"I considered it at once as the knell of the Union, it is hushed indeed for the moment, but this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence, a geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated; and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper." - This quote from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Holmes references Jefferson's concern for