Oscar Himpflewitz
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~The full quote, taken out of context, is:

" I hold that in the present state of civilization, where two races of different origin, and distinguished by color, and other physical differences, as well as intellectual, are brought together, the relation now existing in the slaveholding States between the two, is, instead of an evil, a good a positive good." ... "I hold then, that there never has yet existed a wealthy and civilized society in which one portion of the community did not, in point of fact, live on the labor of the other." ...

Calhoun said it on February 6, 1837, is voicing his opposition to sending the issue of abolition to a Senate committee for study, noting that "The subject …show more content…

After the spate of anti-Irish and anti-Catholic riots, lynchings and burnings of homes, churches and businesses of the Catholics and Irish during the 1830's and 1840's, the abolition movement (in part, at least) turned the focus from those sub-humans and socially and politically undesirable inferior species to those of African heritage. The immigrants were already too much competition for the scarce jobs that were available and due to their sheer numbers, the vast labor pool guaranteed that working conditions would remain deplorable and wages would remain obscenely low. An influx of millions of freed slaves could only exacerbate the already horrendous situation. The "obviously superior" Anglo-Saxon, Teutonic majority of "real Americans" would not tolerated the added competition threatened by the migration of those "African animals" into their realms, and slavery was the only defense against such an invasion.

While the Irish were merely wage slaves, the Africans, being of a different race and easily identifiable because of physical characteristics and features, could be enslaved by chains.