THE LIFE
OF
THOMAS MORRIS:
PIONEER AND LONG A LEGISLATOR OF ORIO,
AND
U. S. SENATOR FROM 1833 TO 1839.
EDITED BY HIS SON,
B-.: F.M  O R R I S.
"His memory should be kept freshly living among the lovers of liberty and progress."
SALMON P. CHEAE.
C I N C I N N A T I:
PRINTED BY
MOORE, WILSTACH, KEYS & OVEREND.
1856.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856,
BY B. F. MORRIS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern
District of Ohio.
Stereotyped and Printed by
WILLIAM OVEREND & CO.
CI NCI N NA TI.




PREFACE.
THIS work comes before the public, with no ambitious pretensions. It
is the compilation and record of the thoughts and acts of a plain and
earnest man, narrated in a plain and honest style. It claimns not, nor
was it the aim of the Editor, to present a work of finished literary
excellence; this would not have comported with him, whose thoughts
occupy so large a share of these pages, nor with the taste or ability of
the Editor. The simple purpose has been, to gather, and weave into a
connected narrative, the memorials of the life of one, who wad an active
laborer in the fields of human toil and freedom, and who, in his day, and
in his way, did something to augment the influences that are rising and
swelling that great volume of power, which is to achieve the regeneration
of humanity, and to inaugurate and establish the final and perpetual
reign of freedom. Every contribution, however small, to this stream and
tide of influence, is an increment added, and is essential to the combination and completion of the entire power. It is therivulets that form the
rivers, and the great oceans of the earth.
The work will be chiefly prized, by the friends of freedom especially, as
illustrating the manly heroism of one of the early laborers in the cause
of liberty; and of the value and triumph of a persistent adherence to
the principles of right, justice, and Constitutional freedom. The true
treasures of a State consist in its true principles, and the men who
have the courage to give them practical and universal application. Principles, as abstract ideas, or symbols of theory, are intangible and fruitless; they must have, if their nature and achievements are felt, on the
varied interests of the State and Society, an outward development, and a
radical, universal application. Men, can be men, in all the active elements;
of a true manhood, only when they are the embodiments and revelators
of just and eternal principles. This is their mission, and on its execution
depends, their usefulness and moral dignity.
The reader, if his patience will carry him  through the pages of this
work, will find that he, whose life and services it commemorates, was a man
who had settled convictions of right and true principles; and who gave
them an honest and steadfast application to his whole political life. For
their defense and maintenance, he sacrificed the honors and preferments of
(fiI)




PR PRE  ACE.
~office, ohoosinl rather to be robed in the well woven garment of principle, than to possess and wear the insignia and tiirsel baubles of office.
The work is an humble contribution to the political Anti:slavery literature of the country. The cause of freedom, in its active antagonism, with
the system of slavery, has been prolific in this age, in the creation of a
multitude of works, gay and grave, in which slavery has been exposed and
freedom vindicated. The forum of the State, the Altars of religion, the
Sanctum of the everteeming press, the genius of the Poet, and the fertile
fancy of the Romancer, have produced their varied literary contributions
to the great Anti-slavery cause of the country and the world. In these
departments of intellectual effort, freedom, and the forming National
literature of the country, have been richly augmented. This work, while
claiming no pretension to an elevated literary standard, yet, in the
manly thoughts, uttered through its pages by him, whose life it records,
will be, we trust, no mean offering to the Anti-slavery literature of the
country.
The work is also a correct historical exhibition of the progress
and results of the important political contest, between freedom and
slavery, during the age of our Republic, but especially during the last
twenty-five years. Sentiments and acts, the indices of public opinion,
are given, to enable the reader to have an intelligent and accurate view
of the question, that now absorbs and agitates the nation; care has been
taken to give historical facts as they are found in the public records and
papers of the times -in which they transpired, yet some errors may
possibly be found. It was the feeling and purpose of the editor, "' nothing
to extenuate or set down aught in malice." He has been only a gleaner
in the wide field of facts, that belong to the historic times, in which they
were evolved, and has clothed them in the unvarnished language of truth.
Greater amplification of the materials at hand might have been made.
The work, it is -hoped, will not prove an unacceptable offering to the
people of the great State of Ohio, whose early history and legislation are
briefly sketched, and whose public servant, its subject was, longer, perhaps, than any other of the many distinguished men who were his compeers, in forming the character of the State, and giving to her, her present
elevation of political power, wealth, and material prosperity. The
work, National in its sentiments, is yet eminently a State work. The
Subject, the Editor, the Publishing House, and the Events recorded in the
work, all belong, mainly to the history and times of Ohio, and as
such, are presented to the people of the Empire State of the West, and
the country, to undergo their impartial scrutiny and judgment. To their
judgment the work is now committed.
September, 1856.




CONTENTS 
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.............................................. 9
CHAPTER II.
THE MORRIS NAiME-Ancestors of Thomas Morris-His Birth-Removal
to Western Virginia-Their Character-Home Education-LibraryLearned to Read at his Mother's knees-Anti-Slavery incident of the
Parents.............................................................................. 10
CHAPTER III.
EARLY History of Ohio-Settlement at Marietta-Ordinance of 1787Settlement at Columbia-The Early Pioneers-The first Baptist Church
-Supply of Cincinnati with Preaching-John Smith, Preacher, first
United States Senator, implicated with Burr, etc.,...................... 17
CHAPTER IV.
MARRIAGs-Incident in the girlhood of his Wife-Their DescendantsRemoves to Clermont County, in 1800-Location in Bethel-An AntiSlavery Incident-Studies Law-Bar of Clermont-Quoting the Scriptures-Character as a Lawyer, etc.,.......................................... 22
CHAPTER V.
ELECTED to the Legislature-Early Legislative History of Ohio-Narrow
escape of Freedom in the Convention —Character of the men who
framed the Constitution-Judge Cutfer-Character of the Legislators
of Ohio, for the first thirty-five years-Mr. Morris's position as a
Legislator..........................................2...................28
CHAPTER VI.
His labors and influence as a Legislator-Against Liquor Licenses and
Lotteries-Against Prohibiting the Emigration of Colored People to
Ohio-Speech on the Rights of Conscience-On Abolishing Imprisonment for Debt-His Faith in the People-The People to Elect all
Officers-Jury Trials before Justices-Internal Improvements, etc., 32
CHAPTER VII.
POPULAR Education-Colleges and Common Schools-Advocates of the
Common School System —Relation of Education to GovernmentFemale Education-Commissioner of the School Fund, etc.,...........42
CHAPTER  VIII.
IrEACHUMENT of Judges-Morris appointed to conduct the Trial-A
Select Committee on Vermont Resolutions in 1809-A Select Committee,
in 1810, on the Measures of the General Government-Supports the
War in 1812-South Carolina Nullification in 1832-Morris a Select
Committee-His Resolutions-Letter of Judge McLean-Reports on
Colonization........................................................................ 47
(v)




VI                       CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX.
His Radical Democracy-Learned from the Bible and the Teachers in the
Democratic School-Not a Bigoted Partisan-Earnest Advocate of the
Doctrines of True Democracy-His Popularity-Tendered the Nominaation of United States Senator in 1826-Elected Senator in Congress
in 1832 —His Election Greeted with Enthusiasm, etc.,..............58
CHAPTER X.
TAKES his seat in the Senate-Slavery-Anti-Slavery Sentiment of the
Revolutiaon-Opinions of Madison-Jefferson-Patrick Henry — John
Jay-Washington-Franklin-Lafayette-Abolition Societies, in 1787
-Thanks of Congress to an Abolition Society-Reaction in Public
Sentiment-Slavery, the Ruling Power-The Causes of Reaction...... 63
CHAPTER XI.
AGITATION-Three Eras of Slavery Agitation-Revolutionary Era-Missouri Era - Present Era — Mr. Morris takes his Seat as SenatorSlavery and the Slave Trade in the District of Columbia-Petitions to
Congress —John Quincy Adams Threatened with Expulsion-Gag
Resolutions of the House-Action in the Senate-rPro-Slavery Senators
-Mr. Morris's Firmness-Resolution of the Senate-The Senate a
Battle-Ground between Freedom and Slavery-Prediction of Mr. Morris
-Senator Seward-Mr. Morris's Speech on the Right of Petition...... 74
CHAPTER XII.
INCREASED Agitation-Numbers of Petitioners-Confessions of Senators —
Calhoun's Resolutions-Counter Resolutions, by Morris-His Remarks
-Record in his Memorandum Book of this Struggle in the Senate...95
CHAPTER XIII.
A MEMORABLE day in Mr. Morris's History-Mr. Clay'$ great Speech
against Abolitionists and Slavery Agitation - Mr. Morris's great
speech in answer to it. A Southern Senator said Mr. Morris deserved
expulsion-Reception through the country-A  Contrast-Death of
Calhoun-Clay-Webster-Morris-Eternal nature of Truth...... 107
CHAPTER XIV.
VARIous Resolutions offered on Slavery —Refused Printing-Opinion of
a Southern Senator-A Northern Senator-Social and Civil Proscriptions of Anti-Slavery Senators.................................................168
CHAPTER XV.
ALLIANCE Of Democracy with the Slavery Power-Degeneracy in a great
party a great calamity-Resolutions of the Democracy of Cincinnati
on the 8th of January, 1839-Mr. Morris's Answer-Letter from A. A.
Guthrie, 3d of January, 1839-Mr. Morris's Reply-Vermont Resolutions refused to be Printed-Predictions fulfilled........................ 174
CHAPTER XVI.
CREED of Parties-Their Tendencies and Results-Warning of Washington-Mr. Morris a Democrat from Principle-Catechised by the Democratic Legislature-His Answer-Rejected for a Second Term-Benjamin




CONTENTS.'11I
Tappan his Successor-Letter to the Ohio Statesman-Charles Hammon Read out of the Party-A Poem written after his Rejection and
dedicated to Mr. Morris.........................................................189
CHAPTER XVII.
ERECTION of Pennsylvania Hall in Philadelphia-Distinguished Politicians and Divines invited to its Dedication-Its destruction by a mobThe Continental State House-Its Bell-Its Bible Motto-Mr. Morris
invited to the Dedication-His Answer-Its just and noble sentiments.................................................................................. 206
CHAPTER XVIII.
RETIREMENT from the Senate-Return to Ohio —Addresses a large meeting in Cincinnati-Applauded by the Democracy-Activity in the
cause-An address to the Liberty Party-Nominated for Vice-President-Letter on that subject-Attends the State Liberty ConventionHis  Address........................................................................223
CHAPTER XIX.
RECAPTURE of Fugitive Slaves - Compromises of the Constitution;
Readjustment of Compromise Measures in 1850 - Fugitive Slave Bill;
Opposition to it —President Pierce's opinion of it - Approved by President Fillmore - His former Anti-slavery Sentiments -Commissioners
sent from the Legislature of Kentucky to Ohio, in 1839-Ask Ohio to aid
in Recapturing their Slaves - How received by the Legislature of Ohio;
Black Laws of Ohio - Mr. Morris's labors for their overthrow- His
views on the duties of States in the rendition of Slaves - Report of
Judge Smith in the Senate of Ohio in 1837 — Mr. Morris's elaborate
reply  to  it......................................................................... 234
CHAPTER XX.
MoBs —Alton Riots-Death of Lovejoy-Mob in Cincinnati, in 1836Public Meeting-Birney's Press Destroyed-Warned to leave the cityGazette Threatened-Speech of the Mayor to the mob, at midnightPublic sympathy with the mob-Contrast in Public Opinion-Mr.
Morris invited to Dayton by the Mayor and others, in 1839-His
Answer-Visited Dayton in 1842-Mob Violence-His Letter to the
Mayor, after the mob-Remarks on Mobs-Mob at Lexington, Kentucky, against Cassius M. Clay-His Heroism-Mob spirit at Cleves,
Church closed-Prayer in the public road, by Samuel Lewis-Infidel
converted-Lane Seminary, etc.,............................................. 267
CHAPTER XXI.
ANTI-SLAVERY Publications-Mails Examined-Post Office in Charleston
Mobbed-President Jackson's Recommendation - Incendiary BillSpeech of Mr. Morris.....................2.........8................... 251
CHAPTER XXII.
FORMATION of Parties-Their nature and results-Politics and moralityThe necessity of their union-O pinions of Washington —His views need
a new application to parties-Mr. Morris's views on this subject-The
platforms of the two great parties on slavery-Necessity of a new
party-Liberty party formed —Its platform- Birney and Morris




~III                    CONTENTS.
nominated —Free Soil party-Its platform —Van Buren and Adams
nominated-Hale and Julian nominated in 1852-The PlatformRepublican party-Fremont and Dayton nominated —its Platform —
Letter of Morris on his nomination-Address of the Liberty State
Convention-Votes cast for the party of freedom in 1844, 1848, and
1852...................................................................................298
CHAPTER XXIII.
TERRITORIAL Expansion of Slavery-Missouri Compromise-Her Admission-Agitation-Sentiments of Daniel Webster on the Admission of
Missouri-Admission of Arkansas-Remarks of Mr. Morris, in the
Senate, on the Admission of Arkansas-Republic of Texas-Remarks
and Resolution of Mr. Morris on Texas-Acquisition of Territory from
Mexico-California-Repeal of the Missouri Compromise-Agitation
through the country-Manifesto of Chase and others — Ministers
Remonstrate - The act done, etc............................................ 324
CHAPTER XXIV.
SLAvES brought to Ohio —Mr. Morris memorializes the Governor against
it-Slaveholders in office in free States-Mr. Morris's views on it-A
Judge refuses to license a colored Clergyman to perform the Marriage
Rite-Mr. Morris obtains a writ to compel him to grant it-A  memorial to the Legislature of Ohio, in 1844-Extracts from  a letterAppeal to Christians —Poem, descriptive of his course and principles................................................................................337
CHAPTER XXV.
MISCELLANEOUS reflections during his Senatorial term-Calls on the
President-The President's Levee-Bank Excitement-Removal of
Deposits —Violence of Party Spirit-McDuffie's Oratory-Funerals of
Members of Congress-Their pageantry and expense-Departure of
the Government from Republican simplicity-Letter Writers at Washington, etc...........................................................................345
CHAPTER XXVI.
EXTRACTS from Various Speeches - Public Printing -Currency - Land
Bill- Ohio and Michigan Boundary- Expunging Resolution...... 359
CHAPTER XXVII.
His Private Life and Personal Characteristics - Liberality to Poor and
Honest Young Men-Thomas L. Hamer-His Life and Character-Mr.
Morris's Son pronounces his Eulogy in Congress-An interesting factHis Sense of Justice and Tenderness-Lines on the Death of a Granddaughter-His Dislike to Idlers —Advice to his Youngest Son, on
Leaving Home for College-The Editor's Reminiscences-His Religious
Faith-The Moral Significance of his life................................. 397
CHAPTER XXVIII.
His Death and Dying Exclamations — Burial —Monument over his
Grave -Its Inscription —Notice of his Death by the Friends of
Freedom-Dr. Bailey's Notice and Analysis of his character-Meeting
of the Liberty Party at Cincinnati-Vote to Erect a Monument to his
Memory, in Hamilton County-Final Remarks.......................404




INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
4" HONOR to whom honor is due." The pioneers of freedom
are worthy to be honored and immortalized in history. The
unalterable friends of freedom, they lay the first offerings
upon its altar, and devote, at the peril of their own political
standing, and of life itself, their energies to its defense and
progress. History presents noble testimonials of the struggles, and achievments of these proto-martyrs to freedom and
the rights of man. Political confiscation, banishment from
political parties, and blood flowing from the block, attest the
faith, and the self-sacrificing devotion of these patriots. Such
men ought not to die from the memory, or the history of
their country. They do not die. " In this world they will
have their judgment day, and their names which went down,
temporarily, like a gallant banner, trodden in the dust, shall
rise again, all glorious in the sight of the nation."
Emmet, the patriot, and martyr for the freedom of Ireland,
said, " Let not my history be written during the present
generation. The future will rectify the judgment of public
opinion, and remove present prejudices; then posterity will
do me justice, and vindicate my memory." Truth is certain
of an ultimate triumph; and when that triumph shall come,
their names and memories will live in grateful remembrance;
ix




X                  INTRODUCTORY.
and before the world, "their age shall be clearer than the
noon-day; they shall shine forth, they shall be as the
morning."
The present is a fitting time to present to the lovers of
liberty, the life and services of one of the first co-laborers in
the cause of human freedom, in its contest with the aggressions of American slavery.  THOMAS MORRIS, of Ohio, in
the councils of his country, State and National, was ever the
honest, earnest, out-spoken, and fearless friend of freedom.
In him Constitutional liberty, the rights of man, the cause of
universal emancipation, and resistance to the slave power of
the country, found a faithful sentinel, and an able advocate.
He was among the first political martyrs in the great struggle between freedom and slavery. Having fresh Senatorial
honors proffered by the Democratic party that honored him
with a seat in the Senate of the United States, if he would
be an apostate to conscience and freedom, he rejected them,
as unworthy of such a sacrifice; and the party that had for
nearly forty years honored him with political trusts and preferments, decreed his political crucifixion. He paid the
penalty on the 4th of March, 1839, and retired from his
seat as Senator in Congress, with the proud consciousness of
political rectitude, and of unfaltering faithfulness to freedom
and the true principles of the Constitution.
Seventeen years have passed away since his voice for freedom was heard in the halls of the National Congress, and
twelve years since the grave held all that was mortal of
Thomas Morris. The man dies, but his services and memory
live.  And the valuable services he rendered to freedom,
when but few voices were heard in its defense, either in the
country, or in Congress, will now be appreciated, approved,
and gratefully remembered. His warnings and prophecies,
uttered with a fearless independence, in reference to the




INTRODUCTORY.                    Xi
purposes and aggressions of the slave power, seeking perpetual
expansion and supremacy, have been fearfully fulfilled. The
present avowed purpose of the slave power, to hold, if possible, the balance of political power in its own hands, and to
give indefinite extension to the system of slavery, is but the
true fulfillment of the predictions of Thomas Morris, uttered
from high places of public trust. He foresaw the evil, and
gave the alarm to the country.
A distinguished and early co-laborer in the cause of liberty,
Salmon P. Chase, who for six years filled with distinguished
ability the seat in the Senate of the United States, once
occupied by Thomas Morris, and is now the able and accomplished Governor of Ohio, says of him: "I knew him well,
and honored him greatly. He was far beyond the time he
lived in. He first led me to see the character of the slave
power, as an aristocracy, naturally in league with the money
power; and the need of an earnest and consistent Democratic
organization to counteract its pretensions. Few anti-slavery
men of to-day, with all the light thrown on the subject, saw
this matter as clearly as did he. His memory should be
kept freshly living among the lovers of liberty and progress."
His life, services, and some of his speeches in the Senate
of the United States, and in the Legislature of Ohio,
together with various papers on the subject of American
slavery, are now presented to the public. The work is
undertaken and published from motives of filial affection,
and patriotism; and from a desire to perpetuate the services
of an honored ancestor, who was a friend to the oppressed,
an able champion of freedom, an incorruptible patriot, an
honest politician, and a moral hero. In its prominent features the work is anti-slavery; presenting the historical facts
of the rise and progress of the sentiment of freedom, now so
happily prevalent, to the ascendancy of which Thomas Morris




xii              INTRODUCTORY.
gave no unimportant impulse. It is also a brief historical
record of the early settlement, and legislation of Ohio, with
which Mr. Morris was prominently and intimately identified.
The volume is dedicated to the Citizens of Ohio and the
Freemen of the United States; in the humble hope that it
will add an additional momentum to the resistless power of a
growing public sentiment, that will overthrow the system of
American slavery, and give freedom a complete and perpetual
triumph over the American continent. In that triumph the
name and services of Thomas Morris will not be forgotten,
who declared, "against this foe of God and man, we have
waged a perpetual war; and we will teach our children to
lay their hands upon the altar of their country's liberty, and
swear eternal enmity to slavery."




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                13
CHAPTER II.
THE Morris Name-Ancestors of Thomas Morris-His Birth-Removal
to Western Virginia-Their Character-Home Education-Library —
Learned to Read at his Mother's knees-Anti-Slavery Incident of the
Parents.
THE name of Morris is prominent in English history,
and is redolent with patriotism and piety. Some fell
among the martyrs in the reign of " bloody Mary," and
others have a place in the history of the Parliamentary
struggles with Charles the First, and in the campaigns of
Cromwell. Uniformly they were found on the side of
freedom, and the name is extant with numerous and honorable representatives in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and America. In 1637, the first representative of
the name came from England and settled in Massachusetts, from whom numerous and honorable descendants
sprang; and the head of that first family bore the name
of Thomas, the same as he whose life and services are presented in this volume.
The ancestral family from whom the subject of this
memoir was descended, was from Wales. Isaac, the
father of Thomas Morris, was born in 1740, in Berks
county, Pennsylvania, and his mother, Ruth Henton, in
1750, and was the daughter of a Virginia planter. Nine
sons and three daughters were the fruits of their marriage. Thomas was the fifth child, and was born on the
3d of January, 1776, the memorable year of American
Independence. Soon after the birth of Thomas, his
parents moved to the wilds of Western Virginia, and settled in Harrison county, near Clarksburgh. They were




14         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
both members of the Baptist Church, and lived and died
exemplary Christians. The father was a minister in that
denomination, and during sixty years preached the Gospel, never failing in a single appointment, nor never took
a dose of medicine. At his death, occurring at the ripe
age of ninety-one, in 1830, there were three hundred descendants. His descendants, living and dead, now number about a thousand persons.
The mother forms the character and directs the destiny
of the child. Thomas had a Christian mother, who gave
him the first lessons in education, and trained him in the
school of virtue and freedom. In those early days, the
privileges of the common schools were rare, and hence the
entire education of most families was received at home.
This was so of the Morris children. It was the habit of
their mother, whenever in her log cabin she sat down to
sew or knit, to have one of her children by her side reading the Bible; for all of her children could read well before they were six years of age. The historical portions
of the Bible were selected as the most interesting to the
juvenile mind. This home education, the stool at the
mother's knee, is the first round in the ladder of advancement. Here the young soul drinks in the first draught
of wisdom, and is schooled in motives drawn from the
fountain of perfect and eternal truth. Here the first
aspirations for knowledge are formed, and the first inspirations for freedom and virtue are received. It was in
the home school, and from a mother's lips, that Thomas
Morris was trained to love truth and freedom. Here the
elements of a- character were planted which, becoming
the radical convictions of his nature, made him, in the
manhood of life, strong and fearless in the resistance of
slavery and wrong.
The library of the Morris family consisted of three
Bibles, four Testaments, and as many Hymn books and
Spelling books, a Dictionary, Dillworth's School-Master's




LIFX OF SENATOR MORRIS.             15
Assistant, the Young Man's Companion, an Arithmetic
and an Outline of Astronomy; Scott's Lessons on Elocution, part of Bunyan's and Baxter's writings, and twelve
volumes of sermons. These were the only facilities that
Thomas Morris had for his early education. Three
months at a common school completed his scholastic education. His college was the mountain wilds of Virginia,
and there he graduated with a diploma from nature, and
a blessing from a Christian mother. Hie early developed
strong natural powers of intellect, an eager thirst for
knowledge, and a manly self-reliance. At fourteen, he
made a full hand in the harvest field; at sixteen, he shouldered his musket to repel the aggressions of the Indians
on the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania; at seventeen, he served several months in Captain Levi Morgan's
company of wood rangers, stationed in the wilderness, in
what is now the eastern part of Ohio. He was endowed
with a strong mind and a vigorous body, and the early
training of his mother imbued him with the elements of
a character marked with boldness, self-reliance and fearless independence.
An incident in the life of his parents will reflect honor
on their anti-slavery sentiments, and show how early
their children were taught, by precept and example, in
the school of freedom. His mother, in girlhood, held frequent conversations with a number of native Africans,
kidnapped and brought in slave-ships to Virginia, the
slave-trade then being sanctioned by law. Her father was
a slaveholder, and at his death left, by will, one female
slave, all he had, to his wife during her lifetime. At her
death, this slave, with her increase, was to be the patrimony of the two daughters. In 1798, the wife of Henton died, and eight " human chattles " was the inheritance
of the two daughters. The executor of the will gave
information of these facts, aud desired to convey to Morris




16         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
and his wife their share of the slaves. The proposition was rejected as an outrage on their sense of justice,
and they declared that they would do no act that would
recognize the right of one man to make another man
chattel property. It was a matter of regret to the Morris family that they did not receive them and give them
the boon of freedom. This noble act of the parents of
Thomas Morris was one of the home lessons he received
in the school of freedom.




LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.                17
CHAPTER  III.
EARLY History of Ohio-Settlement at Marietta —Ordinance of 1787Settlement at Columbia-The early Pioneers-The first Baptist Church
— Supply of Cincinnati with preaching-John Smith, Preacher, first
United States Senator, implicated with Burr-Morris emigrates to Columbia-Employed by Smith-Hunts in the forest where Cincinnati
stands-A Contrast.
IN  1795, the territory now constituting the State of
Ohio became the permanent home of Thomas Morris.
The great Nlorth-western Territory, out of which the five
States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin have been formed, was ceded by Virginia to the
United States. In 1787, Congress passed an ordinance
which consecrated forever this vast domain to the reign
of freedom. Slavery was forever prohibited. The wisdom of that great act has been most signally vindicated
in the present prosperity and greatness of the State of
Ohio. In her material wealth, in her noble systems of
education, in her agricultural and commercial prosperity,
in her political power and influence, and in all that -constitutes the best types of a Christian civilization, Ohio
presents a noble monument of freedom, and the most
unanswerable evidence of the wisdom of that policy that
forbids the foot-prints of a slave to tread the soil of a free
nation. This noble ordinance of freedom was, on the 4th
of July, 1788, made the special topic of eulogy and thanksgiving by the emigrants who, on the 7th of April, 1788,
made their settlement at Marietta, on the banks of the
Ohio river. In the groves of nature, and in the midst of
the enchanting scenery that surrounded them, breathing
o   VIYJV)V ~I~~lHU         CV~~




18         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
an air made fragrant with freedom, did the pioneer emigrants from New England celebrate the anniversary of
their national independence, by an oration of thanksgiving to God for that ordinance that had forever consecrated the soil of Ohio to freedom.
In November, 1788, seven months subsequent to the
settlement at Marietta, a colony of emigrants began another settlement at Columbia, Hamilton county, five miles
above Cincinnati. Among others, these emigrants consisted of Goforth, Stites, Major Gano, Col. Spencer, Rev.
John Smith, Francis Dunlavey, and John Reily. Judge
Burnet, himself an early pioneer, and a distinguished
actor in the history and legislation of Ohio, in his Notes
on the [North-western Territory, says of the settlers in
Columbia: " They were all men of energy and enterprise,
and were more numerous than either of the parties who
commenced their settlements below them on the Ohio."
The village of Columbia, it was thought, would become
the great commercial town of the Miami country, and for
many years maintained a vigorous rivalry with the rising
settlements of Cincinnati and North Bend. Cincinnati,
however, became the center of commerce and population,
and so rapid has been her progress, that she now almost
includes within her corporate limits Columbia, once her
rival and superior.
The Indians were numerous and hostile, and hence it
became necessary for the emigrants to erect a fort, called
Fort Miami, for their protection, and which afforded to
the families a place of safety and refuge. Farms were
opened and agriculture prosecuted under a military police.
While one part of the emigrants were working in the
fields, another must be watching lest the Indians should
attack them by surprise.
Several of the early emigrants were Baptist preachers,
and one of the first acts was to organize a church, and to
erect a house for the worship of God. The church was




LIFE  OF SENATOR  O31Ot.RIUS.             19)
constituted on the last Saturday of MIarch, 1790, by Rev.
Stephen Gano, of Providence, Rhode Island.  There were
nine members who united in the constitution, viz.: Benjamin and -Mary Davis, Isaac Ferris, John Ferris, Elizabeth Ferris, Jonah Reynolds, Amy Reynolds, John  S.
Gano and Thomas C. Wade. During the Spring of 1790,
the frame edifice was opened for worship.  It was built
on a beautiful eminence, and stood, for a half century, a
suggestive relic of pioneer faith and enterprise. Many
years after, when the venerable building was passing into
ruins, some one gave utterance to his feelings inl a poem,
of which the two following stanzas only remain:
" Near where the Ohio winds its lonely way,
Through fields and flowers, and herbage richly gay;
There on a green, luxuriant sloping sod,
In ruined mantles clad, stood the lone house of God.
A strange sensation thrilled across my breast,
As its drear aisles my wandering footsteps pressed;
Their sounds alone disturbed the pensive scene,
That spoke what it was then, and told what it had been."
At the dedication of this church, which was the second
erected in Ohio, in order to be protected from the attacks
of the Indians, the militia appeared armed for defense,
and Col. Spencer, long a venerable and honored citizen
of Cincinnati, addressed them at the close of the sermon,
on the danger the congregation was in if attacked only
by a half dozen Indians; and on subsequent Sabbaths,
this congregation of pioneer worshipers were dispersed
in great haste for fear of the Indians. Thus the institutions of Christianity and of civilization, were planted
by the perils and privations of our noble and self-denying
pioneers. This Baptist church had the true missionary
spirit, and labored to diffuse the blessings of the Gospel
into destitute regions. Cincinnati then needed the ministrations of a Gospel minister; and in April, 1790, the




*20        LIFE  OF SENATOR  hMORRIS.
church formally passed a resolution " that in view of the
entire destitution of preaching in Cincinnati, Bro. Smith,
(afterward the celebrated John Smith, Senator of Ohio),
be allowed to spend half his time in that place."
Rev. John Smith was the first regular pastor, and emigrated from  Pennsylvania, in MCay, 1790.  He was a
remarkable man, possessed of varied talent, and a versatile genius. He was a successful merchant, an adroit politician, a sagacious legislator, and an able divine. A
cotemporary, Judge Pollock, of Clermont county, said
of him: " As an ox-driver, no man was his superior; at
a log-rolling, or horse-racing, he was the foremost man;
at the end of a handspike, few could outlift him. The
Sabbath day would find him in the pulpit, an able advocate of the doctrines of Christianity and of the Baptist
denomination.  As a member of Congress, he stood
among the great men of the nation."
In 1802, Ohio was admitted into the Union, and John
Smith was elected one of her first Senators in Congress,
which office he filled for one term. At the close of his
Senatorial term, he became implicated with Aaron Burr
in his treasonable project of forming a South-Western
independent government. Smith, in 1807, resigned his
Senatorship, fled from Ohio in disgrace, lost his great
wealth, and ended his career in dishonor and poverty at
Bayou Sara, Louisiana.
In 1795, Thomas Morris, a young and enterprising
adventurer, nineteen years of age, from the mountains of
Western Virginia, arrived in Columbia. lie was immediately employed as a clerk in the store of Rev. John
Smith, and became a great favorite with him. During
this time his mind became deeply exercised on the subject
of personal religion, and his feelings found utterance in
in frequent poetic effusions, which are all lost. Rev. John
Smith, and others, regarded these productions as of great
merit for a youth of his age and limited education. For




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              21
several years he continued in the employ of Smith, improving, as he could, his mind by reading, and preparing
for a wider sphere of action.
The plat of ground on which the great commercial city
of Cincinnati now stands, was frequently traversed by
Morris. His feet threaded the forest, then in the wild
magnificence of nature, and the crack of his rifle brought
down many a wild turkey from the tops of lofty trees
which covered the very spot on which now is erected and
established that noble building and institution, the Young
Men's Mercantile Library Association. How wonderful
the change in fifty years! Now, commerce, arts, science, education, Christian institutions, and the highest
forms of a refined social civilization, and a prosperous,
industrial population of over two hundred thousand people, cover with their peaceful and noble triumphs, and
their monuments of taste and civilization, and happiness,
the same forest where young Morris was accustomed to
shoot his wild game.
" Peace has her triumphs no less than war."




22          LIFE  OF SENATOR MORRIS.
CHAIIPTER  I.
MIRRIA.GE -Incident in the girlhood of his Wife -Their DescendantsRemoves to Clermont County, in 1800-Location in Bethel-An
Anti-slavery Incident -Studies Law-Bar of Clermont -Quoting the
Scriptures - Character as a Lawyer-Defends the Laboring Classes -
Incident in a Court-house.
AMONG the first emiorants to Columbia, was the fanlily
of Benjamin Davis; originally from Lancaster county,
Pennsylvania, but direct firom Mason county, Kentucky.
The ancestors of this family were from Wales, worthy and
honored. The children of Benjamin and Mary Davis
consisted of five sons and three daughters, of whom
Rachel was the youngest.  On the 19th of November,
1797, two years after he reached the Columbia settlement,
Thomas Morris and Rachel Davis were married.
She was reared in the midst of the privations of a
pioneer life, and was the fitting companion of him who
was to endure the hardships of a new country, and to
achieve his own fortunes and character. The pioneer
women of the West, were efficient and faithful participators in the great work of laying the foundations of
the new empire, and endured with patient heroism  the
dangers and privations of a back-woods life. An incident, in the girlhood of' Rachel Davis, will illustrate the
daring and self-independence of the early females of the
West. In 1796, she and her sister made a visit to the old
family residence, in Washington, Mason county, Kentucky.  The distance from  Columbia was forty-five
miles, and through an unbroken wilderness, unmarked,
except by a horse-path. The Indians were roaming in the




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               23
forests, and travelers were in constant danger. Nothing
daunted, these traveling girls started alone on their
journey, on horse-back, and, without once alighting from
their horses, safely accomplished their journey. A linen
wallet with some shell corn in one end, and their dinner
in the other, afforded refreshments for man and beast, at
noon, when by the side of a running stream they stopped,
poured the corn on the ground for their horses, and partook of their own refreshment on horseback.
The marriage life of Thomas Morris and Rachel his
wife continued almost fifty years; she surviving her husband eight years, and dying at the age of seventy-four,
on the 16th of January, 1853, near Cincinnati. They
raised and educated eleven children, who lived to fill posts
of usefulness and honor in society. The oldest son, after
filling with ability for nearly twenty years the clerkship
of the Supreme Court, and that of the Common Pleas, in
Clermont county, represented, for four consecutive years,
the Congressional District of Ohio, in the National Legislature, succeeding, in 1846, the distinguished and lamented
Thomas L. Hamer; the second son held during twenty
years, and during several administrations, the office of
Post-Master, of Bethel, Ohio; the third son has been a
minister of the gospel during the last seventeen years, in
the New-School Presbyterian church; and the fourth
son, a resident of Quincy, Illinois, engaged in the profession of law, has been for the past twenty years a prominent and active member of the Democratic party, and
was honored with the office of Chief Commissioner of the
Public Works of that State, and elected as a member of
the Legislature, and is now a candidate for Congress.
There are now living about sixty descendants of Thomas
and Rachel Morris, and scarcely one either dead or living,
was openly infidel or irreligious. All the children were
members of the Methodist or Presbyterian church, but
two, and they firm in the faith of Christianity, and some




24         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
who are dead were distinguished for their Christian
character.
This fact is suggestive and instructive. The parents
were themselves the children of Christian parents, and
the mother for thirty years a member of the Baptist
church. They taught their children to believe in Christi. nity, and to attend upon the institutions of the Gospel,
and in their old age they had the pleasure of witnessing
their descendants moral and religious. These results had
their origin in the Log-Cabins of the West, where their
own Christian parents taught them the great truths of
the Bible, in early childhood.
In 1800, they removed from  Columbia to Williamsburgh, Clermont county, Ohio, for many years the capitol
of that county, and in 1804 they permanently located in
Bethel, where they resided the most of their active life.
An incident, marking the anti-slavery sentiment of that
time and village, must, here, have an honorable record.
The proprietor of the village was Obed Donham, who laid
it out in 1802. He was from Virginia, and a member of
the Baptist church; and in donating two lots to the Baptist denomination, he put into the deed of conveyance
the following record, viz.: " I also give two lots in said
town, Nos. 80 and 180, for the use of the regular Baptist
church, who do not hold slaves, nor commune at the
Lord's Table with those who do practice such tyranny
over their fellow creatures- for to build a house for the
worship of Almighty God, and to bury the dead, and for
no other use." MIr. Morris said, for this act, Mr. Donham
deserved a marble monument. The removal of Thomas
Morris to Clermont proved fortunate. His energies found
an active field for development and effort, and he resolved
to be a successful winner.  Without friends, without
pecuniary means, with a growing family, without a preceptor, and with few books, he commenced, in 1802, the
study of law. Early and late he was at his legal books.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              25
After the hard labors of the day were over, night found
him at his studies reading Blackstone, not by the light
of an astral lamp, nor yet by the common light of a tallow
candle, for his poverty forbade this cheap convenience,
but by the light afforded by hickory bark or a clapboard
in his cabin, and often from a brick kiln which he was
burning, for the support of his family.
Under these formidable difficulties, with a resolute purpose and an iron will, he pushed his onward way, and
reached the goal before him. Completing two years of
study, he was admitted to practice as an attorney and
counsellor at law. He had not mistaken his profession
or his powers. He soon took a leading position as a
lawyer, and reputation and business rapidly accumulated.
The Bar of Clermont, for many years, was distinguished for its ability in its home and visiting lawyers.
Benham, Fox, W. H. Harrison, jr., and others from Cincinnati; Corwin, from  Warren; Hamer, from  Brown;
Martin Marshall, from Kentucky; and Fishback, now
the patriarch of the legal profession in Clermont, men of
great legal attainments and intellectual abilities, were the
men who met at various courts, to measure weapons with
each other. Morris was among the first of that circle of
distinguished lawyers. Before a jury, there were none
who surpassed him in power and effect. Engaged in
almost every case in Court, he ever maintained an eminence equal to the highest, and was a successful winner
in the field of legal honors.
As a lawyer, and a public speaker, he quoted more frequently than most public men, from the Bible, and those
quotations, being apt and accurate, greatly added to the
conclusiveness of his arguments before a jury. His readiness to employ the Scriptures to confirm his sentiments
showed his familiarity with them, and his belief in their
Divine authority.
3




26         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
In the Senate of the United States, when making a
speech on the monetary interests of the country, and the
evils resulting from the credit system, tending to the
destruction of self-independence, he cited Bible authority,
that "the borrower is servant to the lender."  A coSenator, Mr. Mangum, of North Carolina, with great
earnestness, denied the truth of such a doctrine. Mr.
Morris replied, that the authority was of Divine origin,
and he submitted the question to the Senate, whether the
Senator or the Bible was of the highest authority.
A. successful lawyer for forty (years, yet he never
encouraged litigation. " It ought to be," said he, "our
aim to prevent litigation, as far as practicable with the
rules and ends of justice." His services as a lawyer were
rendered as willingly and energetically to the poor as to
the rich. Indeed he was generally on the side of the
poor; if it had not been so, his ability as an advocate
would have yielded him an immense fortune. With him
the right was the great leading motive, and the effort to
violate it stirred the strongest energies of his nature, and
brought him down on his adversary with an irresistible
power and force.
In a legal contest with Benham, an able lawyer, in
which be, (Benham) wielded his sarcasm and eloquence
against the citizens of villages, who, he affirmed, when
they got a few mechanics and one or two professional
men, put on airs of importance and dignity-Mr. Morris
retorted with a power and eloquence that was felt by his
distinguished opponent. He contrasted city gentlemen
with the free, honest, and independent citizens in country
villages, and made a most powerful defense of the noble
position and honorable calling of mechanics and laboring
men. The vindication and triumph were complete. Mr.
Benham said afterward, that Morris was harder to vanquish than any lawyer he contended with.
In a case of great importance, before the Court of




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              27
Brown county, he desired a continuance of his case, a
principal witness being absent, on account of high waters.
The Court refused the motion; and ~Mr. Morris procured
a horse, swam the stream, and with his witness behind
him, returned and replunged again into the swollen
stream, entered the Court, and gained his case.
These incidents are illustrative of his unconquerable
energy, as well as of his ability as a lawyer. His success
had a significant connection with his reading Blackstone,
by the light of hickory bark, in his log-cabin.




28          LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
CHAPTER V.
ELECTED to the Legislature-Early Legislative History of Ohio-Narrow
escape of Freedom in the Convention - Character of the men who
framed the Constitution-Judge Cutter- Character of the Legislators
of Ohio, for the first thirty-five years — Mr. Morris's position as a
Legislator.
IN 1806, Mr. Morris was elected a representative from
Clermont county, and took his seat at Zanesville, then
the capital of Ohio.
The early legislation of Ohio forms one of the brightest and most honorable historical chapters in her record.
The legislators, to whom were entrusted the task of constructing the organic system of the civil government of
Ohio, were men of practical wisdom, and of just and
liberal views. Its territorial government was the creation of the living breath of freedom. The Ordinance of
1787 laid the chief corner stone in the structure of her
greatness and prosperity; and the men who framed the
State Constitution, and created her system of legislation,
conformed their policy to this great charter of freedom.
They consecrated the State to Religion, Education, and
Freedom. The Bill of Rights declares, "That neither
slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for crime, shall
exist in the State; that religion, morality, and knowledge, being essentially necessary for good government,
and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of
instruction shall forever be encouraged by legislative
provision; and that all men are born equally free and
independent, and have the right to life, liberty, and of
pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               29
These enactments saved Ohio from the blight and curse
of slavery. The slave power, however, early made a
strong effort to gain a foothold on the virgin soil of Ohio.
At the first session of the Territorial legislature which
met, February 4th, 1799, in Cincinnati, petitions were
presented by many Virginians, who owned lands in the
Virginia Military Bounty District, west of the Scioto
river, to settle, with their slaves, on their own lands.
These petitions were rejected at once. The legislature
believed that the Ordinance of 1787 left them no option whatever,
and, they did not even entertain the petitions.
A second effort was made, when the State Constitution
was formed, to introduce and fix slavery upon the soil of
Ohio. Presidential power was used then, as now, to give
extension to the system. Jefferson was President; and
Jeremiah Morrow, Ohio's first representative in Congress, when his duties called him to the seat of government, called on the President, who expressed to him his
deep regret that slavery had not been allowed to enter
the new State. The reason assigned was, that the extension of slavery over a large area tended to destroy it. A
great error, as the history of American slavery mournfully confirms.
In the convention met to form the Constitution of
Ohio, John W. Brown, from Hamilton county, chairman
of the Committee on the Bill of Rights, presented a section declaring that, "No person shall be held in slavery,
if a male, after he is thirty-five years of age; and if a female,
after twenty-five years of age." This section was defeated
by the heroic firmness of Ephraim Cutler, of Marietta.
He framed the eighth section, containing the Bill of
Rights, in which slavery was forever prohibited, and this
section was incorporated into the Constitution. It was
the opinion of Mr. Cutler, that the section allowing
slavery, in a modified form, originated with President,
Jefferson; and Browne, in advocating this policy, said



30         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
"What he had introduced was thought, by the greatest
men in the nation, to be, if established in the Constitution, a great step toward the general emancipation of the
slaves." Mr. Cutler, in view of the narrow escape freedom had, in this contest with slavery, made in his journal
the following record: " Thus an overruling Providence,
by His wisdom, makes use of the weak often to defeat
the purpose of the great and wise; and to His name be
the glory and praise."
Let Ohio ever honor and hold in grateful remembrance
the services and memories of her first legislators, and
those who in her subsequent history, with earnestness
and ability, maintained the principles of freedom, which
gave her birth, and by which she has risen to unexampled prosperity and greatness.
Judge Burnet says-" The delegates who framed the
Constitution were, with but few exceptions, the most
intelligent men in the counties." Jeremiah Morrow, the
first representative in Congress, afterward senator and
governor, a man who was ever faithful and honest, and
who died, full of years and honors, in 1852; Dunlevy, an
early pioneer to Columbia, a man of integrity and liberal
education; John Reily, an honored citizen of Butler
county; Tiffin and Worthington, from Ross, and Hungtingdon, from Trumbull, all of whom were Governors of
the State; Cutler and Putnam, from Washington; and
Gatch and Sargeant, from Clermont, were among the
honored men who successfully labored, in the construction of the State Constitution and the early legislation of
Ohio. Gatch and Sargeant were elected because they
were anti-slavery men. They were both Virginians, and
both were practical emancipators. General Harrison, the
Territorial representative from Ohio, in Congress, in a
public letter, written in 1820, when a candidate for Congress in Ohio, in which he was defending himself against
the charge of pro-slavery sympathies, refers to his "vener



LIFE OF SENATOR.ORRIS.              31
able friend, Philip Gatch, who was a member of an
abolition society in Virginia."
It is a debt of gratitude due from the great State of
Ohio to honor the memories, and to perpetuate, in her
historical annals, the services of those earliest legislators
and founders of her fame and greatness; men who ornamented the State by their private virtues and public
labors. In this catalogue of able men and upright legislators, who, from the date of the birth of Ohio, through
the subsequent thirty years of her legislative history,
aided in adjusting and perfecting the system of government, must be named —Jacob Biurnet, John McLean,
Ethan Allen Brown, Charles Hammond, Benjamin Tappan, John Ai. Goodenou, John C. Wright, Elisha Whittlesey, Samuel M. Vinton, Joshua Collet, Reuben Hitchcock,
Allen Trimble, Duncan McArthur, Reuben Wood, James
Cooly, Joseph Vance, and others. The present generation, says the author of the memoir of Judge Hitchcock,
know but little of the treasures of knowledge and talent
brought to Ohio by her energetic and enterprising pioneers. The present generation is inclined, most erroneously, to arrogate to itself superior abilities, in proportion
to its greater facilities. On hearing a remark claiming
this superiority, the reply of one of the survivors of that
day was —" You are mistaken; I tell you there were
giants at the West in those days." Nearly all of those,
distinguished in the constitutional and legislative history
of Ohio, have passed away, but they have left noble monuments of their wisdom and labors.
Thomas Morris was among the ablest and wisest of the
legislators of Ohio, and identified during a long period
with her legislative history, being a member of the General Assembly for twenty-four years, and connected with
the politics of the State for fifty years.




32          LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
CHAPTER VI.
His labors and influence as a Legislator-Against Liquor Licenses and
Lotteries-Against Prohibiting the Emigration of Colored People to
Ohio-Speech on the Rights of Conscience-On Abolishing Imprisonment for Debt-His Faith in the People-The People to elect all OMfi.
cers —Jury Trials before Justices-Internal Improvements-Opposed
to the Canal System of Ohio —Prophecy about Railroads-A Ride in a
Canoe-A Contrast.
IN the legislature of Ohio, he was a prominent and
active participator. His abilities soon placed him among
the first of the distinguished men who from year to year
met in the legislative halls. No matter what party was
in power, he was chairman of the most important committees, most generally the judiciary, and often appointed
on special committees. His influence, in the judgment of
cotemporaries, was always equal to any in the legislature.
As a legislator, he labored for the equal rights of all,
and to conform the action of civil government to the true
doctrines of democracy, and the principles of justice and
Christian morality. He was opposed to all chartered
monopolies, and to all legislation that gave one class civil
privileges above another. His entire legislative history
is free from selfish ambition, and in general accordance
with the fundamental principles of right as revealed in
the Bible, the only source of true national prosperity.
He believed the traffic in spiritous liquors, as a beverage, was a moral wrong, and on all occasions voted to
restrain the evil, by putting the price of license up to the
highest possible sum, so as to prohibit it altogether. He
warmly enlisted in the great Temperance Enterprise, and




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                33
gave it his influence and aid, as a legislator and a man,
by precept and example..He voted against all lotteries, a species of legislation
not then uncommon in the older States. In 1827, a bill was
introduced to aid Ohio in her system of canal improvements; the author of the bill affirming-" That it was
good policy, while the lotteries of other States were draining specie from Ohio, the bill would have a tendency to
bring some back. The city of New York," said he, "would
buy ten or fifteen thousand dollars worth of tickets."
Mr. Morris, regarding it as immoral, and as compromising the honor of the State, moved its rejection. " I object to it on the score of morality and policy. Suppose
the gentleman's speech is printed in New York, what a
happy tendency it would have to procure assistance for
the construction of our canal. Their opinion of our resources would be greatly increased, when they perceived
we had to resort to the pitiful expediency of a lottery, to
raise funds to carry on our system of internal improvements. It was encouraging a species of gambling," The
bill was rejected by a large majority.
An effort was made during this session of legislature,
to prohibit by penal legislation, the future immigration of
blacks and mulattoes into Ohio. Faithful to the rights of
man, he opposed the principles of the bill, as unjust, unconstitutional, and odious. It was rejected.
This session also witnessed a strong effort to legislate
on the rights of conscience. A bill for the support of
common schools contained a clause that "no teacher
should teach any sectarian creed, catechism, confession of
faith, etc., unless each person entitled to send to said
school shall consent to the same; and any teacher violating the provisions of this act shall be fined."
Mr. Morris made an able speech against the bill, in
which he advocated the great Protestant principle of the




34         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
freedom of the rights of conscience in religion. That
speech contains the following sound doctrines:
" I meet these extraordinary provisions, with the broad
denial that we have any power whatever to legislate on
this subject. The right of conscience is an inalienable
right, for the exercise of which man is not accountable
to man: he is accountable to no power short of that of
his Creator. It is a religious right with which human
laws have nothing to do. The right of belief is the right
of the individual, not of the community. Yet we are, as
legislators, about to say that if any individual, as a schoolmaster, shall undertake to teach what he believes to be
just and right, he shall be subjected to a penalty inflicted
by the judicial officers of the law, and this too under the
plausible pretext of securing the rights of conscience.
These rights of worship, these dictates of conscience are
too pure, sublime and holy to be touched by human legislation. They do not need the support of government,
and in all cases where the secular support of the government have attempted to support, direct, control, or in any
manner interfere therewith, instead of causing these
rights to grow and flourish, it has caused them to wither,
decay and die. The right of my neighbor to worship his
Creator as his conscience dictates, is a right which legislation ought not to interfere with. It is his person, his
place of worship, his place as a citizen while engaged in
that worship, and not his religious faith, that our law can
or ought to protect.
In our country we have a great variety of religious
sects. Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians,
Quakers, Unitarians, and others, who have different creeds
and confessions of faith; some believing in the Divine
atonement, and others believing that the Saviour of men
was only "' the way, the truth and the life;" and yet, according to this bill, our children are to be taught none of




LIFE OF SENATOR IMORRIS.               35
these doctrines in our schools, without making the instructor liable to the penalty of this law. Suppose the pupil
should have heard of the name of Jesus Christ, and should
ask his instructor, who is Jesus Christ? and the answer
should be in the language of Scripture,' The Son of God,
the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, God made
manifest in the flesh;' who by his sufferings and death made
an atonement for all men. This would be teaching sectarian
principles within the meaning of this bill, because all do
not believe in these fundamental doctrines of Christianity.
Do the friends of this bill mean that the use of the Bible
shall be prohibited in our schools? That book is held by
all denominations to be their only creed or confession of
faith, and yet, by the principles of this bill, under pretext of securing the rights of conscience, teachers shall
be subject to a fine for instructing their pupils out of the
Bible, whence all profess to get their religious creeds. It
is constituting the officers of the law the umpire, to decide what is, or is not, sectarian principles, and subjecting
the conscience of the teacher to the power of legislation.
Even parental authority strays beyond its proper bounds,
when it shall be exercised to prohibit the child who has
arrived at the years of discretion, from the examination
of each and every sectarian creed and religious doctrine
that he may wish. It is his dutyto interpose with parental advice, but not with coercive measures.
"It is said that the law for the support of common
schools, as it now stands, will colnpel the sect of Christians called the Friends or Quakers, to aid in the support
of schools to which they can not conscientiously send
their children, and that this numerous and respectable
body of Christians are worthy of legislative attention and
care. As a legislator, I am not disposed to fasten my
political car to the chariot of any particular Christian
sect. I respect them all, and acknowledge with gratitude
the beneficial effects of their labors upon the lives and




36         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
conduct of men; but as a legislator, I say to them as
Christians, professing any sectarian creed, form, catechism,
article or confession of faith, I know you not; these are
yours, and in the exercise thereof, according to the dictates of your own conscience, I will, as far as in my
power as a legislator, provide that every one of you'may sit under your own vine and fig-tree,' and none
shall be suffered to make you afraid; but your doctrines
and your faith must not be used as a cloak to screen you
from obedience to the municipal laws of your country;
nor can we give any of you a preference; you all must'render to Caesar the things that are Ceesar's.'
" As legislators, we have the right, and it is our duty to
provide for the support and regulation of schools; but
this right does not extend to any acts of legislation affecting creeds or articles of religious faith, but to cultivating
the human intellect, preparing the young and rising generation to become useful members of society; and to the
general diffusion of knowledge, so essentially necessary
to a good government; a kind of State property we are
bound to increase and cultivate with the most assiduous
care, as a means of giving perpetuity to our political
-institutions.
" I am willing to leave the government of our district
schools, in reference to the reading of creeds, forms, rules,
articles or confessions of faith, to the good sound sense
and sound discretion of the householders in each district.
It is the only safe depository of that power. Virtue,
public virtue, is the base upon which the superstructure
of our government is raised and must stand, and this is
found among the people in larger proportion than in the
halls of legislation. Permit me to say to the Friends
who ask for this special legislation, depart in peace. Your
religion needs not the support of human legislation; the
weapons of your warfare are not carnal; cultivate peace,
harmony and good will toward all men; be obedient to




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              37
the laws of your country, and those who are in authority
over you; overcome evil with good; and by a holy life
and an upright walk and conversation, your children, the
objects of your care, will be influenced and guided by
your bright example, and their tender minds will receive
more lasting and desirable impressions than can be made
by the teacher of your district schools, though he be
armed with all the sectarian creeds which the ingenuity,
the ambition or the pride of man has ever invented."
The bill was rejected.
The statute book of Ohio, with many other States, was
for years dishonored with a law that imprisoned a man
for inability to pay his debts. This relic of barbarous
legislation is now swept away by the progress of juster
and more Christian views. For its extinction in Ohio,
Mr. Morris labored with an earnest ability. On a bill for
its abolishment, in the legislature, he made an able
speech, from which the following extracts are made:
" The state of society at this day does not require the
dogmas of superstition, the precepts of ignorance, nor
the conveniences of despotism to compel the payment of
debts. The force of moral sentiment, properly cultivated
and rightly directed, would be far more effectual than all
the bars and cells of your prisons. Abandon, then, this
relic of oppression, this appeal to force for the collection
of debts. When you do this, that moral principle, which
has a thousand times more influence than your penal laws,
will assume its place, and be safely relied on. From what
principle do the great body of your citizens act in the
payment of debts? From the fear of your prisons? No;
from higher and more exalted motives; from a love of
truth and probity, from a desire to preserve a good name,
which is more precious than gold, and more available in
life than all the wealth this world can afford. I hope,
then, Ohio will put her hand in earnest, at this auspicious
moment, to the good work. She is emphatically a free




38          LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
State. Her Constitution declares that no slavery shall exist within her borders, otherwise than for the punishment
of crime; yet the worst of all slavery, imprisonment for
non-payment of debt, exists. Let it no longer disgrace
our statute book."
As a legislator, he was not afraid to trust the people
with all political power, and to transfer to them the election of every officer required in the administration of the
government. In this great principle of a democratic
government he was in advance of his cotemporaries. The
doctrine is now popular, to make all offices, even judges
of our courts, elected by the people. It was advocated by
Mr. Morris nearly thirty years ago, in the legislature of
Ohio
In 1828, he brought in a bill in the Senate, to allow
juries before justices of the peace, and in its defense said,
" It is objected to this bill that justices of the peace will
be rendered almost as important as judges of the court.
I fear this is the secret spring that moves all the other
objections. This hankering after power, this desire to
concentrate it in as few hands as possible, this kind of
judge worship, is the most dangerous spirit abroad. It is
not the ermine of the Bench that ought to attract our notice, but justice, substantial justice; and all the ends of
justice would be as well gained before justices of the
peace, if we would allow them juries, as in our courts of
a higher grade."
" Justice has a higher and more perfect origin than human legislation. It can not be found in the dictum of
judges, in the decrees of emperors, or in the maxims of
lawyers. Its best and only legitimate standard is traced
by the finger of the Creator in the moral nature of every
man; and its motto is,' do unto all men as you would have
them to do unto you,' and the nearest we can approximate to justice is through the medium of a trial by jury.
The trial by jury is our security for the liberties we




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              39
enjoy, our protection and safety; and hence it is political
wisdom and sound policy to extend its benefits to all possible cases.
In 1829, he brought in a bill, that judges should not
charge juries as to matter of facts, but may sum up the
evidence and declare the law, and on it he presented
some important rules in the administration of justice.
" That jurors are judges of the facts, and courts of the
law, are obvious truths, and to keep each within its proper
sphere is the duty of the legislature. It is a clear departure from duty in a judge, to undertake to explain and to
instruct the jury as to the strength and applicability of
the testimony. It is stepping beyond the limits of his
own power, and an intrusion into that which the law has
vested in a distinct, though component part of the court.
In permitting the judge to forestall the opinion of jurors,
as to the facts in the case, you deprive the citizen of the
whole benefit intended to be secured by a trial by jury.
You mock him with the shadow, while in truth you deny
him the substance. Moreover, judges, though vested
with authority, are still men, subject to all the frailties,
partialities and prejudices of other men." He had no
faith in the infallibility of courts.
He labored, as a legislator, to keep the taxes as low as
the necessity of the government would permit, and opposed all extravagant expenditures of the public money.
He held to the doctrine that legislation should be impartial, and if special favors were granted, the industrial
classes should receive them. In 1812, he obtained the
passage of a bill, " That each person who has a family
shall be allowed to hold twelve sheep, also the wool, and
the yarn cloth manufactured by such families, exempt
from all executions for payment of debts. In 1828, he
endeavored to obtain a law taxing all chartered institutions, and such manufactories as founderies, glass-houses,




40         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
mills and distilleries, and exempt all houses in each
county from taxation.
Ohio was the first western State to enter upon a system of internal improvements. Canals were the objects
of State enterprise then, and in 1825, Ohio began the
great work of the Ohio Canal, by which the waters of
lake Erie and the Ohio river were to be united. Gov.
De Witt Clinton, of New York, designated as the father
of internal improvements, was officially invited to visit
Ohio. He accepted the invitation, and on the 4th of
July, 1825, the forty-ninth anniversary of American independence, in the midst of a vast multitude of enthusiastic citizens, he made an address, and formally inaugurated the canal system near Newark, Licking county. The
Ohio and Erie canal was completed in 1831, is three hundred and nine miles long, and cost the State about five
millions of dollars. Mr. Morris strenuously opposed the
system, in opposition to almost all of the public men of
the State. He declared his convictions of the impractical nature of such a system to develop the resources of
the State, and which would involve a debt of many millions, which never could be paid off by the revenue from
the canal. " I am an unbeliever," he said, "I in the visions
of future wealth from the profits of the canal system. It
would render the State insolvent."
He made a prophecy which has been fully realized. " In
twenty-five years," he said, " Ohio will be covered with a
net-work system of railroads, and canals will be superseded." Ohio has now 2400 miles of road, traversing the
State in every direction, augmenting her wealth a million
fold. A confirmation of the prophecy and sagacity of
Thomas Morris.
An incident will illustrate the wonderful progress of
Ohio, and the present rapid transit over the area of the
State, when compared with her condition twenty-five




LIFE OF SENATOR  -MORRIS.             41
years ago. At an adjournment of the legislature, in
March, 1827, heavy rains had made the ordinary mud
roads from the capital impassible for the stage, then in
common use. The streams were overflowing their banks,
rendering a homeward return of the members almost impossible. Mr. Morris determined to conquer all obstacles.
The Scioto river, on whose banks the capital of Ohio has
stood for the past forty-five years, afforded an egress for
some of the members. A canoe, or, in Western dialect, a
dug-out, was made and put upon the rapid current of the
swollen river, and Mr. Morris and Robert T. Lytle, an
eloquent and able representative from Hamilton county,
embarked with their baggage in this water-craft for home.
A passage of some hundred miles brought them to Portsmouth, where the Scioto mingles its waters with the Ohio,
and there, embarking on a small steamboat, they safely
reached their homes, after a perilous journey of four days.
The transit now, by railroad, from the capital to any part
of Ohio, occupies but four hours.
4




42          LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
CHAPTER VII.
PopurAR Education — Colleges and Common Schools —Advocate of the
Common School System — Relation of Education to Government —
Female Education — Commissioner of the School Fund - Taxation for
School Purposes-Opposition to it-Looses his Election on account of it.
OHIO has been, in her legislative history, distinguished
for her zeal and success in the cause of popular education.
One of her organic laws was —" That schools and the means
of instruction shall forever be encouraged by legislative provision; and to promote, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the diffusion of knowledge,"
through the medium of common schools, has been the
great effort of the legislation of Ohio. Colleges and the
higher grades of seminaries have received her fostering
supervision. Congress, in 1803, donated two townships
of land for collegiate purposes, and out of, these have
been erected two universities-the Ohio University, at
Athens, and Miami University, at Oxford. These, as
gifts from Congress, have been preserved and fostered,
but have never received any special endowment from the
State. The establishment of a system of common schools,
by taxation, was the great end of the legislation of Ohio,
in respect to education. This was rightly regarded as
indispensable to the well-being and liberties of the State.
Mr. Morris, during his whole legislative history, was an
ardent and able friend of the common schools, and voted
for the largest accumulation of a fund devoted to this
great object. His views are presented, in brief extracts,
from his speeches on the subject.
"Our government," said he, in 1828, "is a beautiful




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              43
machinery made up not of parts, but of the whole body
of the people. It requires, therefore, not the aid of a few,
but the aid of all to keep it in motion. To do this, every
citizen must understand all its parts and all its movements.
He must possess knowledge, virtue, and intelligence;
because, in the language of our own Constitution, they
are essentially necessary to good government and the
happiness of the people. To provide means for the
instruction of all is, then, a duty that devolves on those
who are called to administer the government. This is
not only necessary to the safety and correct administration of the government, but for the happiness of the
people. Let us, then, be faithful to this great duty, so
that to the praise and honor of this generation, let the
next say, that there is not one among them who is not
able to read the Constitution of his country. This will
preserve the Con'stitution more securely than walls of adamant or temples of brass. Let us not, either, overlook
female education. The advancement of the female character, and the instruction and cultivation which woman
receives, has always been justly viewed as evidence of
the improved state of society where it exists. It is, therefore, an indispensable duty to provide for female education; for knowledge is the handmaid of virtue, prudence,
and economy; and where female virtue, knowledge, and
intelligence abound, man can never be degraded or a
slave."
The salt lands in the Scioto Valley were, by Congress,
given to Ohio for literary purposes. In 1826, an effort
was made in the legislature to apply the proceeds of these
lands to colleges. Mr. Morris said-" These lands were
ours for literary purposes, the proceeds to be devoted to
the common school fund. The grant of Congress is
broad, aid will admit the appropriation to be made for
the improvement of the human mind. Sound policy dictates that we should apply them to the common school




44          LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
fund, since we have the right to do so. I must solemnly
protest against applying them to colleges, in the present
situation of the State. The d~ifsionl of knowledge among
the people isfirst to be regarded. We are told that colleges
must be encouraged, in order to raise up lawyers and
statesmen, and legislators. WThat is this but going a
considerable part of the way toward constituting a Patrician class, from which, those who are to administer the
government are only to be chosen. If this were an age
of monkish ignorance, and it were necessary to protect a
privileged order, then we should throw our means into a
fund for their support. But this is not our situation. We
have undertaken to diffuse knowledge among the people,
and to the accomplishment of this object it is our duty
to direct all our attention."
In his own county, he was active in his efforts to build
up a fund for the support of common schools. He brought
the funds, appropriated to Clermont, from  the State
treasury, and for several years, acted as Commissioner
of the County School Funds.  In bringing the School
Fund into existence, he says, "I well knew that I was incurring great personal responsibility. Conscious oftherectitude of my intentions, and the purity of my motives, I feel
much gratified that the day has arrived in which a disinterested tribunal, under the authority of law, can furnish
evidence of my integrity in this whole matter. I have
now fulfilled the task I imposed on myself, and which I
have long had in view, to establish the means by which
the entire youth of this county should receive a common
school education. Having laid the foundation of a fund for
that purpose, and given to it all the security, system, and
order of which I was capable, I yield up my trust under
the grateful conviction, that my agency, in establishing
the School Fund of Clermont county, is among the best
acts I have ever been able to perform for the citizens of
the county."




