The "Fire-Eaters" Were

The "fire-eaters" were

A) northerners who defended slavery as strongly as southern slaveholders.
B) northerners who were morally opposed to slavery and refused to accept any compromises.
C) southerners who fiercely defended slavery, opposed compromise, and threatened secession on occasion.
D) non-slaveholding southerners who hated African Americans.
E) Native Americans in California who tried to prevent white settlement and the drive toward statehood.