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1. "This momentous question like a fire-bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at Once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final Sentence. A geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated: and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper. ... But as it is, we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other." Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Holmes, 1820Jefferson's letter was most likely written in response to a. the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France.b. passage of the Missouri Compromise.c. efforts to promote the American System.d. attempts to force the relocation of American Indians.

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