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               45
Believing that popular education was the shield of free
institutions, giving to the national structure, solidity and
perpetuity, and developing the elements of national prosperity and greatness —lr. Morris, in the legislature of
Ohio, earnestly advocated taxation for school purposes.
Taxation is to carry on the functions of civil government,
and intelligence and virtue being essential to the operations and very existence of free governments, it is the first
duty of a free people to tax themselves for the support of
universal education. Colleges, seminaries, and common
schools are nobler fruits of taxation than penitentiaries,
jails and poor houses. If the former are not founded and
fostered by taxation, the latter must be, for an uncultivated people must be a vicious people.
Among some portions of the American people formerly,
there was an unwillingness to be taxed for the support of
common schools. In Ohio, opposition to this taxation
was manifested. "Fortunately," says John P. Foote, in
his work on " The schools of Cincinnati," " men of intelligence, zeal, and industry, from different States, who knew
the value of common schools, and their special necessity
in a State with such an ultra Democratic Constitution, as
was the first Constitution of Ohio —were fixed in their determination never to cease their efforts to obtain for the
State a system of free schools, until it should be successful,
and free schools be among the established institutions of
the State. They succeeded in spite of much opposition,
and more lukewarmness, and now the system is firmly
fixed in the affections of the people of Ohio, and is considered by them as indispensable an element of their
liberties, and guardian of our free institutions as the trial
by jury, the freedom of the press, or the elective franchise."
As a legislator, Mr. Morris was among the most active
and earnest in maintaining the doctrine of taxation for
education, and in establishing and perfecting a system of




46         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
common schools in Ohio. This measure was met with
much opposition in his own county, and in one canvass, he
lost his election for State Senator, mainly for his successful efforts in this matter.
Clermont county never had a more able, honest, and
faithful public servant, and their appreciation of his ability
and fidelity is demonstrated in his frequent re-elections.
He represented the same constituency for twenty-four
years, seventeen of them consecutively, a rare fact in the
ceaseless changes to which public men are liable, under
Democratic institutions.




LIFE OF SENATOR IMORRIS.                 47
CHAPTER VIII.
IMPEACHMENT of Judges-Morris appointed to conduct the Trial-A Select Committee on Vermont Resolutions in 1809-A Select Committee,
in 1810, on the Measures of the General Government-Supports the
War in 1812-South Carolina Nullification in 1832 —Morris a Select
Committee-His Resolutions-Letter of Judge McLean-Report on
Colonization.
JN 1808-9, the Legislature of Ohio preferred articles of
impeachment against Calvin Pease and John'Tod, two of
the judges of Ohio, for an alleged unconstitutional interference with the powers and duties of justices of the
peace, to whom jurisdiction in cases not exceeding twenty
dollars, was given. This was decided unconstitutional by
Judge Pease, of the District Court, and confirmed by
Judges Huntington and Tod, a majority of the Supreme
Court. This decision was made in view of the seventh
amendment to the Constitution of the United States,
which declares that "In suits at common law, where the
value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the
right of trial by jury shall be preserved," and the eighth
section of article eighth, which declares that "the right
of trial by jury shall be inviolate." The substance of the
impeachment charged that Judge Pease had, on various
occasions, decided that the Court had full power to set
aside, suspend and declare null and void any act of the
State legislature, and that this had been done by the judge,
in declaring null and void the act defining the duties of
justices of peace. On this ground the impeachment was
made by the House of Representatives, and the judges tried
before the bar of the Senate. Thomas Morris was appointed to conduct the impeachment on the part of the




48         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
House; and the historical record shows that he performed
the duty with ability. In this prosecution, the legislature also procured the aid of Judge Baldwin, of Pittsburgh, a distinguished lawyer, and for many years one
of the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.
After a protracted trial, the impeachment was not sustained, the Constitution requiring two-thirds of the Senate to sustain.
The ability with which Mr. Morris conducted this grave
trial, as a lawyer and leader of the House of Representatives, secured for him, in 1809, his election as one of the
Supreme Judges of Ohio, but by a subsequent act of the
legislature, called the " Sweeping Acts," he was prevented from taking his seat.
In 1809-10, resolutions were sent from Vermont to the
legislature of Ohio, proposing to amend the Constitution
of the United States, so as to remove judges of the courts
of the United States upon the address of a majority of
the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the Senate. Mr. Morris was appointed a select committee on the
Vermont resolutions, and reported that:
The General Assembly of the State of Ohio, viewing all
public offices as belonging to the people, and they having
a right to bestow them as they may deem proper; that
the officers in every department of the government ought
to be amenable to them for their conduct; and inasmuch
as all government is established for the happiness and
welfare of the people, therefore, when any public servant
ceases to merit their approbation, they have at all times
the right to withdraw their confidence, and bestow it on
such others as they may deem fit. Therefore, our Senators in Congress are instructed, and the members of the
House requested, to propose this amendment to the Constitution of the United States."
In 1810, Mr. Morris, appointed a Committee on the
measures of the General Government, reported as follows:




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              49'
"Resolved, by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio,
That our political safety depends on our attachment to,
and continuance in our federal relations with our sister
States, and we pledge ourselves to the General Government to support the union of the States to the utmost of
our power; and believing as we do, that the measures of
the General Government are directed by sound policy, and
with the welfare of all in view, we hesitate not to say,
that Ohio will be found ever ready to support such measures as Congress may direct for securing our rights, sovereignty and independence."
Mr. Madison was then President, and war with Great
Britain was anticipated, and was declared by Congress
in 1812. Mr. Morris was a strenuous advocate of that
war, and during its continuance was a member of the
legislature of Ohio, and on committees which reported
such resolutions as this, which the legislature adopted:
" Resolved, That this General Assembly pledge themselves
to their country, and with all their means and energies
to aid in the vigorous prosecution of the present just and
necessary war, until a safe and honorable peace can be
obtained." Peace was concluded in 1815.
In 1832, South Carolina, aggrieved, as she declared, on
account of oppressive tariff measures by the General
Government, threatened a nullification of the law, and
resistance to the authority of the General Government.
President Jackson issued his proclamation, a very able
State paper, warning them to desist from their treasonable course. Great political excitement and fears pervaded
the country. The different States, by their legislatures
passed resolutions generally approving the measures of
the General Government. Ohio threw her influence on
the side of the General Government. Mr. Morris, then a
member of the Senate, was appointed a select committee,
to whom was referred "the ordinance of the Convention
5




50         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
of the people of South Carolini," and reported the following resolutions:' Resolved, by the Gueneral Assemsbly of the State (of Ohio,
That we view with the deepest regret the unhappy movements and apparent determination of the State of South
Carolina to nullify the laws of the Genleral Government,
made in conformity to the Constitution of the United
States.
"Resolved, That the Federal Union exists in a solid
compact entered into by the voluntary consent of each
and every State; and that therefore no State can claim
the right to secede from or violate that compact; and
however grievous may be the supposed or real burthens
of the State, the only legitimate remedy is in the wise
and faithful exercise of the elective franchise, and the
solemn responsibility of' the public agents.
"Resolved, That the doctrine that a State has the power
to nullify a law of the General Government, is revolutionary in its character, and is, in its nature, calculated
to overthrow the great temple of American liberty; and
that such a course can not absolve that allegiance which
the people owe to the supremacy of the laws.
"Resolved, That in levying and collecting duties, impgs-ts and excises, while the general good should be the
primary object, a special regard should be had to the end;
that the interest and prosperity of every section of the
country should be equally consulted, and its burdens
proportionably distributed.
" Resolved, That the first object of the American people
should be fo cherish the most ardent attachment to the
Constitution and laws of the Union; and, as a first and
paramount object of a free people, we should use every
laudable means to preserve the Union of these States.
"Resolved, That we will support the General Government in all its Constitutional measures to maintain peace




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              51
and harmony between the several States, and preserve
the lihonor and integrity of the Union."
During the agitation of this subject in the legislature
of Ohio, John McLean, then and now an able and upright
Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, whose
private life and civic services have ornamented the history
of Ohio and the nation, wrote to Mr. Morris the following
patriotic letter. It shows the feeling that pervaded the
minds of public men at that crisis.
WASHINGTON, 23d January, 1833.
DEAR SIR-i have not yet seen any expression of our
legislature respecting the movements of South Carolina,
and the steps taken by the President to counteract those
movements. It is not my intention or wish to indicate
any opinion upon the subject, further than to say —if
you should act, I hope you will recommend forbearance
on the part of the Federal Government. I do not mean
by this, that there should be no action on the part of
the General Government; but I wish to see the law
take its ordinary course, without any extraordinary
preparation to enforce it; and I should deprecate the
employment of force, except to give effect to the laws,
by aiding the proper officers of the courts in the service
of their process. This will give time to our erring fellow citizens of South Carolina to reflect on their course,
and this, I should hope, would bring them to a sense of
their duty.
The Proclamation has had the effect in the South,
which I had no doubt from the first, it would have, to
exasperate the people of South Carolina, and greatly
strengthen their cause in Virginia and the other Southern
States. The late message will, I fear, increase this feeling. Do not understand me as questioning the motives
which led to these measures, or as excusing, in any degree, the consequences which have followed them. Both




52         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
measures should have produced very different effects; but
we must, in anticipating results, consider men as they
are, not as they should be.
General Jackson has great popularity in the South, and
on this ground alone, I do not see how any one can regret
his re-election. But there is danger of too much action.
I have more fears from this, than from the unconstitutional edicts of South Carolina.  Strongly as I feel
opposed to their principles, I had rather see the tariff-law
suspended in that State, for a season, than that one drop
of blood should be spilt. From this suspension no lasting
injury could result to the Union, and the instruments
who had obstructed the law would be eventually held
responsible to the country, and to individuals who had
suffered damage; but if the Federal forces should meet
in conflict those of South Carolina, I shall despair of ever
seeing harmony restored. A case may occur in which a
resort to physical force may be necessary against a part
of our fellow citizens, but nothing short of the revolution
of the country should justify such a procedure.
Suppose, during the late war, an army had been
marched against Massachusetts and the Hartford Convention, what would have been the consequences? The
Union would have been dissolved. Of this no one can
doubt, who took a part in the political action of that day.
Mild measures were pursued, and no extraordinary action
of the Government was directed against any of the refractory States. Time was given for reflection, and public
sentiment applied the necessary correction.
A bill is now before the Senate, which, if it shall
become a law in its present shape, I fear may produce
much mischief. If we shall be urged on by feelings of
resentment, and in the exercise of extraordinary powers
attempt to crush the State of South Carolina, there will
be an end of our Government in a short time. I tremble
at the gulf which lies before us. Shall this glorious




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              53
heritage which is the admiration of the world, and our
greatest pride, be destroyed? I assure you, our government is in danger, and we should all contribute our best
efforts to preserve it.   With great respect, yours,
JOHN McLEAN.
HON. T. MORRIS.
REPORT ON COLONIZATION.
During the session of the legislature, in 1831-2, numerous petitions were presented, asking appropriations for
the purpose of colonizing the free people of color in
Ohio, in the Republic of Liberia, on the coast of Africa.
M3r. Morris was appointed a select committee on that subject, and reported the preamble and resolutions here
inserted. The colonization scheme may accomplish a good
work in the illumination and regeneration of Africa, but
as a remedy for the evils of American slavery, is visionary. Emancipation on the soil of the United States, or
perpetual slavery, is the only alternative. Mr. Morris,
in his efforts against slavery and the slave power of
the country, during the latter years of his life, neither
attacked nor defended the colonization scheme.
Mr. Morris, from the Committee appointed for that
purpose, reported the following
PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTIONS,
ON THE SUBJECT OF THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY.
Although we believe the existence of slavery in these
United States is a moral evil, as well as a national calamity, and we recognize to its fullest extent the doctrine
that all men are created EQUAL, " That they are endowed
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that
among these are life, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS," and that it is the duty of every citizen of the
United States to aid, as far as his situation will reasonably permit, in extending these inestimable blessings to




54c         L1I'E OF SENATOR MUORRIS.
the colored population of our country. This General
Assembly can not for a moment entertain the belief that
slavery, which is undoubtedly our greatest national sin,
has been the consequence of any particular State regulation, or that it ought to be viewed as a local, and not a
general misfortune; the curse is upon us all, and it is now
vain and useless to inquire by what means it was first
introduced. The States, in the adoption of the federal compact, recognize slavery among the existing order of
things, by declaring that Congress should not prohibit
the migration to, or importation of, any person into any
of the States then existing, as they should think proper,
prior to the year 1808; and also by further declaring that
no person held to service or labor in any State, under the
laws thereof, should, by escaping into any other State, be
discharged from such service or labor, in consequence of
any law or regulation therein; but should be delivered
up on the claim of the party to whom such labor or service was due.
Although Ohio is emphatically a free State, whose territory and climate have never been contaminated by the
withering influence of slavery; nor has the cultivation or
improvement of her soil been extorted from the unwilling
hand of the laborer-yet we disclaim all right to interfere
between the slave and his owner in a political view of
the subject, nor will we inquire into the policy or justice of
the laws of our sister States, which acknowledge the
existence of slavery. It is sufficient for the citizens of Ohio
to know that any portion of the human family are suffering from the existence of slavery or any other cause,
to induce them to lend their aid as far as the dictates of
prudence and humanity shall require, without stopping
to examine whether they are under any legal or Constitutional obligation to do so.
This General Assembly are not insensible to the horror
and heart-rending scenes that must ensue from servile




LIPE Oa  SEN AiO(kL MIORSl{S.          B6
war waged by the colored populaltion of our country, and
should it by any possibility prove successful in the slaveholding States, that the pea-ce of our own firesides, and
the repose of our citizens would soon be assailed by the
fell destroyer. Such war could admlit of no prelude, it
would not be a war of conquest. but of extermination of
one or the other race, incladingr all ages, sexes and conditions. This General Assembly believe that no man, who
reflects seriously on the subject, can entertain the idea
that domestic slavery, in this country, under the influence
of our free institutions, can be perpetual; but that the
time is not far in advance when it must terminate, either
by the terrible scourge of insurrection, or by the wisdom,
justice and liberality of our people.
To preserve this favored land from the punishment
which justice demands for this, her National sin, Providence in the Colonization Society, has opened to us a door
of hope. To the oppressed it is the pillar of fire and the
cloud that leads to the land of their fathers; and it has
begun the good work in our own land, and laid the foundation of a system which, if' its operations could be conmmensurate to the object, would not only free our count'y
from the alarming crisis to which she seems fast hastening, but would also restore to the indubitable rights of
man and the country of their fathers, the long oppressed
sons of Africa. And we believe that not only justice,
duty and the honor of our people, demand that we should
lend a helping hand to assist that society in the great un -
dertaking; but that the safety and prosperity of our country, imperiously require that the government of the United
States should take the subject under their consideration,
and afford such additional aid Uas may be in its power.
It is hoped and sincerely believed, that the opinion of
this General Assembly, on the difficult and important
question of freeing our country from its colored population, will not be considered as obtrusive, but received with




66         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
the same spirit of affection and regard with which it is
offered.
All must be aware of the need of an early attention to this
matter, and that time will be necessary for its completion;
and although we have been aroused to reflection by scenes
shocking to humanity, yet it is a melancholy pleasure
that it has been at a time well suited to the benevolent
exertions of our fellow citizens. Our country is at peace
with foreign powers, and her resources commensurate
with the object to be attained.
It is, therefore, seriously recommended to this people, as
well as the government of the United States, whether it
is not worthy of the attention of Congress, as well as the
different State legislatures, to extend their care and fostering hand to the benevolent efforts of the Colonization
Society, by affording pecuniary supplies and the means
of transportation, to all free persons of color who are willing to emigrate to Liberia. This would not only be an
act of naked justice to this long oppressed race of men,
but seems to be required as the only means of preventing
the shedding of human blood, and as a necessary measure
for the security of ourselves and our posterity.
Resolved, therefore, That the benevolent exertions of the
American Colonization Society are entitled to the approbation of the government and people of the United States;
and that our Senators and Representatives are requested
to use their influence to bring this question to the attention of Congress, and to prevail upon that body to adopt
such measures as may be within their Constitutional powers, for the removal of the colored population from the
several States in the Union, and their settlement in Liberia.
Resolved, That should Congress doubt their power to
make appropriations of money from the national trea.
sury for that purpose, it is recommended that the Constitution of the United States be so amended as to give such
power.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               57
Resolved, That we recommend to the citizens of this
State to form Colonization Societies in their different settlements and neighborhoods, and make such yearly contributions as may reasonably be within their power in aid
of the parent society
Resolved, That the Governor pay out of his contingent
fund the sum of one thousand dollars, to aid the Colonization Society to remove to Liberia any persons of color
now residents of this State, and who shall apply to the
Governor and obtain his certificate for that purpose, until
the amount shall be expended according to the rules and
regulations of the Society.
Resolved, That it is hereby recommended to the colored
male population residing in this State, to meet in their
respective settlements or neighborhoods, and choose one
or more of their number to meet in convention at Columbus, on the fourth day of July next, for the purpose of
selecting some person of color to go to Liberia, to examine the country, and to report to them on his return, its
advantages or disadvantages as a place of settlement for
the colored people, with such other facts as he may be
instructed to inquire into by the Colonization Society;
and should such person be so selected as shall be approved
by the Governor, his expenses shall be paid out of the
Governor's contingent fund; and that such person proceed
to Liberia and return, under the order and protection of
the American Colonization Society.




58           LIFEi  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
CHAPTER IX.
His Radical Democracy-Learned from the Bible and the Teachers in the
Democratic School-Not a Bigoted Partisan-Earnest Advocate of the
Doctrines of True Democracy —His Popularity-Tendered the Nomination of United States Senator in 1826-Elected Senator in Congress in
1832-His Election Greeted with Enthusiasm —Letter of Judge Reuben
Wood-Resolution against the United States Bank-Letter from Washington City.
THE political creed of Thomas Morris was radically Democratic. True Democracy is the creation of a trup Christianity, and shields the rights and interests of every man.
"It is a sentiment not to be appalled, corrupted, nor compromised. It knows no baseness; it cowers to no danger;
it oppresses no weakness. Fearless, generous and humane,
it rebukes arrogance, cherishes honor, and sympathizes
with the humble. It is a sentiment of freedom, of equal
rights, of equal obligations. It is the law of nature and
of the Bible pervading the law of the land." In the application of its doctrines, and in its progress and achievements, it will consecrate forever to freedom, the soil of
every country, and " unbind every burden, preach deliverance to every captive, and let the oppressed of all nations
go free."
It was with the true Democracy that Thomas Morris
was in principle, in every impulse and effort of his life
identified. He received his first lessons in the home-school
of his mother, and in youth and manhood, from those who
were regarded as the oracles and apostles of Democracy.
He was a disciple in the Jeffersonian school of politics.
In 1829, he said " in the election of Mr. Jefferson, we have




LI'E OFd' IENATO1t  MOHRISlS.         59
the first evidence of the power of that vital principle of
liberty contained in the Constitution of the United States.'Under his administration the great principles of civil and
Constitutional liberty produced their desired effect. The
administration of Jefferson will be viewed as the true republican standard for the government of the United States
in ages to come."
His hatred to slavery was intensified from the lessons
of Jefferson. "I Who taught me," said he, in the Senate of
the United States, "to hate slavery and every other oppression? Jefferson, the great and good Jefferson! yes,
Virginia Senators, it was your own Jefferson, Virginia's
favorite son, who did more for the natural liberty of mankind, and the civil liberty of his country, than any man
who ever lived in our country-it was he who taught me
to hate slavery; it was in his school I was brought up. If
I am, sir, an Abolitionist, Jefferson made me one; and I
only regret that the disciple should be so far behind the
master both in doctrine and practice."
His love of, and devotion to true Democracy was a
passion of his soul, rooted and grounded in his nature.
"He was called a partisan; but he only seemed so to his
political opponents. His fearless independence, and his
fidelity to the moral and political convictions of his nature,
rendered him constitutionally incapable of working in the
traces of party. It was only when they sustained the
principles which he believed and loved, that he sympathized with them and advocated their measures. There
was an independent, straightforward determination to go
for his principles, which allowed no compromise with his
opponents, and no communion with temporizing friends."
" I follow party," said he, " where the Constitution and
principle lead, and where men attempt to take their
place, I halt. I choose to rely on the Constitution and
that moral principle, which ought to govern the actions of
men in all situations and under all circumstances."




60         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
"His plain, direct, honest and passionate advocacy of
tie principles of the Democratic school, impressed them
upon the minds of the people and prepared them to sustain the measures of his party. For a length of time he
seemed to be the presiding genius of the Democratic party
in Ohio. Against him were aimed the shafts of the opposition, and upon him were the eyes of the Democracy
as the great champion of their cause. But it was in the
Senate of the United States that Thomas Morris proved
himself, not a man for his party, but a man for his country.
Disdaining to wear the shackles of a party, and indignant
that theleaders of the Democracy should yield their necks
to the yoke of the slaveholding oligarchyj, he stood in the
august Senate of the United States, the single champion
of universal freedom to man."
His able and fearless devotion to the doctrines of true
Democracy made him popular with the people. In 1826,
the Democratic party tendered him the nomination of
United States Senator, in opposition to Judge Burnet,
but the party being in the minority, he declined. In 1832,
on the 15th day of December, the Democracy again put
him in nomination, and he was elected Senator in Congress, for six years. The fall previous, he was put in
nomination by the Democratic party, in his district, for
Representative in Congress, but owing to a division in
the party, by an independent Democratic candidate, he
was defeated, in a popular vote of 6276 by 156.
His election as Senator, was hailed by the Democratic
party in Ohio, with hearty and general approbation. The
organ of the party at the Capitol of the State said: "To
the republican cause of Ohio, it is cheering to reflect that
a gentleman of his known firmness, high order of
talents and great experience, has weathered the political
storm, and succeeded in an election to a station where his
ability and faithfulness will find ample scope for future
usefulness to his country."




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                61
Another leading Democratic organ declared on his
election, that "Mr. Morris is the only Senator Ohio has
had for a long time, who firmly held the pure Democratic
faith, of a strict construction of the Constitution of the
United States, and open war against all peculiar privileges and monopolies."
Reuben Wood, a distinguished Democrat, honored with
the governorship, and Supreme Judge, of Ohio, and long the
personal and political friend of Mr. Morris, on his election
to the Senatorship, wrote: "Permit me to say, and I do
not intend it as a common-place remark, that I most sincerely congratulate, not only yourself, but the Democratic
party, on your re-election to fill the highest, most responsible, and at this peculiar crisis —the most difficult and
important office in the gift of the Legislature. The Democracy of Ohio, may safely rely on being faithfully and
fearlessly represented in the Senate of the United States;
and my sincere wishes are, that the Democracy of the
State, hereafter, may keep that ascendancy which it has
cost so much strife and exertion to obtain, and, at a future
period, again will be willing to reward you with the
continuance of its approbation and confidence."
At that period, subsequent to his election, on the 8th
of January, 1832, the Democratic party held their State
Convention. In that convention, Mr. Morris offered a
strong resolution against the Bank of the United States,
which, after a stormy debate, was adopted. A prominent
member of the party, then holding a high office at Washington, wrote, after the adjournment of the convention, to
Mr. Morris, as follows: "I do not hesitate to say, that
you merit the gratitude and the patronage of the whole
Democratic party of the country, for your prompt, active,
decisive and truly republican course in that convention
of Ohio, on that trying and critical occasion; and for
which you ought to receive the thanks of the party, and




62           LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
the patronage and favor of the Government. It places
Ohio in the front rank of the Democracy of the country,
and redeems her character from the imputation of being
governed by the influence of a Monied Monopoly, or the
arrogance of a domineering aristocracy. And it also
shows that the old Democratic party of the State, can not
trust to the counsels of forward, indiscreet young men,
without experience, who present themselves as leaders."




LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS                63
CHAPTER XX.
TAKES his seat in the Senate-Slavery-Anti-slavery Sentiment of the
Revolution - Opinions of Madison-Jefferson - Patrick Henry-John
Jay - Washington - Franklin - Lafayette - Abolition Societies, in
1787-Thanks of Congress to an Abolition Society-Reaction in Public
Sentiment —Slavery, the Ruling Power-The Causes of Reaction
3IR. MORRIS took his seat in the Senate of the lUnited
States, on the opening of the session, in December, 1833.
During his Senatorial service, he became identified with
the growing anti-slavery movements against the extension
and the aggressions of the slave pows er; it will be proper,
therefore, to review, briefly, the history and struggles of
freedom, in opposition to slavery, and to record the sentiments of the patriots and statesmen of the Revolution,
on this engrossing national subject.
It was the aim of the great and good men, who inaugurated and established the civil government and political
institutions of the United States, as declared in the Constitution they formed —" To establish justice, promote the
general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty."  The
rights of man, and the principle of universal freedom,
had a public and solemn enunciation, in the Declaration
of Independence, wherein it was stated —" That all men
are created free and equal, and endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable rights, among which are, life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Freedom, and
not slavery, was the object for which the patriots and
statesmen of the Revolution drew the sword, and labored
to extend and establish. They found the system of
slavery in existence; hu-t they contemnplated,   not its




64         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
expansion, but its speedy extinction. The Constitutional
records of the country not only prove this to have been
their great purpose and most ardent wish; but their
repeated declarations testify, that fieedom was National
and slavery Sectional, and to yield soon to the spread of
universal liberty. This record is worthy to be read, and
fieshly remembered, by every American citizen; to be
taught to every American child, till the sentiment of
freedom shall be the ruling sentiment of the nation. Let
these declarations have a new record, and a re-hearing on
these pages.
Madison, the father of the Constitution-" Thought it
wrong to admit in the Constitution the idea that there
could be property in man."  "I object to the word slave
appearing in a Constitution which I trust is to be the
charter of freedom to unborn millions; nor would I willingly perpetuate the memory of the fact that slavery ever
existed in our country. It is a great evil, and under the
Providence of God, I look forward to some scheme of
emancipation which shall free us from it. Do not, therefore, let us appear as if we regarded it perpetual, by
using in our free Constitution an odious word opposed to
every sentiment of liberty."
Jefferson, the great apostle of Democracy, declared" The way I hope, is preparing under the auspices of
heaven, for a total emancipation. The hour of emancipation is advancing in the march of time. This enterprise
is for the young, for those who can follow it up, and bear
it through to its consummation. It shall have all my
prayers, and these are the only weapons of an old man.
What execrations should the statesman be loaded with,
who permitting one half the citizens thus to trample on
the rights of the other, transforms the one into despots
and the other into enemies, destroying the morals of one
part, and the amor patrice of the other. And can the
liberties of a nation be thought secured, when we have




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               65
removed the only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of
the people, that their liberties are the gift of God. Indeed
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just;
and that justice can not sleep forever. The Almighty
has no attribute that can take sides with us in such a
contest."
Patrick Henry, the impassioned orator of the Revolution, affirmed —" Slavery is detested; we feel its fatal
effects; we deplore it with all the pity of humanity. It
would rejoice my very soul that every one of my fellow
beings was emancipated. I believe the time will come
when an opportunity will be offered to abolish this
lamentable evil."
Judge Wilson, of Pennsylvania, said —" I consider the
power given to this Constitution to prohibit the importation of slaves, as laying the foundation for banishing
slavery out of the country. If there was no other lovely
feature in the Constitution but this one, it would diffuse
a beauty over its whole countenance. In the lapse of a
few years, Congress will have power, (by an amendment of the Constitution), to exterminate slavery from
within our borders."
John Jay, the first accomplished Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States, and who aided in
the formation of the Constitution, said: "The word slaves
was avoided, probably, on account of the existing toleration of slavery, and its discordancy with the principles
of the Revolution, and from a consciousness of its being
repugnant to some of the positions in the Declaration of
Independence."
Judge Tucker, an able civilian of Virginia, said to the
legislature of his State: " Should we not at the time of
the Revolution have loosed their chains and broken their
fetters? or if the difficulties and dangers of such an
experiment prohibited the attempt during the Revolution,
6




66         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
is it not our duty to embrace this moment of Constitutional health and vigor, to effect so desirable an object,
and to remove from us a stigma with which our enemies
will never cease to upbraid us, nor our consciences to
reproach us? The right of one man over another, to hold
him in slavery, is neither founded in nature nor in sound
policy. Slavery is perfectly incompatible with government. Shall we then neglect a duty which every consideration, moral, religious, political or selfish recommends? "
Mr. Parker, of Virginia, in the first Congress held
under the present Constitution, said: "He hoped Congress would do all in their power to restore human nature
to its inherent privileges, and if possible wipe out the
stigma under which America labored. The inconsistency
of our principles, with which we are justly charged, should
be done away, that we may show by our actions the pure
beneficence of the doctrine which we held out to the world
in our Declaration of Independence."
Washington, the Father of his country, said: "I never
mean, unless some particular circumstances should compel
me to it, to possess another slave by purchase, it being
among my first desires to see some plan adopted in this
country, by which slavery may be abolished by law.
Slavery might and ought to be abolished by legislative
authority, and so far as my suffrage would go, it shall not
be found wanting." He, at his death, freed all his slaves.
Washington wrote to Lafayette, when the latter set all
his slaves free in Cayenne: "W Would to God, a like spirit
might diffuse itself generally into the winds of the people of this country. The slaves ought, by degrees, to be
set free, and that, too, by legislative authority."
Lafayette, the friend of America, and the co-patriot
of Washington, who poured out his wealth like water,
and led an army from France, to aid in achieving our




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              67
independence, said: "I never would have drawn my
sword in the cause of America, if I could have conceived
that thereby I was founding a land of slavery."
Benjamin Franklin, the patriot, the philosopher and
the philanthropist, closed his long and useful life by acting as President of an Abolition Society, formed on the
14th of April, 1775, and re-organized in 1788, when this
venerable man accepted the Presidency, Dr. Rush acting as Secretary. These men, and their co-laborers in
the cause of emancipation, sent to Congress the following
ZI E IO 0 RI A L:
From a persuasion that equal liberty was originally the
portion, and is now the birth-right of all men, and influenced by the strongest ties of humanity, and the principles of our Institutions, your memorialists consider
themselves bound to use all justifiable measures to loosen
the bands of slavery, and promote a general enjoyment of
the blessings of freedom. Under these impressions,they
earnestly entreat your serious attention to the subject of
slavery. that you will be pleased to countenance the restoration of liberty to those unhappy men, who alone in
this land of freedom, are degraded into perpetual bondage, and who, amid the general joy of surrounding freemen, are groaning in servile subjection; that you will
devise means for removing this inconsistency from the
character of the American people; that you will promote
mercy and justice toward this distressed race; and that
you will step to the verge of the power vested in you for
discouraging every species of traffic in the persons of our
fellow-men.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, President.
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 3, 1790.
Societies, having the abolition of slavery in view, were
formed in a number of other States, including Virginia




68         LIFE OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
and Maryland; and in 1794, a General Convention of delgates from all the Abolition Societies in the United States
was held in Philadelphia, to consult measures for the overthrow of slavery; and this General Convention met annually for twelve years. To the first Convention, Dr. Rush
was a delegate, and Chairman of a Committee to draft an
Address to the people of the United States, which
contained the following views and condemnation of
slavery:
"Many reasons concur in persuading us to abolish
domestic slavery in our country.
"It is inconsistent with the safety of the liberties of
the United States.
"Freedom  and slavery can not long exist together.
An unlimited power over the time, labor and posterity
of our fellow creatures, necessarily unfits men for discharging the public and private duties of citizens of a
Republic.
"It is inconsistent with sound policy, in exposing the
States which permit it, to all those evils which insurrections and the most resentful war have introduced into one
of the richest islands in the West Indies.
" It is unfriendly to the present exertions of the inhabitants of Europe in favor of liberty. What people will
advocate freedom with a zeal proportioned to its blessings,
while they view the purest Republic in the world tolerating in its bosom a body of slaves?
"In vain has the tyranny of kings been rejected while
we permit in our country a domestic despotism, which
involves in its nature most of the vices and miseries that
we have endeavored to avoid.
"It is degrading to our rank as men in the scale of'
being. Let us use our reason and social affections for the
purposes for which they were given, or cease to boast a
pre-eminence over animals that are unpolluted with our
crimes.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                69
"But higher motives to justice and humanity toward
our fellow creatures remain yet to be mentioned.
"Domestic slavery is repugnant to the principles of
Christianity.  It prostrates every benevolent and just
principle of action in the human heart. It is rebellion
against the authority of a common Father. It is a practical denial of the extent and efficacy of the death of a
common Saviour. It is a usurpation of the prerogatives
of the great Sovereign of the universe, who has solemnly
claimed an exclusive property in the souls of men.
"' But if this view of the enormity of domestic slavery
should not affect us, there is one consideration more
which ought to alarm and impress us, especially at the
present juncture.
4' It is a violation of a Divine precept of universal justice, which has in no case escaped with impunity."
Congress gave countenance and encouragement to these
Abolition Societies, formed in various States of the Union,
and as late as 1809, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, by a resolution, was directed to return a letter
of thanks to an Abolition Convention, for a gift of Clarkson's history of slavery, which was ordered to be placed
in the Congressional library.
The patriot and statesman, the philanthropist and
Christian, the politician and divine, the guardians of public liberty and morality, were all united to exterminate
this moral and political evil from the Republic. They
deemed it a duty to saturate their schools, colleges,
churches, legislatures and domestic circles, with the belief
that slavery was a national crime, offensive to God, and
destructive to the safety, happiness and prosperity of the
people."
Mr. Leigh, of Virginia, in 1832, said -" I thought, till
very lately, it was known to everybody, that during the
Revolution, and for many years after, the abolition of




70          LIE'. OF' SENATOR MIORRIS.
slavery was a favorite topic with many of our ablest
statesmen.'"
This too, was the religious sentiment of the Revolution,
and of subsequent eras.
The Presbyterian church declared, in 1787, 1793, 1795,
1815, and in 1818, that -" Slavery was a gross violation
of the most sacred and precious rights of human nature;
utterly inconsistent with the law of God; totally irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the Gospel of
Christ; and that it is manifestly the duty of all Christians to use their honest, earnest and unwearied endeavors, as speedily as possible, to efface this blot on our holy
religion, and to obtain the complete abolition of slavery
throughout Christendom, and if possible, throughout the
world."
This historical record shows the thorough anti-slavery
sentiments and action of the founders of our political
Institutions and the framers of the Constitution. Not
one of those liberty loving men dreamed of its extension;
not one but prayed for and anticipated its speedy
extinction.
Before a generation had passed away, the sentiment of
freedom began to grow less potential, and the spirit of
slavery more aggressive and dominant.
During eighty years of national existence and progress, American slavery becomes the ruling power of
the country. Its aggressions have triumphed over the
free purposes and principles of the Constitution and of
national patriotism. It has ignored the doctrines of the
Declaration of Independence, and scoffed at that great
charter of human rights. It has made slavery National
and freedom Sectional. It has trampled on solemn compacts, and opened to the power of slavery immense territories, which have been for a generation, by a solemn act
of legislation, consecrated to freedom, in which thirteen




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               71
empires, as large as the great State of Ohio, may be
formed. It has added five new Slave States to the Union.
It has under its power more than one-half of the geographical domain of the Nation. It has originated wars
for the purpose of giving expansion and perpetuation to
the system.
It has controlled the Legislation of Congress, and indirectly of Free States, and avowed its purpose, as declared,
by its Southern champions, " to give laws to the Government." It has practically denied the Constitutional right
of Petition, and treated American citizens, who have petitioned for a redress from the evils of slavery, with
contempt. It stifled, and prohibited for years, in the
popular branch of the Government, free discussion on the
subject of slavery. In the Convention of great political
parties, slavery has decreed, who should, or who should
not be President. In the executive, legislative and
judicial departments of the Government, it has had the
supremacy, and their emoluments. It has made political
Anti-Slavery a ground for civil disfranchisement, social
proscription and murderous persecution. It has corrupted
the public conscience of the nation, and revolutionized
public sentiment. It has subsidized the Press of the
North to a considerable extent, both political and religious,
into an advocacy of its arrogant claims. Christianity has
been perverted and converted to its defense and perpetuation.
The Pulpit and the Bible have been brought to its sanction
and its declared Dlivine authority. Ecclesiastical bodies
have been rent in twain by its unhallowed pretensions;
and every fountain of influence, political, social, educational, and religious, have felt its corrupting power
throughout the nation and Government.
The cause of this sad revolution in public sentiment,
and the action of the people and Government, are mournful and manifold; and is one of the most humiliating
chapters in American history. Whence this treachery to




72          LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
freedom? this apostacy from the sentiment, so prevalent
in the first and pure ages of the Republic? It has come,
mainly from two sources, the love of money and the
love of Power; Avarice, and Ambition, the two dominant
passions of the human heart. Material wealth has been
too much the controlling interest and purpose of the
American people. The discovery was made that cotton, in
the planting regions of the South, would become the
source of future wealth, and cultivated by slave labor;
and hence, Cotton became "King," the ruling element
in the monied and political power of the country. This
great power pervaded the commercial interests of the
North as well as of the South, and, in the course of time,
brought the free North into subserviency to the policy of
the South. The commercial, the social, and the religious
interests of the North, were afraid of giving offense to the
South, by the agitation of slavery, and hence acquiesced
in its arrogant aggressions, and became the apologists
and defenders of American Slavery.
Political power, also had a great influence in the revolution of public sentiment, and the action of the Government in favor of slavery. The balance of power has
always been with the South, and under the progress and
achievements of free institutions and free labor, this power
was being transferred to the North. The South, so long
accustomed to rule, made the strongest efforts to retain
their ascendancy in the Government, and to perpetuate
their political power. In this effort they uniformly succeeded in causing the free North to bow in subjection to
their claims, so that in almost every Presidential election
they obtained a President, and with him the whole political power of the Government, to favor the pretensions
of the slave-power.
These two great interests controlled and directed the
public sentiment of the country, and brought under
their dominion, the principles and institutions of the




LIFE  OF SENATOR MORRIS.               73
North. The Press, the Pulpit, religious and secular Literature, Churches, Ecclesiastical Bodies, Humane  and
Christian Societies, great Publishing Houses, Social affinities, Political parties, and State Legislation, became directly, or indirectly, auxiliary in corrupting the public
conscience and public sentiment, and thus revolutionizing
the action of the Government, and the popular influence
of the country, so that the battle was turned in favor of
Slavery and against Freedom.
This ascendancy too, of the slave power, has been kept
and continued in defiance of equal justice and true
Democracy. The population, the commerce, the enterprise, the wealth, the prosperity, the finical support of the
Government, the means for the diffusion of Christianity
and education, are greatly in favor of the North. Freedom-in all the elements of national prosperity and
greatness, in all that constitutes a State-has greatly
outrivaled slavery, as all the statistics of the country
abundantly confirm.
The Census of 1850 gives 347,525 slave-holders; of
these, 68,820 own but a single slave; 105,683 each own
under five slaves; 80,765 had each less than ten slavesmaking 255,268 who each owned less than ten slaves.
This number taken from 347,525, the whole number of
slaveholders, leaves but 92,257 who are the owners of ten
slaves or more; and these have practically controlled the
Government, and brought the Northern States —with all
their superior wealth, enterprise, intelligence, and their
five-fold population — into subserviency to the slave
interest.
7




74           LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
CHAPTER XI.
AGITATION — Three Eras of Slavery Agitation — Revolutionary Era -
Missouri Era-Present Era-Mr. Morris takes his Seat as Senator, in
the beginning of the Present Era-Slavery and the Slave-Trade in the
District of Columbia - Petitions to Congress - John Quincy Adams
Threatened with Expulsion-Gag Resolutions of the House-Action in
the Senate-Pro-Slavery Senators-Mr. Morris's Firmness-Resolution
of the Senate -The Senate a Battle-Ground between Freedom and
Slavery- Prediction of Mr. Morris - Senator Seward - Mr. Morris's
Speech on the Right of Petition.
AGITATION is the source of light and progress, securing
the triumph of truth and freedom, and the downfall of
error and despotism. The Providence of God has no
clearer confirmation and no nobler vindication, than in
the ceaseless agitation to which slavery has been subjected during the last quarter of a century. Freedom,
after a season of inaction, roused itself to resist the
aggressions of slavery, and to turn once more the action
of Government to its original purpose of securing and
expanding the blessings of freedom, and to denationalize
slavery.  All efforts to prevent agitation, but increased
its intensity and thoroughness. To silence the voice of
freedom, political conventions in their platforms, decreed
the doctrine of non-intervention and entire silence;
legislatures in free States, interdicted its discussion;
great ecclesiastical denominations held it as heresy, to
canvass the claims of slavery, or to utter anathemas
against it; the press secular and religious, made the subject contraband in its columns; commerce and social
influence labored to prevent its examination and expo.




LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.              75
sure; and all possible efforts were combined to keep
slavery from the searcling ordeal of light and discussion.
These efforts however, were unsuccessful. Freedom was
too powerful for slavery; and in defiance of political,
commercial and religious edicts, agitation increased till it
became the absorbing subject of discussion and action of
the American people and Government.
Three distinct eras mark the agitation of slavery. The
First was, when the Constitution of the United States
was formed, continuing till about 1808, the year in which
the slave-trade ceased by law; the Second, when the
State of Missouri sought admission into the LUnion with a
Constitution establishing slavery, which produced a profound excitement throughout the country, and which was
quieted by the Act of Compromise, which gave to freedom
all the National Territory north of thirty-six degrees and
thirty minutes; the Third began about 1832, and has
been ever since, waxing deeper and stronger.
Thomas Morris took his seat in the Senate of the United
States at the commencement of the Third Era of the
political agitation of slavery, in which he bore a distinguished part till his death.
Petitions to abolish the slave trade in the District of
Columbia, were sent to Congress as early as 1814. The
traffic in human beings, shamelessly prosecuted in the
Capitol of a Free Republic, and in view of the assembled
legislators of the nation and the Representatives from Foreign countries, was deemed, even by the inhabitants of the
District, a National reproach. Judge Morrill, of the Circuit
Court of the United States, in charging the Grand Jury,
declared: " That the frequency with which the streets of
Washington city had been crowded with manacled captives, sometimes on the Sabbath, could not fail to shock
the feelings of all humane persons."  In the same year,
1816, John Randolph, made a motion that a Committee in
Congress be appointed, which was carried, to report




76         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
" what measures were necessary to put a stop to the slave
trade in the District."
In 1828, more than one thousand inhabitants of the
District, petitioned Congress to abolish the slave trade.
In 1829, the Grand Jury of the District sent a report to
Congress in which they prayed, " That provisions might
be made to prevent slave dealers, from making the cities
of the District, Depots for the imprisonment of the slaves
they collected. It is believed the whole community would
be gratified by the interference of Congress for the suppression and the exclusion of this disgusting traffic from
the District."
In 1830, the Washington Spectator, echoing the public
sentiment in an article on the Slave Trade in the Capitol,
told the American people " That at the very time when
the procession, which contained the President (Jackson)
of the United States and his Cabinet, were marching in
triumph to the Capitol, a procession of colored human
beings, handcaflted in pairs, were driven in another direction to a slave ship, where, with others, they were to embark and be conveyed to the South. Where is the
O'Connell that will plead for the emancipation of the District of Columbia."
These were the sentiments of the great body of the
people in the Free States; and availing themselves of their
Constitutional right to petition Congress for a redress of
grievances, they sent, during the Senatorial term of Mr.
Morris, numerous petitions, praying for the suppression
of the Slave traffic, and the abolishment of slavery in the
District of Columbia.
When these petitions were presented to the House of
Representatives, the slave power was indignant, and MIr.
Speight of North Carolina, said: "Nothing but respect
for the Speaker, as an officer of the House, and his character, prevented him from rushing to the table and tearing the petition to pieces."  "I warn these petitioners




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              77
said another, Mr. Hammond, of South Carolina, " ignorant,
infatuated barbarians as they are, that if chance shall
throw any of them into our hands, they may expect a
felon's death."
John Quincy Adams, Ex-President of the United States,
and, subsequently for ten years, member of Congress from
Massachusetts, presented a petition to abolish slavery in
the District. Mr. Thompson of South Carolina, rose, and
threatened him with expulsion from the House, and an
indictment before the Grand Jury. " He may yet be
amenable to the Grand Jury, and we may yet see an incendiary brought to justice." To prevent agitation on the
subject of slavery, and to intimidate the freemen of the
North from sending their petitions to Congress, the House,
on the 26th of May, 1836, passed the following resolution:
" Resolved, That all petitions, memorials, resolutions,
and propositions, relating in any way, or to any extent
whatever to the subject of slavery, shall, without being
read, printed, or referred, be laid on the table, and that
no further action whatever shall be had thereon." The
preamble declared the object to be, " That all agitation on
the subject of slavery should be finally arrested, for the
purpose of restoring tranquillity to the public mind."
The same spirit and purpose reigned in the Senate. On
the 7th of January, 1836, Mr. Morris presented several
petitions from the citizens of Ohio, asking the abolition of
slavery in the District of Columbia. Mr. Calhoun, of
South Carolina, rose and said: "It was not within the
power of Congress to legislate on the subject; that one
half of the Union was deeply slandered in these petitions;
that receiving them would contin'ue agitation; that agitation was what the South feared, because it would compel the Southern press to discuss slavery in the very
presence of the Slaves, who would be induced to believe
that there was a powerful party at the North ready to




78         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
assist them; I object to receiving these petitions because
they were sundering the ties that bound this Union
together."
MIr. King, of Alabama, afterward Vice President of the
United States, said: " He believed those miserable fanatics would yet become enlightened, and the spell of their
delusion be dispelled."
5Mr. Leigh, of Virginia, said: " The conduct of these
petitioners was injurious, offensive, and calculated to produce agitation in our social relations, and to jeopardize
the UInion. Dr. Channing, of Boston, in 1836, published
his views of American slavery; in reference to that Book
Mr. Leigh declared, " That he never read any paper that
filled him with deeper sorrow. It had done more to
weaken the brotherly love of our Northern brethren than
the whole exertions of the despicable company of abolitionists put together. It had no sympathy for the whites
of his own race."
Mr. Preston, of South Carolina, said — " The Government should say to the South, that we can't receive the
petitions of hot-headed and cold-hearted fanatics, who
are waging a war of extermination against us. We ask,
that Congress will distinctly and positively inteirfere
between us and these fanatics. Let an Abolitionist come
within the borders of South Carolina; if we can catch
him we will try him, and notwithstanding all the interference of all the governments on earth, including the
Federal Government, we will hang him."
lir. Strange, of North Carolina, said —" I most confidently believe that the institution of slavery is favorable
to the highest development of the freemen who live
within its influence;' that it promotes the growth of all
the nobler and generous qualities of our nature in every
bosom, except perhaps, that of the slave himself. The
current of fanaticism which has crossed the Atlantic, has
swept away in its course, one of our sovereign States, and




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              79
how many more were doomed to follow, God only knew.
Every agitation on the subject of slavery, weakens the
moral force in our favor, and breaks down the moral barriers that now serve to protect and secure us. We have
everything to lose, and nothing to gain by agitation and
discussion."
Mr. Lumpkins, of Georgia, said —" Every lover of this
Union should cease to agitate this question. The interference of the Abolitionists and their supporters with the
domestic concerns of the South, is daily becoming more
offensive. If abolitionists went to Georgia, they would
be caught."
These were the uttered declarations of Southern Senators, when anti-slavery petitions were presented. Senators
from the free States were as fierce in their denunciations.
MIr. Buchanan, from Pennsylvania, said —" These fanatics have been scattering fire-brands, arrows, and death,
throughout the Southern States. Their motives may be
honest, but their zeal is without knowledge. They render the condition of the slave miserable, with vague
notions of freedom never to be realized. They are desperate fanatics."
Mr. Wall, of New Jersey, said —" Let us put an end to
this exciting subject; let us by a prompt decision, carry
balm to the wounded feelings of the slave-holding States;
let not this Hall become a place for the discussion of
Abolition."
Mfr. Wright, of New York, said —" Refuse the right to
petition on the broad principles, as relating to the subject
of slavery, and these malignant agitators will seize upon
the act to draw to themselves and their cause public sympathy. They were dangerous and wicked agitators of
the North. Mir. Channing's Work on Slavery, had shown
him ignorant of the opinion and feelings of' the great mass
of the citizens of the non-slaveholding States. The spirit




So          LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
in which it was written, as grossly abused the -Northern
feelings as its language did Southern morals."
MIr. Pierce, of New IHampshire, now President of the
United  States, said — " I regard the schemes of the
Abolitionists as mad and fanatical."
In the midst of such an array of opposition, Mr. Morris,
as a Senator from the free State of Ohio, earnestly and
atbly defended the Constitutional rights of his countrymen. A few extracts from his various speeches in defense
of the right of petition, and the character of those who
had petitioned Congress on the subject of slavery, are here
presented:
" The subject-matter of these petitions were clearly
within the power of Congress, and one upon which this
body could act, whenever in their opinion it was necessary for such action to be had. He was well convinced
that the petitioners entertained the same opinion with
himself on the subject, and that they had in good faith,
sent their petitions to Congress; and with equal good
faith, it was the duty of Congress to provide means by
which slavery and the slave-trade should be abolished in
this District. The question now is, have these petitioners
a right to be heard by this body, who possess primary,
complete, and exclusive legislation upon this subject?
This right is secured to them in the most ample manner,
by the provisions of the Constitution itself. That instrument deprives Congress of all power to make any law, to
abridge this right; the Constitution recognizing the right
as inherent, and original, and does not in the slightest
degree, permit Congress to interfere with it as a right.
Upon this Constitutional provision the petitioners have
placed themnselves, as upon a rock which can not be
moved; but in the exercise of this right, lie was willing
to admit, that the petitioners ought to observe that decorum which is necessary to the very existence of society.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               81' It is objected in this case, that the petitioners reflect
in the language of their petitions, most unwarrantably
on sovereign States, as well as on individual citizens of
those States.  lie said-if the right of petition was
deemed of so much importance as to be declared by the
Constitution, a right which Congress should not abridge;
with what propriety then, shall one branch of Congress
undertake to declare, that petitions shall not be received,
on the ground, that the object which the petitioners seek
to obtain is not in the power of Congress to grant; or
that the words used by the petitioners, are such as ought
not to be heard?
"He would ask gentlemen, if this was not abridging
the right of petition; for, if Congress could prescribe the
matter and form in which petitions should be presented,
there was at once an end to the right of petitioning.
He could see no difference in principle, in prescribing the
manner in which an act should be done, and in preventing it altogether. The petitions now presented, pray the
action of Congress on a subject, over which Congress
alone, has the power of legislation. They have expressed
themselves in this matter, in such language as they judged
proper for the occasion; this is their inherent right. The
liberty of speech is theirs, without restraint, and they are
subject for its abuse, only to the laws. Let us take care
then, how we tread on this ground, lest in our attempts
to make petitions palatable to ourselves, we do not abridge
the sacred right of petitioning. In this belief he found
assurance, that the petitions would be received, and the
motion of the honorable Senator fail. It was not necessary, that he should express his views of the evil effects
that would follow a contrary course." The feelings, said
Air. Morris, which prompted these petitions were the
deepest rooted of any in the human breast; they were
excited by a high sense of religious ditty, and no human
power could ever induce them  to abandon what they




82         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
believed themselves thus bound to perform. They had
been termed miserable fanatics, vile incendiaries; and
charged with an intention to dissolve the Union. These
views were very erroneous. They were upright, conscientious, patriotic citizens, and they had a right to be
heard. And to receive the petitions and immediately
move their rejection, was tantamount to refusing to
receive them. It was keeping the word of promise to the
ear, and breaking it to their hope. If the right of
petition fail us, will it not prove that the whole fabric of
the Constitution is rotten, and not worth our care? I
fervently hope, that the tear of some recording angel
may yet be dropped on the words of shame and dishonor,
and blot them out forever."
The Senate passed a resolution, that receiving a
petition on the subject of slavery, should be negatived
after it was read, thus striking down the great Constitutional right of Petition. This act, decreed and executed
bythe Slave power, ever in the ascendancy in the Senate
of the United States, and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise Act, in March, 1854, were but the fulfillment of a
prediction made by Mr. Morris, on the floor of the Senate,
in 1836. "I am clearly of the opinion said he, that if the
liberties of the people of this country are ever destroyed,
it will be by the act of an American Congress; and the
first scene in the grand drama will take place in this
Body."
Senator Seward of New York, on the triumph of slavery
over freedom, in the act repealing the Missouri Compromise, uttered the same sentiment: " Successful resistance to this Act was never to be made in this Hall. The
Senate floor is an old battle-ground, on which have been
fought many contests, and always, at least since 1820,
with fortune adverse to the cause of equal and universal
freedom."
On the 10th of January, 1839, Mr. Morris made a special




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               83
speech on the subject of the right of Petition, which is
here inserted. It is a Constitutional and able discussion of the whole subject. It is as follows:
SPEECH OF MIR. MORRIS.
JANUARY 10, 1838.
Mr. Morris, on presenting the petition of sundry citizens
of Brown County, Ohio, said he had received a petition
with the request to present the same separately and alone;
it contained the words Slavery and Slave Trade, and those
words but once repeated; he feared, however, that it
would fall under the practice of the Senate, and meet the
same fate that other petitions containing the same words
had done; that he would, however, avail himself of the
opportunity, in support of the motion he was about to
make, to submit a few remarks to the Senate, and which
motion he should make in courtesy to the Senate, and not
as a right existing in the body to require it. He had
before him the Constitution and Rules of the Senate, both
of which would sustain him in the course which strict
duty would require him to take on the present occasion.
tIe would first distinctly state, that he and those who
thought with him on this subject, waged no war upon the
laws and institutions of any State; the overgrown and
unsatisfied power with which they were contending, had
attacked them within their own borders. It was in selfdefense, in defense of all that was valuable to honorable
minds, that they were now compelled to act. It was in
defense of political liberty, and the important and inherent right of petition, that they felt themselves pressed
forward in this contest. And the first question he would
consider was, who have the right of petition? Does it
belong to the many, or to the few? has it any want of
exclusiveness in its nature to prevent its equal enjoyment
by ALL? Will the legislative bodies of the country (and
he spoke with reference to the States as well as this




84         LIFE  OF SENATOR  MIORRItS.
Government,) create an aristocracy of rights as they had
an aristocracy, of wealth? Shall the right of petition be
tested by color, or by property? Either would be a gross
assumption of' power, and a palpable violation of right.
He considered anlly human being capable of acquiring
property, and upon whose person the laws could operate,
and was susceptible of feeling and suffering, entitled to
the full and unrestricted exercise of this right. A contrary doctrine he held to be not only odious, tyrannical
and despotic in its nature, but in direct derogation of the
fundamental principles of our Government. Yet this pretended right of judging, by legislative Assemblies, who
shall petition, is finding advocates. Its exercise is an
assumption of power having neither reason, truth nor
common sense for its support.
No one has any just right to say, who among our people
shall enjoy that right, or for what he shall petition. This
unjust claim, he feared, was spreading its baneful and
blasting influence through the country, and if newspaper
information was to be relied on, was made a solemn question of debate in the Legislature of his own State. Men
of talents, worth and respectability, had questioned the
right of the colored man to present his petition through
the hands of a member, on the ground that he was by
the Constitution deprived of the right to vote, and of
course, could not instruct the General Assembly, or any
of its members. He deplored that such doctrine had found
support in any State; and he had read with feelings of
deep mortification and regret, of its advocacy in Ohio. So
strange and so absurd did the objection appear to his
mind, that he immediately applied to some of his brother
Senators here, from the slave States, to know if it was the
practice in the General Assemblies of their States, to refuse
petitions from free persons of color, for the redress of any
grievance under which they might suppose they labored,
and he was assured such was not the case; but that




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                85
persons of this description were allowed to petition as
other citizens, and their petitions were received as a
matter of right. And he asked to be corrected if wrong in
his position. Indeed, one gentleman had said to him,
" Why, sir, we allow our slaves to persuade us that they
ought to be free." These, sir, are noble sentiments, and
honorable feelings, worthy of the land of Jefferson, in the
day when his hand was penning the Declaration of Independence. A contrary doctrine however, is now held and
advocated by a class of small politicians, who, like insects
have sprung from the corrupt and agitated waters of
party spirit and drill; mere summer flies, who buzz round
the circle of power, and draw a precarious and short lived
existence from the putrid mass of prejudice, which interest has created, to keep the colored race in bondage.
Politicians who would make the lacerated back of the
trembling slave a hobby to ride into office, if no other
would suit their purpose as well. He had no language to
express his feelings with regard to such men, and the doctrine they held, and it was better perhaps he should
not; but he would say, that it must be a most mean and
contemptible Government which would subject a man to
the operation of its laws, tax his property for its support,
and then refuse to hear his petition. Such practice would
be a refinement of despotism, of which modern Europe
could not boast. Yet in some of our free States, this doctrine is advocated, and that too by many who profess to
be republicans. It was a Republicanism beyond his conception, and one he did not understand-that we should
tax a man for the support of government, and then because
he is black or yellow, has a curly head, a flat nose, or
thick lips, a petition from him shall not be received by the
Legislature. Government could not, in his opinion, be
guilty of an act of greater tyranny and more gross injustice than this. The philosophy and patriotism of the
advocates of such doctrines, begin and end in the assertion,




86          LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
that a negro has no Constitutional right to petition,
because he has not the right of voting at elections; and
because he has no political rights, they deny him natural
rights. What a bright thought is this; and what morality
and philanthropy must dwell in the heart which conceived
an idea cruel beyond description, and presumptuous beyond
belief. The negro is not only permitted, but invited to
approach his IMaker by petition; and implore deliverance
from existing evils while his fellow man, who has power
over him, refuses to hear his petition, and in the meantime, raises a contribution from his property and labor, to
pay the fees of the official station which he fills. ANot
having the right of representation, as a necessary consequence of paying taxes, is a sore grievance; but taxing,
where the right of petition is denied, is gross injustice,
and high-handed despotism. Well has it been said, that" Man, vain man,Drest in a little brief authority,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As makes e'en Angels weep."
Sir, said Mr. Morris, the advocates of such doctrines as I
have mentioned, are in my belief, lovers of negro slavery,
in its worst form; tyrants in heart, and enemies to the
human race. This monstrous doctrine, he feared, most
abounded in the free States; but he trusted its mushroom
growth would be of short duration. It was a public prop
injudiciously applied by public hands, to sustain the
tottering institution of slavery. IHe remarked that the
Senate, must not suppose from what he had said, that he
was about to present a petition from any of the colored
people. No! this was not the case. The petition was
from free, white citizens of his own State, residents of
the county of Brown, many of whom he knew personally,
and could bear witness to their respectability and patriotism. They were persons of piety and intelligence; not




LIFE OF SENATOR  ~MORRIS.             87
fanatics or incendiaries, but men who loved their country;
and what they would that others should do unto them,
they were willing to do unto others; and though some of
the signers were ladies, he considered that as giving the
petition additional force.
The petitioners do not ask you to abolish slavery in
the District of Columbia; they do not ask you to prohibit
the slave-trade between the different States and Territories of the Union; they do not protest against the
admission of Texas into the Union; they do not ask that
additional slave States be kept out of our Confederacy;
no, Sir! they have asked and prayed to you against these
things, until deferred hope has made the heart sick.
The petitioners only state as their opinion, that the existence of slavery in the District of Columbia is a great
national sin; that, like the blood of Abel, it is calling
loudly from the ground watered by its.tears, to Heaven,
the only place of its hope, for vengeance upon our beloved
country, which vengeance they deprecate.  And they
earnestly pray that this Honorable Body will repeal all
Acts of Congress in any way favoring slavery in the District; and they feel quite sure that it will not be contended that Congress have not the power to repeal their
own laws. Mr. Morris said, he was well satisfied what
would be the fate of these petitions, from the settled
practice of the Senate on like former occasions. Their
petitions, like those which prayed for the abolition of
slavery itself, would not be received in this boasted
temple of liberty, but would be thrown back by those
who minister at the altar, into the face of the petitioners,
as an unclean thing, forbidden by the Constitution and
laws of the country. Not discouraged by these anticipations, he would, as he had formerly said, himself move
the reception of the petition; but he protested against
the power of the Senate to require such motion to be
made, either by virtue of their own Rules or the Consti



88         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
tution, as a preliminary one before a petition could be
received. The twenty fourth Rule of the Senate, which
he would read, declares, that-" Every petition, or memorial, or other paper, shall be referred, of course, without
putting a question for that purpose, unless the reference
(not the reception) is objected to by a member, at the
time such petition is presented. And before any petition
or memorial be received or read at the Clerk's table,
whether the same be introduced by the President or a
member, a brief statement of the contents shall verbally
be made by the introducer."  He contended that this'Rule of the Senate, was decidedly against the practice of
requiring a motion to receive a petition, to be made, and
then laying that motion on the table, in order to rid ourselves of the petition altogether. The first part of the
Rule requires that a petition shall be referred as a matter
of course, unless objections are made to the reference;
and before those objections can be made, the petition
must have been received and in possession of the Senate;
otherwise the order of reference is nugatory and vain,
and the very exception to receiving a petition, that its
contents must be first stated by the introducer, excludes,
upon every fair principle of construction, the idea that
any other question can be made as to its reception, but a
refusal on the part of the introducer to state briefly its
contents.
An exception to the general rule, is always considered
as evidence that the operation of the Rule is not to be
impeded in any other manner but that prescribed by the
single exception made a part of it. He considered, that
to raise a question of reception to petitions of the kind he
was about to present, was a new practice, and then to lay
that motion on the table, and never permit it to be taken
up and put to the vote, was a device for a special purpose,
a false coin, to be put off as valuable, against the rights
of the negro only; for never to his knowledge, had it




LIFE OF SENATOR  IORRIS.              89
been attempted against a petition for the relief of white
persons. For their rights, it was not yet considered a
lawful tender; but the timne might soon come when it
would be said here, that the laboring class of the white
race, ought not to enjoy or exercise political privileges,
but be placed on the same footing as the free colored race;
indeed, this doctrine was already boldly advanced out of
doors, by the aristocracy of the country, whether from the
North or the South. He contended that the very proposition not to receive a petition, was in itself a dangerous
tendency, destructive of the privileges of the people, and
in derogation of their Constitutional rights. It was his
opinion, that there was no power in the Senate to refuse
to receive a petition; no matter what the prayer or the
language was, it must be received before any judgment
or order could be taken on it; the petition could then be
rejected at once, thrown upon or under the table, or leave
given to withdraw it, as the Senate might judge proper.
He said, he had the authority of the House of Representatives to sustain him in his position, and he believed, of
every State Legislature in the Union. The House, as he
understood, had decided that it was bound to receive
petitions, but had laid them on the table, without being
read, referred, debated, or printed. But in not admitting
petitions to be received, by making the acceptance a
question, and then laying that question on the table, he
believed the Senate of the United States, in this practice,
stands alone. If glory was derived from its exercise, it
was a glory whose whole brilliancy shone upon the dark
side of slavery only.
It would be remembered that, but a few days since, a
citizen of Philadelphia presented his petition, stating
that he had discovered a means by which he could cause it
to rain when and where he pleased, upon any given spot,
from five to a thousand miles square, and by that means
could keep the Ohio river always navigable, from Pitts8




90         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
burgh to its outlet, and praying Congress to aid him in
his new and valuable enterprise. The Senate thought,
and rightly too, that their power was confined to objects
on the earth, and could not be exercised to control the
elements above and arounrd us, and that the object of the
petitioner was not Within their power; but yet, they did
not refuse to receive this petition but read it and laid the
same on the table.
A despotic or monarchial government he admitted,
might, with some degree of propriety, some kind of
plausibility, refuse to receive a petition from their subjects, because they hold that their power is derived from
the Deity, and not from the people; and that they have
the right of judging what the people need, as all the
privileges they enjoy are derived, not from the laws of
nature, but from the bounty of the Crown. But with us,
the reverse of this is the foundation of our Government.
The governing principle here is, that all power is inherent in the people, and all just Governments are founded
upon their authority. It follows, therefore, that petitions
from them ought to be considered in the light of instructions or orders, which their constituted agents are bound
to obey.
But, there is another still higher and more important objection to the course pursued by the Senate, with
regard to petitions of the character of that which he was
called on to present. It is the practice, after a motion to
receive such petitions is made, and the yeas and nays on
the question are desired by one-fifth of the members present, to prevent that question being put to the vote by a
subsequent motion, to lay the former motion on the table.
He did not consider the Senate bound to take the vote
immediately after the yeas and nays had been ordered, but
they were bound to put the question and take the vote, in
the ordinary course of business, and during the session.
The Constitution, he considered as express on this point,




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              91
that the obligation could not be dispensed with, without a
palpable violation of its letter as well as its spirit. The
words of the Constitution are, " And the yeas and nays of
the members of either House, on any question, SHALL, at
the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the
Journal."  He thought that any rule or practice of the
Senate, by which this positive requirement of the Constitution, when called for by the requisite number, is denied,
evaded, or put off, during the session, was a palpable violation of the Constitution, and could conceive of no one
more open and dangerous. Constitutions, laws, and rules,
are framed for the protection of minorities,-for the weak
and helpless. MIajorities can, for the time being, take
care of themselves; but majorities to-day may be minorities to-morrow, and need the same protection; hence the
necessity of always adhering to correct principles.
To men not versed in political management, one would
suppose this provision of the Constitution would have the
same meaning, and that too, a certain and definite one,
not to be altered by rule or evaded by policy. He feared
it was the dark and murky cloud of slavery which obscured this provision of the Constitution, and prevented
it from being clearly seen: when slavery is before our
eyes, we seem incapable of seeing any other object. Gentlemen, he hoped, would not, on this question, continue
in a like situation with that notable Indian woman,
who declared that her husband was always before her
eyes, and prevented her from seeing any other man.
His complaint was, not that the right of the small minority, in which he commonly found himself on questions of
this kind, was unconstitutionally taken away-No! it was
the rights of the people; not of his own constituents alone,
but of the whole country. It surely is desirable that the
votes of the members on important questions, should be
known, and evidence by record, furnished of the fact how
each member voted. This is the right and privilege of




92         LIFE OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
the country, a right which they have placed in one-fifth
of the menzmbrs present, to demand for them, and which demand, they have said, the remaining members SHALL obey.
I}e, then, in their name, demanded as a right, of the
minority, that the yeas and nays on a motion to receive
a petition on the subject of slavecry, when desired by the
competent number, be entered on the Journal. There
was no policy or favor connected with the demand. It
was a sheer, naked right, and to prevent its enjoyment,
by the power of a majority, was a plain, palpable, and
open violation of one of the clearest provisions of the
Constitution. He said it was no frivolous objection on
his part made to delay the business or weary the Senate.
The question was of too high and imnportant a character
to be met and trifled with by technicalities. He never
indulged in such pastimes; but he did consider it a question of vital importance to the country, to know how the
members of the Senate would vote on the distinct question
of receiving a petition to abolish slavery in the District
of Columbia. Ile thought it highly improper, if not undignified, to evade this question, by laying it on the table.
To him it was no new doctrine to contend for the rights
of the people and the minority, on a question of this kind.
The Constitution of his own State used the same language
as the Constitution of the United States, on this subject,
but placed the power in the hands of two members only.
Attempts have been made in the Senate of his own State,
when he had the honor to be a member of that body, to
evade a question, by a side motion, after the yeas and nays
had been called for by two members. He resisted it for
the same reason which induced him to resist the motion
now. He was then sustained by the Chair, and on an
appeal was triumphantly sustained by the Senate.
It was hard for him to reconcile the practice of laying
a motion on the table, never to be taken up, after the
yeas and nays had been ordered, with another practice of




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                93
the Senate, which would not permit even the mover of a
proposition to withdraw  it, after a like call had been
ordered; but he left it for the gentlemen who had the power
of the majority in their hands, to reconcile their inconsistencies here, and justify their practice to the country and
posterity.
It was a miserable expedient to cover over our footsteps in our march against the temple of the Constitution.
The present, it was true, was an isolated case. It stood
alone; no other combination of power and strength had,
before this, been able to accomplish so much. The slaveholding power alone, was now found sufficient to close the
eyes, and still the voice of the country, while its dark cloud
is o'er-spreading the whole land.  He felt gratified, when
now his official labors were ceasing, that, for himself and
for his country, he had the opportunity to make his most
solemn protest against the whole proceedings of Congress,
with regard to petitions on the subject of slavery.
He would say to the friends of humanity, of justice, of
the Constitution and laws, be not discouraged. Though the
deadly mildew of slavery has destroyed the tender vine,
yet shall its branches again shoot forth. The light in the
Temple of Liberty is not yet quite extinguished; though
your members are few, and yourselves at present, a
despised class; yet your cause is just, strong and powerful; with the shield of faith, and the armor of right and
hope, rush to the rescue, and prevent the now flickering
flame from being totally extinguished. A nation, a world
is coming to your aid, and your final triumph is as certain as
that, " seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter,
day and night, shall not cease."
Pray, Mr. President, who are those who, if petitions to
abolish slavery are presented, or if Congress should
attempt to consider the proceedings of one of the sovereign States on this subject, threaten, to dissolve the Union?
Is it we, who come before you as humble petitioners?




94          LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
INo, sir, we use no such language; nor do we for a
moment, harbor such a thought, whatever may be our
fate.  Dissolve the Union! destroy the relations and
amity now existing between these States! What State
will first lift its fratricidal hands in this unholy work?
What man, like Cain, would murder his brother? They
are not, Sir, to be found among those with whom I act,
who are the friends of liberty and law.
No, Sir! we throw back the charge upon those who are
endeavoring to deprive us of our unquestionable rights.
Is it from the deep fountain of the heart they speak,
when they talk of dissolving the Union? To deny to any
the right of petition, he thought, was a thrust aimed at
one of the Union's strongest ligaments; but he trusted
the vital principle of the Constitution was sufficient to
restore it to its wonted vigor, from injurious assaults like
this. This, Sir, is a disagreeable subject for discussion.
He had always held, that to utter such sentiments, either
in public or in private, that the Union would, for any
cause whatever, be dissolved, was in bad taste. Gentlemen.
he was sure, were mistaken, if they thought that by
threats of this kind, the people could be induced to surrender an iota of their Constitutional rights. The safety
and perpetual continuance of the Union, he considered,
mainly depended on the preservation and full enjoyment
of all those rights in their pristine purity.
For himself, he was not disposed to falter in his course,
or fail to perform his duty, here or elsewhere, on the
ground that if he did so, others threatened to rush upon
crime. He wanted further to say, to the Senate and to
the country, that though himself, and those with whom
he thought on this subject, were disposed to bear and suffer much; yet they, as well as others, could think and
could feel; and if that ill-fated hour should ever come
when, in defense of their dearest rights, it was found necessary,
they could, and would, also act.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                95
CHAPTER XII.
INCREASED AGITATION - Numbers of Petitioners - Confessions of Senators - Calhoun's Resolutions - Counter-Resolutions, by Morris - His
Remarks - Record in his Memorandum Book of this Struggle in the
Senate.
THE session of Congress of 1837-8 was marked with a
deeper and more extended agitation of Slavery, both in
the country and in Congress. The vexed question, like
an ever present apparition, would return and demand a
re-hearing. To restore tranquillity appeared to be beyond
the magical wand of Senatorial Wisdom. The great sea
of public commotions, and agitations, rolled higher and
deeper. The public mind and conscience of the nation
had quickened and deepened, and went up with increased
power to the tribunal of our national legislature. The
session of Congress for 1834-5 received and rejected 34,000
petitioners; the session of 1835-6, 110,000; and the session of 1837-8, witnessed 300,000 American citizens petitioning Congress on the subject of Slavery.
It was in view of this increasing agitation, and augmenting power of freedom, that Mr. Morris, in a tone of
triumph, asked his co-Senators, " Is abolitionism dead, or
is it just awaking into life? Is the right of petition
forgotten, or is it increasing in strength and force? Let
me bring back the minds of Senators front their delightful visions of the death of abolition to sober realities and
solemn facts. I have now lying before me the names of
thousands of living witnesses, that slavery has not conquered liberty; that abolitionists (for so all these petitioners are called) are not all dead. But suppose abolition



96          LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
ism is dead, is liberty also dead, and slavery triumphant?
Is liberty of speech, of the press, and the right of petition
also dead? True, it is strangled here, but Senators will
find themselves in great error, if they suppose it is also
strangled in the country. It is a living principle which
slavery can not extinguish."
Southern Senators were compelled to confess the same
fact:
lMr. Clay said; " it was manifest that the subject of slavery in the District of Columbia, was extending itself in
the public mind, and daily engaging more and more of
the public attention."
Mr. Preston said: " The fire is wider, and is spreading
wider and wider; the fire is not put out, but is kindled
worse and worse."
Mr. Calhoun said: " Abolitionism was interwoven with
the political condition of the North, and it runs, and
must run into their struggles for State ascendency. It
was impossible to prevent its having a control over the
political parties of the North. Abolition efforts would
begin with the lowest grades of society, but it would go
up and spread.  However much he and others were
opposed to its doctrines, it would one day spread so as to
drive him from public life, or compel him to yield to its
dictates."
To counteract and arrest these efforts against slavery,
_Mr. Calhoun applied all his great abilities as a statesman.
In December, 1837, he presented the following resolutions:
Resolved, That in the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the States adopting the same acted, severally, as free,
independent, and sovereign States; and that each by itself,
by its own voluntary assent, entered the Union with the
view to its increased security against all dangers, domestic,
as well as foreign, and the more perfect and secure enjoyment of its advantages, natural, political and social.
Resolved, That in delegating a portion of their powers




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                97
to be exercised by the Federal Government, the States
retained, severally, the exclusive and sole right over their
own domestic institutions and police, and are alone responsible for them, and that any intermeddling of any one,
or more States, or a combination of their citizens, with
the domestic institutions and police of the others, on any
ground, or any pretext whatever, political, moral, or
religious, with a view to their alteration, or subversion,
is an assumption of superiority not warranted by the Constitution; insulting to the States interfered with; tending
to endanger their domestic peace and tranquillity; subversive of the objects for which the Constitution was
framed, and by necessary consequences, tending to weaken
and destroy the Union itself.
Resolved, That this Government was instituted and
adopted by the several States of the Union, as a common
agent in order to carry into effect the powers which they
had delegated by the Constitution for their mutual security and prosperity; and that in the fulfillment of this
high and sacred trust this Government is bound so to
exercise its powers as to give, as far as may be practicable,
increased stability and security to the domestic institutions
of the States, that compose the Union; and that it is the
solemn duty of the Government, to resist all attempts by
one portion of the Union to use it as an instrument to
attack the domestic institutions of another, or to weaken
or destroy such institutions, instead of strengthening and
upholding them, as in duty bound to do.
Resolved, That domestic slavery, as it exists in the
Southern and Western States of the Union, composes an
important part of their domestic institutions, inherited
firom their ancestors, and existing at the adoption of the
Constitution, by which it is recognized, as constituting an
essential element in the distributions of its powers among
the States; and that no change of opinion, or feeling, on
the part of the other States of the JUnion, in relation to it,




98         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
can justify them or their citizens in open and systematic
attacks thereon, with a view to its overthrow; and that
all such attacks, are in manifest violation of the mutual
and solemn pledges to protect and defend each other,
given by the States, respectively, on entering into the Constitutional compact, which formed the Union, and as such
is a manifest breach of faith, and a -violation of the most
solemn obligations, moral and religious.
Resolved, That the intermeddling of any State or
States, or their citizens, to abolish slavery in this District, or any of the Territories, on the ground, or under
the pretext, that is immoral or sinful; or the passage of
any act or measure of Congress, with that view-would be
a direct and dangerous attack on the Constitution of all
slave-holding States.
Resolved, That the Union of these States rests on an
equality of rights and advantages among its members;
and that whatever tends to destroy that equality, tends
to destroy the Union itself; and that it is the solemn duty
of all, and more especially of this body which represents
the States in their corporate capacity, to resist all attempts
to discriminate between the States, in extending the
benefits of the Government to the several portions of the
Union, and that to refuse to extend to the Southern and
Western States, any advantage which would tend to
strengthen or render them  more secure, or increase
their limits or population by the annexation of new Territory or States, on the assumption or under the pretext
that the institution of slavery, as it exists among them,
is immoral, or sinful, or otherwise obnoxious, would be
contrary to that equality of rights and advantages which
the Constitution was intended to secure alike to all the
members of the Union, and would, in effect, disfranchise
the slave-holding States, withholding from  them  the
advantages, while it subjected them to the burdens of the
Government.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               99
These resolutions threw the Constitution, and the
Legislation of Congress, and the sanctions of religion to
the support and perpetuity of slavery. MIr. Morris presented counter resolutions, as follows:
" Resolved, That in the formation of the Federal Constitution, the States acted in their sovereign capacities;
but the adoption of the same was by the people of the
several States, by their agents, specially elected for that
purpose; and the people of the several States, by their
own free and voluntary consent, entered into the compact
of union proposed in the Constitution, with the view to
form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure
domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of
liberty to themselves and their posterity; and that the
means of attaining all those important objects are fully
provided for in the grants of power contained in the Constitution itself.
Resolved, That the people of the several States, in delegating a portion of their power to the Federal Government,
which they had formerly exercised by their own legislatures, severally retained the exclusive and sole right over
their domestic institutions, which they had not, by the
Constitution granted to the Federal Government; and
they reserved to individuals, and to the States in their
sovereign character, the full liberty of speech and to the
press, to discuss the domestic institutions of any of the
States, whether political, moral, or religious; and that it
would be the exercise of unauthorized power on the part
of this Government, or of any of the States, to attempt to
restrain the same; and that any endeavor to do so would
be insulting to the people and the States so interfered
with; for each State alone has the power to punish individuals for the abuse of this liberty within their own
jurisdiction; and whenever one State shall attempt to
make criminal, acts done by citizens in another State,




100        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
which are lawful in the State where done, the necessary
consequence would be to weaken the bonds of our Union.
Resolved, That this Government was adopted by the
people of the several States of this Union as a common
agent, to carry into effect the powers which they had
delegated by the Constitution; and in fulfillment of this
high and sacred trust, this Government is bound so to
exercise its powers as not to interfere with the reserved
rights of the States over their own domestic institutions;
and it is the duty of this Government to refrain from any
attempt, however remote, to operate on the liberty of
speech and the press, as secured to the citizens of each
State by the Constitution and laws thereof. That the
United States are bound to secure to each State a republican form of Government, and to protect each of them
against invasi.on or domestic violence, and for no other
purpose can Congress interfere with the internal police
of a State.
Resolved, That domestic slavery, as it exists in the
southern and western States, is a moral and political evil,
and that its existence, at the time of the adoption of the
Constitution, is not recognized by that instrufiment as an
essential element in the exercise of its powers over the
several States, and no change of feeling on the part of
any of the States can justify them or their citizens in
open and systematic attacks on the right of petition, the
freedom of speech, or the liberty of the press, with a view
to silence either, on any subject whatever; and that all
such attacks are manifest violations of the mutual and
solemn pledge to protect and defend each other, and as
such are a manifest breach of faith, and a violation of
the most solemn obligations, political, moral and religious.
Resolved, That it is the indisputable right of any State,
or any citizen thereof, as well as an indispensable duty,
to endeavor, by all legal and Constitutional means, to
abolish whatever is immoral and sinful, and that Congress




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              101
alone possesses the power to abolish slavery and the
slave trade in this District or any of the Territories of
the United States; and the right of petition, of speech,
and of the press, to accomplish this object, is not to be
questioned, and that an act of Congress on this subject
would be within its Constitutional powers.
Resolved, That the Union of these States rests upon the
virtue and intelligence of the citizens in supporting the
Constitution of the United States, and not upon any supposed advantages it may afford to any particular State;
and that it is the solemn duty of all, more especially of
this body, which represents the States in their sovereign
capacity, to resist all attempts to discriminate between
the States; and that it would be unwise, unjust and contrary to the Constitution, to annex any new Territory,
or State, to this confederacy, with a view to the advantage
of any State, or its peculiar domestic institutions; that
such an attempt would be contrary to that equality of
rights which one object of the Constitution was to secure
alike to all the States; and if done to favor the slaveholding States, for the purpose of giving to those States
a preponderance in this Government, would in effect be to
establish slavery in all the States.
Resolved, That to regulate commerce among the several
States is an express power granted by the Constitution to
the Congress of the United States. That, in the exercise
of this power, Congress may rightfully prohibit any
article, though made property by the laws of a State,
from being used in such commerce, if the same would be
detrimental to the general welfare.
Resolved, That Congress have possessed the power since
1808 to prohibit the importation of persons into any State
as articles of commerce or merchandise.
Resolved, That the political condition of the people
within the District of Columbia is subject to State regulation; and that Congress, in the exercise of its legislative




102        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
powers over the District, is bound by the will of its constituents in the same manner as when legislating for the
people of the United States generally.
Resolved, That this Government was founded and has
been sustained by the force of public opinion, and that
the free and full exercise of that opinion is absolutely
necessary for its healthy action; and that any system
which will not bear the test of public examination is -at
war with its fundamental principles; and that any proceedings on the part of those who administer the Government of the States, or any of the States, or any citizens
thereof, which is intended or calculated to make disreputable the free and full exercise of the thoughts and
opinions of any portion of our citizens, on any subject
connected with the political or religious institutions of
our country, whether expressed by petition to Congress,
or otherwise, by attaching to the character of such institutions odious and reproachful names and epithets, strikes
at the very foundation of all our civil institutions, as well
as our personal safety, poisons the very foundation of
public justice, and excites mobs and other unlawful assemblies to deeds of violence and blood. That our only
safety is in tolerating error of opinion, while reason is
left free to combat it.
When they were read, Mr. Calhoun exclaimed -" Yes!
here was displayed the absolute creed of the Abolitionists,
fully developed. It was a fair specimen of their doctrine
in full color.
Mr. Morris remarked, in reply:
"'The Senator from South Carolina, in offering his
resolutions, had thrown the glove, and with expressions of
triumph, asserted that none in the Senate, in his opinion,
could vote against his views. He, however, dared to enter
the lists single handed, and engage with him. The resolutions




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             103
in themselves, were to his mind, broad, sweeping, and
denunciatory. What was the object of these resolutions?
Was it not that a free discussion on an important question should not only be discountenanced, but silenced by
a vote of that Body? They were partial in their bearing,
speaking on oxne side, and not on another. He did not,
for one, believe that Southern rights existed antagonist
to those of any other portion of the Union. Why talk
of Southern interests, and of Southern feelings? Such
sentiments might lead to geographical distinctions, but
could never lead to the peace and happiness of the whole
country.
He professed himself a State-rights' man, and had as
high devotion to the Union as any one; but he did not
agree with the views of the Senator, that this Republic
was a Confederacy of separate and independent States.
He considered the Constitution as adopted and ratified by
the united voice of the people.
What does the Senator from South Carolina mean, by
interfering with domestic policy? Would that Senator
contend, that if the citizens of the free States talked of
slavery in the abstract, as a sin —a great moral, social,
and political evil -that they should have their rights
abridged? Freedom of speech, of the press, and of the
sacred right of petition, were all sought to be put down
at one fell swoop. If we could not meet together and
discuss subjects, and compare conditions with others, for
evil or for good, we should, instead of progressing in our
high national destiny, retrograde, and become cyphers.
Was such a state of things contemplated by the framers
of the Constitution? He should think not.
Mr. Morris intended to offer his resolutions as amendments; he would not now do so, but would press them on
the notice of the Senate hereafter. He conceived the
resolutions of the Senator from South Carolina, as liable
to the strongest objections, and as warring against the




104        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
dearest rights and privileges of freemen. The Mfemorial
from the Legislature of Vermont, had said that slavery
was considered a moral and political evil, and asked that
it might be abolished in the District of Columbia; and
had not that State a right to ask such a measure at the
hands of Congress, if it thought such a step would tend
to the national honor and prosperity?
He was not to be intimidated, or driven from the course
he thought it his duty to pursue. He knew what he was
about, and understood his own course; and he would be
here, as well as elsewhere, free and unshackled, and
exempt from all party restraints, as an American citizen
ought to be, and express fully and freely his opinion on
every subject before this Body.
In the arguments here on the liberty of speech, changes
were continually rung on the Union. Now it was a
question whether the resolutions themselves, of the Senator from South Carolina, had not a strong squinting
toward a dissolution of the Union. It was not for him
to say, that they were intended to produce that effect;
but the country would scrutinize them. If they were not
intended to operate against the liberty of speech and of
the press, they would have that effect. If that right is
put down by the laws of the country, I must submit to
those laws.
He was responsible alone, to the State in which he lived
for the abuse of this privilege, and not to this Government. They would not attempt to pass another gag-law;
though the gag-law was a sheet of white paper, compared
with these resolutions. Why attempt thus to silence
speech and the press without a law? Let the same thing
be done by law, and then see whether the people had
become so base as to permit these privileges to be taken
from them. All the world could give was less than chaff,
compared with the liberty of speech.
In this contest, he well knew with whom he had to




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               105
engage; he knew the prejudices that were against him,
and that his best friends would differ from him. He had
wholly counted the cost, and resolved to meet every difficulty, and
do his duty. No objection had been made to the doctrine
of his resolutions; but it was to be put down by the
imputation that it was intended to embarrass. The truth,
Sir, often embarrassed those who were in error. It was
their misfortune. When war was made on the freedom
of speech, of the press, and the right of petition, these
inalienable rights must and would be defended. They
were " Heaven's best gift to man."
In order to save religion from the reproach of sustaining the system of slavery, he moved that the terms,
"moral and religious," be stricken out from the Resolutions of Mr. Calhoun; which was largely voted down;
and after some slight alterations, the Senate passed the
Resolutions of Mr. Calhoun, by a very large majority.
The day on which Mr. Morris struggled so earnestly
against these Resolutions, was the anniversary of his
birth-day. Returning from the Senate Chamber to his
room, he made the following record in his memorandumbook:
WASHINGTON, January 3d, 1838.
I am this day sixty-two years of age. Forty years
ago, the 19th of November last, I was married; and am
now about fifteen hundred miles from my wife, who is
now at her daughter's, in the State of Illinois. We have
raised eleven children, eight of whom are still living.
We began the world poor and fiiendless, and have struggled through life with much difficulty.  I am now a Senator in Congress from the State of Ohio, and have this
day, in a small minority, been defending the liberty of
speech, of the press, and of the right of petition. Resolutions have been introduced declaring, that we have no
right —either political, moral, or religious —to discuss
the institutions of any State, with a view to effect a




106        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
change in those institutions. The object is to prevent the
discussion of slavery in any of the States; but the Resolutions strike at all discussion. I regard these Resolutions as the most daring attempt against American liberty, that has yet been brought forward in Congress,
since the foundation of the Republic, and as such I
oppose them.
In these remarks and resolutions, the reader can not
fail to see the stern inflexibility of principle, and granite
firmness of a moral hero. He stood alone in that august
body, in defense of the dearest rights of his countrymen,
and in his noble position presents a spectacle of the moral
sublime. How, too, are his prophetic words fulfilled!
The nation has, indeed, inspired by the voice of freedom,
rushed to the rescue; giving unmistakable evidences, that
the cause which Mr. Morris so nobly sustained in the
Senate of the United States, and elsewhere, will soon issue
in a glorious victory.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                107
CHAPTER XIII.
A MEMIORABLE day in Mr. Morris's History- Mr. Clay's great Speech
against Abolitionists and Slavery Agitation —Mr. Morris's great
speech in answer to it. A Southern Senator said Mr. Morris deserved
expulsion - Reception through the country - A Contrast - Death of
Calhoun - Clay - Webster - Morris - Eternal nature of Truth.
THE 9th of February, 1839, was a memorable day in
the political life of'Thomas Morris, and in the history of
the Senate of the United States. On that day he laid the
corner-stone in the monument of his fame and character,
in a great speech, replete with the principles of freedom,
and uttered under the inspiration of their truth and
importance. It was an occasion of unusual interest. All
efforts to prevent agitation on slavery had failed. The
voice of freedom, ever instinct with life, would be heard,
and that voice, still rang loud and clear in both halls of
the National Legislature. Agitators would agitate, and
the public councils of the nation must be the arena for
the battle between freedom and slavery.
Henry Clay, on the 7th of February, 1839, with all his
fascinating eloquence, eminent abilities, and great political influence, made a great speech to counteract and arrest
the public agitation of slavery. He presented "a memorial from a large number of the inhabitants of the District
of Columbia, remonstrating against the interference of
other parts of the country, on the subject of slavery in
the District, and against any action on the part of Congress to comply with the objects of the anti-slavery
petitions."
In that effort, Mr. Clay admitted the numbers, and




108        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
growing influence of the Abolitionists;'they had ceased
to employ the instruments of reason and persuasion, and
had made their cause political, and their appeal to the
ballot-box; he deprecated the slave question to be carried
into the arena of politics; he believed that neither of the
two great parties, had a design to mingle it in the politics of
the country; it was inexpedient, if not unconstitutional
to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia; it was the
purpose of the Abolitionists to operate on slavery in the
States; they presented exaggerated pictures of the slave
system to the country; that there were insuperable obsticles to emancipation; that twelve hundred millions of
dollars were invested in human beings in the slave States;
that through an uninterrupted period of two centuries,
under every form of legislation it had been held, that
that is property which the law declares to be property;
that the emancipation of the slaves would probably excite
a servile war, and be attended with great evils to the free
laborers of the North; that the abolition of slavery must
be left to the workings of Providence, in the future of the
next hundred years; that its agitation produced great
and manifold evils; that the liberties of the slaves, if it
were possible, could only be established, by violating the
incontestable rights of the States, subverting the Union,
and beneath the ruins of the Union, would be buried
sooner or later, the liberty of both races. He therefore
adjured the clergy, and entreated his white country-men,
and all the inhabitants of the free States, to rebuke and
discountenance measures, that must lead to the most
calamitous consequences, the ink shed in signing memorials might prove a prelude to the shedding of the blood
of their brethren."
"I am no friend to slavery," said Mr. Clay. "The
searcher of hearts knows that every pulsation of my
heart beats high and strong for civil liberty." " If I could "
said this great orator, in the hall of Congress, in a coloniza



LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             109
tion speech, " be the instrument in eradicating this deepest
stain upon the character of our country, and removing the
cause of reproach on account of it by foreign nations-if
I could be instrumental in ridding this foul blot from that
State which gave me birth, or that not less beloved State
which kindly adopted me as her son, I would not exchange
the proud satisfaction which I should enjoy, for all the
triumph ever decreed to the most successful conqueror."
" What would they, who reproach us, have done? If
they would repress all tendencies toward liberty, they
must go back to the era of our liberty and independence,
and muzzle the cannon which thunders its annual joyous
return. They must revive the slave trade with all its
train of atrocities. They must suppress the workings of
British philanthrophy, seeking to ameliorate the condition of the unfortunate West India slaves. They must
arrest the cause of South American deliverance from
thraldom.
" They must blow out all the moral lights around us,
and extinguish the greatest torch of all which America
presents to a benighted world, pointing the way to their
rights, to their liberties and their happiness; and when
they have achieved all their purposes, their work will
then be incomplete. They must penetrate the human
soul, and eradicate the light of reason and liberty. Then
and not until then, when universal darkness and despair
prevails, can you perpetuate slavery, and repress all sympathies, and all human and benevolent effort among freemen in behalf of the unhappy portion of our race who
are doomed to bondage."
How strangely these stirring words of the orator,
uttered Jan. 20th, 1827, contrast with his sentiments, and
doctrines proclaimed in the Senate of the United States,
February 7th, 1839, when he made an extraordinary effort
to repress all sympathies among freemen, for the eradi



110        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
cation of what he called the "deepest stain," and " foul
blot " upon the character of the nation.
Who then answered and confronted this distinguished
orator and politician? Let the question be answered, in
the language of Dr. W. H. Brisbane, a South Carolinian, a
practical emancipator, and a tried friend of freedom.
" There were veterans in that Senate chamber whose
talents and learning and mighty genius had long distinguished them as giants in debate, and who were recognized among the nations of the earth, as the sages of
American statesmanship. There was Buchanan of Pennsylvania, the representative of the key-stone of the arch
that sustains this united Republic; his very personal
appearance the just index of his capacious mind, expressed
senatorial dignity. His locks were silvered by more than
three score years, the greater part of which he had spent
in the legislative councils of the nation. There too, was
the Senator of the Empire State, the calm, the courteous,
the ingenious, the logical reasoner, Silas Wright, the
leader of the administration party in the Senate. There
was that mighty expounder of Constitutional law, the
representative of the old cradle of liberty, the renowned
Webster, whose lofty brow developed the organs of a
mind that no other man has metaphysical science enough
to analyze.
Buchanan and Wright were distinguished by that
talismanic title, "Democrat," with which they could command the ears, the heads, the hearts of the people. Webster bore that no less potent title, made noble by Revolutionary scenes and the hallowed name of Washington. He
was a Whig.
But no Whig was there to defend the principles for
which the fathers of the Republic risked their lives,
their fortunes, and their sacred honor, and  in the
faith of which they breathed their last prayer for their




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              111
country. Nor was it the Democratic sage, Buchanan;
nor was it Silas Wright, the premier of the Democratic
government, whose voice was then heard reverberating
through that chamber and its galleries, denouncing that
accursed sentiment, that whatever the law makes property
is property, though it be the bones, and sinews, and blood,
and souls of men. Alas! when the illustrious western
orator uttered this ignoble thought, and, Lucifer-like, fell
from his empyrean hights, where he had shone a brilliant star among the brightest constellations of South
American and Grecian memory, even in this debasement
of himself, Northern statesmen " prostrate fell before him
reverent." And the great Webster himself worshiped
in silent meditation the master spirits of' that Senate
House, the proud Kentuckian and haughty Carolinian, as
they grasped hands over the body of the prostrate slave.
All, all, did obeisance, except one, whom neither the
orator's silvery voice could charm nor his thunders intimidate. That one was Ohio's Senator. He dared to speak
while tyrant Senators frowned upon him.
Read that speech, and you know Thomas Morris. His
life, his soul, is embodied in it. There is his modesty, and
there is his boldness. There is his generosity and there
is his faithfulness. There is his uncompromising adherence to principle, his love of truth, his hatred of slavery,
his devotion to Liberty. There is his mental power, his
eagle vision, his patriotic ardor, his philanthropic heart;'The firm patriot there,
Who made the welfare of mankind his care.' "
SPEECH OF SENATOR MORRIS.
MIR. PRESIDENT —I rise to present for the consideration
of the Senate, numerous petitions signed by, not only
citizens of my own State, but citizens of several other
States -New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, and
Indiana. These petitioners, amounting in number to




112        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
several thousand, have thought proper to make me their
organ, in communicating to Congress their opinions and
wishes on subjects which, to them, appear of the highest
importance. These petitions, Sir, are on the subject of
slavery; the slave-trade as carried on within and from
this District; the slave-trade between the different States
of this Confederacy; between this country and Texas, and
against the admission of that country into the Union; and
also against that of any other State, whose Constitution
and laws recognize or permit slavery. I take this opportunity to present all these petitions together, having
detained some of them for a considerable time in my
hands, in order that as small a portion of the attention of
the Senate might be taken up on their account, as would
be consistent with a strict regard to the rights of the
petitioners. And I now present them, under the most
peculiar circumstances that have ever, probably, transpired
in this or any other country. I present them on the heel
of the petitions which have been presented by the Senator
from Kentucky (Mr. Clay), signed by the inhabitants of
this District, praying that Congress would not receive
petitions on the subject of slavery in the District, from
any body of men or citizens, but themselves. This is
something new; it is one of the devices of the slave
power, and most extraordinary in itself. These petitions
I am bound in duty to present — a duty which I cheerfully perform, for I consider it not only a duty but an
honor.  The respectable names which these petitions
bear, and being against a practice which I as deeply
deprecate and deplore as they can possibly do, yet I well
know the fate of these petitions; and I also know the
time, place, and disadvantage under which I present
them. In availing myself of this opportunity to explain
my own views on this agitating topic, and to explain and
justify the character and proceedings of these petitioners,
it must be obvious to all that I am surrounded with no




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             113
ordinary discouragements. The strong prejudice which
is evinced by the petitioners of the District, the unwillingness of the Senate to hear, the power which is arrayed
against me on this occasion, as well as in opposition to
those whose rights I am anxious to maintain; opposed by
the very Lions of debate in this Body, who are cheered on
by an applauding gallery and surrounding interests, is
enough to produce dismay in one far more able and eloquent than the lone and humble individual who now
addresses you.
What, Sir, can there be to induce me to appear on this
public arena, opposed by such powerful odds? Nothing,
Sir, nothing but a strong sense of duty, and a deep conviction that the cause I advocate is just; that the petitioners whom I represent are honest, upright, intelligent
and respectable citizens; men who love their country,
who are anxious to promote its best interests, and who
are actuated by the purest patriotism, as well as the deepest philanthropy and benevolence. In representing such
men, and in such a cause, though by the most feeble
means, one would suppose that, on the floor of the Senate
of the United States, order and a decent respect to the
opinions of others, would prevail. From the causes
which I have mentioned, I can hardly hope for this. I
expect to proceed through scenes which ill become this
Hall; but nothing shall deter me from a full and faithful
discharge of my duty on this important occasion. Permit me, Sir, to remind gentlemen that I have been now
six years a member of this Body. I have seldom, perhaps too seldom, in the opinion of many of my constituents, pressed myself upon the notice of the Senate, and
taken up their time in useless and windy debate. I question very much if I have occupied the time of the Senate
during the six years, as some gentlemen have during six
weeks, or even six days. I hope therefore, that I shall
not be thought obtrusive, or charged with taking up time
10




114        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
with abolition petitions. I hope, Mr. President, to hear
no more about agitating this slave question here. Who
hag begun the agitation now? The Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Clay). Who has responded to that agitation,
and congratulated the Senate and the country on its
results? The Senator from  South Carolina (Mr. Calhoun). And pray, Sir, under what circumstances is this
agitation begun?  Let it be remembered, let us collect
the facts from the records on your table, that when I, as
a member of this Body, but a few days since offered a
resolution as the foundation of proceedings on these petitions, gentlemen, as if operated on by an electric shock,
sprung from their seat and objected to its introduction.
And when you, Sir, decided that it was the right of every
member to introduce such motion or resolution as he
pleased, being responsible to his constituents and this
Body for the abuse of this right, gentlemen seemed to
wonder that the Senate had no power to prevent the
action of one of its members in cases like this, and the
poor privilege of having the resolution printed, by order
of the Senate, was denied.
Let the Senator from South Carolina before me, rernember that, at the last session, when he offered resolutions on
the subject of slavery, they were not only received without objection, but printed, voted on, and decided; and
let the Senator from Kentucky reflect, that the petition
which he offered against our right, was also received and
ordered to be printed without a single dissenting voice;
and I call on the Senate and the country to remember,
that the resolutions which I have offered on the same
subject, have not only been refused the printing, but have
been laid on the table without being debated or referred.
Posterity, which shall read the proceedings of this time,
may well wonder what power could induce the Senate of
the United States to proceed in such a strange and contradictory manner. Permit me to tell the country now




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             115
what this power behind the throne, greater than the
throne itself, is. It is the power of SLAVERY. It is a
power, according to the calculation of the Senator from
Kentucky, which owns twelve hundred millions of dollars
in human beings as property; and if money is power,
this power is not to be conceived or calculated; a power
which claims human property more than double the
amount which the whole money of the world could purchase. What can stand before this power? Truth, everlasting truth, will yet overthrow it.  This power is
aiming to govern the country, its Constitutions and laws;
but it is not certain of success, tremendous as it is, without
foreign or other aid. Let it be borne in mind that the
Bank power, some years since, during what has been
called the panic session, had influence sufficient in this
body, and upon this floor, to prevent the reception of
petitions against the action of the Senate on their resolutions of censure against the President. The country took
instant alarm, and the political complexion of this body
was changed as soon as possible. The same power though
double in means and in strength, is now doing the same
thing. This is the array of power that is even now
attempting such an unwarrantable course in this country;
and the people are also now moving against the Slave, as
they formerly did against the Bank power. It, too, begins
to tremble for its safety. What is to be done? Why,
petitions are received and ordered to be printed, against
the right of petitions which are not received, and the
whole power of debate is thrown into the scale with the
slave-holding power. But all will not do; these two
powers must now be united: an amalgamation of the black
power of the South with the white power of the North
must take place, as either, separately, can not succeed in
the destruction of the liberty of speech and the press, and
the right of petition. Let me tell gentlemen, that both




116        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
united will never succeed; as I said on a former day, God
forbid that they should ever rule this country! I have
seen this billing and cooing between these different interests for some time past; I informed my private friends
of the political party with which I have heretofore acted,
during the first week of this session, that these powers
were forming a union to overthrow the present administration; and I warned them of the folly and mischief
they were doing in their abuse of those who were opposed
to slavery. All doubts are now terminated. The display
made by the Senator from Kentucky, (Mr. Clay,) and his
denunciations of these petitioners as abolitionists, and the
hearty response and cordial embrace which his efforts
met from the Senator from South Carolina, (Mr. Calhoun,)
clearly shows that new moves have taken place on the
political chessboard, and new coalitions are formed, new
compromises and new bargains, settling and disposing of
the rights of the country for the advantage of political
aspirants.
The gentleman from South Carolina, (Mr. Calhoun,)
seemed, at the conclusion of the argument made by the
Senator from Kentucky, to be filled not only with delight
but with ecstasy. He told us, that about twelve months
since HE had offered a resolution which turned the tide
in favor of the great principle of State rights, and says he
is highly pleased with the course taken by the Kentucky
Senator. All is now safe by the acts of that Senator. The
South is now consolidated as one man; it was a great
epoch in our history, but we have now passed it; it is the
beginning of a moral revolution; slavery, so far from
being a political evil, is a great blessing; both races have
been improved by it; and that abolition is now DEAD, and
will soon be forgotten. So far the Senator from South
Carolina, as I understood him.
But, sir, is this really the case? Is the South united




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               117
as one man, and is the Senator from Kentucky the great
center of attraction? What a lesson to the friends of the
present Administration, who have been throwing themselves into the arms of the Southern slave-power for
support! The black enchantment I hope is now at an
end -the dream dissolved, and we awake into open day.
No longer is there any uncertainty or any doubt on this
subject. But is the great epoch passed? Is it not rather
just beginning? Is abolitionism DEAD —or is it just
awaking into life? Is the right of petition strangled and
forgotten —or is it increasing in strength and force?
These are serious questions for the gentleman's consideration, that may damp the ardor of his joy, if examined
with an impartial mind, and looked at with an unprejudiced eye. Sir, when these p.eans were sung over the
death of abolitionists, and, of course, their right to liberty
of speech and the press —at least in fancy's eye, we might
have seen them lying in heaps upon heaps, like the enemies of the strong man in days of old. [But let me bring
back the gentleman's mind from this delightful scene of
abolition death, to sober realities and solemn facts. I
have now lying before me the names of thousands of living
witnesses, that slavery has not entirely conquered liberty;
that abolitionists (for so are all these petitioners called,)
are not all dead. These are my first proofs to show the
gentleman his ideas are all fancy. I have also, sir, since
the commencement of this debate, received a newspaper,
as if sent by Providence to suit the occasion, and by whom
I know not. It is the Cincinnati Republican of the 2d
instant, which contains an extract from the Louisville
Advertiser, a paper printed in Kentucky, in Louisville,
our sister city; and though about one hundred and fifty
miles below us, it is but a few hours distant. That paper
is the leading Administration journal too, as I am
informed, in Kentucky. Hear what it says on the death
of abolition:



118        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
"ABOLITION - CINCINNATI - THE LOUISVILLE ADVERTISER.
"We copy the following notice of an article which we
lately published, upon the subject of abolition movements
in this quarter, from the Louisville Advertiser:-' ABOLITION. - The reader is referred to an interesting
article which we have copied from the Cincinnati Republican- a paper which lately supported the principles ot
Democracy; a paper which has turned, but not quite far
enough to actwith the Adamses and Slades in Congress,
or the Whig abolitionists of Ohio. It does not, however,
give a correct view of the strength of the abolitionists in
Cincinnati. There they are in the ascendant. They control the city elections, regulate what may be termed the
morals of the city, give tone to public opinion, and " rule
the roost," by virtue of their superior piety and intelligence.
The Republican tells us, that they are not laboring Loco
Focos -but " drones " and " consumers "-the " rich and
well-born," of course; men who have leisure and means,
and a disposition to employ the latter, to equalize whites
and blacks in the slaveholding States. Even now, the
absconding slave is perfectly safe in Cincinnati. We
doubt whether an instance can be adduced of the recovery
of a runaway in that place in the last four years. When
negroes reach " the Queen city " they are protected by
its intelligence, its piety, and its wealth. They receive
the aid of the elite of the Buckeyes; and we have a
strong faction in Kentucky, struggling zealously to make
her one of the dependencies of Cincinnati! Let our
mutual sons go on. The day of mutual retribution is at
hand — much nearer than is now imagined. The Republican, which still looks with a friendly eye to the slaveholding States, warns us of the danger which exists,
although its new-born zeal for Whiggery prompts it to
insist, indirectly, on the right of petitioning Congress to




