Robert Jefferson Breckinridge’s 24-page pamphlet entitled Two Speeches on the State of Our Country (1862) opens a window into the way that Northern Presbyterians viewed the Civil War, the South, and Southern Presbyterians. Breckinridge had been close to many Southerners throughout the early days of Old School Presbyterianism (1837ff.), but he could not tolerate the views they held on slavery and secession. Read these speeches and you will discover the reasons why.