In a letter printed in the Vineyard Gazette on Feb.

22, 1861, a writer

railed against Island abolitionists writing, We have suffered, too much,
the noisy and headstrong to have their own way, and the real state of
public sentiment among us, though adverse to slavery, is not of that
crotchety character, which a few crack brained enthusiasts, or one-sided
men, have exhibited in trying to force themselves to the front rank of
anti-slavery movements.
Following Lincolns inauguration on March 15, 1861, an editorial by
Gazette publisher Edgar Marchant urged walking away from the issue:
persuade our people to let slavery alone, wholly and forever, for our
meddling, our intemperate speeches, and above all, our pharisaical
righteousness, sharing so largely in the profits of slavery, and yet
condemning it, has done no good to the slave, none to the master,
none to the church, none to the country, but evil, evil only, and evil
continually. While many northerners preferred ambivalence to slavery if
it would prevent war with the South, the Civil War began in April, 1861.