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             119
abolish slavery. There are about two hundred and fifty
abolition societies in Ohio at the present time, and, from
the circular issued from  head quarters, Cincinnati, it
appears that agents are to be sent through every county
to distribute books and pamphlets designed to inflame the
public mind, and then organize additional societies -or,
rather, form new clans, to aid in the war which has been
commenced on the slaveholding States.' "
I do not, sir, underwrite for the truth of this statement
as an entire whole; much of it I repel as an unjust charge
on my fellow-citizens of Cincinnati; but, as it comes
from a slaveholding State -from the State of the Senator
who has so eloquently anathematized abolitionists that it
is almost a pity they could not die under such sweet
sounds -and as the South Carolina Senator pronounces
them dead, I produce this from a slaveholding State, for
the special benefit and consolation of the two Senators. It
coTnes from a source to which, I am sure, both gentlemen
ought to give credit. But suppose, sir, abolitionism is
dead, is liberty dead also and slavery triumphant? Is
liberty of speech, of the press, and the right of petition
also dead? True, it has been strangled here; but gentlemen will find themselves in great error if they suppose it
is also strangled in the country; and the very attempt in
legslative bodies, to sustain a local and individual interest, to the destruction of our rights, proves that those
rights are not dead, but a living principle, which slavery
can not extinguish; and be my lot what it may, I shall, to
the utmost of my abilities, under all circumstances, and
at all times, contend for that freedom which is the common gift of the Creator to all men, and against the power
of these two great interests — the slave power of the
South, and banking power of the North - which are now
uniting to rule this country. The cotton bale and the
bank note have formed an alliance; the credit system
with slave labor. These two congenial spirits have at




120        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
last met and embraced each other, both looking at the
same object -to live upon the unrequited labor of others,
and have now erected for themselved a common platform, as was intimated during the last session, on which
they can meet, and bid defiance, as they hope, to free
principles and free labor.
With these introductory remarks, permit me, Sir, to
say here, and let no one pretend to misunderstand or
misrepresent me, that I charge gentlemen, when they use
the word abolitionists, they mean petitioners here such as
I now represent-men who love liberty and are opposed
to slavery-that in behalf of these citizens I speak; and,
by whatever name they may be called, it is those who
are opposed to slavery whose cause I advocate. I make
no war upon the rights of others. I do no act but what
is moral, Constitutional and legal, against the peculiar
institutions of any State; but acts only in defense of my
own rights, of my fellow citizens, and, above all, of my
State, I shall not cease while the current of life shall continue to flow.
I shall, Mr. President, in the further consideration of
this subject, endeavor to prove, first, the right of the people to petition; second, why slavery is wrong, and why I
am opposed to it; third, the power of slavery in this
country, and its dangers; next, answer the question, so
often asked, what have the free States to do with slavery?
Then make some remarks by way of answer to the arguments of the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Clay).
Mr. President-The duty I am requested to perform is
one of the highest which a Representative can be called
on to discharge. It is to make known to the legislative
body the will and the wishes of his constituents and fellowcitizens; and, in the present case, I feel honored by the
confidence reposed in me, and proceed to discharge the
duty. The petitioners have not trusted to my fallible
judgment alone, but have declared, in written documents,




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             121
the most solemn expression of their will. It is true, these
petitions have not been sent here by the whole people of
the United States, but from a portion of them only; yet
such is the justice of their claim, and the sure foundation
upon which it rests, that no portion of the American
people, until a day or two past, have thought it either safe
or expedient to present counter petitions; and even now,
when counter petitions have been presented, they dare
not justify slavery, and the selling of men and women in
this District, but content themselves with objecting to
others enjoying the rights they practice, and praying
Congress not to receive or hear petitions from the people
of the States —a new device of the slave power this, never
before thought of or practiced in any country. I would
have been gratified if the inventors of this system, which
denies to others what they practice themselves, had, in
their petition, attempted to justify slavery and the slavetrade in the District, if they believe their practice just,
that their names might have gone down to posterity.
No, Sir; very few yet have the moral courage to record
their names to such an avowal; and even some of these
petitioners are so squeamish on this subject, as to say that
they might, from conscientious principles, be prevented
from holding slaves. Not so, Sir, with the petitioners
which I have the honor to represent; they are anxious
that their sentiments and their names should be made
matter of record; they have no qualms of conscience on
this subject; they have deep convictions and a firm belief
that slavery is an existing evil, incompatible with the
principles of political liberty, at war with our system of
government, and extending a baleful and blasting influence over our country, withering and blighting its fairest
prospects and brightest hopes. Who has said that these
petitions are unjust in principle, and on that ground ought
not to be granted? Who has said that slavery is not an
evil? Who has said it does not tarnish the fair fame of
11




122        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
our country? Who has said it does not bring dissipation
and feebleness to one race, and poverty and wretchedness
to another, in its train? W~ho has said, it is not unjust to
the slave, and injurious to the happiness and best
interest of the master? Who has said it does not' break
the bonds of human affection, by separating the wife from
the husband, and children from their parents? In fine,
who has said it is not a blot upon our country's honor,
and a deep and foul stain upon her institutions? Few,
very few, perhaps none but him who lives upon its labor,
regardless of its misery; and even many whose local situations are within its jurisdiction, acknowledge its injustice, and deprecate its continuance; while millions of
freemen deplore its existence, and look forward with
strong hope to its final termination. SLAVERY! a word,
like a secret idol, thought too obnoxious or sacred to be
pronounced here but by those who worship at its shrineand should one who is not such a worshiper happen to
pronounce the word, the most disastrous consequences
are immediately predicted, the Union is to be dissolved,
and the South to take care of itself.
Do not suppose, Mr. President, that I feel as if engaged
in a forbidden or improvident act. No such thing. I am
contending with a local and "peculiar" interest, an interest
which has already banded together with a force sufficient to
seize upon every avenue by which a petition can enter this
chamber, and exclude all without its leave. I am not now
contending for the rights of the negro, rights which his
Creator gave him and which his fellow-man has usurped
or taken away. No, sir! I am contending for the rights
of the white person in the free States, and am endeavoring to prevent them  from  being trodden down and
destroyed, by that power which claims the black person as
property. I am endeavoring to sound the alarm  to my
fellow-citizens that this power, tremendous as it is, is
endeavoring to unite itself with the monied power of the




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              123
country, in order to extend its dominion and perpetuate
its existence. I am endeavoring to drive fiom the back
of the negro slave, the politician who has seated himself there
to ride into office for the purpose of carrying out the
object of this unholy combination.
The chains of slavery are sufficiently strong, without
being riveted anew by tinkering politicians of the free
States.  I feel myself compelled into this contest, in
defense of the institutions of my own State, the persons
and firesides of her citizens, from the insatiable grasp of
the slaveholding power as being used and felt in the
free States. To say that I am opposed to slavery in the
abstract, are but cold and unmeaning words; if, however,
capable of any meaning whatever, they may be fairly construed into a love for its existence; and such I sincerely
believe to be the feeling of many in the free States who
use the phrase. I, sir, am not only opposed to slavery in
the abstract, but also in its whole volume, in its theory as
well as its practice. This principle is deeply implanted
within me; it has "grown with my growth and strengthened with my strength." In my infant years I learned to
hate slavery. Your fathers taught me it was wrong in
their Declaration of Independence: the doctrines which
they promulgated to the world, and upon the truth of
which they staked the issue of the contest that made us
a nation. They proclaimed "that all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness." These truths are solemnly
declared by them. I believed then, and believe now, they
are self-evident. Who call acknowledge this, and not be
opposed to slavery? It is, then, because I love the principles which brought your Government into existence,
and which have become the corner-stone of the building
supporting you, sir, in that chair, and giving to myself
and other Senators seats in this body — it is because I




124        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
love all this, that I hate slavery. Is it because I contend
for the right of petition, and am opposed to slavery, that
I have been denounced by many as an abolitionist? Yes;
Virginia newspapers have so denounced me, and called
upon the Legislature of my own State to dismiss me from
public confidence. Who taught me to hate slavery and
every other oppression?  Jefferson, the great and good
Jefferson! Yes, Virginia Senators, it was your own Jefferson, Virginia's favorite son, a man who did more for the
natural liberty of man, and the civil liberty of his country, than any man that ever lived in our country; it was
him who taught me to hate slavery; it was in his school
I was brought up. That Mr. Jefferson was as much
opposed to slavery as any man that ever lived in our
country, there can be no doubt; his life and his writings
abundantly prove the fact. I hold in my hand a copy, as
he penned it, of the original draft of the Declaration of
Independence, a part of which was stricken out, as he
says, in compliance with the wishes of South Carolina
and Georgia. I will read it. Speaking of the wrongs
done us by the British Government, in introducing slaves
among us, he says: "He (the British King) has waged
cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most
sacred right of life and liberty in the persons of a distant
people, who never offended him, captivating and carrying
them into SLAVERY in another hemisphere, or to incur
miserable death in their transportation thither. This
piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel Powers, is the
warfare of the Christian King of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be BOUGHT
and SOLD, he has prostituted his prerogative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain execrable commerce, and that this assemblage of horrors
might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting
those very ptople to rise in arms against us, and purchase
that liberty of which he has deprived them by murdering




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              125
the people on whom he has also obtruded them, thus
paying off former crimes committed against the liberties
of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another." Thus far this great
statesman and philanthropist.  Had his cotemporaries
been ruled by his opinions, the country had now been at
rest on this exciting topic. What abolitionist, sir, has
used stronger language against slavery than Mr. Jefferson
has done? "' Cruel war against human nature," " violating its most sacred rights," "piratical warfare," "opprobrium of infidel Powers," " a market where men should be
bought and sold," "execrable commerce," "assemblage of
horrors," "crimes committed against the liberty of the
people," are the brands which Mr. Jefferson has burned
into the forehead of slavery and the slave trade.
When sir, have I, or any other person opposed to
slavery, spoken in stronger and more opprobrious terms
of slavery, than this? You have caused the bust of this
great man to be placed in the center of your Capitol, in that
conspicuous part where every visitor must see it, with its
hand resting on the Declaration of Independence, engraved
upon marble. Why have you done this? Is it not mockery?
Or is it to remind us continually of the wickedness and
danger of slavery? I never pass that statue without new
and increased veneration for the man it represents, and
increased repugnance and sorrow that he did not succeed
in driving slavery entirely from the country. Sir, if I
am an Abolitionist, Jefferson made me so; and I only
regret that the disciple should be so far behind the master,
both in doctrine and practice. But, sir, other reasons
and other causes have combined to fix and establish my
principles in this matter, never, I trust to be shaken. A
free State was the place of my birth; a free Territory the
theater of my juvenile actions. Ohio is my country, endeared to me by every fond recollection. She gave me
political existence, and taught me in her political school;




126        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
and I should be worse than an unnatural son did I forget
or disobey her precepts. In her Constitution it is declared,
"That all men are born equally free and independent,"
and " that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude in the State, otherwise than for the punishment
of crimes."  Shall I stand up for slavery in any case, condemned as it is by such high authority as this? No,
never! But this is not all, Indiana, our younger Western
sister, endeared to us by every social and political tie, a
State formed in the same country as Ohio, from whose territory slavery was forever excluded by the ordinance of
July, 1787 — she too, has declared her abhorrence of
slavery in more strong and emphatic terms than we have
done. In her Constitution, after prohibiting slavery, or
involuntary servitude, being introduced into the State,
she declares, "But as the holding any part of the
human creation in slavery, or involuntary servitude, can
originate only in tyranny and usurpation —no alteration of
her Constitution should ever take place, so as to introduce
slavery or involuntary servitude into the State, otherwise
than for the punishment of crimes whereof the party had
been duly convicted." Illinois and Michigan also formed
their Constitutions on the same principles. After such a
cloud of witnesses against slavery, and whose testimony
is so clear and explicit, as a citizen of Ohio, I should be
recreant to every principle of honor and of justice, to be
found the apologist or advocate of Slavery in any State,
or in any country whatever. No, I can not be so inconsistent as to say I am opposed to slavery in the abstract,
in its separation from a human being, and still lend my
aid to build it up, and make it perpetual in its operation
and effects upon man in this or any other country. I
also, in early life, saw a slave kneel before his master, and
hold up his hands with as much apparent submission,
humility, and adoration, as a man would have done before
his Maker, while his master with outstretched rod stood




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.            127
over him. This, I thought, is slavery; one man subjected
to the will and power of another, and the laws affording him
no protection, and he has to beg pardon of man, because
he has offended man, (not the laws,) as if his master were
a superior all powerful being. Yes, this is slavery,
boasted American Slavery, without which, it is contended
even here, the union of these States would be dissolved in a day, yes, even in an hour! Humiliating
thought, that we are bound together as States by the
chains of slavery! It can not be-the blood and the tears
of slavery form no part of the cement of our Union-and
it is hoped that by falling on its bands they may never
corrode nor eat them asunder. We who are opposed to
and deplore the existence of slavery in our country, are
frequently asked, both in public and private, what have
you to do with slavery? It does not exist in your State;
it does not disturb you! Ah, sir, would to God it were
so-that we had nothing to do with slavery, nothing to
fear from its power, or its action within our own bordersthat its name and its miseries were unknown to us. But
this is not our lot; we live upon its borders, and in hearing of its cries; yet we are unwilling to acknowledge, that
if we enter its territories and violate its laws, that we
should be punished at its pleasure. We do not complain
of this, though it might well be considered just ground of
complaint. It is our firesides, our rights, our privileges,
the safety of our friends, as well as the sovereignty and
independence of our State, that we are now called upon
to protect and defend. The slave interest has at this
moment the whole power of the country in its hands. It
claims the President as a Northern man with Southern
feelings, thus making the Chief Magistrate the head of an
interest, or a party, and not of the country and the people
at large. It has the cabinet of the President, three members of which are from the slave States, and one who
wrote a book in favor of Southern slavery, but which fell




128        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
dead from the press, a book which I have seen, in my
own family, thrown musty upon the shelf. Here then is
a decided majority in favor of the slave interest. It has
five out of nine judges of the Supreme Court; here, also,
is a majority from the slave States. It has, with the
President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the IIouse of
Representatives, and the Clerks of both Houses, the army
and the navy; and the bureaus, have, I am told, about
the same proportion.
One would suppose that, with all this power operating
in this Government, it would be content to permit - yes, I
will use the word permit - it would be content to permit
us, who live in the free States, to enjoy our firesides and
our homes in quietness; but this is not the case. The
slaveholders and slave laws claim that as property, which
the free States know only as persons, a reasoning property, which, of its own will and mere motion, is frequently found in our States; and upon which THING we
sometimes bestow food and raiment, if it appear hungry
and perishing, believing it to be a human being; this
perhaps is owing to our want of vision to discover the
process by which a man is converted into a THING. For
this act of ours, which is not prohibited by our laws, but
prompted by every feeling, Christian and humane, the
slaveholding power enters our territory, tramples under
foot the sovereignty of our State, violates the sanctity of
private residence, seizes our citizens, and disregarding
the authority of our laws, transports them into its own
jurisdiction, casts them into prison, confines them in fetters, and loads them with chains, for pretended offenses
against their own laws, found by willing grand juries
upon the oath, (to use the language of the late Governor
of Ohio), of a perjured villain. Is this fancy, or is it fact,
sober reality, solemn fact? Need I say all this, and much
more, is now matter of history in the case of the Rev.
John B. Mahan, of Brown county, Ohio? Yes, it is so;




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              129
but this is but the beginning - a case of equal outrage
has lately occurred, if newspapers are to be relied on, in
the seizure of a citizen of Ohio, without even the forms
of law, and who was carried into Virginia and shamefully punished by tar and feathers, and other disgraceful
means, and rode upon a rail, according to the order of
Judge Lynch, and this, only because in Ohio he was an
abolitionist. Would I could stop here — but I can not.
This slave interest or power seizes upon persons of color
in our States, carries them into States where men are
property, and makes merchandize of them, sometimes
under sanction of law, but more properly by its abuse,
and sometimes by mere personal force, thus disturbing
our quiet and harassing our citizens. A case of this kind
has lately occurred, where a colored boy was seduced
from Ohio into Indiana, taken fromn thence into Alabama,
and sold as a slave; and to the honor of the slave States,
and gentlemen who administer the laws there, be it said,
that many who have thus been taken and sold by the connivance, if not downright corruption, of citizens in the
free States, have been liberated and adjudged free in the
States where they have been sold, as was the case of the
boy mentioned who was sold in Alabama.
Slave power is seeking to establish itself in every State,
in defiance of the Constitution and laws of the States
within which it is prohibited. In order to secure its
power beyond the reach of the States, it claims its parentage from the Constitution of the United States. It
demands of us total silence as to its proceedings, denies
to our citizens the liberty of speech and the press, and
punishes them by mobs and violence for the exercise of
these rights. It has sent its agents into the free States
for the purpose of influencing their Legislatures to pass
laws for the security of its power within such States, and
for the enacting new offenses and new punishments for




130        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
their own citizens, so as to give additional security to its
interest. It demands to be heard in its own person in
the hall of our Legislature, and mingle in debate there.
Sir, in every stage of these oppressions and abuses, permit me to say, in the language of the Dieclaration of
Independence-and no language could be more appropriate -we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms, and our repeated petitions have been answered
by repeated injury. A power, whose character is marked
by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to rule
over a free people. In our sufferings and our wrongs we
have besought our fellow-citizens to aid us in the preservation of our Constitutional rights; but, influenced by the
love of gain or arbitrary power, they have sometimes disregarded all the sacred rights of man, and answered in
violence, burnings and murder. After all these transactions, which are now of public notoriety and matter of
record, shall we of the free States tauntingly be asked
what we have to do with slavery? We should rejoice,
indeed, if the evils of slavery were removed far from us,
that it could be said with truth, that we have nothing to
do with slavery. Our citizens have not entered its territories for the purpose of obstructing its laws, nor do we
wish to do so, nor would we justify any individual in such
act; yet we have been branded and stigmatized by its
friends and advocates, both in the free and slave States,
as incendiaries, fanatics, disorganizers, enemies to our
country, and as wishing to dissolve the Union. We have
borne all this without complaint or resistance, and only
ask to be secure in our persons, by our own firesides, and
in the free exercise of our own thoughts and opinions in
speaking, writing, printing and publishing on the subject
of slavery, that which appears to us to be just and right;
because we all know the power of truth, and that it will
ultimately prevail, in despite of all opposition. But in




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              131
the exercise of all these rights, we acknowledge subjection
to the laws of the State in which we are, and our liability
for their abuse.
We wish peace with all men; and that the most amicable relations and free intercourse may exist between
the citizens of our State and our neighboring slaveholding
States; we will not enter their States, either in our
proper persons, or by commissioners, legislative resolutions, or otherwise, to interfere with their slave policy or
slave laws; and we shall expect from them and their citizens a like return, that they do not enter our territories
for the purpose of violating our laws in the punishment
of our people for the exercise of their undoubted rights:
the liberty of speech and of the press on the subject of
slavery. We ask that no man shall be seized and transported beyond our State, in violation of our own laws,
and that we shall not be carried into and imprisoned in
another State for acts done in our own. We contend
that the slaveholding power is properly chargeable with
all the riots and disorders which take place on account of
slavery. We can live in peace with all our sister States, if
that power will be controlled by law, each can exercise
and enjoy the full benefits secured by their own laws;
and this is all we ask. If we hold up slavery to the view
of an impartial public as it is, and if such view create
astonishment and indignation, surely we are not to be
charged as libelers. A State institution ought to be considered the pride, not the shame of the State; and if we
falsify such institutions, the disgrace is ours, not theirs.
If slavery, however, is a blemish, a blot, an eating cancer
in the body politic, it is not our fault, if; by holding it up,
others should see in the mirror of truth its deformity, and
shrink back from the view.
We have not, and we intend not to use any weapons
against slavery, but the moral power of truth and the
force of public opinion. If we enter the slave States, and




132        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
tamper with the slave contrary to law, punish us -we
deserve it; and if a slaveholder is found in a free State,
and is guilty of a breach of the law there, he also ought
to be punished.
These petitioners as far as I understand them, disclaim
all right to enter a slave State for the purpose of intercourse with the slave. It is the master whom they wish
to address; and they ask and ought to receive protection
from the laws, as they are willing to be judged by the
laws. We invite the slaveholder into the arena of public
discussion in our State; we are willing to hear his reasons
and facts in favor of slavery, or against abolitionists;
we do not fear his errors while we are ourselves free to
combat them. The angry feelings which in some degree
exist between the citizens of the free and slaveholding
States, on account of slavery, are, in many cases, properly
chargeable to those who support and defend slavery.
Attempts are almost daily making to force the execution
of slave laws in the free States; at least, their power and
principles; and no term is too reproachful to be applied
to those who resist such acts, and contend for the rights
secured to every man under their own laws. We are
often reminded that we ought to take color as evidence
of property in a human being. We do not believe in such
evidence, nor do we believe that a man can justly be made
property by human laws. We acknowledge, however,
that a man, not a thing, may be held to service or labor
under the laws of a State, and, if he escapes into another
State, he ought to be delivered up on claim of the party
to whom such labor or service may be due; that this
delivery ought to be in pursuance of the laws of the
State where such person is found, and not by virtue of
any act of Congress.
This brings me, Mr. President, to the consideration of
the petition presented by the Senator from Kentucky,
and to an examination of the views he has presented to




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              133
the Senate on this highly important subject. Sir, I feel,
I sensibly feel my inadequacy in entering into a controversy with that old and veteran Senator; but nothing
high or low shall prevent me from an honest discharge of
my duties here. If imperfectly done, it may be ascribed
to the want of ability, not intention. If the power of my
mind, and the strength of my body, were equal to the
task, I would arouse every man, yes, every woman and
child in the country, to the danger which besets them, if
such doctrines and views as are presented by the Senator
should ever be carried into effect. His denunciations are
against abolitionists, and under that term are classed all
those who petition Congress on the subject of slavery.
Such I understand to be his argument, and as such I
shall treat it. I, in the first place, put in a broad denial
to all his general facts, charging this portion of my fellow
citizens with improper motives or dangerous designs.
That their acts are lawful he does not pretend to deny.
I called for proof to sustain his charges. None such has
been offered, and none such exist, or can be found. I
repel them as calumnies doubly-distilled in the alembic
of slavery. I deny them, also, in the particulars and
inferences; and let us see upon what ground they rest, or
by what process of reasoning they are sustained.
The very first view of these petitioners against our
right of petition, strikes the mind that more is intended
than at first meets the eye. Why was the Committee on
the District overlooked in this case, and the Senator from
Kentucky made the organ of communication?  Is it
understood that anti-abolitionism is a passport to popular
favor, and that the action of this District shall present
for that favor to the public a gentleman upon this hobby?
Is this petition presented as a subject of fair legislation?
Was it solicited by members of Congress, from citizens
here, for political effect? Let the country judge.
The petitioners state that no persons but themselves




134        LIFE OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
are authorized to interfere with slavery in the District;
that Congress are their own Legislature; and the question of slavery in the District is only between them and
their constituted legislators; and they protest against all
interference of others. But, sir, as if ashamed of this
open position in favor of slavery, they, in a very coy
manner, say that some of them are not slaveholders, and
might be forbidden by conscience to hold slaves. There
is more dictation, more political heresy, more dangerous
doctrine in this petition, than I have ever before seen
couched together in so many words. We! Congress their
OWN Legislature in all that concerns this District! Let
those who may put on the city livery, and legislate for
them and not for their constituents, do so; for myself, I
came here with a different view, and for different purposes. I came a free man, to represent the people of Ohio;
and I intend to leave this as such representative, without
wearing any other livery.  Why talk about executive
usurpation and influence over the members of Congress?
I have always viewed this District influence as far more
dangerous than that of any other power. It has been
able to extort, yes, extort from Congress, millions to pay
District debts, make District improvements, and in support of the civil and criminal jurisprudence of the
District. Pray, sir, what right has Congress to pay the
corporate debts of the cities in the District more than the
debts of the corporate cities in your State and mine?
None, sir. Yet this has been done to a vast amount; and
the next step is, that we, who pay all this, shall not be
permitted to petition Congress on the subject of their
institutions, for, if we can be prevented in one case, we
can in all possible cases. 1Sark, sir, how plain a tale will
silence these petitioners.  If slavery in the District
concerns only the inhabitants and Congress, so do all
municipal regulations. Should they extend to granting
lottery, gaming-houses, tippling-houses, and other places




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               135
calculated to promote and encourage vice- should a
representative in Congress be instructed by his constituents to use his influence, and vote against such establishments, and the people of the District should instruct him
to vote for them, which should he obey? To state the
question is to answer it; otherwise the boasted right of
instruction by the constituent body is "mere sound,"
signifying nothing. Sir, the inhabitants of this District
are subject to State legislation and State policy; they can
not complain of this, for their condition is voluntary;
and as this city is the focus of power, of influence, and
considered also that of fashion, if not of folly; and as the
streams which flow from here irradiate the whole country,
it is proper, that it should be subject to State policy and
State power, and not used as a leaven to ferment and
corrupt the whole body politic.
The honorable Senator has said the petition, though
from a city, is the fair expression of the opinion of the
District. As such I treated it, am willing to acknowledge
the respectability of the petitioners and their rights, and
I claim for the people of my own State equal respectability and equal rights to those the people of the District
are entitled to: any peculiar rights and advantages I
can not admit.
I agree with the Senator, that the proceedings on abolition petitions, heretofore, have not been the most wise
and prudent course. They ought to have been referred
and acted on. Such was my object, a day or two since,
when I laid on your table a resolution to refer them to a
committee for inquiry. You did not suffer it, sir, to be
printed. The country and posterity will judge between
the people whom I represent, and those who caused to be
printed the petition from the city. It can not be possible
that justice can have been done in both cases. The exclusive legislation of Congress over the District is as much
the act of the constituent body, as the general legislation




136        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
of Congress over the States, and to the operation of this
act have the people within the District submitted themselves. 1 can not, however, join the Senator in supposing
that the majority, in refusing to receive and refer petitions, did not intend to destroy or impair the right in this
particular. They certainly have done so.
The Senator admits the abolitionists are now formidable; that something must be done to produce harmony.
Yes, sir, do justice, and harmony will be restored. Act
impartially, that justice may be done: hear petitions on
both sides, if they are offered, and give righteous judgments, and your people will be satisfied. You can not
compromise them out of their rights, nor lull them to
sleep with fallacies in the shape of reports. You can not
conquer them by rebuke, nor deceive them by sophistry.
Remember you can not now turn public opinion, nor can
you overthrow it. You must, and you will, abandon the
high ground you have taken, and receive petitions. The
reason of the case, the argument and judgment of the
people, are all against you. One in this cause can " chase
a thousand," and the voice of justice will be heard whenever you agitate the subject. In Indiana, the right to
petition has been most nobly advocated in a protest, by a
member, against some puny resolutions of the Legislature
of that State to whitewash slavery. Permit me to read a
paragraph worthy an American freeman:
C "But who would have thought until lately, that any
would have doubted the right to petition in a respectful
manner to Congress? Who would have believed, that
Congress had any authority to refuse to consider the petitions of the people? Such a step would overthrow the
Autocrat of Russia, or cost the Grand Seignior of Constantinople his head. Can it be possible, therefore, that it
has been reserved for a Republican Government, in a land
boasting of its free institutions, to set the first precedent
of this kind? Our city councils, our courts of justice,




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             137
every department of Government are approached by
petition, however unanswerable, or absurd, so that its
terms are respectful. None go away unread, or unheard.
The life of every individual is a perfect illustration of the
subject of petitioning. Petition is the language of want,
of pain, of sorrow, of man in all his sad variety of woes,
imploring relief, at the hand of some power superior to
himself. Petitioning is the foundation of all government,
and of all the administrations of law. Yet it has been
reserved for our Congress, seconded indirectly by the
vote of this Legislature, to question this right, hitherto
supposed to be so old, so heaven-deeded, so undoubted,
that our fathers did not think it necessary to place a
guaranty of it in the first draft of the Federal Constitution. Yet this sacred right has been, at one blow, driven,
destroyed, and trodden under the feet of slavery. The
old bulwarks of our Federal and State Constitutions seem
utterly to have been forgotten, which declare-' that the
freedom of speech and the press shall not be abridged,
nor the right of the people peaceably to assemble and
petition for the redress of their grievances.'"
These, Sir, are the sentiments which make Abolitionists
formidable, and set at nought all your councils for their
overthrow. The honorable Senator not only admits that
Abolitionists are formidable, but that they consist of
three classes. The friends of humanity and justice, or
those actuated by those principles, compose one class.
These form a very numerous class, and the acknowledgment of the Senator proves the immutable principles
upon which opposition to slavery rests. Men are opposed
to it on principles of humanity and justice —men are
Abolitionists, he admits, on that account. We thank the
Senator for teaching us that word; we intend to improve
it. The next class of Abolitionists, the Senator says, are
so, apparently, for the purpose of advocating the right of
petition. What are we to understand from this? That
12




138        LIFE OF SENATOR, MORRIS.
the right of petition needs advocacy. Who has denied
this right, or who has attempted to abridge it? The
slaveholding power; that power which avoids open discussion, and the free exercise of opinion; it is that power
alone which renders the advocacy of the right of petition
necessary, having seized upon all the powers of the Government. It is fast uniting together those opposed to its
iron rule, no matter to what political party they have
heretofore belonged; they are uniting with the first class,
and act from principles of humanity and justice; and if
the mists and shades of slavery were not the atmosphere
in which gentlemen were enveloped, they would see constant and increasing numbers of our most worthy and
intelligent citizens attaching themselves to the two classes
mentioned, and rallying under the banners of Abolitionism. They are compelled to go there, if the gentleman
will have it so, in order to defend and perpetuate the
liberties of the country. The hopes of the oppressed
spring up afresh from this discussion of the gentleman.
The third class, the Senator says, are those who, to
accomplish their ends, act without regard to consequences.
To them, all the rights of property, of the States, of the
Union, the Senator says, are nothing. He says they aim
at other objects than those they profess-emancipation in
the District of Columbia. No, says the Senator, their
object is universal emancipation, not only in the District,
but in the Territories and in the States. Their object is
to set free three millions of negro slaves. Who made the
Senator, in his place here, the censor of his fellow-citizens?
Who authorized him to charge them with other objects
than those they profess? Hlow long is it since the Senator
himself, on this floor, denounced slavery as an evil? What
other inducements or object had he then in view? Suppose universal emancipation to be the object of these
petitioners; is it not a noble and praiseworthy object,
worthy of the Christian, the philanthropist, the statesman,




LIFE OF' SENATOR MORRIS.             139
and the citizen? But the Senator says, they (the petitioners) aim to excite one portion of the country against
another. I deny, Sir, this charge, and call for the proof;
it is gratuitous, uncalled for, and unjust toward my fellow citizens. This is the language of a stricken conscience, seeking for the palliation of its own acts by
charging guilt upon others. It is the language of those
who, failing in argument, endeavor to cast suspicion upon
the character of their opponents, in order to draw public
attention from themselves. It is the language of disguise
and concealment, and not that of fair and honorable
investigation, the object of which is truth. I again put
in a broad denial to this charge, that any portion of these
petitioners, whom I represent, seek to excite one portion
of the country against another; and without proof I can
not admit that the assertion of the honorable Senator
establishes the fact. It is but opinion, and naked assertion only. The Senator complains that the means and
views of the Abolitionists are not confined to securing the
right of petition only; no, they resort to other means, he
affirms, to the BALLOT BOX; and if that fail, says the Senator, their next appeal will be to the bayonet.
Sir, no man, who is an American in feeling and in heart,
but ought to repel this charge instantly, and without any
reservation whatever, that if they fail at the ballot box
they will resort to the bayonet. If such a fratricidal
course should ever be thought of in our country, it will
not be by those who seek redress of wrongs, by exercising
the right of petition, but by those only who deny that
right to others, and seek to usurp the whole power of the
Government. If the ballot box fail them, the bayonet
may be their resort, as mobs and violence now are. Does
the Senator believe that any portion of the honest yeomanry of the country entertain such thoughts? I hope
he does not. If thoughts of this kind exist, they are to
be found in the hearts of aspirants to office, and their




140        LIFE OF SENATOR _MORRIS.
adherents, and none others. Who, sir, is making this
question a political affair? Not the petitioners. It was the
slaveholding power which first made this move. I have
noticed for some time past that many of the public prints
in this city, as well as elswhere, have been filled with essays
against Abolitionists for exercising the rights of freemen.
Both political parties, however, have courted them in
private and denounced them in public, and both have
equally deceived them. And who shall dare say that an
Abolitionist has no right to carry his principles to the
ballot box? Who fears the ballot box? The honest in heart,
the lover of our country and its institutions? No, sir! It
is feared by the tyrant; he who usurps power, and seizes
upon the liberty of others; he, for one, fears the ballot
box. Where is the slave to party in this country who is
so lost to his own dignity, or so corrupted by interest or
power, that he does not, or will not, carry his principles
and his judgment into the ballot box? Such an one
ought to have the mark of Cain in his forehead, and be sent
to labor among the negro slaves of the South. The honorable Senator seems anxious to take under his care the
ballot box, as he has the slave system of the country,
and direct who shall or who shall not use it for the
redress of what they deem a political grievance. Suppose
the power of the Executive Chair should take under its
care the right of voting, who should proscribe any
portion of our citizens who should carry with them
to the polls of election their own opinions, creeds, and
doctrines. This would at once be a death-blow to our
liberties, and the remedy could only be found in revolution. There can be no excuse or pretext for revolution
while the ballot box is free. Our Government is not one
of force, but of principle; its foundation rests on public
opinion, and its hope is in the morality of the nation.
The moral power of that of the ballot box is sufficient to
correct all abuses. Let me, then, proclaim here, from this




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             141
high arena, to the citizens not only of my own State, but
to the country, to all sects and parties who are entitled to
the right of suffrage, To THE BALLOT BOX! carry with you
honestly your own sentiments respecting the welfare of
your country, and make them operate as effectually as
you can, through that medium, upon its policy and for its
prosperity. Fear not the frowns of power. It trembles
while it denounces you. The Senator complains that the
Abolitionists have associated with the politics of the
country. So far as I am capable of judging, this charge
is not well founded; many politicians of the country have
used Abolitionists as stepping stones to mount into power;
and, when there, have turned about and traduced them.
He admits that political parties are willing to unite with
them any class of men, in order to carry their purposes.
Are Abolitionists, then, to blame if they pursue the same
course? It seems the Senator is willing that his party
should make use of even Abolitionists; but he is not willing that Abolitionists should use the same party for their
purpose. This seems not to be in accordance with that
equality of rights about which we heard so much at the
last session. Abolitionists have nothing to fear. If public opinion should be for them, politicians will be around
and among them as the locusts of Egypt. The Senator
seems to admit that, if the Abolitionists are joined to
either party, there is danger- danger of what? That
humanity and justice will prevail? that the right of petition will be secured to ALL EQUALLY? and that the longlost and trodden African race will be restored to their
natural rights? Would the Senator regret to see this
accomplished by argument, persuasion, and the force of
an enlightened public opinion? I hope not; and these
petitioners ask the use of no other weapons in this warfare.
These ultra-abolitionists, says the Senator, invoke the
power of this Government to their aid. And pray, sir,
what power should they invoke? Have they not the




142        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
same right to approach this Government as other men?
Is the Senator or this body authorized to deny them any
privileges secured to other citizens? If so, let him show
me the charter of his power and I will be silent. Until
he can do this, I shall uphold, justify, and sustain them,
as I do other citizens. The exercise of power by Congress in behalf of the slaves within this District, the
Senator seems to think, no one without the District has
the least claim to ask for. It is because I reside without
the District, and am called within it by the Constitution,
that I object to the existence of slavery here. I deny the
gentleman's position, then, on this point. On this, then,
we are equal.
The Senator, however, is at war with himself. He
contends the object of the cession by the States of Virginia and Maryland, was to establish a Seat of Government only, and to give Congress whatever power was
necessary to render the District a valuable and comfortable situation for that purpose, and that Congress have
full power to do whatever is necessary for this District;
and if to abolish slavery be necessary, to attain that
object, Congress have power to abolish slavery in the
District. I am sure I quote the gentleman substantially;
and I thank him for this precious confession in his argument; it is what I believe, and I know it is all I feel disposed to ask. If we can, then, prove that this District is
not as comfortable and convenient a place for the deliberations of Congress, and the comfort of our citizens who
may visit it, while slavery exists here, as it would be
without slavery, then slavery ought to be abolished; and
I trust we shall have the distinguished Senator from Kentucky to aid us in this great national reformation. I take
the Senator at his word. I agree with him that this ought
to be such a place as he has described; but I deny that it
is so. And upon what facts do I rest my denial? We
are a Christian nation, a moral and religious people. I




LIFE OF SENATOR IORRIS.              143
speak for the free States, at least for my own State; and
what a contrast do the very streets of your capital daily
present to the Christianity and morality of the nation?
A race of slaves, or at least colored persons, of every hue
from the jet-black African, in regular gradation, up to the
almost pure Anglo-Saxon color. During the short time
official duty has called me here, I have seen the really red
haired, the freckled, and the almost white negro; and I
have been astonished at the number of the mixed race,
when compared with those of full color, and I have deeply
deplored this stain upon our national morals; and the
words of Dr. Channing have, thousands of times, been
impressed on my mind, that "a slave country reeks with
licentiousness."  How comes this amalgamation of the
races? It comes from slavery. It is a disagreeable
annoyance to those who come from the free States, especially to their Christian and moral feelings. It is a great
hindrance to the proper discharge of their duties while
here. Remove slavery from this District, and this evil
will disappear. We argue this circumstance alone as sufficient cause to produce this effect. But slavery presents
within the District other and still more appalling scenes;
scenes well calculated to awaken the deepest feelings of
the human heart. The slave-trade exists here in all its
HORRORS, and unwhipt of all its crimes. In view of the
very chair which you now occupy, Air. President, if the
massy walls of this building did not prevent it, you could
see the prison, the pen, the HELL, where human beings,
when purchased for sale, are kept until a cargo can be
procured for transportation to a Southern or foreign market; for I have little doubt slaves are carried to Texas for
sale, though I do not know the fact.
Sir, since Congress have been in session, a mournful
group of these unhappy beings, some thirty or forty,
were marched, as if in derision of members of Congress,
in view of your Capitol, chained and manacled together,




144        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
in open day-light, yes, in the very face of Heaven itself,
to be shipped at Baltimore for a foreign market. I did
not witness this cruel transaction, but speak from what I
have heard and believe. Is this District, then, a fit place
for our deliberations, whose feelings are outraged with
impunity with transactions like this? Suppose, Sir, that
mournful and degrading spectacle was at this moment
exhibited under the windows of our Chamber, do you
think the Senate could deliberate, could continue with
that composure and attention which I see around me?
No, Sir; all your powers could not preserve order for a
a moment. The feelings of humanity would overcome
those of regard for the peculiar institutions of the States;
and though we would be politically and legally bound not
to interfere, we are not morally bound to withhold our
sympathy and our execration, in witnessing such inhuman
traffic. This traffic alone, in this District, renders it an
uncomfortable and unfit place for your.Seat of Government. Sir, it is but one or two years since I saw standing at the railroad depot, as I passed from my boarding
house to this Chamber, some large wagons and teams, as
if waiting for freight; the cars had not then arrived. I
was inquired of, when I returned to my lodgings, by my
landlady, if I knew the object of those wagons which I
saw in the morning? I replied, I did not; I suppose they
came and were waiting for loading. "Yes, for slaves," said
she; "and one of those wagons was filled with little boys
and little girls, who had been bought up through the country, and were to be taken to a Southern market. Ah, Sir! "
continued she, " it made my very heart ache to see them."
The very recital unnerved and unfitted me for thought or
reflection on any other subject for some time. It is scenes
like this, of which ladies of my country and my State
complained in their petitions, some time since, as rendering this District unpleasant, should they visit the capital
of the nation as wives, sisters, daughters or friends of




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              145
members of Congress. Yet, Sir, those respectable females
were treated with contemptuous sneers; they were compared, on this floor, to the fish-women of Paris, who
dipped their fingers in the blood of revolutionary France.
Sir, if the transaction in slaves here, which I have mentioned, could make such an impression on the heart of a
lady, a resident of the District, one who had been used to
slaves, and was probably an owner, what would be the
feelings of ladies from the free States on beholding a like
transaction? I will leave every gentleman and every
lady to answer for themselves. I am unable to describe
it. Shall the capital of your country longer exhibit
scenes so revolting to humanity, that the ladies of your
country can not visit it without disgust? No; wipe off
the foul stain, and let it become a suitable and comfortable
place for the Seat of Government.
The Senator, as if conscious that his argument on this
point had proved too much, and of course had proven the
converse of what he wished to establish, concluded this
part by saying, that if slavery is abolished, the act ought
to be confined to the city alone. We thank him for this
small sprinkling of correct opinion upon this arid waste
of public feeling. Liberty may yet vegetate and grow
even here.
The Senator insists that the States of Virginia and
Maryland would never have ceded this District if they
had thought slavery would have been abolished in
it. This is an old story twice told. It was never, however, thought of; until the slave power imagined it, for its
own security. Let the States ask a retrocession of the
District, and I am sure the free States will rejoice to make
the grant.
The Senator condemns the Abolitionists for desiring
that slavery should not exist in the Territories, even in
Florida. He insists that, by the treaty, the inhabitants
of that country have the right to remove their EFFECTS
13




146        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
when they please; and that, by this condition, they have
the right to retain their slaves as effects, independently
of the power of Congress. I am no diplomatist, sir, but
I venture to deny the conclusion of the Senator's argument. In all our intercourse with foreign nations, in all
our treaties in which the words " goods, effects," etc., are
used, slaves have never been considered as included. In
all cases in which slaves are the subject matter of controversy, they are specially named by the word " slaves;"
and, if I remember rightly, it has been decided in Congress, that slaves are not property for which a compensation shall be made when taken for public use, (or rather,
slaves can not be considered as taken for public use,) or
as property by the enemy, when they are in the service
of the United States. If I am correct, as I believe I am,
in the position I have assumed, the gentleman can say
nothing, by this part of his argument, against Abolitionists, for asking that slavery shall not exist in Florida.
The gentleman contends that the power to remove
slaves from one State to another, for sale, is found in that
part of the Constitution which gives Congress the power
to regulate commerce within the State, etc. This argument is a non sequitur, unless the honorable Senator can first
prove that slaves are proper articles for commerce. We
say that Congress have power over slaves only as persons.
The United States can protect persons, but can not make
them property, and they have full power in regulating
commerce, and can, in such regulations, prohibit from its
operations every thing but property; property made so
by the laws of nature, and not by any municipal regulations. The dominion of men over things, as property,
was settled by his Creator when man was first placed
upon the earth. He was to subdue the earth, and have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and fowls of the air, and
over every living thing that moveth upon the earth;
every herb bearing seed, and the fruit of the tree yielding




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             147
seed, was given for his use. This is the foundation of all
right in property of every description. It is for the use
of man the grant is made, and of course man can not be
included in the grant. Every municipal regulation, then,
of any State, or any of its peculiar institutions, which
makes man property, is a violation of this great law of
nature, and is founded in usurpation and tyranny, and is
accomplished by force, fraud, or an abuse of power. It is a
violation of the principles of truth and justice, in subjecting the weaker to the stronger man. In a Christian
nation such property can form no just ground for commercial regulations, but ought to be strictly prohibited. I
therefore believe it is the duty of Congress, by virtue of
this power to regulate commerce, to prohibit, at once,
slaves being used as articles of trade.
The gentleman says, the Constitution left the subject
of slavery entirely to the States. To this position I
assent; and, as the States can not regulate their own
commerce, but the same being the right of Congress, that
body can not make slaves an article of commerce, because
slavery is left entirely to the States in which it exists;
and slaves within these States, according to the gentleman, are excluded from the power of Congress. Can
Congress, in regulating commerce among the several
States, authorize the transportation of articles from one
State, and their sale in another, which they have not
power so to authorize in any State? I can not believe in
such doctrine; and now solemnly protest against the
power of Congress to authorize the transportation to, and
the sale in, Ohio, of any negro slave whatever, or for any
possible purpose under the sun. Who is there in Ohio,
or elsewhere, that will dare deny this position? If Ohio
contains such a recreant to her Constitution and policy, I
hope he may have the boldness to stand forth and avow
it. If the States in which slavery exists love it as a
household god, let them keep it there, and not call upon




148        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
us in the free States to offer incense to their idol. We do
not seek to touch it with unhallowed hands, but with
pure hands, upraised in the cause of truth and suffering
humanity.
The gentleman admits that, at the formation of our
Government, it was feared that slavery might eventually
divide or distract our country; and, as the BALLOT BOX
seems continually to haunt his imagination, he says there
is real danger of dissolution of the Union if Abolitionists,
as is evident they do, will carry their principles into the
BALLOT BOX. If not disunion in fact, at least in feeling, in
the country, which is always the precursor to the clash of
arms. And the gentleman further says we are taught by
holy writ, " that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle
to the strong." The moral of the gentleman's argument
is, that truth and righteousness will prevail, though opposed by power and influence; that Abolitionists, though
few in number, are greatly to be feared; one, as I have
said, may chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to
flight; and, as their weapons of warfare are not " carnal,
but mighty to the pulling down of strong holds," even
slavery itself; and as the ballot box is the great moral
lever in political action, the gentleman would exclude
Abolitionists entirely from its use, and for opinion's sake,
deny them this high privilege of every American citizen.
Permit me, sir, to remind the gentleman of another text
of holy writ.'" The wicked flee when no man pursueth,
but the righteous are bold as a lion." The Senator says
that those who have slaves, are sometimes supposed to be
under too much alarm. Does this prove the application
of the text I have just quoted? " Conscience sometimes
makes cowards of us all." The Senator appeals to Abolitionists, and beseeches them to cease their efforts on the
subject of slavery, if they wish, says he, " to exercise their
benevolence." WVhat! Abolitionists benevolent! ile hopes
they will select some object not so terrible. Oh, sir, he




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             149
is willing they should pay tithes of "mint and rue,"
but the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy,
he would have them entirely overlook. I ought to thank
the Senator for introducing holy writ into this debate,
and inform him his arguments are not the sentiments of
Him, who, when on earth, went about doing good.
The Senator further entreats the clergy to desist from
their efforts in behalf of Abolitionism. Who authorized
the Senator, as a politician, to use his influence to point
out to the clergy what they should pray?  Would the
Senator dare exert his power here to bind the consciences
of men? By what rule of ethics, then, does he undertake
to use his influence, from this high place of power, in
order to gain the same object, I am at a loss to determine.
Sir, this movement of the Senator is far more censurable
and dangerous, as an attempt to unite Church and State,
than were the petitions against Sunday mails, the report
in opposition to which gained for you, Mr. President, so
much applause in the country. I, Sir, also appeal to the
clergy to maintain their rights of conscience; and if they
believe slavery to be a sin, we ought to honor and respect
them for their open denunciation of it, rather than call on
them to desist, for between their conscience and their
God, we have no power to interfere; we do not wish to
make them political agents for any purpose.
But the Senator is not content to entreat the clergy
alone to desist; he calls on his country-women to warn
them, also, to cease their efforts, and reminds them that
the ink shed from the pen held in their fair fingers when
writing their names to abolition petitions, may be the
cause of shedding much human blood! Sir, the language
toward to this class of petitioners is very much changed of
late; they formerly were pronounced idlers, fanatics, old
women, and school misses, unworthy of respect from
intelligent and respectable men. I warned gentlemen
then that they would change their language; the blows




150        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
they aimed fell harmless at the feet of those whom
they were intended to injure. In this movement of my
country-women I thought was plainly to be discovered
the operations of Providence, and a sure sign of the final
triumph of universal emancipation. All history, both sacred
and profane, both ancient and modern, bears testimony
to the efficacy of female influence and power in the cause
of human liberty. From the time of the preservation, by
the hands of women, of the great Jewish law-giver, in his
infantile hours, and who was preserved for the purpose
of freeing his countrymen from Egyptian bondage, has
woman been made a powerful agent in breaking to pieces
the rod of the oppressor. With a pure and uncontaminated mind, her actions spring from the deepest recesses of
the human heart. Denounce her as you will, you can not
deter her from her duty. Pain, sickness, want, poverty,
and even death itself form no obstacles in her onward
march. Even the tender virgin would dress, as a martyr
for the stake, as for her bridal hour, rather than make
sacrifice of her purity and duty. The eloquence of the
Senate, and clash of arms, are alike powerful when
brought in opposition to the influence of pure and virtuous woman. The liberty of the slave seems now to be
committed to her charge, and who can doubt her final
triumph? I do not. You can not fight against her and
hope for success; and well does the Senator know this;
hence this appeal to her feelings to terrify her from that
which she believes to be her duty. It is a vain attempt.
The Senator says that it was the principles of the Constitution which carried us through the Revolution.
Surely it was; and to use the language of another Senator from a slave State, on a former occasion, these are the
very principles on which the Abolitionists plant themselves.
It was the principle that all men are born FREE AND
EQUAL, that nerved the arm of our fathers in their contest
for independence. It was for the natural and inherent




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             151
rights of man they contended. It is a libel upon the Constitution to say that its object was not liberty, but slavery,
for millions of the human race.
The Senator, well fearing that all his eloquence and his
arguments thus far are but chaff, when weighed in the
balance against truth and justice, seems to find consolation in the idea, and says that which opposes the ulterior
object of Abolitionists, is that the General Government
has no power to act on the subject of slavery, and that
the Constitution or the Union would not last an hour if
the power claimed was exercised by Congress. It is
slavery then, and not liberty, that makes us one people.
To dissolve slavery, is to dissolve the Union. Why
require of us to support the Constitution by oath, if the
Constitution itself is subject to the power of slavery, and
not the moral power of the country? Change the form
of the oath which you administer to Senators on taking
seats here, swear them to support slavery, and according
to the logic of the gentleman, the Constitution and the
Union will both be safe. We hear almost daily threats
of dissolving the Union; and from whence do they come?
From citizens of the free States? No! From the slave
States only. Why wish to dissolve it? The reason is
plain- that a new government may be formed, by which
we, as a nation, may be made a slaveholding people. No
impartial observer of passing events can, in my humble
iudgment, doubt the truth of this. The Senator thinks
the Abolitionists in error, if they wish the slaveholder to
free his slave. He asks, why denounce him? I can not
admit the truth of the question; but I might well ask the
gentleman, and the slaveholders generally, "why are you
angry at me, because I tell you the truth?" It is the
light of truth which the slaveholder can not endure; a
plain, unvarnished tale of what slavery is, he considers a
libel upon himself. The fact is, the slaveholder feels the
leprosy of slavery upon him. He is anxious to hide the




152        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
odious disease from the public eye; and the ballot box,
and the right of petition, when used against him, he feels
as sharp reproof; and being unwilling to renounce his
errors, he tries to escape from their consequences, by
making the world believe that HE is the persecuted, and
not the persecutor. Slaveholders have said here, during
this very session —" the fact is, slavery will not bear
examination."  It is the Senator who denounces Abolitionists for the exercise of their most unquestionable
rights; while Abolitionists condemn that only which the
Senator himself will acknowledge to be wrong at all
times, and under all circumstances. Because he admits
that if it was an original question whether slaves should
be introduced among us, but few citizens could be found
to agree to it, and none more opposed to it than himself.
The argument is, that the evil of slavery is incurable;
that the attempt to eradicate it would commence a struggle which would exterminate one race or the other.
What a lamentable picture of our Government, so often
pronounced the best upon earth! The seeds of disease,
which were interwoven into its first existence, have now
become so incorporated into its frame, that they can not
be extracted without dissolving the whole fabric; that we
must endure the evil without hope and without complaint.
Our very natures must be changed before we can be
brought tamely to submit to this doctrine. The evil will
be remedied: and to use the language of Jefferson again,
"this people will yet be free." The Senator finds consolation, however, in the midst of this existing evil, in color
and caste. The black race (says he) is the strong ground
of slavery in our country. Yes, it is color, not right and
justice, that is to continue forever slavery in our country.
It is prejudice against color, which is the strong ground
of the slaveholder's hope. Is that prejudice founded in
nature, or is it the effect of base and sordid interest? Let
the mixed race which we see here, from black to almost




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              153
perfect white, springing from white fathers, answer the
question. Slavery has no just foundation in color; it
rests exclusively upon usurpation, tyranny, oppressive
fraud, and force. These were its parents in every age
and country of the world.
The Senator says, the next or greatest difficulty to
emancipation is, the amount of property it would take
from the owners. All ideas of right and wrong are confounded in these words: emancipate property. Emancipate a horse, or an ox, would not only be an unmeaning,
but a ludicrous expression. To emancipate, is to set free
from slavery. To emancipate, is to set free a man, not
property. The Senator estimates the number of slaves'
men -now held in bondage —at three millions, in the
United States. Is this statement made here by the same
voice which was heard in this Capitol in favor of the
liberties of Greece, and for the emancipation of our South
American brethren from political thraldom?  It is; and
has all its fervor in favor of liberty been exhausted upon
foreign countries, so as not to leave a single whisper in
favor of three millions of men in our own country, now
groaning under the most galling oppression the world
ever saw? NTo, Sir. Sordid interest rules the hour. Men
are made property, and paper is made money; and the
Senator, no doubt, sees in these two peculiar institutions
a power which, if united, will be able to accomplish all
his wishes. IHe informs us that some have computed the
slaves to be worth the average amount of five hundred
dollars each. He will estimate within bounds, at four
hundred dollars each; making the amount twelve hundred millions worth of slave property. I heard this
statement, Mr. President, with emotions of the deepest
feeling.
By what rule of political or commercial arithmetic does
the Senator calculate the amount of property in human
beings? Can it be fancy or fact, that I hear such calcu



154        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
lation, that the people of the United States own twelve
hundred millions' (double the amount of all the specie in
the world) worth of human flesh! And this property is
owned, the gentleman informs us, by all classes of society,
forming part of all our contracts within our own country
and in Europe. I should have been glad, Sir, to have
been spared the hearing of a declaration of this kind,
especially from the high source and the place from which
it emanated. But the assertion has gone forth that we
have twelve hundred millions of slave property at the
South; and can any man so close his understanding
here, as not plainly to perceive that the power of this vast
amount of property at the South, is now uniting itself
to the banking power of the North, in order to govern
the destinies of this country? Six hundred millions of
banking capital is to be brought into this coalition, and
the slave power and the bank power are thus to unite in
order to break down the present administration. There
can be no mistake, as I believe, in this matter. The
aristocracy of the North, who, by the power of a corrupt
banking system, and the aristocracy of the South, by the
power of the slave system, both fattening upon the labor
of others, are now about to unite in order to make the
reign of each perpetual. Is there an independent Amercan to be found, who will become the recreant slave to
such an unholy combination? Is this another compromise to barter the liberties of the country for personal
aggrandiezment?  "Resistance to tyrants is obedience
to God."
The Senator further insists, "that what the law makes
property is property." This is the predicate of the gentleman; he has neither facts nor reason to prove it; yet
upon this alone does he rest the whole case that negroes
are property. I deny the predicate and the argument.
Suppose the Legislature of the Senator's own State should
pass a law declaring his wife, his children, his friends,




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              155
indeed, any white citizen of Kentucky, property, and
should they be sold and transferred as such, would the
gentleman fold his arms and say, " Yes, they are property,
for the law has made them such?" No, sir; he would
denounce such law with more vehemence than he now
denounces Abolitionists, and would deny the authority of
human Legislation to accomplish an object so clearly
beyond its power.
Human laws, I contend, can not make human beings
property, if human force can do it. If it is competent for
our legislatures to make a black man property, it is competent for them to make a white man the same; and the
same objection exists to the power of the people in an
organic law fobr their own government; they can not make
property of each other; and, in the language of the
Constitution of Indiana, such an act " can only originate
in usurpation and tyranny."  Dreadful, indeed, would be
the condition of this country, if these principles should
not only be carried into the ballot box, but into the Presidential chair. The idea that the Abolitionists ought to
pay for the slaves if they are set free, and that they ought
to think of this, is addressed to their fears, and not their
judgment. There is no principle of morality or justice
that should require them or our citizens generally to do
so. To free a slave is to take from usurpation that which
it has made property and given to another, and bestow it
upon the rightful owner. It is not taking property from
its true owner for public use. Men can do with their own
as they please, to distroy their peace if they wish, but can
not be compelled to do so.
The gentleman repeats the assertion that has been
repeated a thousand and one times: that Abolitionists are
retarding the emancipation of the slave, and have thrown
it back fifty or a hundred years; that they have increased
the rigors of slavery, and caused the master to treat his




