongers, their thoughtless voters, and reckless activists.

Ingersoll chastises fanatics on either side of the Mason‐​Dixon: the fanatical, imperial Northerner and the paranoid, prideful Southerner.

Ingersoll concludes by examining religious liberty in America. He goes so far as to single out Catholics for their enormous contributions to American life.

Ingersoll moves to discuss the American contributions to practical life in an era when great efficiency yielded greater power and influence.

Presaging the Young Americans a generation later, Ingersoll argues that an exceptional degree of liberty can produce exceptional contributions to civilization.