In the North, they tend toward Democracy; in the South, toward Oligarchy.
Henry Ward Beecher
The Public Record
Henry Ward Beecher was an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the abolition of slavery, his emphasis on God's love, and his 1875 adultery trial. His rhetorical focus on the love of Christ has influenced mainstream Christianity through the 21st century.
gutenberg.org
In the North, they aim at the welfare of the whole people; in the South they are the instruments by which a few control the many.
It is very plain that while nominally republican institutions exist in both the North and South, they are animated by a very different spirit, and used for a different purpose.
In short religion with us is emancipation and liberty; with them it is bondage and contentment.
The power of religion with us is employed to set men on their feet; to make them fertile, self-sustaining, noble, virtuous, strong, and to build up society of men, each one of whom is large, strong, capacious of room, and filled with…
We preach the Gospel to arouse men, they to subdue them; we to awaken, they to soothe; we to inspire self-reliance, they submission; we to drive them forward in growth, they to repress and prune down growth; we to convert them into men…
Now tell me whether there is any preaching of the Gospel to the slave, or whether there can be, and he yet remain a slave?
We believe God's revealed word to contain the influence appointed for the regeneration and full development of every human being, and that it is to be employed as God's universal stimulant to the human soul, as air and light are the…
There is a noticeable contrast between Northern and Southern ideas of Religion.
And the only objection is, that if there were light and air let in, it would no longer be a dungeon.
If the South would be revolutionized by free discussion, how intensely does that fact show her dying need of revolution!
An order or an institution that dreads freedom of the press has reason to dread it.