156        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
slave with more severity. Slavery, then, is to cease at
some period; and because the Abolitionists have said to
the slaveholder, " Now is the accepted time," and because
he thinks this an improper interference -not having the
Abolitionists in his power, he inflicts his vengeance on
his unoffending slave! The moral of this story is, the
slaveholdlr will exercise more cruelty because he is
desired tu show mercy. I do not envy the Senator the
full beneft of his argument. It is no doubt a true picture
of the fcdlings and principles which slavery engenders
in the br last of the master. It is in perfect keeping with
the threait we almost daily hear; that if petitioners do
not cease their efforts in the exercise of their Constitutional rights, others will dissolve the Union. These,
however, ought to be esteemed idle assertions and idle
threats.
The Senator tells us that the consequences arising from
the freedom of slaves, would be to reduce the wages of
the white laborer. He has furnished us with neither
data nor fact upon which this opinion can rest.  He,
however, would draw a line, on one side of which he
would place the slave labor, and on the other side free
white labor; and looking over the whole, as a general
system, both would appear on a perfect equality. I have
observed, for some years past, that the Southern slaveholder has insisted that his laborers are, in point of integrity, morality, usefulness, and comfort, equal to the laboring population of the North. Thus endeavoring to raise
the slave in public estimation, to an equality with the
free white laborer of the North; while, on the other
hand, the Northern aristocrat has, viz: by comparison,
endeavored to reduce his laborers to the moral and political condition of the slaves of the South. It is for the free
white American citizens to determine whether they will
permit such degrading comparisons longer to exist.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               157
Already has this spirit broken forth in denunciation of
the right of universal suffrage. Will free white laboring
citizens take warning before it is too late?
The last, the great, the crying sin of Abolitionists, in
the eyes of the Senator, is that they are opposed to colonization, and in favor of amalgamation. It is not necessary
now to enter into any of the benefits and advantages of
colonization; the Senator has pronounced it the noblest
scheme ever devised by man; he says it is powerful but
harmless. I have no knowledge of any resultin~g benefits
from the scheme to either race. I have not a doubt as to
the real object intended by its founders; it did:lot arise
from principles of humanity and benevolence toward the
colored race, but a desire to remove the free of that race
beyond the United States, in order to perpetuate and
make slavery more secure.
The Senator further makes the broad charge that Abolitionists wish to enforce the unnatural system of amalgamation. We deny the fact, and call on the Senator for
proof. The citizens of the free States, the petitioners
against slavery, the Abolitionists of the free States, in
favor of amalgamation! No Sir! If you want evidence
of the fact, and reasoning in support of amalgamation,
you must look into the slave States; it is there it spreads
and flourishes from slave mothers, and presents all possible c6lors and complexions, from the jet black African to
the scarcely to be distinguished white person. Does any
one need proof of this fact? let him take but a few turns
through the streets of your capital, and observe those
whom he shall meet, and he will be perfectly satisfied.
Amalgamation, indeed! The charge is made with a very
bad grace on the present occasion. No, sir; it is not the
negro woman, it is the slave and the contaminating influence of slavery that is the mother of amalgamation.
Does the gentleman want facts on this subject? let him
look at the colored race in the free States; it is a rare




158        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
occurrence there. A colony of blacks, some three or four
hundred, were settled, some fifteen or twenty years since,
in the county of Brown, a few miles distant from my former residence in Ohio, and I was told by a person living
near them, a country merchant with whom they dealt,
when conversing with him on this very subject, that
he knew of but one instance of a mulatto child being
born among them  for the last fifteen  years; and I
venture the assertion, had this same colony been settled
in a slave State, the cases of a like kind would have been
far more numerous. I repeat again, in the words of Dr.
Channing, it is a slave country that reeks with licentiousness of this kind, and for proof I refer to the opinions
of Judge Harper, of North Carolina, in his defense of
southern slavery.
The Senator, as if fearing that he had made his charge
too broad, and might fail in proof to sustain it, seems to
stop short, and make the inquiry, where is the process of
amalgamation to begin? He had heard of no instance of
the kind against Abolitionists; they (Abolitionists) would
begin it with the laboring class; and if I understand the
Senator correctly, that Abolitionism, by throwing together
the white and the black laborers, would naturally produce
this result. Sir, I regret, I deplore, that such a charge
should be made against the laboring class —that class
which tills the ground; and in obedience to the decrbe of
their Maker, eat their bread in the sweat of their facethat class, of whom Mr. Jefferson says, if God has a chosen
people on earth, they are those who thus labor. This
charge is calculated for effect, to induce the laboring class
to believe, that if emancipation takes place, they will be,
in the free States, reduced to the same condition as the
colored laborer. The reverse of that is the truth of the
case. It is the slaveholder Now, he who looks upon labor
as only fit for a servile race, it is him and his kindred
spirits who live upon the labor of others, endeavoring to




ILIFE  OF SENATOR MORRIS.           159
reduce the white laborer to the condition of the slave.
They do not yet claim him as property, but they would
exclude him from all participation in the public affairs of
the country. It is further said, that if the negroes were
free, the black would rival the white laborer in the free
States. I can not believe it while so many facts exist to
to prove the contrary. Negroes, like the white race,
but with stronger feelings, are attached to the place of
their birth, and the home of their youth; and the climate
of the South is congenial to their natures, more than that
of the North. If emancipation should take place at the
South and the negroes be freed from the fear of being made
merchandize, they would remove from the free States of the
North and West, and immediately return to that country,
because it is the home of their friends and fathers.
Already in Ohio, as far as my knowledge extends, has
free white labor, (emigrants,) from foreign countries,
engrossed almost entirely all situations in which male or
female labor is found. But, Sir, this plea of necessity and
convenience is the plea of tyrants. Has not the free
black person the same right tothe use of his hands as the
white person; the same right to contract and labor for
what price he pleases? Would the gentleman extend the
power of the government to the regulation of the productive industry of the country?  This was his former
theory, but put down effectually by the public voice.
Taking advantage of the prejudice against labor, the
attempt is now being made to begin this same system, by
first operating on the poor black laborer. For shame!
let us cease from attempts of this kind.
The Senator informs us that the question was asked
fifty years ago that is now asked, can the negro be continued forever in bondage? Yes; and it will continue to
be asked, in still louder and louder tones. But, says the
Senator, we are yet a prosperous and happy nation.
Pray, Sir, in what part of your country do you find this




160        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRiS8.
prosperity and happiness? In the slave States? No!I
no! There all is weakness, gloom, and despair; while in
the free States, all is light, business, and activity. What
has created the astonishing difference between the gentleman's State and mine - between Kentucky and Ohio?
Slavery, the withering curse of slavery, is upon Kentucky, while Ohio is free. Kentucky —the garden of the
West, almost the land of promise, possessing all the
natural advantages, and more than is possessed by Ohiois vastly behind in population and wealth. Sir, I can see
from the windows of my upper chamber, in the city of
Cincinnati, lands in Kentucky, which, I am told, can be purchased from ten to fifty dollars per acre; while lands of the
same quality, under the same improvements, and the same
distance from me in Ohio, would probably sell from one
to five hundred dollars per acre. I was told by a friend,
a few days before I left home, who had formerly resided
in the county of Bourbon, Kentucky —a most excellent
county of lands adjoining, I believe, the county in which
the Senator resides —that the white population of that
county was more than four hundred less than it was five
years since. Will the Senator contend, after a knowledge
of these facts, that slavery in this country has been the
cause of our prosperity and happiness? No, he can not.
It is because slavery has been excluded and driven from
a large proportion of our country, that we are a prosperous and happy people. But its late attempts to force
its influence and power into the free States, and deprive
our citizens of their unquestionable rights, has been the
moving cause of all the riots, burnings, and murders that
have taken place on account of Abolitionism; and it has,
in some degree, even in the free States, caused mourning,
lamentation and woe. Remove slavery, and the country,
the whole country, will recover its natural vigor, and our
peace and future prosperity will be placed on a more
extensive, safe, and sure foundation. It is a waste of time




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             161
to answer the allegations that the emancipation of the
negro race would induce them to make war on the white
race. Every fact in the history of emancipation proves
the reverse: and he that will not believe those facts, has
darkened his own understanding, that the light of reason
can make no impression; he appeals to interest, not to
truth, for information on this subject. We do not fear
his errors, while we are left free to combat them. The
Senator implores us to cease all commotion on this subject. Are we to surrender all our rights and privileges,
all the official stations of the country into the hands of
the slaveholding power, without a single struggle?  Are
we to cease all exertions for our own safety, and submit
in quiet to the rule of this power? -Js the calm of despotism to reign over this land, and the voice of freedom to
be no more heard? This sacrifice is required of us, in
order to sustain slavery. Freemen, will you make it?
Will you shut your ears and your sympathies, and withhold from the poor, famished slave, a morsel of bread?
Can you thus act, and expect the blessings of Heaven upon
your country? I beseech you to consider for yourselves.
Mr. President-I have been compelled to enter into
this discussion from the course pursued by the Senate ou
the resolutions I submitted a few days since. The cry of
Abolitionist has been raised against me. If those resolutions are Abolitionism, then I am an Abolitionist from the
sole of my foot to the crown of my head. If to maintain
tile rights of the States, the security of the citizen from
violence and outrage; if to preserve the supremacy of
the laws; if insisting on the right of petition, a medium
through which every person subject to the laws has an
undoubted right to approach the Constitutional authorities of the country-be the doctrines of Abolitionists, it
finds a response in every beating pulse of my veins.
Neither power, nor favor, nor want, nor misery, shall
14




162        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
deter me from its support while the vital current continues to flow.
Condemned at home for my opposition to slavery, alone
and single handed here, well may I feel tremor and emotion in bearding this lion of slavery in his very den and
upon his own ground. I should shrink, Sir, at once, from
this fearful and unequal contest, was I not thoroughly
convinced that I am sustained by the power of truth and
the best interests of the country.
I listened to the Senator of Kentucky with undivided
attention. I was disappointed, sadly disappointed. I
had heard of the Senator's tact in making compromises
and agreements on this floor, and though opposed in principle to all such proceedings, yet I hoped to hear something upon which we could hang a hope that peace would
be restored to the borders of our own States, and all
future aggression upon our citizens from the free States
be prevented. Now, Sir, he offers us nothing but unconditional submission to political death; and not political
alone, but absolute death. We have counted the cost in
this matter, and are determined to live or die free.
Let the slaveholder hug his system to his bosom in his
own State, we will not go there to disturb him; but, Sir,
within our own borders we claim to enjoy the same privileges. Even, Sir, here in this District, this ten miles
square of common property and common right, the slave
power has the assurance to come into this very Hall, and
request that we-yes, Mr. President, that my constituents-be denied the right of petition on the subject of
slavery in this District. This most extraordinary petition against the right of others to petition on the same
subject as theirs, is graciously received and ordered to be
printed, peans sung to it by the slave power; while the
petitions I offer, from as honorable, free, high-minded and
patriotic American citizens as any in this District, are




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                163
spit upon, and turned out of doors as an unclean thing!
Genius of liberty! how long will you sleep under this
iron power of oppression? Not content with ruling over
their own slaves, they claim  the power to instruct Congress on the question of receiving petitions; and yet we
are tauntingly and sneeringly told that we have nothing
to do with the existence of slavery in the country, a suggestion as absurd as it is ridiculous. We are called upon
to make laws in favor of slavery in the District, but it is
denied that we can make laws against it; and at last the
right of petition on the subject, by the people of the free
States, is complained of as an improper interference. I
leave it to the Senator to reconcile all these difficulties,
absurdities, claims and requests of the people of this District, to the country at large; and I venture the opinion
that he will find as much difficulty in producing the belief
that he is correct now, as he has found, in obtaining the
same belief, that he was before correct, in his views and
political course on the subject of banks, internal improvements, protective tariff, etc., and the regulation, by acts
of Congress, of the productive industry of the country,
together with all compromises and coalitions he has
entered into for the attainment of those objects. I rejoice,
atowever, that the Senator has made the display he has.-n this occasion. It is a powerful shake to awaken the
sleeping energies of liberty, and his voice, like a trumpet, will call from their slumbers, millions of freemen, to
defend their rights; and the overthrow of his theory
now, is as sure and certain, by the force of public opinion,
as was the overthrow of all his former schemes, by the
same mighty power.
I feel, Mr. President, as if I had wearied your patience,
while I am sure my own bodily powers admonish me to
close; but I can not do so, without again reminding my
constituents of the greetings that have taken place on the
consummation and ratification of the treaty, offensive and




164        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
defensive, between the slaveholding and bank powers, in
order to carry on a war against the liberties of our country, and to put down the present administration. Yes,
there is no voice heard from New England now. Boston
and Faneuil Hall are silent as death. The free day-laborer
is, in prospect, reduced to the political, if not moral, condition of the slave; an ideal line is to divide them in their
labor; yes! the same principle is to govern on both sides.
Even the farmer, too, will soon be brought into the same
fold. It will be again said, with regard to the government of the country, "The farmer with his huge paws
upon the statute book, what can he do? " I have endeavored to warn my fellow-citizens of the present and
approaching danger, but the dark cloud of slavery is
before their eyes, and prevents many of them from seeing the condition of things as they are. That cloud, like
the cloud of summer, will soon pass away, and its thunders cease to be heard. Slavery will come to an end, and
the sunshine of prosperity warm, invigorate and bless
our whole country.
I do not know, Mr. President, that my voice will ever
again be heard on this floor. I now willingly, yes, gladly
return to my constituents, to the people of my own State.
I have spent my life among them, and the greater portion
of it in their service, and they have bestowed upon me
their confidence in numerous instances. I feel perfectly
conscious that, in the discharge of every trust which they
have committed to me, I have, to the best of my abilities,
acted solely with a view to the general good, not suffering
myself to be influenced by any particular or private
interest whatever; and I now challenge those who think
I have done otherwise, to lay their finger upon any public act of mine, and prove to the country its injustice or
anti-republican tendency. That I have often erred in the
selection of means to accomplish important ends, I have
no doubt; but my belief in the truth of the doctrines of




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.            165
the Declaration of Independence, the political creed of
President Jefferson, remains unshaken and unsubdued.
My greatest regret is that I have not been more zealous,
and done more for the cause of individual and political
liberty than I have done. I hope, on returning to my
home and my friends, to join them again in rekindling
the beacon-fires of liberty upon every hill in our State,
until their broad glare shall enlighten every valley, and
the song of triumph will soon be heard; for the hearts of
our people are in the hands of a just and holy Being,
(who can not look upon oppression but with abhorrence),
and he can turn them whithersoever he will, as the rivers
of water are turned. Though our national sins are many
and grievous, yet repentance, like that of ancient Nineveh, may divert from us that impending danger which
seems to hang over our heads as by a single hair. That
all may be safe, I conclude that THE NEGRO WILL YET BE
SET FREE.
This noble Speech startled the Senate, and produced a
marked sensation throughout the country. A Southern
Senator arose, and said, Mr. Morris deserved expulsion
from the Senate, that his presence there was contamination; and he soiled the very carpet on which he stood.
The Legislature of Virginia, suggested that Ohio's Senator
be expelled.
The friends of freedom, however, hailed the speech with
delight. Numerous Conventions passed resolutions, commending his Roman integrity and firmness. He received
numerous letters, saying: "Your very able and timely
speech, in reply to Mr. Clay, will be remembered with
gratitude by millions till the end of time." " You are
regarded as the chief defender of the liberty of speech,
of the right of petition, and freedom of debate, among
all the Senators who compose that august Body."
"We beg the reader," said a paper, " will not throw




166        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
down this splendid speech unread, because it is a long
one. Read it attentively, and then say what paragraph
might have been omitted. We have read it three times,
with profit and pleasure. It embraces, as will be seen,
a recapitulation of all the arguments in Mr. Clay's celebrated speech in favor of slavery, and is a capital expose
of the whole budget of fine-spun fallacies brought forward
by the Kentucky slaveholder. Mr. Morris could not have
chosen a better topic for a valedictory speech on the eve
of his retirement from the Senate. We have for years
held this man in high regard. His profession of Democracy amounts to something more than enrollment. He
has no need to advertise the public of his political creed,
so far, at least, as concerns the great question of human
rights. The old painters, in the imperfection of their
art, were wont to underwrite upon their canvass,'" this is a
horse" " - that is a lion."  Morris needs no label. He
stands confessed the lion of the day."
" When Mr. Morris began his speech, the audience was
small, as Mr. Webster had attracted the great and fashionable to hear his argument before the Supreme Court
in another wing of the Capitol; but before Morris had
proceeded far, the tide set the other way, and soon he
had the Senate-chamber crowded to listen to his noble
speech!"
Almost all the Senators who participated in that memorable debate are dead. Calhoun lies in his own graveyard, in the State which he loved so passionately, and to
whose interests, his logical and masterly intellect and
energies were devoted.  The imperial Webster, whose
massive mind, and rich intellectual resources are the glory
of his country, rests in his home farm, in Marshfield,
Massachusetts. His name has lost the prestige of its
former power and glory, because, on several occasions, he
declined to defend, by his eminent abilities, the cause of
freedom. Clay, the idol of his party, and ever potential




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                167
in the politics and civil councils of his country, was borne
in a funeral pageant, from  the Capital of the Nation,
where he died, to the shades of Ashland, Kentucky,
where he sleeps in death. A son of Kentucky, himself
an ardent admirer of Mr. Clay, says: " Strong considerations would restrain me from undervaluing his work,
but some of the measures he originated and pursued with
ceasless toil, are cast aside as obselete ideas, his party is
disbanded, the talismanic charm of his name is powerless, and it will remain for future ages to decide how great
and enduring his influence shall be."
Morris also is dead. He rests in the free soil of Ohio,
(buried in a spot of ground consecrated to freedom by a
special Act,) a State, of which it was a passion of his
nature to love, and to whose welfare he devoted the energies of a long life; closing his last official efforts for Ohio
and his country, by this speech in the Senate of the
United States; but the great principles enunciated, and
so fearlessly maintained in it, still live and will live
forever.
"Truth crushed to earth, will rise again,
The eternal years of God are hers
While error writhing in her pains,
Shall die amid her worshipers."




168         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
CHAPTER XIV.
VARIOUS Resolutions offered on Slavery-Refused Printing-Opinion of
a Southern Senator-A Northern Senator-Social and Civil Proscriptions of Anti-Slavery Senators.
THE vigilant watchfulness of Mr..Morris, in reference
to the spirit and aggression of the slave power, was
developed in his efforts, to test the view of the Senate of
the United States, on its growing pretensions and power.
It demanded not only security and protection from the
Government, within its own limits, but also, complete
exemption from discussion in and out of Congress; nor
would it permit any examination of the system of slavery.
The pro-slavery sentiment, so entirely triumphant in Congress, was subjected to a new development in the Senate,
through the vigilant efforts of Mr. Morris. On the 5th
of February, 1839, he offered for the consideration of the
Senate, the following resolutions:
WHEREAS, the right and privilege of petition is an
existing principle, established by the laws of nature, and
is designed to be exercised not for opposition or resistance
but to obtain relief or favor; and this right, when the
people peaceably exercise it, is placed by the Constitution of the United States above the power of legislative
bodies, who can not rightfully control the time, or the
manner, or the matter, in or for which, the people shall
petition. And, whereas, recent events in Congress, on
this important subject, render it doubtful, how far that
body consider the people justifiable, in the exercise of
this right, especially on the subject of slavery, the slave
trade, and the abolition of slavery; and since, upon all




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               169
subjects, on which legislative bodies may Constitutionally
act, it seems clear that every intelligent being, who is
subject to this action, ought to enjoy the right of petition
to the fullest extent.
Resolved, therefore, That as the people of the United
States, or certain portions of them, claim to have an
undeniable right to petition Congress to abolish slavery in
the District of Columbia, to suppress the slave trade
therein, and between the different States and Territories
of the United States; or between any of the States and
the Republic of Texas; and against the admission of any
new State into the Union whose Constitution permits or
tolerates slavery; in as full, free and ample manner, as
they can exercise this right on any other subject; it is
therefore expedient, that all petitions, on the aforesaid
subjects, or any of them, be referred to the Committee on
the Judiciary, which committee is instructed to inquire
into and report to the Senate, their opinion on the following points:
First, Whether the people of the United States, or any
portion of them, have an indisputable right to petition
Congress on the subjects, or any of them, mentioned in
the foregoing resolution.
Second, Whether Congress, possess the power to abolish
slavery in the District of Columbia.
Third, Whether Congress possess the power to prohibit slavery in the Territories of the United States.
Fourth, Whether Congress have power to create, introduce, or establish slavery, in any territory acquired by
the United States, in which slavery did not exist at the
time the United States became possessed thereof.
Fifth, Whether Congress have the power and ought to
restrain or abridge any Constitutional right of the citizens, because the exercise of such right may tend, by
calling in question the justice and policy of slavery, to
weaken or abolish that system in any of the States.
15




170        LIFE -OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
Sixth, Whether Congress in any case can, either directly
or indirectly, Constitutionally restrain or abridge the
freedom of the press, or of speech, or the right of petition.
Seventh, Whether Congress have power to provide for
the safety and protection of persons and property of the
citizens of one State, from violence and injury being done
such citizens or their property, in another State; and
also to protect the citizens of any State, who think
proper, within their own State, to speak, write, print, and
publish their opinions against the political, moral, or
religious institutions of another State, from trial and punishment in the State whose institutions such speaking,
writing, printing and publishing were designed to affect.
Eighth, Whether Congress have power to declare what
shall or shall not be, made property in any of the States.
Ninth, Whether Congress have power to authorize the
sale of slaves as property, to discharge a judgment in
favor of the United States.
Tenth, Whether a removal of the Seat of Government
into a State in which slavery does not exist: would not be
expedient, consistent with sound policy, and promote the
quiet, safety, and interest of the country.
Resolved, further, That as Congress has no power over
the persons of slaves as property, in any State, or the
subject of slavery therein, a retrocession of the District
of Columbia to the States of Virginia and Maryland ought
to be made, to prevent, or take away, the exercise of such
power in the District.
Resolved, further, That it belongs exclusively to the
States in this Union, to provide that a person who may be
held to service or labor in one State, under the laws
thereof, and who shall escape into another State, shall be
delivered up by such State to the party to whom such
service or labor may be due; and that the States, as
parties to the compact of Union, are in good faith bound
to make such provision.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              171
Resolved, That Congress have not the power to authorize or permit a person to take into, or to hold, as property,
in any State, that which the Constitution and laws of such
State declare shall not be held as property therein; but
the citizens of each State ought to be protected in the
several States, in the enjoyment of all privileges and
immunities that citizens of the State are entitled to, and
none other.
Resolved, That it would be expedient and proper for
Congress to ascertain the number of slaves in the District
of Columbia, the extent of the slave trade carried on
therein, and from the District; whether such slaves are
purchased in the District, or bought within the same from
the States, for exportation, and how many have been taken
from the District within the last two years, for sale, and
to what market they were taken, whether within or
without the United States.
A year previous to the introduction of the foregoing.
resolutions, on the 19th of February, 1838, Mr. Morris
offered the following:
Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be
instructed to inquire, whether the present laws of the
United States, on the subject of the slave trade, will
prohibit that trade being carried on between the citizens
of the United States and the citizens of the Republic of
Texas, whether by land or sea; and whether it would be
lawful in vessels owned by citizens of that Republic, and
not lawful in vessels owned by citizens of this, or lawful
in both, and by citizens of both countries; and also,
whether a slave carried from the United States, into a
foreign country, and brought back or returning into the
United States, is considered a free person, or is liable to
be sent back, if demanded, as a slave into that country
from which he or she in the past came; and also, whether
any additional legislation by Congress is necessary on
any of these subjects.




172        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
When read, a Southern Senator (Mr. Foster) expressed
his surprise, that the Senate had not the power, by an
instantaneous vote, to refuse even to receive such resolutions.
A Senator from New Hampshire, Mr. Hubbard, said,
"it was a matter of policy to let the whole subject alone.
These resolutions have been fully discussed through the
public press; and notwithstanding their author has
received the most unmerited abuse from public journals,
yet he was free to say, that he most sincerely concurred
with his friend, Mr. Morris, in every sentiment expressed
by him, in these resolutions; and he might add that a
large majority of the constituents of his friend, (he had
reason to believe,) were prepared fully to sustain him in
the course he had pursued on this subject."
Mr. Buchanan said, " He should vote against the proposition to lay upon the table. From his whole course on
the subject of these Abolition petitions, he supposed no
person would suspect him of being friendly to them, or to
their objects. But fair play is a jewel; and he thought
the Senator from Ohio, (Mr. Morris,) had a right to be
heard, and to reply to the remarks that were made in the
Senate on this subject yesterday."
Mr. Hubbard said: " That there was no want of "fair
play I " The Senator from Ohio, by this motion, is not
precluded from offering his views on the subject of
slavery. This right he has, this privilege he now enjoys,
if he chooses to exercise it. No rule of the Senate could
prevent him from going fully into the subject of slavery
at any time.
Mr. Morris said: " He felt very much obliged to the Senator from New Hampshire for the information, that he had
the same right as any other Senator to express his opinions on subjects brought before the Senate. He supposed he ought
to tender his profound thanks for this gracious privilege."
The resolutions were refused to be entertained or printed.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               173
Mr. Morris, by his fearless defense of freedom, and bold
denunciations of Slavery, did not lose political or social
caste among his co-Senators. At each session of Congress
he served on important Committees, such as the Judiciary
and Agricultural, and was Chairman of the Committee
on Pensions. Southern Senators, treated him with the
urbanity of gentlemen, and admitted his honesty and
admired his fearlessness. A Senator from Georgia,
remarked to him, that if it was known who he was, he
might travel with safety through his State, though holding
and proclaiming the sentiments he then did on the subject
of slavery.
A change has come over the spirit and action of the
slave Power. Now, its imperious authority, disregarding the rules of Parliamentary right and justice, declares
certain Senators, eminent for talents and patriotism, " to
belong to an unhealthy political organization," and forbids them a place on Senatorial Committees. Seward
from New York; Chase and Wade, from Ohio; Sumner
and Wilson, from Massachusetts; Hale, from New Hampshire; Collamer, from Vermont; Trumbell, from Illinois;
Durkee, from Wisconsin, and others; statesmen of eminent abilities, and of exalted patriotism and purity in
public and private character and life, have been proscribed
by a pro-slavery Senate from their Constitutional privileges, and from the social urbanities of pro-slavery Senators. Persecution, for righteousness, and for freedom's
sake, is no novelty in the history of the world. The days
of the martyrs are not ended. Let the freemen of the
nation embalm these, and other champions of freedom in
grateful and perpetual remembrance.
"In Freedom's field advancing their firm feet
They plant them on the line that Justice draws,
And will prevail or perish in her cause! "




174         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS
CHAPTER XV..
AUIAWCE of Democracy with the Slave Power-Degeneracy in a great
party a great calamity -Resolutions of the Democracy of Cincinnati, on the 8th of January, 1839 —Mr. Morris's Answer - Letter
from A. A. Guthrie, 3d of January, 1839 —Mr. Morris's Reply-Vermont Resolutions refused to be Printed-Predictions fulfilled.
ARDENT, and consistent, in his devotion to the principles
of true Democracy, it was a source of profound sorrow to
Mr. Morris, to see the party, with which he had so
long acted, yielding the purity and power of their noble
principles, to the corrupting and contagious influences of
slavery. Harmonizing, as he believed they did, with all
that is true in political science, and civil government, and
adapted, in their beneficent action and progress, to give
freedom and elevation to men and nations - degeneracy
or apostacy, from these noble landmarks of freedom, by a
great and dominant party, is always a great national
calamity. " A nation can suffer no greater calamity than
the loss of its principles. Lofty and pure sentiment is
the life and hope of a people." Decay or defection from
the vital principles of freedom, right, religion, and humanity, betokens the approach of national ruin. As the sturdy
oak when girdled must die, so the nations that denounce
the principles of Christian rectitude, and of true Democracy, must tend to degeneracy and destruction. " If the
foundations be destroyed" what hope is there that the
stately temple of freedom can stand.
A great party, then, who represent the beau ideal of
Democracy, whose doctrines have a natural charm for the
popular ear and popular heart, and which controls the




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             175
masses, and so forms the resistless current of political
public sentiment, and directs political policy and action,
should guard with watchful vigilance, the integrity and
purity of its principles. Every interest and motive,
that clusters around patriotism and national honor, and
safety, and the hope of the final freedoms of the world,
from bondage - demands of a great party, whose creed is
truly Democratic, to be firm and loyal in their unfaltering
fidelity to its fundamental principles.
It was the development of unhealthy symptoms, in
regard to the disposition of the Democratic party of the
country, to yield to the usurpations and dictations of the
slave power, that went like iron, to the free heart of
Thomas Morris. With great grief he heard the leaders
of the party declare, that " Democracy was the natural
ally of the South, and of slavery;" and that the surest,
reliable strength of the institution of slavery, was found
in the Democratic party of the free States. Both of the
two great parties of the country, Democratic and Whig,
had succumbed, in humble subserviency to the aggressions
of slavery; but to the Democratic party, with all its noble
principles and professions, belongs the humiliation of
yielding most to the demands of the slave power, and
opening new and wide fields for the tread of the
oppressor.
This policy had a development during the Senatorial
term  of Mr. Morris.  He, as a true Democrat, could
not, and did not, yield to its influence. Though it
cost him the loss of power, and banishment from his party,
yet he stood firm in resisting oppression, and in defense
of the true doctrines of Democracy. The following letter
was written, in the midst of his earnest conflicts with
slavery, in the Senate; and addressed to a Democratic
citizen of Cincinnati, who had forwarded to him, the proceedings of a meeting of some of the Democracy, who
approved his course as a Senator of Ohio.




176        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
W~ASHINGTON, January 15, 1839.
DEAR SIR —I received your favor, enclosing the proceedings and resolutions, passed by a meeting of our
Democratic friends on the 8th inst., at the Lafayette Htall,
in the city of Cincinnati. For the favorable notice the
meeting was pleased to take of my course here, as Senator,
and my efforts in the support of the Democratic cause, the
object of which is, equal rights and impartial justice,
the gentlemen who composed the meeting, as well as
yourself, for the kind manner in which you transmitted
me the proceedings, will be pleased to accept my grateful
acknowledgments and my sincere thanks.
The approbation of my Democratic fellow citizens, with
whom I have personally acted, and to whom I am individually known, is an honor which I more highly prize,
than that which wealth and power can bestow. It is my
highest ambition, next to a faithful and honest discharge
of duty, to preserve the favorable opinion of my friends
in the State, by a constant, unwavering adherence to Democratic principles; believing there, where they are found,
liberty is; where liberty disappears, or is trodden down,
they are lost.
The time, the place, the circumstances under which I
received the proceedings you enclosed, were calculated to
make a deep impression on my mind. Condemned by the
Legislature of my own State, as an unfit or unsafe Representative of her Democratic principles in Congress, on
account (as I have been informed) of my opposition to
slavery, and my defense of the right of petition, the freedom of speech and of the press, and the free use of the
Post-Office to Abolitionists, as well as to other men; it was
consolatory to learn, that those great principles are still
sustained and cherished, in her primary assemblies, not
to be abandoned for any local or private interest whatever.
Past experience has taught us that, when liberty and
the Constittitutional rights of our citizens, or of any portion




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              177
of them, have been stricken down, in Legislative Assemblies, they have found support in the country, and are
resuscitated and sustained by the people, as common
rights and common blessings, which all ought to enjoy.
This reflection ought to fill the heart of every friend to
his country, and of the human race, with the most lively
hope and unshaken confidence, that our Government rests
upon the most safe foundation which human wisdom can
devise; and that the privileges and rights, which it has
left free and unrestrained by the power of law, will remain
perpetual with the people. The people, and not politicians, must be the guardians of freedom.
Though contemned, I am not convinced, that, on the
now agitated question of slavery, I am in error. Though
trodden down, I am not discouraged; because I am well
satisfied that the American people will never consent that
the records of the Declaration of Independence, and the
provisions of their Constitutions, which declare that the
natural rights of man are inalienable, shall be thrown
aside, as mere waste parchment, and the words therein
contained considered as mere rhetorical flourishes. No I
this will never be done, to sustain slavery, or any other
interest, which is at war with the "general welfare." The
system of slavery is not only at war with such welfare,
but with the most sacred rights of human nature.
I deeply deplore, that that spirit of proscription for
opinion's sake, which is sometimes exercised by power,
for its own selfish purposes, is now stalking openly through
our country, with too little rebuke; that it should find its
way into the Halls of Legislation is still more alarming. The
moral power of the country, the expression of public sentiment, is the only weapon which can rightfully be used
against these opinions. The power of the Government can
justly punish for ACTS done, but not for opinions entertained; and "'error of opinion may be safely tolerated,
while reason is left free to combat it."  The countenance




178        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
given by men in places of power, and indeed their assertions made, that opinions adverse to slavery ought not to
be expressed or promulgated, have stirred men, of the baser
sort, to engage in mobs, and to use violence against their
fellow citizens, for no other cause than, an honest expression
of opinion. Such transactions are not only a libel on our
Government, a fatal stab aimed at the vital principles of
our institutions, and a reproach to our people; but they
have caused the land to mourn, and weakened the confidence of our citizens, in those guarantees of person and
property, which the Government affects to throw around
them.
To strike down an individual by the hand of anothera politician by the hands of politicians-is, comparatively, nothing; the waves of time soon close over the
wrong, and it is forgotten, and retributive justice may
overtake the wrong-doer. But when Legislative Assemblies, the Rulers of the country, strike at principles on
which rest all our invaluable rights and privileges, the
blow vibrates through the whole nation; every person
feels its full force, as much as if aimed at himself singly.
It rends the political fabric, forming a chasm which time
seldom closes.
These reflections will be excused, when you remember
that my opinions have been so arraigned and condemned,
that they seem to be unpardonable political sins.
The decree of condemnation was first pronounced
against me in the newspapers of the slave States. The
power which can put a gag into the mouths of members
of Congress; can prevent petitions being received in one
branch, and can lay them on the table without further
action thereon in the other, if on the subject of slavery,
is a power not to be overlooked or disregarded in its
operation on the free States. If it assumes to dictate,
who shall represent the States in Congress? and if such
dictation is submitted to, the so-called free States, instead




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              179
of being independent and governing themselves, will be
governed by the slaves of the other States, acting through
the medium of their masters!
Do not suppose I speak from any personal feeling on
this subject. No! I speak my sober judgment upon facts,
which almost daily transpire before the face of the whole
country. What are these facts?
The President, (Mr. VanBuren,) is claimed, by many,
as a Northern man with Southern principles and feelings.
The Cabinet is composed of six members, three from slave
States, and one who wrote a book in favor of Southern
slavery. Two-thirds, then, of this branch of the Government, are in favor of slavery. The Supreme Court of the
TUnited States, is composed of nine Judges, five of whom
are from slave States. The President of the Senate, (Vice
President of the United States,) and Speaker of the House
of Representatives, are also from slave States; the Secretary of the Senate is from this District, a slave country;
and the Clerk of the House from a slave State.
We might reasonably suppose, that, with all this power
and patronage of the General Government in their hands,
the slave-holders ought to feel satisfied, without making
any further demands, for security for their peculiar institution, on the free States. But this is not so. They ask to
abridge our Constitutional and undeniable rights,-the
liberty of speech and the press, and the right of petition
on the subject of slavery,-and so far as the General Government has acted, they have obtained this also. Still
they are not satisfied. Their march is onward.
They enter the territories of the free States, seize upon
the white as well as the black man, and convey him into
their own States; sometimes under pretence of law, at
others by mere personal force. They confine our citizens,
who have not violated their laws, in their jails, load them
with irons and fasten them with chains. But they do not
stop here.




180        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
The C Jneral Assemblies in the slave States pass resolulutions, and send them to the Legislatures of the free
States, requiring such laws to be passed, as they think, are
necessary for the security and protection of their slave
property. Still, like the grave, this slave power can not
be satisfied. Enough has not been done. Their Newspapers assume the prerogative of dictating, who shall,
and who shall not be elected to Congress in the free
States.
Are we disposed to bow to any power on earth, in obedience to these demands? If made by a foreign power, a
universal burst of indignation, from the American people,
would ai swer, NO! NEVER! Shall we not then resist
them, when made by sister States, with a view to compel
us to uphold their "peculiar institution "?  Resist them, NOT
BY A DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION; not by Legislative
resolves sent into the slave States; not by the physical
power of the free States. No! not by any of these means.
But by the moral power of TRUTH and the force of public
opinion; by the BALLOT BOX, THAT HOPE AND ROCK OF
SALVATION FOR THE FREEDOM OF OUR COUNTRY. Resist the
aggressions of slavery by these means.
Against the further extension of this slave power,
which I have but faintly described, I, as a Senator here,
coming from a free State, have constantly opposed, by
my best exertions. I have claimed for the free States an
equality of official station and influence, in conducting the
affairs of the General Government; and I am clearly of
the opinion, that they ought to possess the ascendency,
because they contain a majority of the people.  I
claim for my own State absolute sovereignty, over persons and things within her jurisdiction; that neither shall
be abducted or carried away, without our consent, and in
pursuance of our laws. I claim, for my fellow citizens,
the full enjoyment of their Constitutional rights, liberty
of speech and of the press, and the right of petition,




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.            181
-without the fear of mobs or personal violence. I claim
for them the peaceable enjoyment of their fire-sides and
their bed chambers, secure from the rude assaults of
slave-hunters or slave-dealers.
Who will stand by me in support of these claims, and
bear the reproach of being an ABOLITIONIST? - A name
now made unpopular by interest, misrepresentation, and
the love of despotic power; but one WHICH CHRISTIANITY
APPROVES, PHILOSOPHY RESPECTS, AND POSTERITY WILL
HONOR. A name, however, which has brought into notice
a class of politicians, who, taking advantage of existing
prejudices against the negro race, have marde many
believe, that Abolitionism is destructive to the N:est inter.
ests of the country, and that an Abolitionist "to be
hated needs but to be seen I " It is by this class I have
been charged with being an Abolitionist, the High Priest
of Abolitionism in Ohio. They have thus denied and
rejected all the doctrines and opinions, I have advanced
on this subject, and without meeting me by argument,
have been able, by the aid of the slaveholding: power, to
strike me down in your presence.
I have been with you in opposition to the power of
concentrated wealth; to Banks and systems that band
together men in sustaining any particular dr private
object, by which they can operate on, and control the
Legislation and government of the county. I have said
to you, that immediately after the settlement of the Money
question, there was one of far more importance which
the people must decide - the question of equal rights and
civil liberty, in opposition to which would be arrayed the
whole force of the slaveholding power: An interest, which
private, local, and arrogant in its nature, has united together
more persons for selfish purposes, and is more powerful
and dangerous to the peace and prosperity of the country, than Banks or any other interest, that has ever
existed among us.




182         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
Is it for the welfare and perpetuity of the Democratic
party in the United States, to be governed by and to sustain
their power? Can they drive from their ranks all, who
have contended against it, and who oppose slavery, and
still out-number their opponents at the polls? In short,
will the Democracy of Ohio support the system of slavery,
and disown all who use theiir moral influence and power
for its extinction?  These are grave considerations,
which, I am sure, you will give a candid examination
before you join in such a crusade. Count first the probable results of such a course; and, if your way is clearly
seen, and can promise safety, still it would not be safe to
act. The power of our political opponents is not to be
despised. Their forces are still unbroken and ready to
act. Take care then, that you do not, for the love of any'peculiar institution," weaken the Democratic party.
I shall soon, I hope be with you, freed from the high
responsibility under which I have been acting. I shall
then breath more freely and deeply in the support and
maintenance of principles, which I believe are essentially
connected with the peace, prosperity and best interests of
our country. I feel under everlasting obligations to my
Democratic fellow citizens of Cincinnati, for the kindness
they have shown me, during the short time I have been
a resident of the city. I shall return with augmented
resolution to aid them in sustaining their individual and
political rights. But still on all occasions, must insist, on
the full, free use of all my moral powers to overthrow slavery
in our country; or confine it strictly to its present limits;
and wrest from it, if I can, some portion of the political
power of the county. Unless this be done, Ifear that the
citizens of the free States will neither enjoy peace, nor safety
from the arrogance of its pretensions, nor be permitted to hold
any office under this Government, but by its leave.
I am yours, with respect,
THOMAS MORRIS.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             183
The following letter to A. A. Guthrie, of Putnam, Ohio,
will explain itself. On the presenting the resolutions of
the State of Vermont, Southern Senators were roused to
the highest state of indignation and alarm.
Mr. Calhoun regarded them, " as striking at the very
foundation of the Union, and tending to the overthrow
of the best hopes of mankind. The strongest minds of
the country were carried away by the Abolition excitement. He was amazed to see the Senator from Vermont
pursuing the course he did." " The progress of Abolitionism must be arrested at home, or the South will take
care of itself."
Mr. Lumpkin, of Georgia, declared " that he felt no disposition to countenance or respect attempts to agitate the
question of slavery, the more because it was brought
before the Senate by the proceedings of a sovereign State.
Every lover of this Union, should cease to agitate this
question. These proceedings are rapidly alienating the
affections of one portion of the Union from another. We
should not print these resolutions, nor circulate anything
from this Senate, calculated to increase the excitement
and prejudice."
WASHINGTON, January 9, 1839.
DEAR SIR-I received your letter of the 3d inst., to-day
in the Senate, under circumstances calculated to make a
deep and lasting impression on my mind. A vote had
just been taken in the Senate, which, I am sure, once
understood by the free citizens of the United States,
would suffuse their face with shame, for the degradation
of the free States, and their prostration at the footstool of
slavery, and arouse their indignation to defend their
rights as citizens, as well as the honor of their States.
One of the Senators from Vermont (Mr. Prentiss),
introduced the following resolutions, passed by the Legislature of his State:




184        LIFE OF SENATOR  MOR1RIS.
Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives, That
our Senators in Congress be instructed, and our IRepresentatives be requested, to use their utmost efforts to prevent the annexation of Texas to the United States, and
to procure the abolition of slavery, and the slave trade
between the several States and Territories of the Union.
Resolved, That the adoption by the House of Representatives of the United States, on the 21st of December
last, of the resolution by which "all petitions, memorials,
and papers, touching the abolition of slavery, or the
buying, selling, or transferring of slaves in any State,
District, or Territory of the United States, were laid on
the table, without being debated, printed, read, or referred,
was a daring infringement of the right of the people to
petition, and a flagrant violation of the Constitution of
the United States; and we do, in the name of the people
of Vermont, protest against the passage of the same, or
any similar resolution, by the present or any future Congress of the United States.
Resolved, That our Senators in Congress be instructed,
and our Representatives be requested, to present the foregoing resolutions to their respective Houses, and use
their influence to carry the same into effect.
Resolved, That the Governor be requested to transmit a
copy of the foregoing resolutions to the President of the
United States, and to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress.
STATE OF VERMONT, SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE,
Montpelier, Novetmber 30, 1838.
I certify the foregoing to be true copies of resolutions
passed by the Legislature of this State, on the 5th day of
November, A.D. 1838.
CHAUNCEY L. KNAPP,
Secretary of State.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             185
The introduction of these resolutions created instant
excitement among the slaveholders in the Senate, and
objections were made to their reception; but to refuse to
receive resolutions solemnly passed by one of the sovereign States of this Confederacy, was a measure of so
high and extravagant a character, that even the slaveholding power, haughty as it is, shrunk back from its
exercise; one of them observing, that if this was a petition from a poor, miserable, individual fanatic, he would
not receive it. He thought, as it was from a sovereign
State, it should be received and laid on the table. Mr.
Prentiss then moved it be laid on the table and printed.
Arogance always, when checked in its violence, descends
to meanness. A division of the question was called for;
the motion to lay on the table agreed to; and the whole
slaveholding and slave-loving power of the Senate
exploded its indignation by refusing to PRINT.
Yes! the slaveholding power of the country commanded that the Senate of the United States should not
print the resolutions of a sovereign State, instructing
their own delegation in Congress; and the Senate obeyed.
When that vote was taken, my colleague (Hon. William
Allen), whose name was called first, voted against the
printing. Ah! thought I, and you, too, Ohio! you, who
owe all your wealth and your prosperity to your free
institutions! the land which slavery, as yet, has never
polluted! the country within which neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude can exist, except as a punishment
for crime, and whose Constitution declares all men are
born equally free and independent I Yes, Ohio! in the
councils of the nation, subjecting her own principles and
her own Constitution to be trodden down as "worthless
parchment," under the foot of slavery. It was a degradation which I could not have anticipated, and one which I
would gladly have been spared the mortification of witnessing.
16




186        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
I retired to my room, after this attempt at foul murder
of State rights, and that, too, by men who profess to hold
them inviolate. I took the Declaration of Independence,
to examine, once more, the wrongs done the Colonies, and
see if any therein enumerated, exceeded that of the contempt offered by the Senate of the United States to the
sovereignty of a State; or if the slaveholding power was
not inflicting greater injuries upon the free States, than
the British King had inflicted on the Colonies. Let any
one, who will remove the blackness of a negro's skin from
before his eyes, examine the wrongs complained of in that
Document, and see if they are not such as the wrongs
done by the slaveholder to the free States.
~" Our citizens have been subjected to a judicial trial
foreign to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our
laws"-[Recollect the case of Rev. J. B. Mehan]; " Protecting, by a mock trial, from punishment for murder"[even in the borders of a free State-case of Rev. E. P.
Lovejoy]; "Depriving our citizens, in many cases, of the
trial by jury"- [Mr. Morris seems here, as if by prophecy, to refer to the Fugitive Slave Law, passed in 1850,
by which any man, white or colored, may be carried off
without a jury trial]. "In every stage of these oppressions (and those I have mentioned are but small), the
people have petitioned for redress, in the most humble
terms, and their repeated petitions have been answered
only by repeated rejections." "A power," in this country, "whose character is thus marked by every act which
may define a tyrant," is unfit to exist among a free people.
In the midst of these reflections, how cheering was your
letter! It was indeed, "Good news from a far country."
It was evidence, that not all Ohioans were willing to sell
their birthrights for the products of the unrequited labor
of the slave! No! my dear Sir, you have not said too
much. Who is a greater tyrant than he, who seizes upon
his fellow man, and not only wrests from him the profits




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              187
of his labor, his wife and his children, but makes use of
his very flesh, his sinews, and his bones, as articles of
merchandize in a foreign market.
Shall we hesitate, in this matter?  No! Whoever is on
the side of freedom, of safety, of Union, of the Constitution, of humanity, of justice; in fact, whoever loves his
country more than he loves negro slavery, let him come
over to us. Resistance to slavery is our duty. It is both
a political and religious duty; and the only question is,
how shall we best discharge that duty? We must do it
with much forbearance and suffering. The moral power of
truth will bring us off more than conquerors; —if we are faithful to our Maker, our country, and ourselves; if we carry
with us our opposition to slavery into all the social circles
of life; talk of it there as it is; protect ourselves against its
blighting influences in the discharge of our political
duties; remember it at the polls; bestow our suffrages on no
man, no matter what he is in other respects, who will
treat with contempt the sovereignty of the States, to feed
the monster slavery, which, like the grave, is never
satisfied.
I have written to you as a man and a brother. I know
not to what political party you belong, nor do I care.
THAT PARTY IS MY PARTY, which sustains those inalienable
Fights upon which the very foundations of this Governtnent are laid. I have endeavored to maintain those rights,
through life, in every situation in which it has been the
pleasure of my fellow citizens to place me. I shall not
desert them now, for age has confirmed my belief in their
truth. And I have consolation in this thought, more
than in any other connected with my political life, that
my name, humble as it is, will be found among those who
have stood FAITHFUL in defense of the Constitutional
liberty and equal rights of the free citizen; and in opposition to that cruel bondage under which the slave is now
groaning.




188         LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
Use no other weapons, then, in this holy warfare, but
such as are spiritual, moral, and political, and which are
in strict obedience to the laws of the country under which
we live. I have written in terms which may be considered harsh: but I have not written with the least disrespect to men, as individuals, or legislators.
The great principles for which we are contending require
from us energy, firmness and decision.
I am, with respect,
Yours, etc.,
THOMAS IMORRIS.
A. H. GUTHRIE, EsQ.
How patriotic, and, alas! how prophetic are the utterances of these letters. The successful aggressions of the
slave power, since his voice rang for freedom in the Senate and through the hills of Ohio, are mournful fulfillments of his political predictions. The slave power still
rules the Government. " Judah still stoops down; he couches
as a lion, and as an old lion: Who, or what, shall rouse
him u.p?




