Chapter 19: Southern strategy to retain power

By 1850 control over the U.S. House is firmly in the hands of the northern Free States by a margin of 61-39%, based on population. While the Senate remains evenly split at 15:15, the South’s remaining grasp on power lies in the election of presidents – given its control over 120 (or 41%) of the total Electoral Votes.

Selection of Democrat Party candidates falls into the hands of this lockstep Southern bloc determined to defeat the alarming Wilmot Proviso and the Free Soil movement, and open new slave plantations in the west. This is critical to the entire future of Southern wealth! It hinges on the ability of eastern planters, who have been “breeding excess slaves,” to achieve windfall profits by auctioning them off in the west. (In fact, the dollar value in 1860 of those enslaved is estimated at just over $3 Billion, compared to the total U.S. GDP of $4.4 Billion that same year.)