| Staunton Spectator, "John Bell's Slavery Record," October 2, 1860 Summary
The Whig editor reprinted Bell's voting record in Congress on the slavery issues, asserting that the candidate was safe on
the issue, a strong defender of slavery as an institution. Breckinridge Democrats, the editor pointed out, have accused Bell
of weakness on slavery.
EXCERPT:
"Though a Southern man, born and all his life identified with, by association and individual interest, the institution of
slavery--though for twenty years the representative and agent of a slaveholding community in the councils of the country--[John
Bell] is still denounced as an Abolitionist, a traitor to the South, and an affiliator with the Republicans of the North."
Full-text web version of newspaper  Points of Analysis to this Data:
 "Augusta's Whig Party emphasized that slavery was safer within the Union than without and that in the 1860 election slavery
had become needlessly politicized. The Augusta Whigs moved to develop a new party around Constitutional Unionism."
Citation: Key = E108
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