Nowhere else was the attitude of the South on these burning questions stated so promptly and so emphatically as in the once famous Alabama Platform, first presented by Mr. Yancey, February 14, 1848, to a great political convention assembled in the capitol. The scene was historic, and is thus described by his biographer, Mr. DuBose:
"At this stage in the proceedings Mr. Yancey rose.
The galleries were crowded with ladies and their escorts;
the floor, lobbies, and rotunda were packed with men.
He drew from his pocket his own resolutions and read
them. . . . He spoke at length. . . . A vote
was taken, and Yancey's resolutions were adopted, without
even one opposing voice, amidst the most enthusiastic
cheering on the floor and in the lobbies, the ladies in
the galleries waving their handkerchiefs in the contagion
of joy."
It was a characteristic example of his keen
political foresight and also of the wonderfully
persuasive eloquence that set his hearers on
fire. No orator ever combined more perfectly
closeness of reasoning with the fire of earnestness
and an irresistible personal magnetism.
The capitol, old Estelle Hall, every public
place in the city, rang with the mellow tones
of his voice; his debates with Hilliard were
attended by throngs never equaled in the