LIFE  dP' SENATOR MORRIS.               189
CHAPTER XVI.
CREED of Parties-Their Tendencies and Results-Warning of Washington-Mr. Morris a Democrat from Principle-Catechised by the Democratic Legislature-His Answer-Rejected for a Second Term-Benjamin
Tappan his Successor-Letter to the Ohio Statesman-Charles Hammond Read out of the Party —A Poem written after his Rejection
and dedicated to Mr. Morris.
THE rigid creed of political parties, allows no liberal
latitude in the expression of opinion. If a public man
does not hold the doctrines of the party, with a dovetail
exactness, he is, in the technical language of the party,
read out; is a rotten member, unworthy of party confidence. His private judgment and conscience are subsidized to the inflexible tactics of party machinery; so that
he is not free to act, or to follow where conscience and
duty would lead. The political creed, formed often by
selfish, ambitious politicians, is fixed, and no man can be
a loyal member of the party, unless he adopts and carries
out, in every particular, its doctrines. If he does not, he
forfeits his party standing, and suffers disfranchisement
from all political favors. Under this anti-democratic
rule, politicians, and public men in office, have, against
the convictions of their conscience and deliberate judgment, voted for public measures, because they were the
measures of the party.
The dangers and evils of this political despotism are
manifold. It is subversive of true manhood and independence.  It substitutes a  partisan  spirit for national
patriotism. It is a political inquisition, that tortures men
to affect to believe what they can not. It enthrones the
power of party, above conscience, truth, and patriotism,




190        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
and thus tends to the demoralization of the national heart.
It disintegrates politics and political creeds from moral
principles; and so subverts the strongest pillars of
national prosperity and safety. It encourages corruption
in public men, and creates a class of politicians, who live
for party purposes, and labor only to reap the spoils of
office. It is a virtual interdiction of freedom of thought,
allowing no generous expansion of views, no act, except
it is in exact conformity with party.
It was in view of such results of parties, that Washington, in his Farewell Address to his countrymen, declared:
" The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of
party, are sufficient to make it the duty and interest of a
wise people to discourage and restrain it. Their being
constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force
of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not
to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent
its bursting into a flame, lest instead of warming it should
consume."
It is a hopeful and healthy indication, now in its incipient stage of development, among the people of the
United States, that political Platforms made by politicians,
have lost the confidence of the American people. A new
political and moral 3lillenium, will be inaugurated under
such a dispensation.
Senator Morris was a Democrat, not because it was the
synonym and watchward of a party, but because it was
the representative of doctrines, that were free, universal,
beneficent, and equal in their operations on all men; and
if carried out, in their true intent, would enfranchise the
world, and bestow on every man, the boon of personal
liberty and all civil and natural rights. Hence, he was
constitutionally incapable of working in the traces of a
modern party. Indeed he thought party organizations
frequently detrimental to the success of principles. " I
follow party," said he, "' where the C(onstitution and prin



LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              191
ciples lead."  And it was his unfaltering fidelity to true
Democratic principles, that secured his banishment from
the Democratic party.
The year subsequent to his retirement from the Senate
of the United States, he was a delegate from Hamilton
County to the Democratic Convention, which assembled
at Columbus, Ohio, on the 8th of January, 1840. That
Convention passed strong resolutions against any political
movement or agitation, connected with slavery, and
declared that no sound Democrat would have part or lot
with it."
Mr. Morris, faithful to the great principles of Democracy, attempted to speak, in defense of the repudiated
principles. He was permitted, as an act of grace, to go on
a short time, and then coughed down, and silenced by a
Democratic Convention, which, in their address to the
people of the State, reckoned it one of the chief glories of
Jefferson's administration that "the freedom of speech
and of the press were restored to the people."
After Mr. Morris had been silenced, a member rose
(Mr. Sawyer) and declared —" That the Democratic party
had no affinity with Abolitionists; and that he considered
the gentleman from Hamilton (Mir. Morris) as a rotten
branch that should be lopped of."  This was received with
loud shouts of-" Agreed!" "Agreed!" "Let him go!"
" Turn him out of the party, and all other Abolitionists
with him! "
Previous to the defeat of Mr. Morris, for a second term,
to the Senate of the United States, the Democratic Committee of the Legislature of Ohio, sent him the Democratic
Creed, for his approval.
To that communication he sent the following answer:
WASHINGTON, December 11th, 1838.
GENTLEMEN-I received yours of the 7th instant, this
morning, and I reply thereto as soon as possible. You




192         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
inform me that, having been selected by the Democratic
members of the Legislature of Ohio, as a committee to
interrogate the several persons named for United States
Senator, you request my answer to the following interrogatories:
1. Are you in favor of an Independent Treasury Bill?
My answer is, that I view the independence of the
Treasury as essentially necessary to the independence of
the country itself. I am, therefore, in favor of an Independent Treasury, free from  all local and private influence.
2. Are you a supporter of the leading measures of the
present Administration?
I answer-I shall give my support to the Administration, in whatever situation I may be placed, in its opposition to a Bank of the United States; in its views with
regard to the safe-keeping of the public money, and the
disbursment thereof; the rights of the States, and the
limitations of the powers of Congress. I say, further,
that I know of no recommendation made by the present
incumbent of the Presidential chair, of a general character, in which I do not concur. I am, therefore, in favor
of the leading measures of the present Administration.
3. Are you for or against modern Abolitionism?
I am opposed to slavery in all its forms; and against its
further extension in our country; believing it to be wrong
in itself, and injurious to the best interests of the people,
I view it as a creature of State law only, and that Congress have no power over it, as it exists in the States;
neither have Congress the power to create a system of
slavery where it does not exist, or to give it new and
additional security. 1 believe that, if the citizens of a
free State, when within the jurisdiction of a slave State,
violate the slave laws of such a State, they are as justly
punishable for such acts as they would be for the violation of the laws of such State in any other particular. I




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                193
hold that the citizens in each and every State, have an
indisputable right to speak, write, or. print,. on the subject of
slavery, as on any other subject; always liable to the laws of
the State where the act is done, for the abuse of that
liberty. The right of petition to the Legislature for a
redress of grievances, I hold to be inviolate on all subjects, and above -the power of law.
I believe also, however much we feel opposed to slavery,
and however wicked and unjust we may believe the system, we are still, under our Government, bound to protect
the slaveholder in his slave property, by aiding in the
suppression of servile insurrection, or war. I believe it
to be the duty of the States as well as their interest, to abolish
slavery where it exists, but that no other State would be
justifiable in interfering for that purpose.
I also believe the African race, born in our country, or
brought into it against their will, ought to be protected
in, and enjoy their natural rights; but I do not believe it
would be good policy, or promote the safety of the country, the happiness of ourselves, or the Negro race, to
admit them to the enjoyment of equal political or social
privileges. I believe that the moral power of truth and
reason, ought alone to be employed on behalf of the
slaves; and that every citizen has the right to exercise
this power, which, if rightfully used, will be sufficient for
the downfall of slavery; and that, in all our intercourse
with the colored race, we ought, constantly, to give them to
understand, thatwe will not aid, but suppress, any attempt
that may be made for their liberation in any other way.
I have thought it best to answer your third interrogatory, as I have done, because a direct answer might be
liable to misconception or misunderstanding. As to what
modern Abolitionism  is; as it is represented by manly, I
believe it entirely wrong, but whether the representation
be correct or not, I do not pretend to say. M1y opinions on
this question have been often, both in public and private,
17




194        LIFE OF SENATORMIORRIS.
heretofore expressed; but I have answ*ored you, briefly,
as it seemed to me I ought, in the same manner as if the
subject was altogether a new one. I trust you will be able
fully to comprehend my views, firom what I have said.
" 4. Are you willing to submit to the selection made by
your political friends? "
I am always willing to sustain my political friends in
their selection of men for the purpose of sustaining
public measures. Without this unity, every measure,
however valuable, would be liable to fail.
I have thus, Gentlemen, answered you briefly, and in
much haste; and whatever course you may pursue, I hope
it may prove satisfactory to our friends, and tend to
promote the best interests of the country.
I am, with respect,
Your obedient Servant
THOMAS MORRIS.
MESSRS. T. J. BUCHANAN, JOHN BROUGH,
AND DAVID TOD, Committee, etc.
Mr. Morris was succeeded as Senator, by Hon. Benjamin Tappan, with whom he had acted as a politician, and
a legislator, in the early history of Ohio. They were
personal and political friends. Both were prominent
members of the Democratic party, and active in the Legislation of Ohio. Mr. Tappan was elected for his avowed
discountenance and opposition to anti-slavdry doctrines;
and Mr. Morris rejected for favoring and advocating them.
During a series of years, which had ripened into mutual
friendship, their sentiments, not only on the general principles of politics, but especially on the subject of American
slavery, were in harmony. Mr. Tappan belonged to a
distinguished anti-slavery family, who were among the
pioneers of the anti-slavery enterprise; and who suffered
persecution for the cause.  Arthur Tappan, who was
mobbed in New York, in 1832, and for whose head the




LIFE OF1 SENATOR MORRIS.              195
South offered a reward of ten thousand dollars; and
Lewis Tappan, who has been connected officially with the
anti-slavery cause from the beginning almost, were
brothers of Benjamin Tappan.
Charles Hammond, the veteran editor of the Cincinnati
Gazette, said of Mr. Tapran, when elected Senator: "I
have known him nearly forty years. Not Arthur Tappan, nor Lewis Tappan have either ever evinced a more
settled scorn for the slaveholder's pretensions, on the whole
subject of slavery, than Benjamin Tappan has manifested
in his whole life and conduct, until a surrender of opinion
has been made a party test. If he has surrendered, it is
but another instance of the debasing power of party drill.
But Benjamin Tappan is anti-slavery, and his whole soul
is as strong as that of John Quincy Adams against the
assumptions of the slaveholder. He distinguished himself
in his profession, in Jefferson County, for a succession
of years, in maintaining the rights of the Negro."
Mr. Tappan signalized his first effort in Congress, by
refusing to present to the Senate, petitions, on the subject
of slavery, from his own constituents.
He said, that " slavery and the slave trade, in the District
of Columbia, were n'o grievances to the people of Ohio, and
that for myself, I can not recognize the right of my fair
country-women to meddle in public affairs."
On the 21st of December, 1838, Mr. Tappan was elected
Senator from  Ohio. When the result of the election
reached 3Mr. Morris, he wrote to the Editors of the Ohio
Statesman, then and now, the organ of the Democratic
party, at the capitol of the State, the following letter:
WASHINGTON, December 26, 1838.
Messrs. Medary, and Brothers-I received your paper of the
21st, in the afternoon of the 24th, in which is stated the
result of the election of Senator in Congress, by the Legislature of the State. There is also in the same paper,




196        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
some remarks of yours, which, I believe, require from
me a justification of my official conduct here. I would
have immediately written to you, but it was the Eve
of Christmas, and the time and place, seemed rather
unfavorable.
There was not a man among all the contending candidates, whom I would prefer before Judge Tappan; and I
should rejoice at his election, did I not understand from
your remarks, and from other information, derived from
a source in which I have full confidence, that this election is to be considered a rebuke, for the course I have, as
Senator, taken here; and the opinions, I have, as a private citizen, expressed on the subject of Abolition. I hope
this may not be the case, but as facts now stand before
the country, I should feel myself recreant to the Constitution, to the people, and to myself, did I not, on this
occasion, re-assert the principles on which I have constantly acted.
I have known my worthy successor for many years.
We, I think, have constantly and uniformly agreed on
political subjects; and on the subject of slavery, my
memory is, that he was a more strenuous opposer of that
system than myself. I am fortified in this position,
because I well remember that his opposition to slavery,
was an objection urged against him when he was a candidate for District Judge of our State. What his opinions
now are on this subject, I am unable to say, but would be
much pleased to learn.
You say: " That a great number of Democratic visitors,
with the members of the Legislature, met Judge Tappan
in the large Hall of the American Hotel; that the Judge,
in reply to the complimentary toast, to the Senator elect,
replied in a neat and most satisfactory manner. He dwelt
with effect upon the slanders that had been put into
circulation in regard to his being an Abolitionist, and
was responded to with the most thrilling acclamations,




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             197
and (as I understood you) his views on this subject, as
well as upon others, correspond entirely with the present
Administration, and the present majority in Congress."
It has, perhaps, been my misfortune to love and respect
the Constitution of my country, and the rights of the
people under it, more than an Administration or a majority.
Placed in this situation, and under the ban of a MAJORITY,
I respectfully ask the Legislature to recall me, if I have,
in any act or vote here, done that which they deem injurious to the best interests of the country. The shortness
of the remaining time of my service, I consider no objection or excuse for the Legislature; as in a case like the
present, the man and the time are nothing, the example
everything. I would follow the example set me by
members of the House of Representatives from our own
State, if I had satisfactory evidence, clear to my mind,
that the Constitutional Body, the Legislature of State,
disavowed my principles and doctrines.
In order that I may stand correctly before the country,
I will state, as succinctly as I can, my actions and opinions
as a Senator in Congress, and even some of the private
opinions I entertain as a citizen; and hope the General
Assembly if they think them incorrect, will promptly
disavow them, and instruct me to act otherwise, even
during the present session. The question is considered
by all as one of vast importance. It is one on which the
country requires their action; though an individual might
very properly complain of injustice if stricken down without a hearing. I will briefly state some votes I have
given here, on the different propositions connected with
the slavery question, for the consideration of the Legislature and the people of the State, in order to give a full
understanding of the subject.
President Jackson, in his Message to the first session of
the 24th Congress, invited the attention of Congress "to
the painful excitement produced in the South, by attempts




198        LIFE OP SENATOR MORRIS.
to circulate, through the mail, inflammatory appeals
addressed to the slaves." After speaking in strong terms
against such proceeding, he seems to remind the State
authorities that to them properly belongs this part of the
subject. He further says: "I would, therefore, call the
attention of Congress to the subject, and especially suggest the propriety of passing such a law as will prohibit,
under severe penalties, the circulation, in the Southern
States, of incendiary publications, intended to instigate
the slave to insurrection."
To this recommendation of the President I strongly
objected at the time; a Bill, however, was brought in, in
pursuance of the recommendation. It progressed as it
is usual, until Mr. Calhoun proposed certain amendments, which were rejected by an even vote. When the
question was taken on the engrossment, and the vote
stood 18 to 18, the Vice President, (Mr. Van Buren,)
voted for the engrossment; both the Senators from New
York were on the same side. On the third reading of
the Bill the vote stood 19 for the Bill, 25 against it. In
every stage of this anti-Abolition Bill, I opposed it. To
preserve the correspondence of' individuals from inspection, and the right of the people to use the Post Office
Department, and the system from being broken down
under the slaveholding power, was my most ardent wish.
We succeeded after a long struggle; the slaveholding
interest not then being organized and banded together, as it
afterward was and now is. This I think ought to be considered my first Abolition sin. I ask no forgiveness, but hope
the Legislature will disavow the act, if they think I erred.
The next prominent question on this subject, was, the
presentation of petitions praying for the abolition of
slavery in the District of Columbia. I presented these
petitions, and advocated their reference to a committee,
to consider the subject. I am willing to admit, that they
were the petitions of actual Abolitionists. Petitions of




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             199
this kind I have now in my possession, and I feel it my
duty to present them, and move for the action of the Senate on the same. I respectfully ask the Legislature to
instruct me on this point, as I do not wish to misrepresent the State a single moment. If the Legislature are
of the opinion that the petitions of Abolitionists, praying
for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia,
ought not to be presented to Congress; or when presented, that the right of petition is not abridged, by a
member objecting to their reception, and laying the
motion on the table, without deciding whether the petition shall be received or not, is a correct and Constitutional proceeding-it is a very easy matter so to inform
me. 3My course of duty will then be plain.
Mr. Calhoun's resolutions were the next great AntiAbolition movements.  They speak for themselves.  I
voted against them all, as I think, without an examination of the vote, as it may appear on the Journal. The
resolutions can be approved, and my course censured, if
it be necessary as a peace-offering to sustain slavery.
The counter-resolutions I offered are before the public.
I, soon after their introduction, abandoned the idea of
asking for them a separate vote, as those offered by Mr.
Calhoun brought the whole subject into debate. There is
one specific proposition, however, which I submitted,
which is in the following words, and to which I would
ask particular attention. It is:
"And the privilege of the people to speak, write, print,
and publish their opinions, on any subject whatever,
whether the same concern the political, moral, or religious institutions of any State, or on the nature and condition of man, as born equally free and independent, is
indisputable; and those exercising that privilege are
responsible for the abuse of this liberty to the State alone,
in which such writing, speaking, printing, or publishing




200        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
actually takes place." In favor of this proposition there
were 9 votes against 32.
I pronounce this solemn denial of the truth of this proposition I submitted, one of the most extraordinary votes
ever given in Congress. (You will pardon me for speaking against majorities.) Thirty-two members of the Senate
have, by this vote, asserted that the converse of the propostion is true, that the people have no such rights as
are there enumerated, and that the people may be individually responsible for acts done in one State to the
laws of another State. The practical effect of this vote,
Mr. Mahan, of Brown county, has felt; but even the
court of a slaveholding State could not be made to swallow this monstrous doctrine. My colleague, Mr. Allen,
voted against this proposition, and on this question he
and I differed widely.
You seem to think that no State in the Union will HAVE
abler and warmer supporters of the President and his
measures (not of the Constitution and rights of the people, but of the PRESIDENT and his MEASURES), in both
branches of the NEXT Congress, than the Buckeye State.
Do the Democratic members of the Legislature deny the
truths of the propositions I submitted? It seems to me
they do; for I have been condemned as the friend of
Abolitionism, without one redeeming quality. In perfect
respect to the Body, may I hope they will instruct or
reprove me on this point also.
I could enlarge on the subject, but I fear I have
already been tedious. I have not set down one word in
bitterness, but with the most entire respect to the Legislature of my State, who have thought my opinions, as
expressed on the subject of slavery, of sufficient importance to ostracise me. This is in exact accordance with
the demands of the slaveholder —" You shall not express
an opinion against our slavery institutions; if you do, wa




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             201
will revenge our injuries," say the slaveholders. Do the
Democracy of Ohio respond to this sentiment, and say"We want no one to belong to our ranks who speaks
against slavery; that will make Southern gentlemen
very wrathy?" I drop the subject. I grow sick at the
reflection; I hope it all may be fancy, but I fear its
reality.
I have never, to my recollection, brought forward or
urged a single proposition, in favor of the down-trodden
and suffering slave. My only apology, before God, and
my country, is, that I have as yet discovered no ray of
hope for him, until public opinion shall become more united
and vigorous in his behalf. In order to keep his fetters
secure, the freedom of speech and debate on his behalf is
stricken down, and now lies dead in the Halls of Congress.
But I rejoice to know, that, when individual rights have
been broken down, and trodden upon in Congress, they
have found support in the State Legislatures; and when
liberty has been strangled there, she has been resuscitated by the people, and bestowed upon all as a common
birthright.
To preserve the Constitutional rights of man has been
my constant object. There is, perhaps, no instance to be
found, in which the first advocates of liberty in any
country, were not few in number, and a persecuted class
by those, who in power, were gaining by the oppression
of others. They have been branded with every odious epithet,
and charged with seeking to destroy the peace, and happiness of the country. The promulgation of their opinions has been prohibited, because power, unrighteously
exercised, always seeks to carry on its operations secretly,
darkly, and without examination by others.
Do not suppose I regret the loss of power; I would
not wish to exercise it against the opinions of my State;
nor would 1 wish its possession for a moment, if I should
feel constrained to use it to depress or destroy human




202          LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
liberty.  I feel devoutly than ful to my lLMaker, and deeply
grateful to amy State, for the situation 1 occupy, where my humble name, appears eupon the highest records of my country, in
opposition to slavery, and among the friends of the poor, trodden
down, and broken-hearted slave. I have no wish to occupy any
situation, in which all the powers of my mind, may not be fully
exercised in this high, and permit me to say, holy duty, always
subject to the laws of the country in which i may be.
And when the hand of time shall point to the last hour of my
existence; 1 trust that my fervent prayer may be, that the
Almighty, in his good time, will deliver the Negro race, from
that cruel slavery under which they are now groaning; and that
the liberties and happiness of my country may be perpetual.
That this will be accomplished in good time there can be
but little doubt; and that an overruling Providence, will
so order the affairs of our land, that this event may take
place without disturbing the peace ofour people, I trust
is the ardent desire of every citizen, who is attached to
the true principles upon which our Government rests.
I am, with respect, yours, etc.,
THOMAS MORRIS.
N. ZB. When I commenced this letter, I intended it for
your private inspection only, but my mind changed as I
progressed, and I leave it to you to publish, if you think
proper.
Every rising sun confirms me in the truth of the opinions I entertain on this subject. The power of slavery
here is tremendous - its march is onward. It avows the
bold determination, that by the Constitution of the United
States, MEN ARE PROPERTY; and that every citizen has
the right to use his property in each and every State in
the Union; therefore, slavery, at the will of the slaveholder, may exist in all the States. Constitutions and
laws of States are mere cobwebs, when they come in
contact with this claim to make men property. Even




LIFE OF SENATOR  -MORRIS.              203
this cant phrase, Negro property, is used by many of our
own citizens in Ohio. There can be no doubt but, he who
seems to dwell with pleasure on this idea, would feel
much pleasure also, in aiding to establish slavery among
us, with all its withering influences. I ask the vigilant
and solemn attention of our citizens to this point.
"This letter," said Dr. Bailey, " must exalt the character of Thomas Morris, in the estimation of every one,
whose opinions are of any value. It is his praise, rare
praise for a politician, that he loves his country and the
Constitution, better than his party or its measures. Few
except those, whose generous feelings have been destroyed
by pro-slavery rancor or party bigotry, will deny to
Thomas Morris the credit of being an able, honest, independent, a consistent and high-minded patriot." After
his defeat, it was proclaimed through the country, that
Thomas Morris was a martyr to his principles. He is
laid on the altar of Slavery as a peace offering to the
South. Slaveholders commanded, and the party obeyed.
He will rejoice in being counted worthy to suffer for the
truth.
After his defeat, the following Poem was published and
dedicated"'90r  ft Roux. Atlmasvrrits.
The heart and lip are dumb!
And the Southern taunt is tamely met
Our kneeling day is come!
Freedom's bright Star hath set!
The recreant West hath kneeled
To the footstool of the South;
And the voice of her own free son is sealed,
The gag is in her mouth.




204           LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
And what hast thou done, that they
Should frown upon thee now;
And what is the crime they thus repay,
With a dark and clouded brow?
While our country's banner's wave,
In pride and pomp, on high,
Tou hast lent an ear to the dying slave,
In his bitter agony.
Thou hadst eyes, and could not be blind
To his hot and bitter tears;
Nor deaf to the shrieks that load the wind
Nor cold to the mother's fears.
Thy lip could not be dumb
To plead for the down-trodden poor,
Though the stern rebuke should harshly come
From the sons of the high and the pure.
Thou art one of the few who art better
Than those they represent;
Who rise to break the bondman's fetter,
Ere Mercy's day be spent;
Who cherish the golden words
That are from oblivion won,
Undying gems that flash from the lips
Of the glorious Jefferson.
There are some whose nerves are strong,
Who can see the slave all gory,
And scarred with the mark of the driver's thong,
Yet talk of their country's glory!
Who can smite on the bowed with years
As he perisheth in the sun;
And coldly look on the orphan's tears
As she prays her life were done.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                      205
Thank God there are hearts that feel
For the out-cast bleeding poor;
Thank God, there are men who will not kneel
And laud the evil-doer.
And thou art one of those,
Who as they feel dare speak;
Who can not spurn the bondman's woes,
Or spurn the poor and weak.
And thou the wise and good,
We oft will pray for thee;
lhou hast done as thy country's freemen should,
While battling for her free.
Thou hast our warmest love -
Thou hast our freshest tears;
And shalt have, while the bright stars shine
Down to our latest years!
Farewell! farewell!! Unknown
Though the minstrel is to thee,
He hath tuned his harp to an humble tone
For the Champion of the free.
And in its dying cadence-moans"May sorrow find thee never;
And love and truth, with their kindest tones,
Be with thee, now and ever."




206         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
CHAPTER XVII.
ERECTION of Pennsylvania Hall in Philadelphia —Distinguished Politicians and Divines invi ted to its Dedication - Its destruction by a mobThe Continental State House - Its Bell - Its Bible Motto - Mr. Morris
invited to the Dedication - His Answer - Its just and noble sentiments.
ON the 18th of May, 1838, the friends of free discussion,
in Philadelphia, completed a large and beautiful hall,
and with imposing ceremonies, dedicated it to Truth and
Freedom, and Free discussion. It was stipulated by those
who erected it that " it is not to be used for Anti-slavery
purposes alone, but for any purpose not of an immoral
character."  It was a Temple open for free discussion on
all subjects relating to the progress of society, and the
elevation and freedom of all men.
It bore the title of " Pennsylvania Hall." Ionic columns
graced its interior, and on these rested a beautiful arch,
on which was engraven, the motto of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania,
VIRTUE, LIBERTY, AND INDEPENDENCE.
Distinguished men from all parties in politics, and from
various sects in religion, were invited to be present at its
dedication. A host of the sons of freedom were present,
and very many, wrote letters of congratulation and
sympathy.
John Quincy Adams, in response to a letter of invitation, wrote from his seat in Congress: "The right of discussion upon slavery and an indefinite extent of topics
connected with it, banished from one half of the States of




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               207
this Union. It is suspended in both Houses of Congress,opened and closed at the pleasure of the slave representation; opened for the promulgation of nullification
sophistry; closed against the question, WVHAT IS
SLAVERY? at the sound of which the walls of the
Capitol staggered like a drunken man."
"For this suppression of the freedom of speech, of the
freedom of the press, and of the right of petition, the
people of the FREE States of this Union, (by which I
mean the people of the non-slaveholding States,) are
responsible, and the people of Pennsylvania most of all."
"I rejoice that in the city of Philadelphia, the friends of
free discussion, have erected a Hall for its unrestrained
exercise. My fervent wishes are, that Pennsylvania Hall
may fulfill its destination, by demonstrative proof, that
freedom of speech in the city of Penn shall no longer be
all abstraction."
Distinguished Ministers, also, rejoiced in so auspicious an
event. Rev. Nathan S. Beman, D. D., of Troy, New York,
a man of great pulpit talents and celebrity, in the NewSchool, Presbyterian Church, wrote to the committee on
this wise: " I felt honored in your choice, and my feelings
were deeply enlisted. My own heart is with you. We
can not forbear to express our abhorrence of chains and
stripes; and should we do it, the very stones would cry out. I
rejoice that there is a spirit still in existence, that will
not bow to the altar of slavery, nor tamely submit to the
dictation of those, who declare in high places, that it is'a
wise and holy institution, and that it shall be perpetual.
What a contest is this to be waged in a land of Republicanism, and a land of Christianity! But if the charter
of these two systems-the Declaration of Independence
and the Bible, are permitted to speak, now, certain is it
that the rights of man will be triumphant."
David Paul Brown, a distinguished lawyer of Philadelphia; and Alvan Steuart, a noble hearted philanthropist




208          LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
of New York; and other distinguished and patriotic men,
were present, and made eloquent orations at its dedication.
The day of its dedication was but a, speedy prelude to
its destruction. The festive and the funeral song almost
mingled in union. Three days a Temple dedicated to
freedom was permitted to stand, in a city founded by
William Penn, and in a country whose civil Constitutions
proclaim  freedom  of speech as one of the cardinal doctrines of the Government, one of the inalienable rights of
man. On the 17th of May, 1838, a mob countenanced by
men of intelligence and by the municipal authorities of
Philadelphia, put the torch to the noble temple, and in a
few hours it stood a sacrificial monument to incendiarism
and slavery.
",,That Temple now in ruin lies;
The fire-stain's on its shattered wall,
And open to the changing skies
Its black and roofless hall.
It stands before a nation's sight,
A grave-stone over buried right!
"But from that ruin, as of old,
The fire-scorched stones themselves are crying,
And from their ashes, white and cold,
Its timbers are replying!
A voice which slavery can not kill,
Speaks from the crumbling arches still!"
WHITTIER.
The old State-House, redolent with Revolutionary
inspirations, and forever sacred to freedom —where the
the patriots and statesmen of 1776 counseled and prayed,
and pledged their "lives, their fortunes, and their sacred
honor," to the cause of freedom and of human rights —
stood, and yet stands, in the city of Philadelphia. On that
old State-House hangs a Bell, imported from England in




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              209
Colonial times; and on it, is engraven this inspired and
prophetic motto of Freedom:
"Proclaim Liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof."
When the torch of the incendiary was put to that Temple of Freedom, that old Bell which had, in the dark days
of the Revolution called patriots together, should have
sent forth its peals of warning to those enemies of freedom and their country.
Thomas Morris, defending the true principles of the
Government and of liberty in the Senate of the United
States, being invited to aid in the Dedication, wrote from
his seat the following letters:
WASHINGTON, January 30, 1838.
FRIENDS-I received on yesterday, your esteemed favor
of the 26th instant; and I congratulate you and the
country, that in your city a Hall has been erected sacred
to liberty and free discussion. Born in Pennsylvania,
but at a very early age removed into the Western Country, I was a citizen of Ohio, at the adoption of her Constitution, and during the greater part of the last thirty
years, have borne an humble part in the Legislative
Assembly of my own State, where by my best efforts, I
have constantly endeavored to maintain and establish
those great principles, in support of which your society
is now engaged. I feel unable to express my heartfelt
emotions, on receiving your invitation to be present at the
opening of the Hall in the emporium of my native State,
a city renowned for its philanthropy and benevolence, and
now affording new evidence of those inestimable virtues,
by the erection of a hall, in which liberty and equality
of civil rights can be FREELY discussed, and the evils of
slavery fearlessly portrayed. While the spirit of slavery
is grasping at the power of our country, threatening a
1i




210        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
disunion of the States unless free discussion concerning
it be destroyed, and even in the free States marking its
progress in scenes of blood; it is a cause for joy and congratulation that Pennsylvania —that PHILADELPHIA is
about to consecrate one spot, at least, where its evils may
be fearlessly portrayed. Slavery is a spirit which hates
the light, because its deeds are evil, and to banish it
entirely from our country, free discussion alone is amply
sufficient. I rejoice in the awakening energies of the
country, and in receiving almost daily assurance that my
fellow citizens are determined to maintain those inalienable rights, without which they would be in a situation
little in advance of the African slave himself.
I will, if life and health permit, endeavor to be present
at the opening of your Hall, but I would gladly dispense
with the delivery of an address on that occasion, could I
do so consistent with your wishes, as I can not suppose
myself capable of adding any information to that mass
which is already before the public, on this interesting
topic; but whatever feeble service I can render to the
great and good cause in which you are engaged, will be
cheerfully offered.
You will, for yourselves, and those whom you represent, accept the assurance of my highest regard.
THOMAS IMORRIS.
MESSRS. SAMUEL WEBB, J. M. TRUMAN,
AND WM. M'KEE, Committee.
The following letter from Thomas Morris was also
received by the Committee:
WASHINGTON, May 11, 1838.
GENTLEMEN:- -I have seen in the Pennsylvania Freeman
of the 3d inst., with sensations of the deepest gratitude,
the favorable notice you have been pleased to take of my
name, in your general invitation to the public to attend the




LIkE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             211
opening of the Pennsylvania Hall on the 14th of the
present month, which Hall, I understand, is dedicated to
free discussion.
It would afford me the highest pleasure to be present
and join you in this work of universal charity and love,
could I feel that my public duties as well as my health
would justify it - domestic concerns having lately called
me to Ohio; I have but just resumed my seat here; it
seems proper, therefore, that I should not willingly, at
this time, absent myself from the Senate.
Your Hall, as I have said, is to be dedicated to free
discussion. What a train of solemn reflections does the
very thought create in the mind. Is it possible, that in
the free State of Pennsylvania, in the quiet and orderly
city of Philadelphia, (a city not inaptly called the city of
" brotherly love,") that in all places, and all times, free
discussion on all questions connected with the religion,
Morality, the welfare of the country, or the rights of man,
can not be had with safety to the citzen, and the peace
and quiet of the community? I presume this can not be
the case in your city, and was not the great moving cause
that induced your humane, philanthropic, and patriotic
eitizens to erect the Hall which they are about to open.
If, however, Pennsylvania is safe, if Philadelphia is
secure from all attempts to put down the right of free
discussion, the liberty of speech, and the press, your fellow
citizens have seen and felt that all parts of our beloved
country is not thus highly favored. It is gratifying,
indeed, that while the enemy of human rights and
Constitutional liberty, is, in our country, making rapid
advances to power, endeavoring as far as in him lies, not
to silence discussion, but even to muzzle the press itself,
knowing that his principles can not stand the test of
examination, Philadelphia has the honor to erect a barrier
which he can not pass, and a battery which he can not
silence, but which will effectually destroy his whole




212         LIFE OP SENATOR MORRIS.
power, by the consecration of a spot where all his pretensions may be fully and fairly discussed.
This act of your citizens I regard not as a local act
merely. It is not for Philadelphia alone to receive its
benefits, but the whole country - the whole world. Its
objects are universal and impartial justice to all men in
every condition, to establish each in his own inherent,
individual, and inalienable rights, to give warning of
approaching danger, and stay the rod of the oppressor;
and as such, we claim for the day of consecration a bright
page in the history of our country.
Every philanthropist, every moralist must mourn and
deplore the riots, burnings, and murders, that of late
have taken place in our country. Your own recollections
will be sufficient to place before your mind scenes of the
most outrageous atrocity. How often has tidings of the
destruction of the press, because it has spoken fearlessly
in defense of human rights, tingled in your ears! Have
you not heard that free born AMERiCAN CITIZENS have
been, by a lawless mob, subjected to the infamous torture
of the WHIP? Has not the weapon of the assassin laid
its victim bleeding at his feet, for no crime, for no act but
that which you intend to practice in the Hall you have
erected - the exercise of the right of FREE DISCUSSION?
While I rejoice that your citizens are embodying themselves to march forward to the rescue, I mourn for my
country that this same fell spirit which has urged mobs,
not only of the " baser sort," but of citizens who claim to
be respectable, to deeds of violence and blood, has found
its way in some degree into the councils and the official
stations of the country, into the bosom of society, and I
much fear into the very PULPIT itself, thus rendering
insecure all that is dear and sacred to man.
I would willingly draw a veil over the proceedings of
that body, of which I have the honor to be a member, in
regard to the important right of free discussion, if the




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              213
deep sense of the obligations of duty which 1 feel to you
and the country, would permit me to do so. This same
spirit, which you are about so nobly to rebuke, has been
able, in the very halls of Congress, to silence debate at
its pleasure. It has been able to strike its deadly fangs
into the most vital part of American liberty. It has
denied the right of petition, in all its essential qualities,
to a large portion of our fellow citizens, on a subject they
deemed worthy of their highest consideration, and
materially affecting the honor and interest of our country.
If it were possible, I would that I could persuade myself
not to believe this; but while the records of our country
bear witness to the fact, it can not be. I fervently pray
that the tear of some recording angel may yet be dropped
upon the words of shame and dishonor, and blot them out
forever.
If the supreme Legislature of the country can rightfully, in any one possible instance, refuse to receive, hear,
and act upon petitions sent by any portion. of the human
race who are subject to our laws, or owe allegiance to our
Government, I can see no safe guaranty for this high
privilege in any case whatever, when it shall come in
contact with power, interest, or influence. For if an
individual right which was deemed of a character too
sacred to be regulated or controlled by the people themselves, by their highest fundamental law, (the Constitution,) and placed by that instrument above the power of
Congress to ABRIDGE - can be withheld or restrained by
that body, it is hard to discover what political or natural
right you, or I, or any other citizen, can calculate upon
as secure. If the right of petition fail us, will it not
prove that the whole fabric of the Constitution is rotten
and not worth our care; its preservation in such case for
any valuable purpose might well be considered doubtful.
It is not only the right of petition that has been
abridged.  Thefreedom of debate has leen sricken down, and




214        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
lies dead in the halls of Congress. We are compelled t(
submit not only to a rule which imposes silence on a
question to lay a motion or proposition on the table, and
which a majority can always use to put an end to discussion disagreeable to them, however important it may be
to others; but the country now mourns the loss of one of
her most talented sons, whose life, it is believed, was sacrificed for the exercise of the right of free discussion in the
very hall of Congress itself. It would be some consolation
if, in the midst of this war upon individual rights, this want
of personal security, this waste of political privileges in
the chambers of legislation, the judiciary of the country
remained firm and uncontaminated. But here we have
also to deplore, that the incendiary with the torch in his
hand, scarcely extinguished, with which he had attempted
to fire his neighbor's dwelling, because of that neighbor's
exercise of his unquestionable right in the free expression
of his opinion; and the mobocrat who has attempted to
silence the press by its destruction, together with the
assassin whose red hands are yet dripping with the blood
of his innocent victim, find not only protection but favor;
and this new code of morals which would impose restraint
upon the expression of our thoughts, because the truth
may affect some pecuniary interest, or expose some
wicked practice, teaches the doctrine that a printing
press may be broken up, a man's house may be burnt, and
the owner slain by violence, and yet no one be GUILTY I
It has been said, and I think truly, that the verdicts of
juries give the character of the country. What, then,
will be the character of our country before an impartial
world, if juries shall continue to lend themselves to this
same spirit of misrule, and violence, and blood?
But if we withdraw our view from the constituted
authorities of the land, from men in official stations, and
extend it over the country at large, what do we behold?
The Bowie-knife and the pistol substituted for reason and




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               215
argument, usurping the power of the laws, or setting
them at defiance,-the actors professing to draw the
example from high places of power, and justifying themselves by the actions of men who claim to be among our
most respectable citizens. It is against the freedom of
speech, the right of free discussion, that these ruffians in
society wage their fiercest war.
I am aware that it may be thought that I have written
hard things against my fellow citizens; but do not the
facts that exist justify me? And should I not be faithless,
indeed, and recreant to all my principles, if, when writing
to you on the important event which you are about to
celebrate, I should either fail or fear to express my
thoughts fully and freely? If I did not do so, I might
well be considered a mocker of the institutions I profess
to honor. The picture I have presented, I know is one
not calculated to flatter our vanity; but it is no fancy
sketch —it has all the painful vividness of reality.
We should ponder on the signs of the times with serious
deliberation. We have been and are still a prosperous
and favored people; but I fear that in the eyes of Him
in whose hands are our destinies, and who can search the
heart, we are viewed as a proud and sinful nation. And
if his chastisements have not already commenced, our
wickedness, without repentance, must call them down at
last.
To understand our errors, and know the evil that
besets us, is the first step toward reformation. To
examine into, and ascertain the causes which have produced
those evils, is necessary to their radical cure. This
examination I shall now attempt. There is implanted in
our very nature a love of power and dominion, no doubt
for wise and beneficial purposes; but dominion, in the
creation of man, was only given him over "the fish of the
sea, the fowl of the air, the cattle, and every creeping




216        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
thing that creepeth upon the face of the earth." It was
never intended by the Creator that man should have
dominion over his fellow-man, but by his full and free
consent. Had this been intended, it would have been
given when the boundaries of man's dominion were fixed
and established. The exercise, then, of all power which
subjects man to involuntary servitude, and to a dominion
to which he has not given his full and free consent, is a
violation of the laws of heaven, and contrary to the very
nature of man, who, though formed for dominion and
imbued with its love, yet has authority from his Maker to
exercise it only over inanimate matter, and over creatures
not made in the bright image of God!
But when man became wicked and corrupt, he began
to usurp dominion over his fellow-man, reducing the
weaker and less guarded portions of the race to the condition of the cattle of the field. This, however, could not
totally destroy the principle of reason within the immortal
creature thus degraded; he knew still that he was entitled
to the same rights as his fellow-man, and that his condition was the effect of gross injustice and grinding
oppression. This produced the constant strife between
the oppressed and oppressor, the fruitful source of violence and crime through all time, and created the desire
and stimulated the action of those in power to prevent,
as far as possible, all examination into the rights of man
as established by his Creator.
The exercise of dominion begat the love of ease and
opulence. This could more readily be obtained by appropriating to his own use the labor of others without any
just compensation therefor. Thus the love of money, the
root of all evil, grew and expanded. In our own time
and day, those principles which our father's intended to
subdue and eradicate, if possible, in the formation of a
Constitution founded upon the natural and inalienable




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               217
rights of man, have sprouted afresh, with a luxuriance
which is calculated to fill the mind of the just and good
with deep and solemn reflection.
I have heard it stated by a sagacious statesman of our
own country, that it was one of the unchanged and
unchangeable laws of Providence, that one man should
live upon the labor of another, that this always had and
always would be the case, and that American slavery, as it
existed in the Southern States, was the best human modification
of that unalterable decree. This was the language of a
Southern gentleman, from a slaveholding State. The
practical operation of this despotic system, of man as an
individual usurping dominion over man, and endeavoring
to live upon the labor of others, began in our country with
the slaveholders, and its ramifications are now seen and
felt in all parts of our country. The desire to live upon
the unrequited labor of others, is acquiring a dreadful
universality. It is the slaveholding power,-this Goliath
of all monopolies,-that now brandishes his spear and
threatens the overthrow of our most essential rights, and
the most sacred of all our privileges. It defies even the
Constitution itself, to engage in single combat. It claims
to be before and superior to that instrument, which it
contends has acknowledged its superiority, and has guaranteed its existence and perpetual duration. It imperiously asserts that it has converted men into property;
and, as a matter of course, any person, when he becomes
a CITIZEN of the United States, has a right to the enjoyment and use of this species of property, in each and
every State in the Union. It is upon this false position,
that a person can be converted by law into a thing, that
slavery rests its whole claim -a position at war with the
Constitution of the United States, and which ought not
to be sustained in our courts of justice. It is provided in
the fourth article of the amendments to the Constitution,
that the right of the PEOPLE to be secure in their PERSONs
19




218         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
against unwarrantable seizure shall not be violated; and
that warrants when issued, shall particularly describe
the PERSONS or THINGS to be seized. I suggest, then, as
the settled conviction of my own mind, that our courts of
justice can not rightfully adjudge that a Negro slave is
property, BECAUSE HE IS NOT A THING, and property consists in things ONLY. That he may be claimed as owing
labor or service to another, does not shake, but confirms
the argument.
If the free States intend to continue free, as it respects
negro slavery, and all its concomitant evils, they must
not permit that system to take one single step beyond its
Constitutional, legal, and present geographical boundaries. If it can break one bar of its enclosure, it will be
like the unchained lion escaping from his cage — it will
make war upon and destroy every obstacle that opposes
its onward march. It will be insatiate until all Constitutional barriers which may impede its progress shall be
broken down and destroyed; we shall be unable to stay
its fury, or appease its rage, or again reduce it to Constitutional limits; and the consequences will be that our
entire liberties will be annihilated. The evils and propensities of the slaveholding system, which I have but
faintly attempted to describe, are not the workings of
imagination. I draw on sober realities and solemn facts.
Who in our country justified slavery during the war of
the Revolution? No one, who was willing to defend his
country from the grasp of the oppressor, or shed his blood
in defense of her liberties. Who justified the practice, or
contended for its perpetual duration, at the close of that
memorable contest? Not a single hero or patriot of that
day. Did any one attempt to make its chains more
strong, or bind its victims more securely, or enlarge its
borders by any Constitutional provision? No, not one.
Slavery at that day was deemed so dissonant to the principles of American liberty, that none were found to ren



LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              219
der it so much respect as to insert its name, or even the
word "slave," in the Constitution.
All then looked for and desired the speedy downfall of
the entire system; and Congress proceeded to fix limits
to its power, and rebuke its practice upon every possible
occasion, as in the ordinance in the year 1787, for the
government of the North-Western Territory, and in subsequent acts passed after the adoption of the Constitution.
But slavery flattered the pride of man, because it
enabled him to extend his legitimate dominion beyond its
just and rightful landmarks. It gratified his cupidity by
increasing the means of enjoyment. It was adhered to,
not as a political, but as an individual claim, and was left
subject to the power of the laws; and in that day, like
all other subjects, it was freely discussed at all times and
in all places without fear or restraint. But what is the
condition of the country now? Slaves have increased
vastly in number, and the power of the slaveholder in
equal degree. The acquisition of Louisiana gave new
impulse to this power; but it was never practically
demonstrated until the application by Missouri to be
admitted into the Union. It was on this occasion that
the first triumph was obtained on the floor of Congress,
by the slaveholding power, over the Constitution of the
United States, as well as of that of lM\issouri.
The people of Missouri formed for themselves a Constitution, in which they had given their Legislature full
authority to prohibit the introduction of any slave into
that State, for the purpose of speculation, or as an article
of trade or merchandise. When she presented herself for
admission into the Union, the slaveholding power in Congress objected to the exercise of this authority remaining
with her Legislators; and the final compromise was not
to compel Missouri to change her Constitution, but that
her Legislature, by a solemn public act, to be made in
pursuance of a resolution of Congress, should provide and




220        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
declare that the before-mentioned provision in her Constitution should never be construed to authorize the passage of any law, and that no law should be passed in
conformity thereto, by which any citizen of either of the
States of this Union should be excluded from the enjoyment of any of the privileges and immunities to which
such citizens were entitled, under the Constitution of the
United States.  This compromise, which I consider one
of the darkest pages in the history of Congress, though
submitted to by the people of Missouri, was severely
rebuked by them at that time. This was the first open
step to place slavery under the provisions of that Constitution which was formed for the safety and security of
liberty. It assumes the principle, though covertly, that
man may be made property, and that a citizen of either
State has a right to make merchandize of him if a slave,
to use him in trade as a chattel, to sell him in any State
in which slavery exists for the purpose of speculation,
and that such State has no power to prohibit the sale.
This to my mind is a monstrous principle, and at open
variance with every provision of a Constitution, immolated, in this compromise, on the altar of slavery.
The slaveholding power having thus obtained a foothold on the ramparts of the Constitution, by a violation
of its spirit and its letter, now claims that violation as
evidence of the right itself, and boldly asserts that the
Constitution recognises slavery as one of the institutions
of the country, and that the right of the slaveholder to
his slave is derived from that instrument.  It is here
the question must be met, and decided. The arrogance
of the slaveholding power, in trampling down the right
of petition, and denying the freedom of debate, are only
consequences resulting from this assumption of power,
and is a foretaste of what we may expect, when it shall
have completely established itself (should it be permitted
to do so), within the provisions of the Constitution. That




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              221
instrument will then be no longer what it now is, the
home of Liberty. It will be made its grave. This is the
first great and combined interest in this country which
strikes at equal rights; but all other special and local
interests have the same tendency, when they claim peculiar or exclusive privileges.
The monied interest is next to be feared, and whenever
that or any other shall have acquired sufficient strength,
to induce or influence Congress to legislate for its special
benefit, there will be an end to that equality of rights
which the Constitution designed to establish for the
benefit of all.
That our liberties are assailed, and individual as well
as political rights disregarded by men in high places of
power, none I think, will presume to deny; but that the
Union or the Constitution are yet so far endangered as to
create despondency, I can by no means admit. The
unnatural matter which slavery is attempting to engraft
upon the Constitution, will soon be blown off by the
breath of popular opinion. The remedy for all evils in
the system or administration of our Government is in the
hands of the people, and FREE DISCUSSION-discussion
without fear of the pistol of the duellist, the knife of the
assassin, the faggot of the incendiary, or the still more
dangerous fury of the unbridled mob -that free discussion which the people must and will have, soon will work
out an effectual cure. It is not in the nature of man, to
remain forever deprived of his rights in a country like
our own.
But free discussion must be practised to produce its
salutary effects. You and your fellow-citizens of Philadelphia have set a noble example. Though the sectarian and
bigot may exclude you from his sanctuary, and the cringing sycophant to power may shut you out from the Halls
erected at your expense, and consecrated to justice, yet
you are not discouraged but have again erected your own




222        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
Hall for a noble purpose-for the purpose of that free discussion, without which religion would languish, and liberty and justice would die. I congratulate the friends of
equal rights everywhere, on this praiseworthy effort. I
trust its influence will be productive of much good to the
human race. I hope that it may cross the mountains, and
descend the valley of the Mississippi, until free discussion
shall have restored the purity of the Constitution, and the
reign of righteous law. It will be then, and not till then,
that the value and merit of your proceeding in this matter will be duly appreciated, and Pennsylvania will be
considered as having furnished new evidence that she is,
in reality, the Keystone of our political arch, THE ARK OF
OUR POLITICAL SAFETY.
With great respect, I am, gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
THOMAS MORRIS.
JOSEPH 1M. TRUMAN, WM. H. SCOTT, WM. MCKEE,
SAMUEL WEBB Committee.




LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.                223
CIHAPTER XVIII.
RETIREMENT from the Senate-Return to Ohio-Addresses a large meeting in Cincinnati-Applauded by the Democracy-Activity in the
cause-An address to the Liberty Party-Nominated for Vice-President
-Letter on that subject-Attends the State Liberty Convention —His
Address.
THE 4th of March, 1839, closed his official responsibilities as Senator of the United States; but he went forth
into a wider field of action and usefulness. Returning to
Ohio, and his home, with the armor of Liberty on, he
re-entered the contest, and until the day of his death
fought as a veteran in the army of freedom.
"His sword was in his hand,
Still warm with recent fight,
Ready, that moment, at command
Through rock and steel to smite! "
The 7th of May, 1839, finds him in the city of Cincinnati, before a large meeting of his fellow-citizens, the
unconquered friend of freedom, the inveterate enemy of
slavery. That meeting is described by Dr. Bailey, the
present accomplished editor of the National Era, then
editor of the Cincinnati Herald, as follows:
" Ex-Senator Morris holds a court-house meeting, in
which he exposes the fearful inroads of the slave power
on the liberties of the nation, vindicates Abolitionists,
defends his own course, as a Senator, on slavery, and
insists on the duty of every citizen in the free States,
solemnly to engage in lawful efforts for the abolition of
slavery.




224'       LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
" The court-house was well filled-the speaker occupied
the evening till some time past 10 o'clock. We should
like to report the whole speech; particularly those parts
of it which were most applauded. But we can not. A
majority of the Abolitionists of the city knew nothing of
the meeting till it was over. Of course, the larger portion
of those present, was composed of the speaker's political
friends.
" The speech was listened to with intense interest, and
many tokens of sympathetic feelings. There was no vituperation in any part of it-nothing sordid. Mr. Morris
has a peculiarly happy way of presenting a point with
force and clearness, so that the mind immediately appreciates and firmly retains it. The secret of his influence
over his party is to be found, no less in his self-reliance,
and inimitable boldness, than his strong intellect. Perfectly calm, and deliberate almost to a fault, there is yet
so much strength in the views he presents, and such a
tone of deep sincerity in every word he utters, that he
never loses the attention of his audience.
" It is a fact, worthy of particular notice, that the boldest passages in Mr. Morris's speech, those containing sentiments which Abolitionists themselves, as a body, have
not generally insisted on, were precisely the parts most
cordially applauded.
" While commenting on the passage of the Servile Bill,
and the base subserviency of the Legislature to the dictation of Kentucky, his condemnation of its conduct was
promptly echoed by his audience. lie then alluded to the
fact, that he had, perhaps, occupied a seat in the Legislature, for a longer period than any citizen in the State, and
remarked, that had such an embassy, as was commissioned
by Kentucky last winter, been sent to Columbus at any
time when he was a member of the legislative body, he
could have secured members enough, and would have
done it, to have committed those gentlemen to prison!




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             225
On which the people, wrought up to a pitch of high indignation at foreign dictation, made the house ring with
applause.
" On the subject of the recovery of fugitive slaves, he
begged leave to throw out a suggestion. It might startle
them; but he must express his opinion frankly-others
had a right to think for themselves. And he would be
happy to discuss the point with any Constitutional lawyer
in Cincinnati, the suggestion " THAT OHIO, UNDER THE
FEDERAL CONSTITUTION, WAS NOT BOUND TO DELIVER UP
RUNAWAY SLAVES." Loud cheering followed this remark;
and, be it remembered, Abolitionists were but a small
portion of the meeting. The applause came chiefly
from  citizens uncommitted to Abolition-most of them
Democrats.
"Another remark much applauded, was, that so far
from passing laws to enable a slaveholder to re-capture
men and women, whom he called his slaves, in Ohio, he
would be in favor of the passage of a law, punishing
severely, every person, who, for a pitiful reward, would in
any way aid in the capture of a slave.
" If we mistake not, slaveholders will yet have cause to
repent that they ousted Thomas Morris from office, and
thus furnished him leisure for advocating more extensively and effectively Anti-slavery doctrines and measures.
Mr. Morris has energy and influence enough to work a
great change in his party."
He became identified with the Liberty party, and
labored for its efficient organization and success. In the
summer of 1843, he issued to the friends of Constitutional
liberty, in Hamilton county, the following address:
FELLOW-CITIZENS:-At a late meeting of the friends of
Liberty, in Cincinnati, the undersigned was appointed a
Committee to address you, and urge the necessity of more
prompt and efficient action on your part, in the cause in




226         LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
which you are engaged; for without such action, the
friends of slavery here and elsewhere, will say in derision
(and probably with too much truth), that all your professions of love for liberty, are but hollow pretensions.
It is necessary now, that every one of you, every friend
of liberty, should faithfully and fearlessly put his hand to
the work, and do all in his power to abolish the wicked,
the deplorable, and ruinous system of slavery in our
country. There is but one way by which this can lawfully be done; and that is the ballot box.
The principal disorders in our country are engendered
in, and flow from the bitter and corrupting fountain of
slavery; and the reason is, the slave power has become
omnipotent. It governs the suffrages of the people, and
thus it keeps millions of the human race, in our professedly free land, in the most abject and servile bondagemaking one portion of our people the chattels of the other.
No person can enjoy that liberty promised, and intended
to be secured, by the Constitution, while another is held
in slavery. It is a perfect solecism to say, that slavery is
the corner stone of our republican edifice.
No! it is more like a pile of unstable sand, a heap of
putrid, rotten dust, blown by its own effervescence into
the eyes of our fellow-citizens, perverting their vision. It
is an eating cancer, gnawing at the very vitals of our
republican institutions.  That spirit of liberty which
breathes through our Constitution, must soon crush and
destroy it, or slavery will soon stifle and destroy that
spirit. Then, indeed, will our republican institutions
become rotten and corrupt as slavery.
There is no mistaking the signs of the times. The slave
power, itself, is in possession of all the important stations
of the country. It directs all our councils and State
affairs; the ballot box, itself, is controlled by it; the press
and the pulpit are trampled upon by it; while every principle of justice and morality, is its scoff and scorn. It has




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             227
eaten out our substance, and brought upon us pecuniary
embarrassment and public disgrace. Can such a system
continue forever. If it can, then indeed are our declarations, that Justice, Liberty and Union, are established
among us, idle words, vain and illusory; calculated
only to deceive and destroy.
No! this can not be. There is yet vitality enough in
the country to restore the Government to healthy action;
and this too, in spite of the contending political parties,
in our State, who are sacrificing all their professed principles on the altar of slavery, and striving with each other,
who shall be its most humble apologists. It is admitted
that Liberty men now hold the balance of power between
them, and are constantly on the increase. We say to
them in a political view, " Ye are the salt of the earth.
Ye are the light of the world."  You now stand conspicuous before the nation and the world; and a high and
important duty is required of you. Redeem the ballot box
from the power of slavery. This you most assuredly will do
if you vote right. Sink not your individuality into clanship. Believe not the man who tells you, he is opposed
to slavery as much as you, and yet votes for a slavedealer, or the advocate of slavery, to fill the official stations in our country. Remember, " you can not serve two
masters;" you can not be the friend of slavery and the
friend of freedom.  Whence come the oppresion and
depression of your country and its affairs? The hard
times and the want of credit and confidence. Does all this
come by too much liberty, or too much slavery? Answer
this to your judgment, your conscience, and your country.
Recollect, we beseech you, that a Liberty Convention
is to be held at Mount Pleasant, in this county, on Tuesday, the first day of August next; a day and a month
made memorable in the annals of time, by the emancipation of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of the human
family from the thraldom of slavery, in the West India




228         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
Islands. We implore, then, one and all, to be present at
that Convention; and we earnestly invite all who differ
from us in this matter to come, hear and judge us; and
if they'believe we are wrong, arraign us at the bar of
public opinion. We fear not the strictest scrutiny into
all we say, and all we do.
We are always ready to make known our doctrines, and
test our principles in every proper place, and under all
circumstances. The object of our opponents is to silence
us and extinguish the lights we are kindling. They have
no other hope of ultimate triumph over us, but by covering us with darkness. Come then, to the Convention,
and trim your fires anew! Come and convince gainsayers
that you intend to live up to the political faith you profess - Justice and Liberty to ALL! Come and form a
ticket for yourselves to be voted the ensuing election;
composed of men who have not the brand of slavery on
their foreheads, or upon their flesh, nor love of slavery in
their hearts; and whose souls are not withered and
almost dried up by the blasting influence and poisonous
breath of that system. Come, and swear on the altar of
your country's liberty, that you will uniformly and constantly hereafter attend the polls of your elections, and
vote to sustain liberty.          THOMAS MORRIS.
This earnest address, brought a large Convention, and
the name of Thomas Morris was placed on the Liberty
ticket as State Senator.  He who had for twenty-five
years been elected by triumphant majorities, to the Legislature by the Democratic party, in Clermont county, now
entered the political field for freedom.
On the 31st of July, 1839, a large National Anti-Slavery
Convention was held in the city of Albany, New York,
the object of which, was " the thorough discussion of
those great principles, which lie at the foundation of the
Abolition enterprise throughout the civilized world; and




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              229
of the measures which are suited to its accomplishment
in the United States, and especially those which relate to
the right of suffrage by the citizens of the free States."
Mr. Morris having been but a few months from his seat
in the Senate, was invited to attend. He sent the following answer to the Convention.
CINCINNATI, July 22, 1839.
It was my intention to have been with you at the
National Anti-Slavery Convention, at Albany on the 31st
inst., and I had made preparations to leave here, for that
purpose on this morning; but the state of my health and
domestic affairs have prevented me.
I rejoice, however, that the abolition of slavery throughout the civilized world, is no longer problematical. It
seems to be almost universally conceded, that this stupendous fraud upon a portion of the human race, is fast
issuing to a close; and the great question truly with us is,
what measures are best to accomplish this desired result in
the United States. In our otherwise free and favored
country, slavery seems to have erected its strongest hold,
and is not only striving to govern the councils of the
country, th.e press, and the pulpit, but even mind itself,
is attempted to be imade.
It is true, they are yet in the minority; but, if I am
not mistaken, in every age and country of the world, in
which men have been compelled, by oppression, to strike
for freedom, they have been at first but few in number and
a persecuted race. But where they have been sincere,
making truth and justice their guide, success has been,
universally, the final result of their efforts.
With us the slave has no power of action; nor can we
consent that his freedom shall be purchased by his own
arm. A merciful Providence, in order to prevent such a
dreadful catastrophe has brought to his rescue, and united
for his deliverance, the warmest hearts and soundest




230         LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
heads of the nation; and they present to the world the
new and cheering phenomenon, of menl enjoying all the
blessings of liberty themselves, yet willing to devote
their time, their means, their all, to procure for the
oppressed and down-trodden slave, those natural rights to
which he is entitled, and which, in our charters of freedom, we promise to all men. The moral power of such
men is sufficient for this work, but that moral power must
operate by means to make it effectual. Political action is
necessary to produce moral Reformation in a nation; and that
action, with us, can only be effectually exercised through the
Ballot Box. And surely the Ballot Box can never be used for a
more noble purpose, than to restore and secure to any man, his
inalienable rights. It seems to me almost impossible, that a
man can be in favor of perpetuating American slavery,
and yet be a friend to the principles of our Government.
If the Ballot Box, then, is honestly and independently
used, it alone will soon produce the extinguishment of
slavery in our country.
I am able to say to you, and to those who are endeavoring to restore the slave to his long lost rights, that, in
the West, the cause of freedom is onward. Men speak, as
well as think, on the subject. Mind is meeting mind, and
mutual confidence and mutual support will be the result.
I sincerely regret I was denied the pleasure of meeting
the friends of liberty in Convention at Albany; but there
is much to do here, and I find it not in my power, to
comply with the numerous invitations to attend meetings
in different parts of my own State. Though the friends
of the slave are scattered throughout our vast country,
yet they seem to be actuated by the same impulse. This
I trust, will afford motives to perseverance and give
encouragement to all.
I am, with respect,
Your obedient servant,
THOMAS MORRIS.




