Restrictions of Agriculture

The rebel Senate came within one vote of passing a law to forbid any man’s [raising] more than three bales of cotton for himself and one for each hand and to fine him forty dollars per bale for all over that amount. That is the sort of legislation the rebels enjoy. They pretended that an attack upon the “rights of the South” was the cause of secession. How do they like this sort of warfare upon their right to raise what products they choose? And how do they like the change from a generous and liberal government to one that rivals the worst despotism of the old world? – {Cleveland Leader

– Published in The Athens Messenger, Athens, Ohio, Thursday Morning, April 24, 1862