...ed in terms of constitutional argument. It summarizes the labors of our statesmen,--Webster, Calhoun, Sumner, Taney, Douglas, Lincoln,--each of whom had his bout with the problem. The unfortunate America n statesmen who were obliged to formulate a philosophy upon the matter seem to me like that procession of hypocrites in Dante's Purgatory, robed in mantles of lead. They emerge, each bent down with ...