LIFE OF SENATOR MIORRIS.            231
The 28th of December, 1842, found hiin in the Capital
of Ohio, a member of the State Liberty Convention.
Through Mr. Morris, the Convention requested the use
of the HIall of the Legislature then in session, for its
sittings. The request was virtually denied by its being
postponed to the second Tuesday of October. He whose
voice had rung in that same Hall, for twenty-four years,
as a Democratic Representative, was refused the privilege
of holding a Convention in it, to favor the true doctrines
of Democracy, and to resist the aggressions of slavery!
The Convention met in the Second Presbyterian church.
In that Convention, Mr. Morris was prominent. A
brief sketch is preserved of his address. He quoted the
remark of Coleridge- "It is a profound question to
answer, why it is that, since the sixteenth century, the
Reformation has not advanced one step in Europe." Ile
showed the reason to be, that Luther contended for truth
and principles, and not for a mere sect, and that his
followers had labored for sect more than for principle.
In reference to the subserviency of the two great
parties of the country to slavery, he said -" Both parties
are very subservient."  " The Democrats," said he, " hold
the truth in unrighteousness."  Petitions are received as a
matter of courtesy, in the Legislative Halls of Ohio; the
right of petition is not acknowledged at all. He said that,
in the Democratic proscriptive Convention of 1840 (the
one in which he was cut off as a rotten branch), it was
stated that no Democrat could be an Abolitionist. He
would reverse the proposition, and say —" Every Democrat must be an Abolitionist."
At another point in the deliberations of the Convention,
he made some very extended remarks, of which a brief
sketch is subjoined.
Mr. Morris said, the American people were responsible
for slaveholding under National legislation. He did not
believe there was any warrant for such legislation in the




232         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
Constitution; he was sure there was none in the moral code,
which was at the foundation of all vaclid law. lie could not
assent to the monstrous proposition that, "What the law
makes property is property."  He did not believe a slave
could breathe in Ohio. A person held to service in
another State, escaping into this, might be reclaimed as an
escaping servant -not as an article of property —not as
a slave. Such a person, in Ohio, has every right that
any other person has, subject only to liability to reclamation. He said, no slave ought to be content with his
condition. He would go farther than the Poet, who said-,,The day
That makes a man a slave, takes half his worth away."
It takes all his worth away. He could not, he said,
blame the slave for desiring to escape, nor could he blame
those who aided their escape. To charge such persons as
criminals, was to offend common sense and common justice. If slavery is right, it is right to aid in sending back
the fugitive — not otherwise. He would, he said, make
Ohio a free State in reality. He would enforce the great
principles-of liberty proclaimed in the Constitution. He
would have no State officer or State magistrate desecrating his office, by prostituting it to the purposes of the
slaveholder. He commented on the wavering and unstable conduct of the other parties; on the repeal of the
Fugitive Bill of Ohio; on the fact of the existence of one
of the greatest slave-marts in the world, at the Seat of
Government; on the slave representation of' twenty-five
members in Congress; on the compact and concentrated
energy of the slave power; on the negotiations set on
foot and carried on, for the purpose of extending the
market for slave labor products; the total neglect of all
effort to extend the markets for free labor; on the sinking
of three or four hundred millions of the earnings of free
labor in the gulf of slaveholding bankruptcy. He said,




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.            233
that slavery had literally eaten up the Banks, and, like
Pharaoh's lean cattle, had devoured the prosperity of
others, without promoting their own.
During the meeting of this Convention, Mr. Morris
rose and said, that he had been honored, by a Convention
which met in New York, in May, 1841, with a nomination
for the Vice-Presidency. He felt it to be a very high
honor. He prized that mark of confidence beyond any
office which either of the other parties could bestow
But when the nomination was made, the Liberty-Party
was imperfectly organized, and much smaller than at
present. He had, therefore, delayed the acceptance of
the nomination; and now, in view of the rapid progress
of the Party, and of future unanimity of action, he had
come to the conclusion to decline it, in order that another
Convention, representing the greater numbers which now
compose and are continually joining the Liberty Party,
might have an opportunity to act upon it.
Mr. Morris retired; and the Convention unanimously
declared by a resolution, that we "do cordially approve
the course pursued by that veteran and consistent friend
of liberty; and invite the Liberty Men of the United
States to meet in Convention at Buffalo, on the 28th day
of June, 1843."
20




234           LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
CHIIAPTER XIX.
RECAPTURE of Fugitive Slaves - Compromises of the Constitution;
Readjustment of Compromise Measures in 1850 -- Fugitive Slave Bill;
Opposition to it-President Pierce's opinion of it - Approved by President Fillmore - His former Anti-slavery Sentiments -Commissioners
sent from the Legislature of Kentucky to Ohio, in 1839 —Ask Ohio to aid
in Recapturing their Slaves - How received by the Legislature of Ohio;
Black Laws of Ohio -Mr. Morris's labors for their overthrow- His
views on the duties of States in the rendition of Slaves —Report of
Judge Smith in the Senate of Ohio in 1837 -Mr. Morris's elaborate
reply to it.
THE Recapture of fugitive slaves, has given to the
system of American slavery a profound interest and
agitation both  North  and  South.  Slaves are human
beings, and have longings for liberty. This living spark,
not extinguished, even in the soul of the bondman of the
South, has led thousands of slaves, to seek deliverance
from slavery, and the blessing of personal freedom.  Some
of the most romantic and heroic achievements in history,
are those that record the daring efforts and adventures of
slaves to escape from bondage. Their heroism, in ancient
days, would have secured them monuments, and immortalized their names.
In the organization of the Government, a provision was
inserted in the  Constitution, that "No  person held to
service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof,
escaping into another State, shall, in consequence of any
law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service
and labor; but shall be delivered up on claim of the
party to whom such service or labor may be due."
This was a compromise between the North and the




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               235
South, in order that the Union might be formed, and the
Government go into harmonious operation. This Constitutional provision was a temporary sacrifice of rights, for
the purpose of adjusting the interests of all sections of
country. The North and South expected, and desired,
the speedy extinction of slavery, and its extension into
new territory, was not contemplated by the framers of
the Constitution. HIence it was agreed, that the South
would not attempt to carry slavery into new Territories,
and the North would extend a certain degree of protection to the interests of the South, by allowing the recovery
of fugitive slaves in the Free States.
This provision, however, in the course of time, was
found inadequate for the slave interests of the South.
The growing sentiments of the country against the evils
of slavery, and the growing sentiments of freedom among
a large number of slaves, who, by increasing numbers
escaped, made the property of human chattels, more and
more insecure. A new surrender must be made on the
part of the North.
In a new adjustment of political affairs, in 1850, when
-California was admitted into the Union, a Fugitive Slave
Bill was passed by Congress, far more stringent and
oppressive than any previous legislation. This Bill, in
the North, produced general dissatisfaction.
It made every man a " slave catcher." " All good citizezs
fare hereby commanded, to aid and assist in the prompt and
efficient execution of this law, whenever their services
may be required," and any attempt to aid a slave, directly
or indirectly to escape, subjected the offender to a fine of
$1000, and six months imprisonment. It also destroyed
the right of trial by jury, by allowing the claimant of a
slave to file his certificate before a Commissioner, and on
that certificate the slave must be surrendered, in the face
of "a process issued by any Court or Judge, Magistrate or other person whomsoever."  This feature of the




236         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
Bill, conflicts with the Constitution of the United States,
where it declares that " The privilege by the writ of
Habeas Corpus, shall not be suspended unless when in
cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may
demand it."  It made humanity a crime, and is in
direct conflict with the "higher law" of God, that
declared, " Thou shalt not deliver unto his master, the servant
which is escapedfrom his master unto thee," and against that
Christian law, " That whatsoever ye would that men
should do unto you, do ye also unto them."
This bill passed Congress and became the law of the
nation. Northern statesmen gave it their votes and influence, and on the 18th of September, 1850, it received the
approval of President Fillmore, who, as a Representative
in Congress, and through most of his political life, had
been distinguished for his opposition to slavery.
In October, 1838, the Anti-Slavery Society of Erie
county, New York, asked Mr. Fillmore's views on the
subject of slavery. He returned the following answer:
BUFFALO, Oct. 17, 1838.
SIR-You solicit my answer to the following interrogatories:
1st, Do you believe that petitions to Congress, on the
subject of slavery and the slave-trade, ought to be received,
read, and respectfully considered by the representatives
of the people?
2nd, Are you opposed to the annexation of Texas to this
Union, so long as slaves are held therein?
3d, Are you in favor of Congress exercising all the
Constitutional powers it possesses, to abolish the internal
slave trade between the States?
4th, Are you in favor of immediate legislation for the
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia?
I answer all your interrogatories in the affirmative.
MILLARD FILLMORE.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              237
The present President of the United States, Mr. Pierce,
on the 2d of January, 1852, expressed his opinions and
feelings on the Fugitive Slave Bill as follows: "I have
been asked if I like this Fugitive Slave Bill. I answer,
No. I loathe it. I have a most revolting feeling at giving
up a slave. The law is opposed to moral right and
humanity. Slavery is contrary to the Constitution, in
some respects."
Not only the National Legislature, but many of the free
States, legislated for the recapture of fugitive slaves, giving legal facilities to slave hunters, to arrest the fugitive
in his pursuit of freedom.
In this work Ohio, in her legislative capacity, was prominent. Kentucky was losing her human chattels, from
their strong love of liberty. A large number of slaves,
from year to year, made their escape, and passed through
Ohio to Canada, their only safe city of refuge on the
American Continent.
To remedy this, the Legislature of Kentucky appointed
a special embassy to the Legislature of Ohio. The embassadors, in the persons of Charles T. Morehead and John
Speed Smith, entered upon the immediate execution of
their mission, and arrived in Columbus, the capital of Ohio,
on the 26th of January, 1839. They were received by the
Legislature of Ohio with distinguished consideration, and
by the citizens with princely attention and courtesy.
In an address to the Legislature of Ohio, they entreated
that body, by their love of the Union, and of the Constitution, and by every motive of patriotism, "to provide all
needful enactments, to prevent &vil disposed persons, who
may shelter themselves within the jurisdiction or limits
of Ohio, from enticing away the slaves of the citizens of
Kentucky, or aiding, or assisting, or concealing them after
they shall have reached the borders of that State; and
also, to pass an act, to provide more efficient and certain
means for recapturing and bringing away absconding




238          IIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
slaves, by their masters, or their legally authorized
agents." 1" The confidence of Kentucky is full in the justice, good feeling, and comity of Ohio."
The commissioners were entirely successful.  In less
than thirty days, the Legislature passed "An Act relating to Fugitives from Labor, or Service from other States,"
which passed on the 24th of February, 1839, and which
declared that' If any person, or persons, in this State,
shall counsel, advise, or entice any other person or persons, who by the laws of another State shall owe labor or
service to any other person or persons, to leave, abandon,
abscond, or escape, or shall furnish money, or conveyance,
or any other facility for enabling such persons owing
labor, or service, to escape from, or elude the claimant,
every person so offending shall be fined in any sum not
exceeding five hundred dollars, and be imprisoned in the
jail of the county, not exceeding sixty days, at the discretion of the Court."  An effort was made to insert a
provision, that such persons "should be punished  by
imprisonment in the Penitentiary, and be answerable to
the party injured four-fold damages."
This submission of Ohio at the foot of the slave power,
roused the spirit of incensed justice and freedom in Ohio.
The law converted the soil of Ohio, solemnly consecrated
to freedom, into a hunting-field for slaves, and made it a
penal offense to give a cup of cold water, or a piece of
bread to a poor, starving fugitive, on his way to freedom.
It made humanity, and a Christian duty, a crime.
"Alas for freedom! if such fruits as these
Grow on the branches of her spreading trees.
Alas for freedom! if the poor oppressed
Find no sweet sympathy within her breast.
Alas! alas! when ye, who claim to be
The great and generous, wise and truly free,
Scoff at a brother, turn in scorn away,
Because he wears a robe of darker clay."




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             239
M~r. Morris labored for the overthrow of these unjust
laws, which, on account of their severity, were stigmatized
as the Black Laws of Ohio; and he lived to see them
expunged from the statute-book of the State.
On the rendition of fugitive slaves, iMr. Morris had
thought profoundly, and anxiously. His views were often
boldly expressed, in his public addresses, and in written
opinions. The reader is presented with two papers on the
subject of the Duties of the States in relation to Fugitives
from Labor. The first is as follows:
Dr. BAILY: In the Philanthropist of the 14th inst., (3May
1839,) you have given to the public, a statement of what
you call " another Court House Meeting," in which you
suggest that "I advanced the idea, that Ohio, under
the Federal Constitution, was not bound to deliver up
runaway slaves." This, though correct in the main, does
not so fully express what I said on that point as I could
wish. I remarked, that the States as parties to the Federal Compact were themselves judges of the time and
manner for the performance of those duties which that
contract required of each, for carrying on its operations.
That the States respectively had reserved to themselves
the power to protect, and also to prevent the abduction
of any person within their jurisdiction, and from being
transported out of the State, without the assent of such
State in pursuance of her own laws. That the law of
Congress of the 12th of February, 1793, providing, that
persons escaping from the service of their masters in one
" State, and being found in another State, shall be arrested
and delivered to the claimants, was unconstitutional; and
in violation of the reserved rights and sovereignty of the
States.
That Ohio, nor no other State, was bound by the operation or force of any foreign laws to deliver up any runaway slave or person escaping from the service of their




240        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS,
master; that the States were under a moral, Constitutional
obligation to do so, but that they were themselves judges
when and how they would exercise the power; that if the
State should be of opinion that the exercise of the power
would tend to the destruction of its independence and
sovereignty, or the disturbance of the public peace, or
in fact to the detriment of the public welfare, each State
had the right, and it would be its duty to refuse such
delivery; that it ought to be remembered that the slave
States claimed the slaves as a sheer article of property;
that we did not permit an article of property, say a horse
or an ox, to be taken from our State, but in pursuance of
our own laws, much less ought we to permit a man to be
taken, whom we acknowledge in our Constitution to be
born free and independent: That as a sovereign State,
we unquestionably had power to provide by law, the
mode and manner of determining a claim to any article
of property, before such article could be removed from our
State; and the reason was much stronger, that a person,
whom we can only know as a free man until the contrary
is shown, should be protected by our laws, and that
showing must be in pursuance of, and in comformity
thereto:
That our State ought to provide by law for the reclamation and delivery of runaway slaves I admitted, and that
we ought to require from the claimant a strict compliance
with such laws, I insisted. I remarked that the principles
I had advanced, might, by many, be considered new and
dangerous, but with what reflection I had been able to
bestow on this subject, my mind was strongly impressed
with their truth; however, I might still be in error, and
would be extremely glad to meet any gentleman in public
discussion who thought me so; that truth, and the safety
and peace of the country alone was my object.
I am solicitous to understand the nature and power of
slavery in our country, and will add, at this time, one or




LIFE  OF SENATOR  IMORRIS.             241
two suggestions by way of inquiry, which I hope some
gentleman will explain. I understand the slaveholders
to say and insist, that the United States Government has
no power whatever over their slaves; that slavery is a
peculiar institution of their own States. The question
then is, can a slave commit treason against the United
States? or can he be guilty of counterfeiting the current
coin of the United States, or any other crime against
the General Government? If so, Congress can provide
for their punishment, and thus interfere with the system of slavery in the States, and with the right of the
master to his slave. Another question is, can Congress
provide by law, in any possible case, for the enlistment of
slaves into the service of the United States? It seems to
me that if slaves are subject to the power of Congress in
any one of the foregoing cases, it must follow as a necessary consequence, that Congress have power over the whole
slave system as it exists in the United States.
Will you be so good as to obtain an answer fiom some
gentleman in whose candor and legal attainments you
have confidence.     Yours with respect,
THOMAS MORRIS.
The second paper from the pen of MIr. MIorris, on the
rendition of fugitives, is lengthy and elaborate. It is in
answer to a Report made in the Legislature of Ohio, in
1837, by MIr. Smith of Warren county. The Report is as
follows:
The Standinkq Committee on the Judiciary, to which was referred
the memorial of sundry citizens of the cou nty of Ciermont,
praying the Legislature " to take into consideration the subject
of regulating in a more just and effiectual mlcanner, the proof
and trial in cases of fugitive slaves," report -
The memorialists, who are a numerous body of respectable citizens of the county of Clermont, represent that
21




242        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
the enforcement of the Act of Congress, passed the 12th
of February, 1793, upon the subject of persons escaping
from the service of their masters, "is a source of indescribable mental and physical suffering to its immediate
victims, and of painful sympathy and regret to the humane
and patriotic citizen, who may be compelled to witness
the spectacle."
They complain that by virtue of the provisions of that
law, " a man may, by the warrant of a single Justice of the
Peace, be consigned to interminable slavery, no matter how
much the decision may have been influenced by interest,
ignorance, partiality, or prejudice;" and they ask of the
Legislature the passage of a law, by which the persons
contemplated in the Constitution of the United States,
and law of Congress above referred to, shall be entitled
to the right of appeal, and the benefit of our higher
courts. They also urge the'"importance of taking out of
the hands of Justices of the Peace, and city Magistrates,
the ability to execute a power so great, and one so liable
to be abused and perverted to the worst of purposes, and
the placing it in the hands of our higher judicial officers."
These views and opinions are urged and sustained by
various arguments.
Your Committee have endeavored to give that consideration to these representations, and the arguments urged
in their support, which the importance of the subject -and
the respectability of the memorialists seem to demand.
Your Committee are aware, that the topics discussed in
the memorial are of a delicate character. Unfortunately
for the cause of humanity, there has, for some years past,
existed in the public mind a degree of sensitiveness upon
this subject, wholly unknown at any former period in the
history of Ohio. This is neither the time, nor the place,
to discuss the question as to the cause of this excitement,
or who are responsible for the consequences; it exists.
and its power and intensity are much to be regretted.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             243
For that system of domestic slavery, prevalent in the
Southern States of the Union, Ohio has no community of
feeling. It is here considered as a great evil, both moral
and political; one fraught with more portentous consequences to our existence as a nation than any other. The
Constitution of our common country, however, recognizes
the existence of this feature in our social system, and the
relation of master and servant. Ohio became a constituent member of the Union, with a full knowledge of the
fact. Slavery was entailed upon our country during our
Colonial state; it existed at the formation of the Constitution; it is a stain upon our National escutcheon, which
the existing Government did not create, and for which
the present generation are perhaps not responsible.
The formation of the Constitution of' the United States
was the result of compromise; jarring interests and conflicting claims were to be reconciled. Those States in
which slavery existed, would not consent to the adoption
of the Constitution, without a provision authorizing them
to reclaim their slaves, who should escape from the service of their masters, and be found in a State where that
relation did not exist. Hence, it was provided in the
third clause of the second section of the fourth article of
the Constitution of the United States, that —" No person
held to service or labor in one State, under the laws
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of
any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such
service or labor; but shall be delivered up on claim of
the party, to whom such service or labor may be due."
Whatever may be our individual opinions as to the question of slavery, we hold it to be our duty as citizens of
Ohio, as long as the Constitution remains unaltered, to
adhere with the most rigid fidelity to this, as well as
every other provision of that hallowed Instrument. In
these times of turmoil and excitement, nothing will tend
more to.our political safety than mutual forbearance, and




244         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
an unwavering determination in every member of the
Union, to respect the Constitutional rights of its fellowmembers, and preserve with strict fidelity, the principles
of compromise on which the Constitution was formed.
Pursuant to the clause of the Constitution to which
reference has been had, Congress, on the 12th day of
February, 1793, passed an act entitled —, An act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from their
masters;" by the third section of which it is provided -
~" That when a person held to labor in any of the United
States, or in either of the Territories on the North-West
or south of the river Ohio, under the laws thereof, shall
escape into any other of the said States or Territories, the
person to whom such labor or service may be due, his
agent or attorney, is hereby empowered to seize or arrest
such fugitives from labor, and to take him or her before
any Judge of the Circuit or District Courts of the United
States, residing or being within the State, or before any
Magistrate of a county, city or town corporate, wherein
such seizure or arrest shall be made; and upon proof to
the satisfaction of such Judge or Magistrate, either by
oral testimony or affidavit, taken before and certified by a
Magistrate of any such State or Territory, that the person
so seized or arrested, doth under the laws of the State or
Territory from which he or she fled, owe service or labor
to the person claiming him or her, it shall be the duty of
such Judge or Magistrate to give a certificate thereof to
such claimant, his agent or attorney, which shall be sufficient warrant for removing the said fugitive from labor,
to the State or Territory from which he or she fled."
Your Committee are of the opinion, that the power of
legislating upon this subject was conferred upon Con
gress, that the general provisions of that act were made
in pursuance of the Constitution, and constitute a part of
the supreme law of the land. It is true, that it may well
be doubted, whether Congress under the Constitution,




LIFE OF SENATOR >MORRIS.             245
can confer any judicial power on a State officer; and should
such power be attempted to be conferred, your Committee are of opinion, that such officer might at his discretion, decline its exercise; and that the State of which
he is an officer, might by Legislative enactment, prohibit
its exercise.  As Congress, however, have deemed it
expedient to vest in the judicial officers of the State,
where the claim is preferred, jurisdiction in this matter,
it seems to your Committee, that it would be alike unwise,
uncourteous, and impolitic, for the Legislature to prohibit its exercise; unless the reason for a proceeding of
that kind was exceedingly weighty. It would produce
relations apparently unfriendly between the General and
State Governments; a state of things always to be deprecated. The consequences would be, the vesting of the
jurisdiction in matters of this kind, exclusively in the
officers of the General Government. This, your Committee believe, would be productive of great difficulty and
inconvenience, not only to the claimant, but also to the
person sought to be reclaimed. The remote distance at
which these officers must reside from various sections of
the State, would render it much easier for evil-disposed
persons to kidnap the negro or mulatto, and take him
beyond the limits of the State, without any judicial
investigation, than under our existing regulations: and it
is not difficult to perceive, that in a majority of cases, it
would be utterly impossible for the alleged fugitive to
procure the attendance of witnesses to prove his freedom,
at such a distance from his residence.
In reference to that part of the memorial, which prays
for the allowance of an appeal from the inferior magistrates to the higher courts in these cases, your Committee
would remark, that they are aware of the value of the
right of appeal; and were they satisfied of the existence
of the power in the Legislature to authorize a review of
the proceedings before the inferior tribunal under proper




246        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
Iestrictions, it might be difficult to prove its inexpediency.
But they believe that under the law of Congress, exclusive cognizance of the matter is given to the officers
therein enumerated, and that no appeal is contemplated,
or appellate jurisdiction conferred. An attempt of a State
Legislature to confer this power, they would deem
improper, and therefore unwise and inexpedient.
The second object of the memorialists, that is, taking
out of the hands of Justices of the Peace, and city magistrates, the ability to exercise this power, has already been
virtually anticipated. Your Committee are not aware of
any flagrant abuse of the powers conferred by the act of
Congress upon Justices and City Magistrates, and it
would be a source of extreme regret, if they were forced
to the conclusion, that any of their decisions had been
influenced by " interest, ignorance, partiality, or predjudice." They hope, for the honor and credit of the judicial
officers of State, there is no foundation for such imputation. Unless, then, the reasons for an alteration in our
laws, conformably to the prayer of the memorialists, are
urgent and imperious, your Committee would deem it
inexpedient at this time, when excitement is already ripe,
when the feelings of the slaveholding, and anti-slaveholding States are arrayed against each other, any
further to fan the flame, or contribute to the existing
excitement.  Let it be our task to pour oil upon the
troubled waters, and restore that comity and kind feeling
which should characterize the intercourse between sister
States. If Judges of the Supreme Court and Presidents
of the Courts of Common Pleas, were the only judicial
officers of the State, authorized to adjudicate upon these
cases, many of the inconveniencies and hardships before
alluded to, would exist: and whatever may be the merits,
respectability and integrity of Associate Judges in
general, they are not usually technical lawyers. In relation to city magistrates, your Committee would remark,




LIFE OF SENATOR  NIORRIS.            247
that they consider their jurisdiction in these cases, to have
been virtually vested by the second section of the "' Act
to prevent kidnapping," which provides "' That no person
or persons shall in any manner attempt to carry out of
this State, or knowingly be aiding in carrying out of this
State, any black or mulatto person, without first taking
such black or mulatto person, before some Judge or Justice
of the Peace, in the county where such black or mulatto
person was taken, and there agreeably to the laws of the
United States, establish by proof his or their property, in
such black or mulatto person." Your Committee are
desirous that not only every citizen of the State, but that
every black and mulatto person, may be protected in
those rights which are guaranteed by law; but under our
existing laws, administered by honest and intelligent
officers, and with the habitual reverence of our community for order and law, with the benefit of the writ of
habeas corpus; we think there is a safe guarantee that the
rights of the humblest individual, will be protected.
Under these considerations, your Committee believe it
would at this time be inexpedient to legislate on this
subject, and ask to be discharged from the further
consideration thereof.
MIr. Morris, during the recess of Congress, in March,
1837, answered Mir. Smith, as follows:
SIR: In addressing this paper to you, I am in hopes
that your standing and character in society, will attract to
it public attention, and cause it to be more generally read
and considered than it otherwise would be, and I confess
I am not without hopes to induce you to enter into a controversy, on the important subject contained in your
Report, and the Petition presented to the General Assembly, from a number of citizens of this county, praying the
passage of an act for regulating in a more just and effect



&2J48      LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
nal manner, the proof and trial of fugitive slaves, and of
which Report this paper is designed as a review.
Permit me to assure you, that for your personal and
political character, I entertain the highest respect; and the
important stations you have filled, both as a legislator and
a judge, entitle your opinion to the greatest consideration,
and when officially given become public property; and if
erroneous, and founded on false premises, are, and ought
to be subjected to the severest animadversion. In this
light do I view your Report; and for which the public has
the right to hold you responsible, and to award to you
either their approval or censure, as shall seem meet.
The first great error into which you have fallen, is the
presumption that a person of color, found in Ohio, may
be the slave of another man; and this errol is the predicate of your whole Report. The presumption, however,
is directly the reverse; it is, that every human being found
in the State is free; that color is not like the form, and
want of intelligence in other animals, evidence of property
in man; that he who claims that a person in our State is
subject to any disability, or owes labor or service to
another, or is property, must prove the same by some
existing law, as well as make proof of the fact of ownership; while a brute animal may be reclaimed by proving
the latter fact only. But even if such animal should
escape fiom the service of its master, in any other State,
and be found in our own State, it could only be reclaimed
in pursuance of our own laws. Yet, strange is the conclusion to which you arrive, that a person who owes service
or labor, in another State, and who may be found in this
State, may be reclaimed by the operations of a foreign law
only; that, in fact, our own Legislature have not the
power to defend a firee person (and all are free here until
the contrary is proven), from being arrested and carried
out of the State, or presenting the nature of the proof to




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             249
be made, and the Courts before which the trial should be
had, as well as the mode and manner of such trial-thus
degrading the person below the brute, and subjecting him
to be adjudged the property of another, in a sister State,
by rules which I am conscious you would have spurned
with indignation, as a judge, if any such attempt had been
made upon you while on the bench, to determine the
right of property in a horse or an ox.
We have no measure to test proceedings of such a monstrous character, but the standard which the Creator has
implanted in the breast of every man. And ought not we,
who have not only this monitor, but all the light which
Christianity and Philosophy can afford, feel humbled at
the very mention of doctrines, such as are contained in
your Report; and if we acknowledge their correctness by
practice, to put our hands upon our mouths, and our mouths
in the dust, and plead guilty before the Judge of all the
earth. " Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord,
and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as
this."
You state that the committee were aware that the topics
discussed in the memorial are of a delicate character, and
" unfortunately for the cause of humanity, there has, for
some years existed in the public mind, a degree of sensitiveness on this subject, wholly unknown at any former
period in the history of Ohio." I confess I almost doubted
the evidence of my own senses on first reading this paragraph. What are the topics discussed? Personal Rights!
the right of every human being as secured to him by the
Constitution of Ohio; the mode and manner of trial when
a claim is laid to a man as property; when found within
our own jurisdiction; a question which involves the
supremacy of our own Constitution as well as the principles of humanity! Yet because the citizens are beginning to awake and inquire into these matters which are
of the highest importance, you deem it unfortunate.




250         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
Yes, unfortunate to the cause of humanity! Was there
ever a sentiment so unjust and so unfortunately expressed.
Humanity requires that we do good as well as be just
unto all men! Policy requires that we should not permit
the foot of the spoiler to tread down either our own
Constitution or the liberty of mnan, without showing a
paramount authority to do so, and that too in such a
way and manner as we may prescribe. In contradiction
to your opinion, which rests on assertion only, permit me
also to declare, that it is most fortunate for the cause of
humanity, for justice, for the preservation of our own
institutions, for the honor and dignity of the country,
that this degree of sensitiveness of which you complain,
exists, and is prevailing throughout the land.
It was prudent in sustaining your Report, that you
should avoid discussion as to the cause of the excitement
you mention, as a discussion would have shown the
fallacy of your Report, and in some degree the deep
foundation upon which the prayer of the memorial rested.
It would have shown that the civilized as well as the
Christian world was against you; it would have proven
to you that the deep recesses of the human heart, had
been moved in the cause of suffering humanity; that the
spirit of light and truth is abroad in the land, and that
the dark and hideous form of slavery was receding from
before it; inflicting its additional tortures on its unfortunate victims as its power gradually declined, and thus
glutting its appetite for cruelty and oppression even in
its death struggles. It is, therefore, a matter of rejoicing,
not of regret, that it is even now made to feel the power
and intensity of public opinion.
You next say, "For that system of domestic slavery,
prevalent in the Southern States of the Union, Ohio has
no community of feeling. It is here considered as a great
evil both moral and political, and fraught with more portentous consequences to our nation than any other." Is




LIFE OF SENATO    I MORRIS.          251
this true? It is. And can we for a moment believe that
this great truth, which is written on the tablet of every
heart will lie dormant in those of the wise and the good?
Surely not. And yet you who thus solemnly declare in
your Report, the existence in our common country, of
this great and alarming evil, should deem it unfortunate
for the cause of humanity, that there exists in the public
mind an intensity of feeling giving power and energy to
its action, is one of those incongruities into which we are
all too apt to fall. What do you propose as the reward
for supineness? Nothing more than that happiness,
which is the result of stupefying medicines given to
assuage the pangs of approaching death. You promise us
nothing better, and seem even startled in promising us this.
Like an Empyric in physic, who had given over all
hopes of the recovery of his patient, you endeavor to find
some cause for the fatal disease which is beyond the power
of medicines to reach; you consign us to destruction and
then sit down, fold your arms under another most fatal
error, that the Constitution of our country recognizes the
existence of this feature in our social system, and the
relation of master and servant.
On this point however, I am at issue with you as to
the fact. I deny that the Constitution of the JUnited
States recognizes or guarantees the existence of slavery
in any of its provisions. You have not pretended to point
to such a provision, except that which I shall presently
notice, and which does not sustain you, and of course, I
conclude that none other exist, on which you can rely
with the remotest possibility of success. The very idea
of recognizing what shall be property, or the tenure by
which property'can be holden, is at war with the very
nature and object of the Constitution. That instrument
is the foundation of all our political as well as personal
rights. The Government is made by the Constitution, to
rest on man, abstract and unconnected with property;




252         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
securing to him those valuable and inalienable rights,
such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, with
which he is endowed by his Creator; while it has left
property as a minor thing, to be formed and provided for
by law emanating from the Constitution.
I ask you, sir, as a Lawyer and a Judge, what would be
the condition of our own State, if the position you have
taken be true, that the Constitution of our common
country recognizes slavery, as a feature in our social
system? Will you not admit, at once, that slavery can
exist in Ohio? It seems to me that the conclusion, from
your argument, is irresistible that such would be the case.
For if slavery has its existence in our social system, by the
Constitution of the United States, then indeed, does it exist
everywhere within the jurisdiction of the United States,
because the Constitution and laws of each State are subject to the controlling power of that instrument. I can not
believe that it is your wish or desire to convert Ohio into
a slave State; yet if the doctrines contained in your
Report be orthodox, I ask you to escape from the dilemma
if you can.
Your next attempt is an excuse for the present existence
of slavery, a kind of miserable consolation for the wickedness of its practice, and is at war with your Constitutional
recognition of its rights. You say "It was entailed
upon our country during our Colonial State, it existed at
the foundation of the Constitution, it is a stain upon our
National escutcheon which the existing Government did
not create, and for which the present generation are, perhaps, not responsible. The word perhaps, as used by you,
is a word of fearful import. You deplore slavery as a great
evil, both moral and political, a stain upon the national
escutcheon which the existing Government did not create,
and which you say is fully recognized by it, and then find
consolation in the idea, that perhaps we are not responsible
for this great wickedness.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              253
If slavery was wrong in our Colonial State, the change
in our political condition, you will not, I am sure, contend
makes it right. The wickedness of holding slaves, one
hundred years ago, does not prove that it is right to hold
slaves now; because our Fathers held in slavery, the
fathers of the present race of slaves, it does not prove the
practice less criminal or dangerous for that cause. Our
fathers have gone to their account, and the present generation must shortly follow, and are equally responsible,
both here and hereafter, for the existence of slavery; for
slavery is constantly and continually an evil, an evil in
all time, under all circumstances, and in all countries; an
evil without excuse, and without mitigation -the worst
of all possible evils. Yet you would have us shut our
eyes on this deplorable wickedness, because we were not
the first in the guilt, and content ourselves with saying,
perhaps the present generation is not responsible.
That the Constitution of the United States, is the result
of Compromise between the different States, is admitted.
But I contend that that instrument contains in direct
terms all the compromises intended, and that none others
are to be inferred. Those agreed to, consist in the formation of the Legislative department, in the mode and
manner of collecting revenue, in the grants of power to
the Executive and Judicial departments; indeed the
whole Constitution of the United States is a compromise
between the different States, but it is a compromise in
transferring power, which then belonged to the States,
and is to be taken and construed, strictly within the
letter of the grants made. The power thus granted by
the effect of the compromise, I contend, can no longer be
exercised by the States. But I deny that the compromises, in any manner affected, or operated on, any of the
rights or powers not granted, but the same remains with
the States, to be exercised in the same manner, as if no
such compromises had been made.




254        LIFE OF SENATOR  MIORRIS.
As to the existence of slaverv there is no recognition of
it in the Constitution. Nor could there be alny compromises between the States on that subject, because at the
formation of the Constitution, in each and all the States,
slavery existed. In your Report, however, you have
said, that those States in which slavery existed, would not
consent to the adoption of the Constitution, without a
provision authorizing them to reclaim their slaves who
should escape from the services of their masters, and be
found in a State where that relation did not exist. You
mean no doubt States of our Union, and if so having
mistaken facts, your reasoning is inconclusive.
There were no States, as before said, in which Slavery
did not exist at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, and that instrument, instead of guaranteeing the
continuance of slavery in the different States, in its whole
scope and tendency, has evidently formed the design of
terminating its existence at no very remote period. The
word slave or slavery was of too base an import to be
used in that instrument; and in order to brand with
odium, and fix the seal of disapprobation on the practice
of slavery, it was agreed as one of the compromises of
the Constitution, that the migration or importation, the
going out, or the bringing into any of the States thenr
existing, such persons as they might think proper to
admit, should not be prohibited by Congress, prior to the
year 1808; but on such importation Congress might
impose a tax or duty, not exceeding ten dollars on each
person. It is admitted that the word person, used in this
section of the Constitution, evidently means persons of
whom  slaves have been made by the different States.
This provision was clearly intended to vest in Congress
a power to prevent the traffic in slaves, either foreign or
domestic, and to exhibit it to the public eye as odious, by
the imposition of an extraordinary tax.
The restriction upon the power of Congress over the




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              255
subject of slavery in this section of the Constitution,
is the acknowledgement that the power was ample in all
possible cases of a like nature, when not so restricted.
And it is a remarkable fact that the power thus restricted,
was expressly confined to the States then existing, leaving
Congress at full liberty to prohibit the extension of
slavery in all new States that might thereafter be admitted into the Union. Yet in the face of all these provisions, is it not strange that a citizen of Ohio, one who has
held a high Judicial station, and who is now a member
of her Senate, should be willing to join the mercenary
slaveholder, who, finding his claims at war with every
principle of justice and humanity, is willing to engraft
its odium into the Constitution of the country. It is,
however, to be hoped that a Constitution whose foundation is laid upon broad principles will never give nourishment to so deadly a shoot, no matter with what skill
it may be inserted.
But if you have been unfortunate in your premises,
you are still more unfortunate in your proof, and conclusions. You attempt to sustain slavery by the third clause,
second Section, fourth Article of the Constitution of the
United States, which is in the following words: " No person
held to service or labor, in one State, under the laws thereof,
escaping into another State, shall, in consequence of' any
law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service
or labor, but shall be delivered up upon the claim of the
party to whom such service or labor may be due."
The argument you have drawn from this provision of
the Constitution is, that Congress havincg legislated on the
subject, the legislative power of the States on the same
subject, is superseded, and that we are bound to recognize
the existence of slavery, by virtue of the Constitution of
the United States, and to know the slave, not by proof,
but by his natural appearance.  WVe are to take the doctrine of the slaveholding States as our guide, that color is,




256        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
in presumption of law, evidence of slavery, and that tho
claim arising therefiom mlust be resisted by proof; and
hence, in violation of' our own State Constitution, which
declares that " All men are born equally firee and independent, and have certain natural and inherent rights, among
which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty."
You are willing to acknowledge the non-existence of those
rights as it respects persons of color, and permit them to be
seized and arrested without an oath, without warrant, and
taken and carried before any magistrate of a county, city,
or town corporate, wherein such seizure or arrest shall be
made. And what is the proof then to be made? That
such person is a slave? iNo. By your theory that is a
fact admitted; but to exempt himself from its effects the
person arrested will be required to prove his freedom.
The only proof, as you contend, as required by the act of
Congress, is, that the person arrested owes service or labor
to the person claiming him, or her, and on this proof he
is surrendered into slavery. And you call this Justice.
I would here ask you to pause and reflect on the consequences of the doctrines you promulgate. I am sure you
will not openly deny, that a colored man may not, under
our political system, enjoy personal liberty, at least, in the
same degree as a white person; and that liberty is as
solemnly secured to one person as another by the Constitution of our State. Do you not know colored persons in
your own town, whom you are conscious are free, honest,
and industrious citizens; subject to no disability but what
the laws of our State have created? Could you, as an
honest and upright man, feel perfectly satisfied with the
justice of your country, to see such persons arrested by
a citizen of another State, without oath or warrant, and
carried before one of your own upright magistrates, and
in a few hours be consigned by him to perpetual and
unmitigated slavery, upon proof made by a single person
even, unknown to you or the community in which you




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              257
live, and whether true or false, no opportunity of inquiring; but the magistrate, as you contend, would be bound
to deliver over the person claimed, on his own judgment
of the proof so made by a stranger, probably a slavecatcher, or more likely a kidnapper, without affording the
least opportunity to the person claimed to show that the
claim was false, and the testimony untrue. I repeat the
question: Would you feel satisfied to see a citizen of Lebanon, though a colored one, carried off in this manner? I
answer for you. I am sure you would not. Your sense
of justice and right is too strong for that.
I again differ from your conclusions, as to the legislation
necessary to carry out the provisions of the Constitution
on which you rely. It is evident that many of the provisions of the Constitution of the United States can only
be carried into effect by State legislation. Indeed, some
of the most important ones are of this character; and to
my mind it is clear, that the provision contained in the
third clause of the second section, fourth article, to which
you refer, is of that description. Have you observed the
peculiar phraseology of this paragraph, and with what
care it avoids the recognition of slavery as a Constitutional provision. Its power can not begin to operate until
a person shall escape from one State into another; he
must be held to service or labor in the State only from
which he escapes; and, of course, in the State in which he
is found, he is, to all intents and purposes, entitled to personal freedom; but such State is prohibited from discharging him from any prior obligation or duty he may be
under in the State from which he has escaped; but he
shall be delivered up, on the claim of the party to whom
such services or labor is due. Every State in the Union
has reserved the power of protecting from violation, or
insult, the person of any individual found within its
jurisdiction.
It would be an anomaly indeed, if the States had given
22




258        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
up this right, this power to preserve the public peace
within their borders; no State can do it and claim even
the shadow of independence. This is a palpable truth.
BHow then does it happen, that a colored person may be
seized and arrested within our State, without the authority
of any State law defining the course, or prescribing the
mode of arrest, or the form or manner of trial? Are you
willing to substitute color, as a ground for the arrest, in
lieu of the oath required by the State Constitution, and
adopt the act of Congress as the only mode of trial by
which persons, however disqualified by the laws of the
State, would be competent witnesses under that act.
Fancy yourself again upon the Bench, and a colored
man brought before you on a claim to his services or labor
by another. What would you think of the knowledge or
even the integrity of the Attorney who would contend
that color was prima facie evidence of slavery, and that
the right to the services of the slave by the claimant,
should be proven by such persons as he saw proper to
introduce, without any regard to the laws of your own
State, using the language of your Report, " that the power
of legislating upon this subject was conferred upon Congress," and under that legislation alone you must decide?
I know you too well to believe that for a moment, you
would entertain such a plea. You would at once decide,
that no person who was disqualified by the laws of Ohio
from being a witness should testify in such a case. Without going further into illustrations, I contend that if the
legislation of the State could control your action in one
particular, it could regulate it entirely. To me it appears
that the law of Congress on which you rely, is an
infringement of State sovereignty, and of course, unconstitutional.
Let me not be told, that the long acquiescence of the
States, under the provisions of that act, proves the error
of my opinions. It has been endured because its opera



LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              259
tion has been confined to the colored race, that abused
and down-trodden population, against whom such strong
prejudices exist. But, Sir, its provisions applied in a
single instance, to a free white person who might justly
owe service or labor in another State, the whole country,
at once, I have no doubt, would take alarm and be thrown
into a flame of commotion.
But why do I urge upon you the unconstitutionality of
this act of Congress? You admit it, in your Report.
You say-" It may well be doubted whether Congress,
under the Constitution, can confer any judicial power
upon a State officer; and should such power be attempted
to be conferred, you are of opinion that such officer might,
at his discretion, decline its exercise; and that the State
of Ohio, of which he is an officer, might by legislative
enactment, prohibit its exercise." If Congress had the
power Constitutionally to pass the act of the 12th of
February, 1793, on which your Report is based, then this
latter opinion of yours, carried into effect, would be complete nullification. If you are correct, that a State, by
legislative enactment, might prohibit the exercise of a
power conferred by Congress; but if, as the latter part of
your opinion is, that Congress has not the Constitutional
right to confer power on a State officer, then every act of
such officer by virtue of a law of Congress, is oppressive,
tyrannical and unjust, because it is the exercise of a
power without right. Yet to this condition you seem
willing to subject a person in Ohio, who has the right to
claim protection from her laws, and that too, in order to
sustain and perpetuate slavery in other States of the
Union.
As I progress with your Report, I find less to approve
and more to condemn. After having failed in proving,
or entirely given up the right of Congress to require of a
State officer the performance of an official duty by virtue




260        LIFE OF SENATOR M1ORRIS.
of the act of 1793, you say-" As Congress, however, have
deemed it expedient to vest in the judicial officers of the
State where the claim is preferred, jurisdiction in this
matter, it seems that it would be alike unwise, uncourteous, and impolitic, for the Legislature to prohibit its
exercise; unless the reason for a proceeding of this kind
was exceedingly weighty."  Thus, resolve resistance to
usurpation into a system of uncourteous policy, and you
seem willing that the rights of your fellow citizens should
be weighed, not in the balances of justice, but in the scale
of interest. This is derogatory to the spirit of liberty as
well as to the spirit of independence. This was not the
spirit of our fathers, who resisted oppression, not on the
ground of the loss of money it extorted, but solely for the
principle involved in the issue. And whenever our Government is resolved into a system of convenience, to suit
particular cases, there will be an end to all our civil
liberty, which consists only in a government of laws
emanating from the people themselves, and faithfully and
impartially administered, and by which all are equally
benefited and equally bound.
Your next position is, that under the Act of Congress,
exclusive cognizance is given of the matter to the officers
-enumerated in said Act, and that no appeal is contemplated or appellate jurisdiction conferred; and any
attempt of a State to confer this power you deem unwise
and inexpedient. Let it be remembered, that the matter
is the personal liberty of a human being, who has violated
no law of the State, nor done any act by which that
liberty has been forfeited. You can not deny but the
Constitution of the State guarantees to him the full enjoyment of that liberty, until it shall appear he is not
entitled thereto. This is not to depend on a matter of
opinion, but on matter of law; and I can not, with you,
consent that an Act of Congress shall be exclusively




LIFB OF SENATOR MORRIS.             261
permitted to seize upon the person of an individual, and in
violation of' the Constitution and law of Ohio, transport
him without the State.
You will not, I presume deny, that the very arrest of
the person of a fugitive in Ohio deemed a slave, by the
laws of a sister State, is a personal injury;-for you have
admitted, that slavery as it prevails in the Southern States,
is a great moral and political evil; if so, its infliction in
any clime, or in any country, is an injury to the person
upon whom it is inflicted. Thus, while you admit exclusive cognizance to be g'ien to this matter by the law of
Congress, you trample under foot, null'ify and abnegate,
the Constitution of your own State, which expressly
declares in the seventh Section, eighth Article "That all
Courts shall be open, and every person, for an injury done
him, in his lands, goods, person or reputation, shall have
remedy by due course of law, and justice administered
without denial or delay."
You nor no other person, I presume, will contend that
the Courts here mentioned are any other than the Courts
of the States; nor will you contend that the Judges of
our Courts, should they attempt to set in judgment, by
the authority of any law, but the law of the State, would,
for a moment be considered as falling within the description of the aforesaid section, nor can the law mentioned
mean any other than the law of the States. I ask you
then, what becomes of the Constitution of your own State,
if your exclusive cognizance is a correct principle. It is
thrown aside as a dead letter, sacrificed upon the altar of
Southern slavery, or bartered for political ease and private
gain. Establish the doctrine contained in your report, and
the debasement of your State is complete, and her pride
of independence humbled. Even the slave himself need
not envy us; his condition is involuntary, while his
mind may remain free and noble, ours would be voluntary
and a debasement of the mind itself.




262        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
As to the proceedings of Justices of the Peace and city
Magistrates in this matter, and the ability with which
they exercise the power conferred by the Act of Congress,
I am willing your opinion should go to the world for what
it is worth. Every man in that case will judge upon facts
within his own knowledge. But I confess I do not knowwhat you mean in the conclusion of your report, when
you speak of the benefits of the writ of Habeas Corpus, as
you had previously informed us "that exclusive cognizance of the matter, was by the Act of Congress given to
the officers therein numerated. If this be true, then their
decision in the matter must be final, and your pretended
benefits of the writ of Habeas Corpus is only sheer mockery.
I have thus honestly reviewed your Report, and the
false premises it has assumed, and the feebleness of the
argument by which it is attempted to be sustained, and it
has more fully convinced me of the truth of the following
propositions:
1. That the Constitution of the United States does in
no instance recognize or guarantee the existence of slavery
in any of the States.
2. That the Government of the United States has not
the power to declare what shall be the tenure of property,
or the things of which it shall consist, on the evidence of
right to its possession. That this power belongs exclusively to the States.
3. That property is and ought to be, on account of the
materiality of its nature, a mere creature of law, and
ought not to be taken into the account in the original Constitution of Government.
4. That when property is found in one State, and
claimed by a citizen of another State, that the Courts of
the State in which such property is, under the laws thereof,
are alone competent to determine the right of possession,
as well as of property, and that in this particular the
States are entirely independent of each other.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               263
5. That the claim of property in a human being is contrary to justice and the natural order of things, which is
"heaven's first law;" that it is solely permitted and
allowed in the States, not guaranteed, or even excused by
the Constitution of the United States.
6. That to seize a person, who is found within the jurisdiction of any State, and transport him beyond its limits,
without the authority or permission of said State, is a
gross violation of State sovereignty, as well as of individual right.
7. That it is the duty of the Legislature of the State of
Ohio, seeing that persons are held to service and labor in
other of the States, and may escape and be found within
this State, to provide by law, in conformity to the Constitution of the United States, the rule of decision by which
such persons may be reclaimed.
8. That the provision of the Constitution of the United
States on which you rely, is subject to the exclusive legislation of the different States.
9. That the legal, or Constitutional presumption is, that
States will faithfully perform their duty in this matter, as
they do in the election of Senators and Representatives to
Congress.
I am deeply impressed with the incongruity of the act
of Congress to which you have given so much consequence.
If a murderer, of the deepest dye, shall flee from the justice of the State where the crime was committed, and be
found in another of the States, the Executive authority of
the State from which he fled, is required to make a demand
of the Executive of the State where he is found, and produce a copy of an indictment, or an affidavit charging the
person demanded with the crime, and certified as authentic by the Governor of the State from which such person
fled, before he shall be delivered up to the demand thus
made; while a person, who is held to labor ONLY, in any
of the United States, and shall escape into any other State,




264         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
may be seized, or arrested by any person whatever, carried before a mere Justice of the Peace, and on oral testimony, true or false, or by affidavit, taken ex parte in a
foreign State, that the person so seized, or arrested does
owe labor, or service to the claimant, be consigned by the
mere dictun of such Justice to a condition worse than
death itself-to perpetual slavery; thus placing the murderer
on far mnore safe and elevated ground, than the unfortunate slave,
who is guilty of no crime, but whose condemnation is predicated
alone on the color of his skin.
When I look in the statute book of my country, and
find its pages stained with such gross injustice, and continued there for so great a length of time, and find that
injustice sustained by men of intelligence and standing, I
can not but exclaim with Jefferson, "I tremble for my
country, when I remember God is just, and that his justice
will not sleep forever."
You admit that slavery is both a moral and political
evil, and you place the existence of it, not the commencement of that evil, in the very constitution of your Government. I am not willing to join you, and thus humble our
Republican Institutions in the eyes of all mankind. But
this is not all. You have sworn to support the Constitution of the United States. Did it ever occur to your
mind, that your oath bound you to an active maintenance
of slavery in any of the States? If it is proper and right
to take an oath to support an entire instrument, I can see
no immorality in taking a like oath to support any of
its parts. Yet I will not believe, for a moment, that you
would, under any circumstances, take an oath to support
the existence of the system of slavery, which you pronounce to be a moral and a political evil. We may submit
with patience to the evils of government, but to swear to
give to those evils an active support, is a requirement
which the honesty of the human heart will not submit to,
for any place or power the Government can bestow.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             265
It is a strange thought indeed, that the framers of the
Constitution of the United States should, by that Instrument, intend to rivet anew the chains of slavery, and
guarantee its perpetual existence in all time to come;
when the Congress of the United States, by the Ordinance of July, 1787, immediately preceding the date of the
Constitution, and while the Convention that framed it
were actually in session, gave the death-blow to slavery
in the North-Western Territory; it being the first portion
of Territory over which the United States had the right
of jurisdiction, by providing, in a fundamental article for
the government of the country, "that there should be
neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said
Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crime,
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." This
solemn rebuke of slavery was given by the Fathers of the
Revolution, the first moment they had the power to act
on the subject. The debt of gratitude the people of this
portion of the United States owe to the authors and supporters of this Ordinance, can never be paid, nor too often
acknowledged.
Yet you would have us believe that the wise and good
men of that age who formed the Constitution of the
jUnited States, possessing the same feelings and having
the same interests as those who framed the Ordinance of
the same year, intended to perpetuate slavery as a Constitutional right. It is drawing too largely on the credulity of your fellow citizens, to expect their credence to
such a proposition as this. Permit me to ask you, do you
expect and believe that slavery as it exists in the United
States, is to be perpetuated and concurred ir., in all time
to come?
Look upon the millions whose rights it has trodden
down, and who groan beneath the incalculable load of
human suffering it inflicts, and then turn your face to the
justice of Heaven, and answer the question.
2o




266        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
We have petitioned for some faint alleviation for the
evils of slavery. Though at present overthrown, we are
not disheartened. Another year will again call your
attention to this important subject; and it is hoped that
then we may all meet it with greater consideration and a
deeper sense of the high obligations it imposes; and that
in the pursuit of the object to be attained we will neither
do nor suffer wrong, and that the moral power of public
opinion will be sufficient to accomplish this work.
Under that belief, we confidently commit the issue to
that Being in whose hands are the hearts of our rulers,
and " as the rivers of waters, He turneth them whithersoever He will."
New Richmond, March 30th. 1837.




LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.                    267
CHAPTER XX.
MoBs - Alton Riots - Death of Lovejoy - Mob in Cincinnati, in 1836Public Meeting - Birney's Press Destroyed —Warned to leave the
City -- Gazette Threatened - Speech of the Mayor to the mob at midnight - Public sympathy with the mob - Contrast in Public Opinion,
Mr. Morris invited to Dayton by the Mayor and others, in 1839- His
Answer - Visited Dayton in 1842 - Mob Violence - His Letter to the
Mayor after the mob - Remarks on Mobs - Mob at Lexington, Kentucky, against Cassius M. Clay- His heroism-Mob spirit at Cleves, O.
Church closed - Prayer in the public road by Samuel Lewis - Infidel
converted - Lane Seminary - Trustees forbid the Students to organize
an Anti-Slavery Society - Dr. Beecher's Speech to the Students-Anti
Slavery influence of the Beecher Family —Attack on Senator Sumner -Condemned by the North — Approved by the South —Mobs
overruled for the extension of Anti-Slavery Sentiments.
REASON and truth are the only legitimate weapons of
discussion, the true tribunal before which error is defeated
and truth vindicated and established. There is no logic
nor light in the use of physical force, or violence; and a
resort to them, is a perfidious war on intellect, on right,
on every divine prerogative of man's nature. It is the
utter annihilation of intellectual manhood, and subversive of the method, which Heaven has ordained for the
development and triumph of all truth, and the exposition
and overthrow of all error and wrong, and alike destructive  to social order and civil Government.   Free and
thorough  investigation, is the  right and privilege of
all men; and all things are subjected to this searching
ordeal. No system is exempted from this universal law,
either by the inhibition of the Creator, or in the nature
and necessity of things.  " Whatsoever is of the truth cometh
to the light," and desires investigation.




