The Pony Express
Chapter I
At A Nation's Crisis

The fall of Fort Sumter in April, 1861, did not produce the Civil War crisis. For many months, the gigantic struggle then imminent had been painfully discernible to far-seeing men. In 1858, Lincoln had forewarned the country in his "House Divided" speech. As early as the beginning of the year 1860 the Union had been plainly in jeopardy. Early in February of that momentous year, Jefferson Davis, on behalf of the South, had introduced his famous resolutions in the Senate of the United States. This document was the ultimatum of the dissatisfied slave-holding commonwealths. It demanded that Congress should protect slavery throughout the domain of the United States. The territories, it declared, were the common property of the states of the Union and hence open to the citizens of all states with all their personal possessions. The Northern states, furthermore, were no longer to interfere with the working of the Fugitive Slave Act. They must repeal their Personal Liberty laws and respect the Dred Scott Decision of the Federal Supreme Court. Neither in their own legislatures nor in Congress should they trespass upon the right of the South to regulate slavery as it best saw fit.

These resolutions, demanding in effect that slavery be thus safeguarded—almost to the extent of introducing it into the free states—really foreshadowed the Democratic platform of 1860 which led to the great split in that party, the victory of the Republicans under Lincoln, the subsequent secession of the more radical southern states, and finally the Civil War, for it was inevitable that the North, when once aroused, would bitterly resent such pro-slavery demands.

And this great crisis was only the bursting into flame of many smaller fires that had long been smoldering. For generations the two sections had been drifting apart. Since the middle of the seventeenth century, Mason and Dixon's line had been a line of real division separating two inherently distinct portions of the country.

Read this line from the Pony Express excerpt:

For many months, the gigantic struggle then imminent, had been painfully discernible to far-seeing men.

In this context, what does the phrase "painfully discernible" mean?
Both inevitable and awful
Both foreseeable and accurate
Both aching and regrettable
Both negative and sad

Plagiarism quiz read both the paragraph below and the information following it that identifies the source using the american psychological association format. then read each of the numbered statements and determine if each is plagiarized or not. circle “yes” if the statement is plagiarized, “no” if it is not, and then fix the “yes” answers). original source the presence of the taiwanese on everest was a matter of grave concern to most of the other expeditions on the mountain. there was a very real fear that the taiwanese would suffer a calamity that would compel other expeditions to come to their aid, risking further lives, to say nothing of jeopardizing the opportunity for other climbers to reach the summit. but the taiwanese were by no means the only group that seemed egregiously unqualified. camped beside us at base camp was a twenty-five-year-old norwegian climber named peter neby, who announced his intention to make a solo ascent of the southwest face, one of the peak’s most dangerous and technically demanding routes—despite the fact that his himalayan experience was limited to two ascents of neighboring island peak, a 20,274-foot bump that required little more than vigorous walking. krakauer, j. (1998). into thin air: a personal account of the mount everest disaster. new york: anchor books, 122 - 3. student samples yes 1. there was a very real fear that the taiwanese would suffer a calamity that would compel other expeditions to come to their aid(krakauer, 1998). no) 2. many climbers overestimate their abilities, as krakauer (1998) explains when he writes of peter neby, whose himalayan experience in the past “required little more than vigorous walking” (122 - 3). no 3. jon krakauer (1998) discusses other concerns besides those of unpredictable weather and his own climbing group’s capabilities. for example the existence of a taiwanese group on everest was a matter of serious unease to most everyone else on the mountain. yes/no 4. krakauer (1998) states that the taiwanese group was not the only inexpert climbers to attempt mt. everest: camped beside us at base camp was a twenty-five-year-old norwegian climber named peter neby. . [whose] himalayan experience was limited to two ascents of neighboring island peak, a 20,274-foot bump that required little more than vigorous walking (122 – 3). yes/no 5. the author asserts that the taiwanese “were by no means the only group that seemed egregiously unqualified.” yes/no 6. in his book into thin air, jon krakauer (1998) discusses many of the dangers he noted prior to his disastrous attempt to climb mt. everest in 1996. among them were encounters with other groups and individual climbers who were ill-trained and ill-equipped to handle the demands of such a climb.