268         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
The system of slavery, alone, in this free Republic, and
in this age of intellectual activity and analysis, demands
exemption from the ordeal of thorough discussion. Fearful of the power of truth, it has sought to prevent discussion of its nature, and all its workings, by lawless violence,
by the logic of physical force. Almost all the friee States,
have been dishonored, by the efforts of mobs to silence the
voice of freedom, and of a free press, on the subject of
slavery. Commercial motives -fears of losing the trade
of the South, if the North agitated the slavery question,
have been the origin of most of the mobs, that have
taken place in the Northern States. Life and property
have been sacrificed to the ferocity of mobocratic violence.
Alton, Illinois, witnessed the first blood shed in defense
of the rights of freedom. Here, in the press and life of
Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, was a ruthless mob, triumphant
in the destruction of the inalienable and Constitutional
rights of American citizens. tHe was " nursed in storm
and trial," and for months nobly contended against a
mob, headed by leading citizens, and countenanced by the
Municipal authorities of Alton, in the midst of men who
thirsted for his blood, and with a courage that was invincible and morally sublime, he waged a warfare against
the unholy crusade, that the mob was making on life, and
the liberties of the press. Three different times was his
press destroyed. Public meetings were called urging him
to desist. But he declined, nobly declaring, " I insist on
protection in the exercise of my rights.  If the civil
authorities refuse to protect me, I must look to God; and
if I die, I have determined to make my grave in Alton."
There, as a martyr to American freedom, he did die. On
the night of the 7th of November, 1837, while defending
with a few friends, a free Press from the mob, he was
murdered. As the blood of the Christian martyrs, was
the seed of the Church, so the blood of the martyred
Lovejoy, was the seed of freedom.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               269
Cincinnati, in the summer of 1836, witnessed an extraordinary mob. James G. Birney, of Kentucky, convinced
of the sinfulness of slavery, became a practical emancipator, by giving the boon of freedom to all his slaves.
To aid in the work of general emancipation, through the
medium of the press, he attempted to establish a free
press in Kentucky. This was denied him, by the slave
power of his own State. He came to the free State of
Ohio, and under her Constitution, which declared the
right "indisputable," of speaking, writing, or printing on
any subject, he established in 1836, in Cincinnati, the
Philanthropist.
Here also, in the Queen-City-of-the-West -a city which
owes all her commercial prosperity and wealth to freedom
and free institutions -Mr. Birney met with a strong and
unexpected opposition. The city was moved with excitement. The press of the city teemed with inflammatory
articles against Anti-Slavery men, and their efforts to
publish an Anti-Slavery paper in Cincinnati, declaring
that "the citizens of Cincinnati - embracing every class
interested in the prosperity of the city, satisfied that the
business of the place is receiving a fatal stab from the
wicked and misguided operations of the Abolitionists -
are resolved to arrest their course." Citizens of the highest
respectability and influence, of great wealth and intelligence, "came to the determination, that the Abolition
paper should be put down, peaceably if it could, forcibly if it
must.''"
On Saturday, 23d of July, 1836, more than one thousand
citizens of Cincinnati assembled in the Lower-Market
House, and there resolved -" That nothing short of the
absolute discontinuance of the Abolition paper in the city,
can prevent a resort to violence."
A Committee of the most distinguished citizens was
appointed to wait on Mr. Birney and his associates,
requesting them  "by every motive of patriotism  and




270        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
philanthropy, to desist from the publication of their paper,
and to warn them of the consequences, if they did not."
The Chairman of the Committee expressed it as his
opinion, that if the Philanthropist was not discontinued,
a mob of unusual numbers and respectability would
destroy it; that it would consist of four or five thousand
persons; and that two-thirds of the property-holders of the
city would join it. It would destroy any one who should
set himself in opposition to it."
Mr. Birney and his associates declined to surrender the
freedom of the press. In their answer to the Committee
they say:
" It would be a submission to the South, that slavery
should never more be mentioned among us; it is an
attempt at dictation as insolent and high-handed on the
part of the South, as tame submission to it would be base
and unmanly on ours.  The demand is virtually the
demand of slaveholders, who having broken all the safeguards of liberty in their own States, in order that
slavery may be perpetuated, are now for the fuller attainment of the same object, making the demand of us to
follow their example. The attempt is now first made in
our case, formally and deliberately to put down the freedom of speech and of the press; and there is not a freeman in the State whose rights are not invaded in any
assault that may be made on us, for refusing to succumb
to an imperious demand to surrender our rights."
" Such an attempt to trample under foot the liberties
of the people - so deliberate, so carefully matured and
backed by such an amount of moral, intellectual, and
pecuniary power-has rarely been made in this country."
The deed was consummated. Saturday night, July 30th,
1836, to adopt measures to silence the voice of a free press,
the mob met on the corner of Main and Seventh streets;
and formally and deliberately entered upon their work of
destruction. The office was plundered, and the press was




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             271
taken out and thrown into the river, and IMr. Birney
warned to leave the city in twenty-four hours. The Cincinnati Gazette, the oldest paper in the city, then edited
by the veteran Charles tIammond, which had discountenanced the proceedings against the freedom of the press,
and rebuked the spirit of pro-slavery so rife in the city,
was visited by the mob and threatened with destruction.
The private residences of several anti-slavery men were
also visited by the mob; but no violence was done.
The Mayor of the city, at the hour of midnight
addressed the mob in the following speech:
"GENTLEMEN-It is now late at night, and time we
were all in bed —by continuing longer, you will disturb
the citizens, or deprive them of their rest, besides robbing
yourselves of rest. No doubt it is your intention to punish the guilty and leave the innocent. But if you continue
longer, you are in danger of punishing the innocent with
the guilty. We have done enough for one night. [Three
cheers for the Mayor]. The Abolitionists themselves,
must be convinced by this time, what public sentiment
is, and that it will not do any longer to disregard or
set it at nought. [Three cheers again]. As you can not
punish the guilty, without endangering the innocent, I
advise you all to go home."
This was the first deliberate effort to suppress the
freedom of the press in Ohio, and, though encouraged by
such powerful influences, it signally failed. The Philanthropist was issued several years afterward, under the
proprietorship of Dr. Bailey, and, instead of a weekly it
became a daily Anti-slavery publication, under the title
of the Cincinnati Morning Herald.
Public sentiment in the city and in Ohio, has now so
thoroughly changed on the subject of slavery, that it
would rally, with an overwhelming power, against any
effort to put down the freedom of the press. Truth and
light a're omnipotent in disarming error and prejudice,




272        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
and are destined to inaugurate and establish the universal
reign of freedom and justice.
Mr. Morris did not escape the honor of being mobbed,
for his devotion to the cause of human liberty. In May,
1839, he was invited by the Mayor, and fifty other
citizens of Dayton, to visit that city and deliver an address
on the important questions connected with slavery. The
letter of invitation, and his answer are here inserted.
DAYTON, May 6, 1839.
HON. THO.MAS MORRIs —Respected Sir: The undersigned
citizens of Dayton, attached to both political parties,
admiring the honest and independent course pursued by
you, while a member of the United States Senate, in
firmly maintaining the honor and dignity of the State
against Southern aggression and Northern servility, and
in refusing to barter principle for office, solicit you to
appoint a time, when it will be convenient for you to
visit us and address the citizens of this place, relative to
some of those important questions, which, for several
years, have been agitated in Congress, in which, in common with the undersigned, you feel a deep and absorbing
interest. When your determination shall be made known
to us, due notice of the time and place of the meeting
shall be given.
ANSWER OF MR. MORRIS.
CINCINNATI, May 10th, 1839.
DEAR SIR: I received this day the invitation from yourself and other gentlemen of Dayton, of the 6th instant, to
visit you, and address the citizens of your town, on the
deep and interesting question of American slavery; that
system that claims to be superior to Constitutions, laws,
and rights of the country. It is the fountain and spring,
as you justly remark, of " Southern aggression, and Northern servility."  I rejoice to find the people everywhere




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             273
examining the unjust and unreasonable demands of
the slave power in our country; that power that is
making war upon all political parties and conditions of
men who do not render it the homage it demands. It is
therefore the duty of all parties to unite to resist its
claims. It is, not only the common enemy of our country,
but it is the common enemy of mankind.
It claims to rule, or divide and ruin the nation. We
must check its onward progress, or it will soon be established in principle, if not in fact, in every State in our
Confederacy. My best efforts, feeble as they may be, are
at the service of my fellow-citizens, in aiding them in their
efforts against the monstrous demands of the slave-holding
power. I will shortly inform you when I can visit Dayton, which I shall do with great pleasure.
I am, with respect, yours,
THOMAS MORRIS.
Mr. Morris did not visit Dayton till January, 1841. It
was on his return from attending an Anti-Slavery Convention at Columbus, that he, at the request of a number
of citizens, attempted to address them on the subject of
slavery. He was prevented by a mob. On his return
home he addressed the following communication
TO THE MAYOR OF DAYTON.
SIR: Though I address you in your official capacity, yet
it is not intended that your character as a gentleman and
a citizen is to be overlooked. As the Chief Magistrate of
Dayton you are highly responsible for the peace and quiet
of the town, not only to the inhabitants thereof, but to
the country at large. As an individual, you, in common
with your fellow-citizens, have a common duty to perform
in the establishment of the power of the laws of the State
over the reckless passions of wicked and misguided men.
In addressing you, however, I do not intend that you




274        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
alone shall be the recipient. 1 wish to be heard and
understood by the citizens of Dayton, of the State, and
country at large.
You, with many other citizens of Dayton, will recollect,
that in May, 1839, I received an invitation, signed by
yourself, together with a highly respectable number of the
inhabitants of Dayton, to visit you and address the citizens. In my answer, it will be seen what I understood
you to mean by " Southern aggression, and Northern servility." It was American slavery, to which your letter
evidently alluded, that produced this " aggression," and
" servility," and on that subject I wished to apprize you,
specifically, I intended to speak. I do not remember that
I afterward informed you, by letter, when I could visit
you; but soon after that time I met and conversed with
some gentlemen from Dayton, at Xenia, on this subject,
and a desire was still expressed, that I should visit Dayton; but the numerous calls made upon me for a like
purpose, probably prevented me. It was not under a
belief that mobocracy ruled in Dayton.
On my return from the Anti-Slavery Convention in
Columbus, I passed through Dayton, and my friends who
were with me, and some gentlemen, residents of Dayton,
agreed to call a meeting of the citizens, and requested that
I should address them, on the results of American slavery
upon the morals, as well as the political and financial concerns of the country. I agreed to do so. Some gentleman, whom I know not, caused to be printed and circulated, the following
NOTICE.
Thomas Morris, formerly United States Senator, will
deliver an address, this evening, at the Court House.
January 23d, 1841.
At early evening I repaired to the Court House, not
dreaming of any disturbance or violence. I could not




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             275
suppose that, after what had transpired at the mobs in
Cincinnati, and in Alton, and the outpouring of public
indignation upon the actors in those scenes, another place
could be found in America, much less in Ohio, in which
the rude hand of mobocratic violence could overawe the
majesty of the law, and trample under its unhallowed feet
the lives, liberties, and rights of any portion of the people.
But I was, alas! too soon convinced of my error. Soon
after my entrance I heard threats of personal violence
toward myself. Some said, that if I was in the house I
should never leave it alive; and others, that they must
wait till I commenced, and then we will give it to him.
I remarked to a friend, that the mob was ruling, and
we might as well retire. We did so, unknown, amid
their yells and threats. After walking a square, I returned
and went into the house, and found them censuring each
other for not waiting until I had attempted to speak, then
they would have had me in their power. After they found
they had missed their prey, I noticed they went into one
of those " Ohio Hells," called groceries, where wretchedness, debauchery, and crime of every grade, are sold by
measure, and swallowed with greediness. I left Dayton
the following day, and, though informed that I was waylaid to be mobbed, escaped personal violence.
The house of the gentleman, Dr. Jewett, whose hospitality I enjoyed, was assaulted during the night, with
rotten eggs, and a carriage destroyed. Great and enormous acts of wickedness, have their comcomitants and
results. Such attended the mob scene at Dayton. On
the Monday evening after my departure, the monthly
concert of prayer for the slave, which a few pious persons
in Dayton, believed it their duty to hold, was observed in
Dr. Jewett's office. The presence of yourself, and other
officers prevented the operations of the mob, until the
close of the meeting, when the office was attacked, and its
contents destroyed. Thus has a religious meeting in




276        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
Dayton been set upon by a mob, devoted to the cause of
slave-holding in our country, and attempt made to set up
that institution above religion, law, and the lives of their
fellow men. Such acts as these, if permitted to pass,
without condign punishment, will soon destroy the institutions of our country, banish peace and quiet from among
us, and compel our citizens to arm in defense of their
lives and property. Had I been known to the mob, in
the Court House, there can be no doubt, but I would
have been instantly murdered, and my blood shed in
the Temple of Justice and law, in the town of Dayton.
My life was spared, by nothing short of a special interposition of Providence.
I now protest to you and the country, that I had given
to the citizens of Dayton no just cause of offense. I was
there as an American citizen, and was vested by the Constitution and laws of the country with all those rights,
which a portion of my fellow citizens wished me to exercise. I proposed to discuss the subject of American
slavery — its evils and aggressions. Have I not, as an
American citizen, a right to canvass the demands of this
giant system of wrong? What does slavery in fact
demand? It demands the overthrow of the religion, the
liberties, the morals, the Constitution and laws of the
country. It would immolate all the interests of the
country upon its bloody altar, except they would bow to
its supremacy and obey its behests. Against this foe of
God and man we have urged a perpetual and interminable
war, and we will teach our children, even at the age of
nine years, to lay their hands upon the altar of their
country's liberty, and swear eternal enmity and opposition to slavery.
The mind is lost in perfect amazement, that in this
Christian land, in this free country which has written
Constitutions and laws for its Government, that mobs
should be found who endeavor to destroy the freedom of




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              277
the press, and the liberty of speech. Why should this
effort be made in Dayton? Is it because there are slaveholders residing in Dayton, or that more whisky is made in
its vicinity than any other portion of the State. May slaveholding and intemperance, the two greatest curses which
the world ever saw, be speedily abolished in our country.
We believe they are well calculated to bring into action the
worst passions of the human heart, and that they have
been the moving cause of the mobs and riots which have
so often disgraced our State.
These mobs, said Mr. Morris, in a memorial to the
Legislature, almost constantly employed their efforts
against peaceable citizens, often ending in the destruction
of life as well as of property; and that for no other cause
than that such citizens were opposed to slavery, and in
favor of the repeal of the Black Code of the State. Indeed
to such extent, and under such influence, have these outrages been carried on, that safety and protection in the
exercise of our clearest Constitutional rights, the liberty
of speech and the press, is rendered very problematical,
even in our courts of justice.
We claim for all our people, from our public functionaries of the State, protection in the exercise of their rights,
and we ask this from our present Legislature. We feel
justified in urging this subject upon the special attention
of the General Assembly, because we have heard it often
suggested, that although the violent proceedings of mobs
were by no means justifiable, yet that the doctrines and
proceedings of Abolitionists were less so. We will not
descend to libel the good sense of the country, in answering such suggestions. We approach the Legislature,
however, in the entire confidence of the truth of the
declarations, that mob violence in our State has become
dangerous to the peace and safety of the community, and
ought to be suppressed by penal enactments. If there be
an existing cause in the country that produces such




278         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
violence, and if such cause be more dangerous than the
violence itself, suppress that cause; if the doctrines and
doings of the Abolitionists be a violation of moral principle, or unconstitutional or dangerous to the public peace
and safety of the country, punish the propagators and
actors by law; if the freedom of speech and the press,
which we claim as our Constitutional right, be also dangerous, punish us for its exercise; or let the Constitution
be amended, and this right taken away, if it gives to us a
dangerous license. It is the right of every man to be
saved from violence; and punished, either in his goods or
person, only by the known and established laws of the
land, if guilty of any offences. To the laws of the land
we owe submission, but not always voluntary obedience.
Cassius M. Clay, a native of Kentucky, with a number
of slaveholders and others, established in the city of Lexington, in June, 1845, THE TRUE AMiERICAN, a paper
devoted to "gradual and Constitutional emancipation,
and to uphold the Christian morality in ethics, and Constitutional Republicanism in politics." This effort for
free discussion met with a powerful resistance from the
citizens of Lexington, who through the public press,
declared —" That the subject of slavery shall not be discussed, and that violence shall suppress the paper." A
Committee, approved by a public meeting, was appointed
to confer with Mr. Clay, and urge him to suppress the
True American.
Mr. Clay met the crisis with heroic courage and
chivalry, declaringto the Committee, that —' Your meeting
Ia one unknown to the laws and Constitution of my country; its purposes, its spirit, and its action, like its mode
of existence, are in direct violation of every known principle of honor, religion, or government, held sacred by
the civilized world. I treat them with the burning contempt of a brave heart and a loyal citizen." Mr. Clay
prepared to meet the mob, and determined to die in




LIFE OF SENATOR  MORRIS.             279
defense of his birthright, the fieedom of the press, and
the liberty of speech. He made his will. All his relations believed he would be murdered; and "all but my
wife and mother advised me to yield up the liberty of the
press; but I preferred to die."
The True American was immolated at the shrine of
slavery. On the 18th of August, 1845, a Committee of
sixty, from a public meeting of twelve hundred, deliberately proceeded to the work of silencing the only press
which, in a slave State, gave utterance to the inspirations
and thoughts of liberty. The office was dismantled, the
press and type boxed up, and sent to Cincinnati. Thus
did slavery triumph over freedom and Constitutional
right; and in the person and property of this noble
champion of liberty, gave a new illustration of the purpose of the slave power to extinguish every light that
revealed and exposed the system of slavery.
Mr. Clay is now honored, by the voice of a free nation,
as one of the able and intrepid champions of freedom. In
the great contest between liberty and slavery, he has been,
and now is, active, earnest, and eloquent. Wherever he
goes, listening thousands hang on his fervid and inspiring
words of freedom. He is a practical emancipator, showing
his faith by his works; and in every battle-field of freedom
he has fought heroically, and won honorable renown.
This intolerance to anti-slavery sentiments, reached
and controlled Christian churches.  Notices for antislavery meetings were refused to be read fiom the pulpit,
and churches closed against all meetings to deliberate on,
and pray for the overthrow of American slavery. The
Trustees of Lane Seminary, in 1834, prohibited the formation of an anti-slavery society, and declared that all
discussion on the subject was improper. This action, so
contrary to the genius of Christianity and of free institutions, compelled the students to leave the Institution,
and go where free discussion was tolerated. The Institu



280         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
tion itself was threatened with an attack from a mob, if
there was not a suppression of the Anti-Slavery Society.
The venerable President of the Institution, Dr. Lyman
Beecher, whose family have, by their genius and writings,
given to the anti-slavery sentiment of the nation and the
world, an extraordinary extension and power, said to the
students — " Boys, you are right in your views, but most
inmpracticable in your measures.  MIining and quiet strategy
are ordinarily better, as well as safer methods of taking a city,
than to do it by storm. It is not always wise to take a bull by
the horns.  You acre right; but in your way, you can't succeed.
If you should succeed, I will be with you, and swing my hat
and shout, huzza!!"  Leading Literary Magazines, and
newspapers of Cincinnati, combined to disband this
Anti-Slavery Society of Lane Seminary, declaring it
"discreditable to the Institution, and calculated to inflict
a deep wound on the great interests of education; and
the indignation of the public will put it down."
Cleves, in Hamilton county, Ohio; was the scene of
violent resistance to free discussion. In the Spring of
1843, the Pastor of the Presbyterian church, Rev. Mr.
Scofield, and a majority of his flock, called a meeting for
free discussion on slavery.  Samual Lewis, Jonathan
Blanchard, now President of the Galesburg College, Illinois, and Thomas Morris, whose manly voice for freedom,
integrity of principles, and firmness of character, have
enrolled his name among the early champions of free
speech and free soil, were the speakers.
A mob was organized and a riot threateped. A number
of Students from Lane Seminary, went down with the
speakers. Landing at North Bend, they passed the mansion and tomb of the lamented General Harrison, on their
way to the church. The doors of the meeting house were
barred against the friends of freedom. Prominent and
influential men were with the rabble, that prevented the
Convention from occupying the meeting house. The




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             281
Convention, thus forbid to enter the house, occupied the
road in front.  Rev. S. Lewis, an able and faithful
laborer in the cause of freedom, recently gone to an
honored grave, kneeled on the ground and offered a most
solemn and impressive prayer. For a moment the rioters
were palsied in their nefarious operation. One of them
often said, " that prayer I shall never forget." An infidel was converted, and " the wrath of man was thus made
to praise God," and advance the cause of freedom.
At the invitation of Richard Hughs, a ruling elder
in the Presbyterian church of Berea, a mile distant from
Cleves, the Convention met at that church and held its
sessions two days. The impression of that Convention,
abides to this day; fires were kindled that are burning
brighter and brighter.
The Cleves rioters, not satisfied with driving the
Convention from the village, smashed the windows of the
meeting house, mobbed the house of the pastor, threw his
buggy into the canal, and shaved the tail of his horse.
The perpetrators of these deeds of darkness, chose the
covert hour of night for their mob performances; they
were of the baser sort in the community, but were instigated and backed by quite a number "of those of reputation." These mob scenes, created an era in the history
of that region and will be long remembered.
Mob violence also transpired in the Temple of National
Legislation, on the floor of the Senate of the United
States, where Thomas Morris had stood, twenty years
before, to defend the Constitutional liberty and the rights
of his countrymen.
Charles Sumner, a finished scholar, a brilliant orator,
a ripe Christian Stateman, and a Senator from Massachusetts, had devoted his genius and powers to the cause of
human Liberty.
In M[ay, 1856, in the Senate Chamber, he made a
masterly and logical speech against the slave power, for its
24




282        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
infliction of grievous and multiplied wrongs, on the free
people of Kansas Territory. This truthful expose of
wrong, and manly vindication of right, created great
excitement in both Houses of Congress, and slavery must
have revenge.
Preston S. Brooks, a member of the tHouse, from South
Carolina, was the selected champion of the South, and of
the club law. While Mr. Sumner, was seated at his desk
in the Senate engaged in writing, Brooks covertly went
up to him, and, with a heavy cane, smote Senator Sumner
to the floor, his blood staining the Temple of' Legislation,
and crying from that spot for vindication from an insulted
and an indignant Nation. Mr. Sumner was dangerously
wounded, and carried insensible from the Senate.
This nefarious and deliberate plot, to strike down free
discussion in the person of the noble Senator from Massachusetts, electrified the country with a profound and
startling sensation. The North, inspired with a general
and generous impulse, in a multitude of meetings, where
thousands met, denounced the great crime, and demanded
the expulsion of Brooks. The South, with even more
unanimity, approved the deed as chivalrous and right,
and thus made the act of Brooks the symbol of their own
faith, purpose, and practice.
A Committee of the House, of which Lewis D. Campbell,
of Ohio, an able and faithful defender of freedom, in Congress, was Chairman, was appointed, who brought in a
resolution of expulsion against Brooks, and which, after
a lengthy debate, was adopted by a majority vote of one
hundred and twenty-one against ninety-five. Brooks,
however, was not expelled, it requiring a vote of twothirds of the members present. The moral power of the
vote compelled him to resign his seat, and appeal to his
constituents. He was unanimously re-elected; thus proclaiming to the world that his violent purpose, and act,
were approved and applauded by the South. This resort




LIFE OF SENATOR  MORRIS.                  283
to mob-law in the Halls of the National Legislature, is
painful evidence of the violent spirit of the slave power,
and of its determination to rule or ruin.
These outrages on the rights of American citizens, and
in the destruction of the freedom of the press, and of
speech, were overruled for the diffusion of light, the
extension of anti-slavery sentiments, and the re-awakening of public opinion against the designs of the slave
power. Every effort made to suppress discussion, either
in the halls of legislation, or by the violence of mobs,
gave an intenser glow to the unconquerable spirit of freedom, and multiplied, by tens of thousands, the friends
and advocates of human liberty, ready to resist the aggressions of the slave power. This fact is evidence of a Providential government over the affairs of men, overruling
evil for good, and is prophetic of progress and final victory.
The voice of millions, now in the battle-field of freedom,
responds to the noble words of Whittier, the Poet of Freedom and Truth,
Think ye, one heart of man or child
Will falter from its lofty faith,
At the Mob's tumult, fierce and wildThe prison cell-the shameful death?
No! nursed in storm and trial long,
The weakest of our band is strong!
We can not falter! Did we so
The stones beneath would murmur out,
And all the winds that round us blow
Would whisper of our shame about.
No! let the tempest rock the land,
Our faith shall live-our truth shall stand.
We bate no breath-we curb no thought;
Come what may come, WE FALTER NOT!




284         LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
CHAPTER XXI.
ANTI-SLAVERY Publications - Mails Examined - Post Office in Charleston
Mobbed - President Jackson's Recommendation - Incendiary BillSpeech of Mr. Morris.
THE slave power, in 1836, made a strong effort to exercise a censorship over the public press of the country. The
Post Office, the common property of the people, was used as
a medium for the transmission of Anti-slavery publications,
to some of the citizens of the South. The exercise of this
Constitutional privilege, awakened great indignation, and
efforts were immediately made, to arrest it. The Northern
Mails when they arrived in Charleston, South Carolina,
were guarded as the passed through the city to the Post
Office, and, after undergoing a thorough search, all Antislavery publications were taken out of the mails, and consllmed in a bonfire, in the streets, in the midst of a general
rejoicing of the citizens. Similar acts were commited in
other portions of the South.
President Jackson, at the opening of Congress, in 1836,
recommended in his Annual Message, " the passage a law,
that will prohibit, under severe penalties, the circulation
in the Southern States through the Mail, of incendiary
publications, intended to instigate the slaves to insurrection."  SMr. Calhoun reported  to the Senate a Bill,
prohibiting Postmasters from delivering,'" any pamphlet,
newspaper, handbill, or other printed paper, or pictorial
representation touching the subject of slavery, in any
State, in which their circulation is prohibited by
law."




LIFE OF' SENATOR MORRIS.            285
Against this Bill, Mir. Morris, on the 14th of April, 1836,
made the following
SPEECH.
Mir. P RESIDENT: I am opposed to the Bill; it contemplates the exercise of new power or powers, in a new
form, over the Post Office and mails of the United
States; and if the power contemplated be not unconstitutional, it is, to my mind, a most dangerous abuse. " Congress shall have power to establish post offices, and post
roads." Those words, as used in the Constitution, have
an evident reference to an existing state of things, and the
use for which post offices and post roads was intended -
for the purpose of a free intercommunication of thoughts
and opinions between the citizens of different parts of the
country; and was deemed of so much importance, that
the power to provide for its safety was vested in Congress; and the words " to establish " were used to denote,
that Congress had the power to fix, unalterably and
immovably, beyond the interference of any State power,
the entire operations of the Post Office, and the traveling
of the mail throughout every part of our extended Republic. The Post Office establishment was not intended as
an attribute of the power of Government, but as a means
by which that power should be exercised for the benefit
of the citizens individually, by providing a channel of free
and full communication between them, though residing in
different sections of the country; and that their letters,
papers, or pamphlets, should pass without any hindrance
or molestation from State authority. This principle has
never been considered as a proper charge on the revenue
of the country, but Congress have provided that it shall
be supported and paid for by those who use it; Congress
being vested with its management, and guaranteeing its
safety and fidelity. The use of the mail, then, is in the
nature of a reserved right, with which no law ought to




286        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
interfere. It is not, then a Government machine exclusively, which Congress can withdraw at pleasure, or
render nugatory by the acts of its officers; but Congress have the power to regulate the expenses of the
Department and fix its income, so that the Government shall at no time be subject to, or chargeable
with, any expense of the establishment; and the postage has, from time to time, been regulated accordingly.
It is true that the mail is a great convenience, and
probably a necessary appendage to the Government; but
I consider this not to be the first and most important
object; it is second to the safety of intercommunication
between the citizens of this extensive Republic. Though
this was the primary object, yet Congress has, in the regulation of the mail, levied a tax on those who make use of
this privilege to the full extent of all the purposes of
Government, by the exercise of the franking privilege. I
somewhat question the correctness of this franking power,
while the Government contributes nothing toward the
support of the Post Office establishment, because it is in
the nature of a direct tax in the rates of postage, which is
levied upon those only who use the mail, while all such
taxes ought to be apportioned among the States according to their respective numbers. But, Sir, it is not necessary for the purpose I have in view, to examine this point.
That Congress have power to regulate the mail, and
prescribe what shall be carried therein, I do not deny;
but I insist that this power is confined to the material,
not the moral matter to be conveyed. Congress can
prescribe the weight, the bulk, and the kind of material
which shall not be conveyed by mail, but the material
must be judged by its outward appearance alone, and not
by breaking any envelope or seal for the purpose of
ascertaining this fact; for instance, no postmaster would
be bound to put into the mail a piece of sheet iron or tin




LIFE OP SENATOR MORRIS.              287
of the shape and size of a common letter, even on the
payment of postage according to established rates; and
why not? because it is the usual means of conveying
mental property only, and because its very texture would
tend to the destruction of papers and documents which
the mail was designed to convey, and which is its legitimate business; but if even an article of the above kind
was carefully folded in the usual paper envelopes, sealed,
directed, and put into the Post Office, it would be a
dangerous exercise of power indeed, to permit a deputy
postmaster to refuse its conveyance in the mail, because he
should judge it contained improper matter. But, Sir, I
would say to the Senator from Connecticut, that his amendment affords no redeeming quality to the dangerous principles of this Bill, by confining its operation to postmasters
in the slaveholding States.
Can we, can Congress, take from any citizen in
such State any personal right or privilege, or regulate
under any circumstances the manner of this engagement? I should think not. Suppose a letter, package,
or even a pictorial representation, folded and directed
in the usual manner, and put into any Post Office
in the United States: I would ask the gentleman whose
property that letter or pamphlet is? Does it remain the
property of him who deposited it? I think not. And
though postmasters might as a mere act of courtesy, permit
the depositor to take it back from the mail, yet he would
not be bound to do so, because it is his sworn duty to forward all packages, which, in their common outward appearance, are such as are commonly sent by the mail. Is a
letter or package, when left in a Post Office, the property
of the United States or Post Office Department? Surely
not; no one will contend for this. It is then the property of
the person to whom it is directed, and the United States
have given a solemn Constitutional pledge that they will
convey it to him, without permitting its contents to be




288        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
inspected or suffering it in any degree or manner to be
detained or injured, beyond what must-necessarily take
place in its passage.
Sir, what would be thought of the honor, or even honesty of an individual, who would receive a letter or printed
document, under a general or special promise that he
would deliver it safely to the person to whom it was
directed, and should afterward retain or destroy it,
because he should be of opinion it contained offensive
matter? Every honorable mind can furnish a ready
answer. And what, Sir, shall be thought of the honor of
this Government, which, after having declared that " The
right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses,
PAPERS, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizures, should not be violated," and that no State shall
pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts; who,
after having received into its possession, for the purpose
of carriage and safe delivery, the PAPERS and property of
one of its citizens (for printed publications and letters are
property, as well as papers), suffer this property to be
seized and detained, by the most unreasonable of all
means, that of the belief of a postmaster that it contained
something touching the subject of slavery? or permit the
States, by any law or regulation therein, to violate, or
rather impair the obligation of the contract on the part of
the United States for the delivery, as well as that existing between the person who sent, and him who has paid
for the publication or document, and for its transportation?
Sir, the very thought that this Government is, or ever
will be, disposed to listen to a regulation of this kind,
must, in my humble judgment, meet with the most
decided disapprobation of the great majority of the
American people. We, Sir, frequently lose sight of our
argument, by attempting to extend it too much into generalities: the mind, by attempting to embrace too many
ideas, is apt to become confused. I will, then, make a




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             289
single case for an illustration of the subject; and I will take
one as strong as the honorable Senator firom South Carolina
could desire. Suppose I and a citizen of the gentleman's
own State should see proper to subscribe and pay for a
New York Abolition paper, or the proceedings of an Abolition society. These tracts, by the laws of New York,
are legitimate property, and he would violate no law,
either human or Divine, in making such purchase. The
United States has an establishment, the Post Office, by
which the Government has given a general notice that all
property of this kind shall be conveyed for a given price;
he pays that price, and his property, thus purchased, is
sent to the Post Office in New York for that purpose; and,
according to the gentleman's theory, this property is to
be seized by an officer of this Government, without warrant, detained on mere suspicion, or with a knowledge of
its contents, I care not which, and without the knowledge
of the person to whom it belongs, and finally destroyed;
and that, too, in the very face of these sacred pledges,
given in the Constitution for the inviolability of its contracts, and the security of papers thus sent. I should
tremble for the liberties of my country, could I suppose
for a moment that Congress would adopt a principle of
this kind; the very suggestion, coming from the quarter
it does, is sufficient to give alarm.
But, Sir, permit me to turn the tables on the gentleman.
ile, too, has had within his State a proceeding which
caused much excitement, both within and without the
State; I mean the attempt to nullify acts of Congress on
the subject of the tariff. I assure the gentleman I do not
mention this with any unkind feelings whatever. If, in
that excitement, societies had been formed, and publications made in the State, for instance, in which I reside, in
aid of the doctrine contended for by the gentleman and
his friends in South Carolina; I ask the gentleman what
he would have thought and said, if an act of Congress had
25




290        LIFE OF SEN-ATOR MORRIS.
been passed to prevent the proceedings of those societies,
and such publications in newspapers, from being sent by
the mail to any citizen of South Carolina? Sir, I have no
doubt he would have condemned the Government in the
most strong and emphatic manner, for the bare attempt
thus to embargo public opinion; but we are now called on
in the most impressive manner to sustain a like measure,
by the provisions of the bill now before us; a bill new in
its character, unthought of by any former Congress, and
in my opinion, well calculated to produce more excess and
wide spread discontent throughout the country, than any
measure that has been submitted to the consideration of
this body, since the existence of the Government. And
pray upon what ground is this extraordinary call made
upon our judgment, addressed to our feelings, and I had
almost said, in despite of our patience? It is upon the
ground that the General Government is bound to respect
the laws of the States, to aid in their execution, and to
permit its own officers, in the discharge of their duties, as
required by acts of Congress, to be subject to the control
of State laws, and liable to punishment for the performance of those very duties. And it is further insisted, that
slavery is a domestic or State regulation; and that the
property of the master in his slave is guaranteed by the
Constitution of the United States; and that it is the duty
of Congress to provide by law, in obedience to the wishes
of the slaveholding States, or any one of them, that no
pamphlet, newspaper, handbill, or other paper, printed or
written, or pictorial representation, touching the subject
of slavery, shall be sent into any State, Territory, or District, where by the laws of such State, Territory or District, their circulation is prohibited.
Sir, the whole doctrine is founded in error; that fatal
error, which would subject the laws of Congress to the
different policy of twenty-four States, and thus entirely
destroy the usefulness and benefits which this Government




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              291
was intended, and is calculated to administer. In support of this strange, wild, and visionary doctrine, we,
(the free States I mean,) are called on to put the gag into
the mouths of our citizens, to declare that they have no
right to talk, to preach, or to pray on the subject of
slavery; that we must put down societies who meet for
such purposes; that we shall not be permitted to send
abroad our thoughts or our opinions on the abstract
question of slavery; that the very liberty of thought, of
speech, and of the press, shall be so embarrassed, as to be
in many instances denied us, and if not entirely prohibited, rendered in a great degree useless. All this is
required to be done by an act of this Government, out of
respect to laws of one or more of the slaveholding States.
Sir, I deny the whole argument, and all its inferences,
with but one single exception; and it is that which
declares that slavery is a domestic or State regulation.
While I freely admit this as my opinion, as my vote on
the admission of Arkansas into the Union will prove, and
although I may view slavery both as a moral and political
evil, yet while we assure our brethren of the South and
slaveholding States, in the spirit of truth and candor, that
we have no power to interfere with their domestic regulations, and that our sense of the moral wrong can not
cause us pain for a breach of our political duties imposed
on us by our own consent, with a full knowledge of their
condition; and that under our social compact, we would
be bound to aid them in the suppression of any insurrection, whether servile or free, that should become too powerful for their own laws; if, after all these assurances
made by us - and I repeat it with the utmost candor - I
think it unkind, if not unjust toward us, that gentlemen
should not be satisfied, but still require of'us another condition, that we should acknowledge that slavery is guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States; and though
I have heard that doctrine often repeated, I have heard




292         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
no express denial, a denial which I now venture to make
in this Senate, and before the American people; and on
behalf of the State I in part represent here, as well as
myself, I enter my most solemn protest against it. This
is the important point in this whole controversy, and on it
I wish so to express myself, not only that I may be understood, but that it may be, as far as I am able to make it,
impossible to misunderstand me. I deny that the right
of property is guaranteed by the Constitution of the
United States, or that the right of the master to his slave
as property, is founded on, or arises from, that instrument.
Property in slaves, as well as other things, is a mere
creature of law, and in this country is entirely the creature of State laws. The word slave or slavery, is not to
be found in the Constitution of the United States; and by
a bare perusal of that Instrument, without a knowledge
of the past, no one would suppose that slavery existed in
any form in this Republic.  Yet I am willing to admit,
that the Constitution was formed with a knowledge existing in its framers, that slavery did in fact exist in the
different States; yet the slave is treated as a person, not
a thing; and as a person, not as property, is represented
in Congress. Hence provision is made in the Constitution of the United States, that no person who is held to
service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof,
escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or
regulation therein, be discharged from service or labor,
but shall be delivered up on the claim of the party to
whom such service or labor is due. This provision of the
Constitution of the United States only recognizes the
existence of a person held to service or labor, under the
laws of a State, and in its application would as well be
understood to mean a white as a colored person, and one
held to labor for a term of years, as well as a slave for
life; and I can not consent that this provision disproves
the position I assume, that the Constitution of the United




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              293
States does not guarantee the right of property in slaves;
yet I have heard this so often and so earnestly asserted,
that I begin to feel some concern, that should this doctrine
remain much longer without being contradicted, it might
become the settled doctrine of the country, and produce
the most nischievous consequences to the non-slaveholding States; for if it be true, and can be maintained, the
honorable Senator from South Carolina, or any other gentleman, may bring his hundreds or thousands of slaves
into the State of Ohio, cause them to labor there as long
as shall suit his convenience, and withdraw them  at
pleasure; and no law or regulation of my State-no, not
even the Constitutional prohibition against slaverycould reach his case, or afford us any security against this
innovation; for the Constitution of the United States, and
the laws of Congress made in pursuance thereof, shall be,
or is, the supreme law of the land, and the Judges in
every State are bound thereby; anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. It seems to me, that the free States have a thousand
times more just cause of fear and alarm, while gentlemen
so strongly assert their Constitutional right to their
slaves, that they will attempt to introduce slavery into
the free States, than the slaveholding States have that we
shall attempt to interfere in any manner with the question of slavery, as settled by the laws of their own States.
They are attempting to overwhelm us by the power of
this Government, while we deny the right of Congress or
the Legislature of any State to interfere with the internal
regulations or police of another State; but while we deny
this power of legal action, we contend that no institution
of any State, or of this Government, can or ought to be
exempt from the moral power of public opinion; that
power by which the whole fabric of our institutions ought
to live, move, and have its being. If the argument as to
the Constitutional question of the right of property in




294        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
persons be sacred and inviolable, it is certainly much
stronger and more forcible when applied to property in
things; and although a State might by penal enactments
endeavor to prevent any person from bringing into its
jurisdiction, for use or for sale, playing cards, or gambling machines of any description, yet as these articles
might be considered property, and the right of the owner
secured under the Constitution of the United States, such
penal enactments would be vain and useless attempts. A
state of things of this kind would be most deplorable
indeed, and one to which, I think, the people of the United States would not long and tamely submit. Yet if
these things were manufactured in a sister State, held and
recognized as valuable property there, our condition
would be far worse. Should Congress, by the exercise of
its power, attempt to prevent us from speaking, writing,
printing, publishing, and forming societies, for the exercise of all our moral power, in order to induce the people
of our sister States to refrain from such practices; and of
sending by mail all such proceedings, in order to induce
them to abandon their pursuits, by proving that they
were both moral and political evils? Yet such is the doctrine of the bill now before us; a plain exposition of
which is its best refutation.
There has been another topic constantly connected
with this subject, that if Abolition societies and papers
were not put down, and incendiary publications (as they
are called here,) prevented from  being sent into the
slaveholding States, the Union must and would be
dissolved, and that the South would take care of her own
interests, and that she was sufficiently able to do so. I
regret, as I have before expressed myself, on another
subject, that I so often hear this threat of a dissolution of
the Union; it is, however, a vain and idle threat, calculated to affect no good, but may do some mischief. We are
sometimes spoken of as a family of States, and the allusion




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             295
is not an inappropriate one. What family, I would ask,
could long continue in harmony, if any one of its members,
on the least dissatisfaction with the general economy pursued, should always be found declaring that he or she
would dissolve the union of the family, or secede from it
altogether? No family could long continue happy and
prosperous under such a state of things; nor could partners
in business ever be successful, or labor together in peace,
if one of them should, on every slight occurrence, which
he did not approve, make a like threat. For my own part,
I should always be disposed to believe, that persons who
make such threats, desire what they threaten, and that
their continuance in the family or firm, instead of being
a benefit, is always an injury to the remaining members.
Dissolve the Union? Who has the right to do this? No
State or individual has either the moral or Constitutional
right to dissolve or secede from the Union for any cause.
A man may attempt revolution, and may commit treason
against his country, but whether he may finally receive
the reward of the traitor or the patriot, may depend
on the final issue of the contest. The union of these
States can not be dissolved but by the consent of the people
to a change in their Government, in the manner provided
by the Constitution of the country. States or individuals
will never be permitted to do it; for if there exists in the
American bosom one principle of patriotism, more strong
than another, it is that of attachment to the Union. This
principle is so deeply-seated in the hearts of our countrymen, that it can not be shaken, and the Union must and
will be preserved. All threats of dissolution, as I before
said, are vain and illusory; they never can, they never
will be carried into effect.
This question, like most others agitated here, has not
been suffered to pass by, without an allusion to party.
We have been told that such is the influence of party
discipline, that in the very eye of the gentlemen rests




296        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
one, who, by raising his finger, could muster the party to
vote. Insinuations of this kind, I, for one, cast behind
me; the country will judge of their correctness. It is
said, however, that the President in his annual message,
recommended a measure of this kind; and it is strange
that his party should now falter. I follow party where
the Constitution and principle lead; and when men
attempt to take their place, I halt. I support the administration party, because I am a firm believer in the great
principles which govern them; and I endeavor to sustain
them in all minor and formal points. For the sake of
these principles, I sustain the President to the best of my
abilities, because I believe he has done more for the liberty
of his country, and to place his administration upon the
basis of the Government and public opinion, than any
man living. That he may sometimes err, is human. That
his most ardent friends may sometimes think him in
error, when, in truth he is not, is natural to expect. But
that this honest difference of opinion should divide them,
his opposers need not hope for; that he has recommended
that postmasters and officers of this Government should
arrest the passage through the mail of publications of any
kind, as contemplated in this Bill, I do not understand,
but he suggests the propriety of passing such a law as
would prohibit, under severe penalties, the circulation in
the Southern States, through the mail, of incendiary publications intended to instigate the slave to insurrection;
not barely a publication touching the subject of slavery.
With great respect to this recommendation, or rather
suggestion, I can not give it my support; to punish injuries done to individuals, belongs exclusively to the States;
they have ample security in their own power to punish
any person in their jurisdiction, who may read or distribute any publication which their laws may prohibit, but
they can not reach the post office or the postmaster for
its delivery as directed, because such act is under a




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              297
paramount authority. I, for one, doubt, strongly doubt the
power of Congress to provide by law for the punishment
of any act, as a criminal offense, but for those especially
enumerated in the Constitution; and I can find but few
such grants, such as counterfeiting the securities and
current coin of the United States, the punishment of
piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, offenses
against the law of nations, and treason against the United
States. It will readily be perceived that I confine my
doubts to punishments to be inflicted in consequence of
judgments by the civil tribunals of the country, rendered
in courts of justice. Whatever is my course here, or
elsewhere, on this or any other measure, I can not suffer
the Senator from South Carolina to be my sole judge.
There is another and a higher tribunal before which I
must and am willing to answer; and to whose just judgment I will most cheerfully submit for my opposition to
this Bill.
This Bill, designed to fetter the freedom of the press,
and the circulation of thought, was rejected by a small
majority in the Senate.




298          LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
CHAPTER XXII.
FORMATION of parties-Their nature and results-Politics and moralityThe necessity of their union —0 pinions of Washington-His views need
a new application to parties-Mr. Morris's views on this subjectThe platforms of the two great parties on slavery-Necessity of a new
party-Liberty party formed-Its platform-Birney and Morris nominated-Free Soil party-Its platform-Van Buren and Adams nominated-Hale and Julian nominated in 1852-The platform-Republican
party-Fremont and Dayton nominated-Its platform-Letter of Mr.
Morris on his nomination-Address of the Liberty State Convention
— Votes cast for the party of freedom in 1844, 1848, and in 1852.
THE formation of parties is a natural result of a republican form of Government. The freedom of thought,
created and protected by Democratic institutions, gives
rise to varied political opinions and policies, and these
become the nucleus around which different parties gather
and rally. The wisdom and beneficent influences of parties, based on the great landmarks of true political science,
admit of no doubt. They are the symbols of political faith,
and the index of political action.  They classify men
according to their various views, and allow them to act
with energy and unity in that line of policy congenial to
their principles. Parties produce conflict of opinions, and
collision of intellect, both of which contribute to a healthy
national and individual growth.
They act as a conservative power on each other, and
thus tend to a clearer vision of political truth, and to a
purer and more patriotic course of' action. The danger of
parties in a Democratic Republic is not in their distinctive
organizations,  but in  their rigid  exclusiveness, and




LIFE  OF SENATOR MORRIS.              299
clan-ship. This abridges the free expansion of thought,
compresses conscience into party platforms, and transfers
the judgment and actions of men to party-chieftains, who,
often selfish and ambitious, are liable to make, and do
often make, a shipwreck of freedom  and morality to
purposes of personal aggrandizement.
If" Parties in free countries are useful checks upon the
administration of the Government, and serve to keep alive
the spirit of liberty," yet there is great danger in a Republican Government, that parties will lose sight of great
moral and political principles, and absorb their independence and manhood, not in devotion to the interests of their
country, but in men and parties. The evils of this are
great. It tends to corruption in public men, and to the
subversion of the pillars of national strength and prosperity, by disintegrating political science from moral
truth. The philosophy of politics ought ever to have an
indissoluble connection with moral principles. The true
end of all wise legislation, and of true political science, is,
not to enunciate new moral truth, but to give sound political principles, and true morality, a vital power through
the fabric of society and civil government.
Politics is a noble science, combining the great political
truths of civil government with the truest moral principles.
Webster, the lexicographer, defines politics, or the science
of government, " That part of ethics which consists in the
regulation and government of the Nation or State, for the
preservation of its safety, peace, and prosperity; comprehending the defense of its existence and rights against
foreign control or conquest, the augmentation of its
strength and resources, and the protection of its citizens
in their rights, with the preservation and improvement of their
morals."
This view of the science of politics, elevates it into a
system of morality, and imparts to it the dignity of truth,
and the sanctity and importance of Christianity. It




300        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
involves the whole interests of the nation, and is interwoven with all that constitutes a true State. Moral truths,
therefore, and the life-giving and life-preserving elements
and inspirations of religion must mingle with politics,
and create and govern every system of political policy.
This union is ordained of Heaven, and carries the moral
sap of Christianity through all the tree of liberty, watering its roots, giving life and growth to its trunk, strength
to its branches, beauty to its foliage, richness to its fruits,
and perpetual preservation to its existence. To divorce
politics from morals and religion, is to girdle the tree of
liberty, planted by the fathers of the nation, and let it die
in convulsive spasms, or by a lingering disease.
Washington gave in his Farewell Address to the nation,
a solemn utterance to these cardinal truths, in saying:
" It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give mankind the magnanimous, and too novel example of a people always guided
by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt
that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such
a plan would richly repay any temporary advantage
which might be lost by a steady adherence to it. Can it
be that Providence has not connected the permanent
felicity of a nation with its virtues? The experiment, at
least is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles
human nature. Alas! it is rendered impossible by its
vices."
" Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political
prosperity, Religion an.d Morality are indispensable supporters. In vain would that man claim the tribute of
patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars
of human happiness-these firmest props of the duty of
men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the
pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A volume
could not trace all their connection with private and
public felicity. And let us, with caution, indulge the




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               301
supposition that morality can be maintained without
religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect
that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious
principles."
These fundamental principles, need a re-confirmation
and a fresh application to the regime of parties among the
American people. The doctrine is now proclaimed, in
party Conventions, that religion and morality must be
disconnected with politics; for when united it is said " It
withdraws attention from the great political principles
upon which the Government is founded, and is dangerous
to the perpetuity of our Republican form of Government."
Mr. Morris firmly believed, that all lasting National
prosperity, had its existence and growth, in the principles
of Christianity. Two years before his death, he declared
" That one of the worst signs of the times was, the fact, that politicians and men high in public favor, were in the habit of sneering at the morality of the Bible. If the morality of the Bible,
said he, is rejected in politics, and in the affairs of Government,
it would have but little influence in private life, and the consequences would be disastrous to the character and happiness of the
people and the country."
In view of the unsoundness of the two great parties of
the United States, Democratic and Whig, and to restore
the action of the Government, in regard to slavery, to the
policy of the Patriots of the Revolution, and to bring politics under the benign influences of Christian morality, the
friends of freedom resolved to form a new party, and make
their principles known and felt, through the ballot box.
The ballot box, in the United States, is the prerogative
of freedom, the palladium of American liberty, and the
effectual Panacea for the political and social evils, that may
afflict the country. It rules men in and out of office. and
directs the whole policy of the Government. It places the
power of the Government into the hands of the people, and
through their sovereignty, the vital organic principles




302         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
of the Government, are made efficient and powerful.
Its legitimate domain, covers all that enters into the
honor, the prosperity and well-being of the nation; not
only the principles of politics, but the religion and morals
of the people of a Republican Government, are closely
identified with the right of suffrage.  If " When  the
righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the
wi'cked beareth rule, the people mourn, " then the people,
who, by their votes, place them in authority, must be
affected in all their interests, by the Ballot Box. As all
political policies and all civil Legislation are directed by
the people, in the exercise of the elective franchise; and as
all National prosperity, must be connected with, and
supported by religion and morality, the power and influence of the Ballot Box, is under a Democracy, omnipotent.
It must be applied to the correction and eradication of
all the political, social, and moral evils, that are chronic
in the Body Politic. It would fall immeasurably below
the dignity and sublime functions of the Ballot Box, to
confine it to the petty business, of putting men into and
out of office, and making it the mere engine to drive on the
well-constructed machinery of mere Party, independent of
moral principles. "Government is ordained of God," and
" Rulers are the Ministers of God to be for the punishment
of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well."
And since " there is no power (civil government) but of
God; " and since civil Rulers, " are God's Ministers " attending continually to be "Ministers of good," the great purpose and use of the Ballot Box, oughit to be to place in
power, those, and those only, who will give practical
efficiency to the principles of a Christian morality, and so
promote all that is good, and extirpate all that is evil, in
society, or in civil Government.
Senator Morris saw its relations and power to the
destruction of American Slavery, and pronounced upon the
ballot box a noble eulogy. He said that "The moral




LIFE  OF SENATOR MORRIS.              303
power of the ballot box is sufficient to correct all abuses."
"Moral power must work by means; and the elective
franchise is the great, if not the only means to make it
effectual." " Political action is necessary to produce moral
reformation in a nation; and that action with us, can only
be effectually exercised through the ballot box."  "If the
ballot box, then, is honestly and independently used, it
alone will soon produce the extinguishment of slavery in
our country. Resist slavery by the ballot box."
"It executes a freeman's will,
As lightning does the will of God."
The necessity of a new, and third party, to resist through
the ballot box, the aggressions of the slave power, had its
origin in the practice of the two great political parties in
discountenancing all agitation of the slavery question.
Their platforms, in both National and State Conventions,
contained explicit resolutions against all agitation of the
subject. The resolutions they adopted are presented in
chronological order.
The Democratic Convention that nominated Lewis Cass,
of Michigan, for President, in 1848, put the following
resolution in their platform:
" 1. That Congress has no power, under the Constitution, to interfere with, or control the domestic institutions
of the several States, and that such States are the sole and
proper judges of every thing appertaining to their own
affairs, not prohibited by the Constitution; that all efforts
of the Abolitionists or others, made to induce Congress to
interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient
steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most
alarming and dangerous consequences; and that all such
efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people, and endanger the stability and permanency of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by
any friend of our political institutions."




304        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
The Democratic Convention, in June, 1852, met in Baltimore, and nominated Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, for President, and William R. King, of Alabama,
for Vice President. That Convention passed the same
resolution on the subject of slavery, as in 1848, and these
additional ones:
"' Resolved, That the foregoing proposition covers, and
was intended to embrace the whole subject of slavery
agitation in Congress; and therefore the Democratic
party of the Union, standing upon this National platform,
will abide by and adhere to a faithful execution of the
Acts known as the Compromise Measures, settled by the
last Congress-the Act for the reclaiming of fugitives from
service or labor, included; which act being designed to
carry out an express provision of the Constitution, can
not, with fidelity thereto, be repealed, or so changed as to
destroy or impair its efficiency.
"Resolved, That the Democratic party will resist all
attempts at renewing, in Congress or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under whatever shape or color
the attempts may be made."
In June, 1856, the Democratic Convention met in Cincinnati and nominated James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania,
for President, and John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky, for
Vice President. This Convention put the same resolutions into their platform as in 1852, with these additional
ones:
"1. Resolved, That claiming fellowship with, and desiring the co-operation of all who regard the preservation of
the Union under the Constitution as the paramount issue
-and repudiating all sectional parties and platforms, concerning domestic slavery, which seek to embroil the States
and incite to treason, and armed resistance to law in the
Territories, and whose avowed purposes, if consummated,
must end in civil war and disunion-the American Democracy recognize and adopt the principles contained in the




LIFE  OF SENATOR MORRIS.              305
organic laws establishing the Territories of Kansas and
Nebraska as embodying the only sound and safe solution
of the' slavery question' upon which the great National
idea of the people of this whole country can repose in its
determined conservatism of the Union — ON-INTERFERENCE BY CONGRESS WITH SLAVERY IN STATE AND TERRITORY, OR IN TIlE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
"2. That this was the basis of the Compromises of 1850
-confirmed by both the Democratic and Whig parties in
National Conventions-ratified by the people in the election of 1852-and rightly applied to the organization of
Territories in 1854.
" 3. That by the uniform application of this Democratic
principle to the organization of Territories, and to the
admission of new States, with or without domestic slavery,
as they may elect-the equal rights of all the States will
be preserved intact-the original compacts of the Constitution maintained inviolate —and the perpetuity and
expansion of this Union insured to its utmost capacity of
embracing, in peace and harmony, every future American
State that may be constituted or annexed, with a Republican form of Government.'" Resolved, That we recognize the right of the people of
all the Territories, including Kansas and Nebraska, acting through the legally and fairly expressed will of a
majority of actual residents; and whenever the number of
their inhabitants justifies it, to form a Constitution, with
or without domestic slavery, and be admitted into the
Union upon terms of perfect equality with the other
States."
The Whig Natiohal Convention, in 1848, nominated
General Taylor, of Louisiana, for President, and Millard
Fillmore, of New York, for Vice-President. A member
of the Convention (Mr. Tilden, of Ohio), offered for
adoption the following resolution:
Resolved, That while all power is denied to Congress,
as1




306         LIFE OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
under the Constitution, to control or in any manner to
interfere with the institution of slavery, within the several States of this Union, it nevertheless has the power,
and it is the duty of Congress to prohibit the introduction
or existence of slavery in any Territory now possessed or
which may hereafter be acquired by the United States.
This resolution was refused, by a vote of the Convention, to be put into the Whig Platform.
In June, 1852, the Convention of the Whig party nominated Winfield Scott, of New York, for President, and
William R. Graham, of North Carolina, for Vice-President. That Convention put the following resolution into
their Platform;
Resolved, That the series of acts of the thirty-first Congress (the act known as the Fugitive Slave Law included),
are received and acquiesced in by the Whig party of the
United States, as a settlement in principle and substance,
of the dangerous and exciting questions which they
embrace; and, so far as they are concerned, we will maintain them, and insist upon their strict enforcement, until
time and experience shall demonstrate the necessity of
further legislation, to guard against evasion of the laws on
the one hand, and the abuse of their powers on the other,
not impairing their present efficiency; and we deprecate
all future agitation of the question thus settled as dangerous to our peace; and we will discountenance all
efforts to continue or renew  such agitation, whenever,
wherever, or however the attempt may be made; and we
will maintain this system as essential to the Nationality
of the Whig party, and the integrity of the Union.
This subserviency of the two great parties of the country to the slave power, having its increasing development
during the Senatorial term of Mr. Morris, demanded the
formation of a new and third party, to resist slavery by




LIFE 01F SENATOR MORRIS.             307
the ballot box. Accordingly, in 1840, the friends of freedom organized themselves under the namle of the LIBERTYPARTY OF THE UNITED STATES. A ConventionI was called,
in April, 1840, at Albany, New York, to discuss the
question of an independent nomination of Abolition
candidates for the two highest offices in our National
Government, and if thought expedient, to make such
nominations for the friends of freedom to support, at the
next election. This Convention met, and nominated
James G. Birney for President and Thomas Earle for
Vice-President.
In August, 1843, the Liberty-Party met in a mass Convention, in Buffalo, New York, to nominate their iNational
candidates. Every free State but New Hampshire was
represented, and more than a thousand delegates were in
attendance. Hon. Leicester King, of Ohio, an able and
veteran frienld of freedom, presided over that Convention
of freemen.
The Convention proceeded to nominate their candidates; and James G. Birney, of Michigan, was unanimously selected as their candidate for President, and
Thomas Morris, of Ohio, for Vice-President.
The following Platform was adopted, as the principles
and policy of the Liberty-Party:
1. Resolved, That human brotherhood is a cardinal doctrine of true Democracy, as well as of pure Christianity,
which spurns all inconsistent limitations; and neither the
political party which repudiates it, nor the political system which is based upon and controlled in its practical
workings by it, can be truly democratic or permanent.
2. Resolved, That the Liberty-Party, placing itself upon
this broad principle, will demand the absolute and
unqualified divorce of the General Government from
slavery, and also the restoration of equal rights among
men in every State, where the party exists, or may exist




308         LIFE OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
3. Resolved, That the Liberty-Party has not been
organized for any temporary purpose, by interested politicians, but has arisen from among the people, in consequence of a conviction, hourly gaining ground, that no
other party in the country represents the true principles
of American Liberty, or the true spirit of the Constitution of the U'nited States.
4. Resolved, That the Liberty-Party has not been organized merely for the overthrow of slavery. Its first decided
effort must indeed be directed against slaveholding, as the
grossest form, and most revolting manifestation of despotism; but it will also carry out the principles of equal
rights into all its practical consequences and applications,
and support every just measure conducive to individual
and social freedom.
5. Resolved, That the Liberty-Party is not a sectional
party, but a National party; has not originated in a desire
to accomplish a single object, but in a comprehensive
regard to the interests of the whole country; is not a new
party, or a third party, but is the party of 1776, reviving
the principles of that memorable era, and striving to
carry them into practical application.
6. Resolved, That it was understood in the times of the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, that
the existence of slavery in some of the States, was in
derogation of the principles of American liberty, and a
deep stain upon the character of the country; and the
implied faith of the States, and of the Nation, was pledged,
that slavery should never be extended beyond its then
existing limits; but should be gradually, and, yet at no
distant day, abolished by State authority.
7. Resolved, That we believe intelligence, religion and
morality, to be the indispensable supports of a good
government.
8. Resolved, That we regard voting, in an eminent
degree, as a moral and religious duty, which when




hLl'E OF SENATOR MonRRis.             309
exercised, should be by voting for those who will do all
in their power for immediate emancipation.
9. Resolved, That we especially entreat the friends of
liberty in the slave States to reflect on the vast importance of voting openly for Liberty and Liberty men, and
to remember and adopt the words of the illustrious Washington, who said —" There is but one proper and effectual
mode by which the abolition of slavery can be accomplished, and that is by legislative authority; and this, as
far as my suffrage will go, shall not be wanting."
10. Resolved, That it is a principle of universal morality,
that the laws of the Creator are paramount to all human
laws; or, in the language of the Apostle, that' we ought
to obey God rather than man."
In August, 1848, a Convention of the fiiends of freedom
met in Buffalo, as the Free-Soil party of the country,
opposed to the extension of slavery. This Convention
nominated Martin Van Buren, of New York, for President, and Charles Francis Adams (a son of John Quincy
Adams), for Vice-President. The Platform of Resolutions
was as follows:
Resolved, That we the people, here assembled, remembering the example of our fathers in the days of the first
Declaration of Independence, putting our trust in God for
the triumph of our cause, and invoking His guidance in
our endeavors to advance it, in opposition to the sectional
Platform of Slavery.
Resolved, That slavery in the several States of this
Union which recognize its existence, depends upon State
laws alone, which can not be repealed or modified by the
Federal Government, and for which laws that Government is not responsible. We therefore propose no interference by Congress with slavery within the limits of any
State.
Resolved, That the Proviso of Jefferson, to prohibit the




310         LIFE OF SENATOR MIORRIS.
existence of slavery, after 1800, ill all Territories in the
United States, Southern and,Northern; the votes of six
States and sixteen Delegates in the Congress of 1784, for
the Proviso, to three States and seven Delegates against
it; the actual exclusion of slavery from the North-Western Territory, by the Ordinance of 1787, unanimously
adopted by the States in Congress; and the entire history
of that period-clearly show, that it was the settled policy
of the Nation not to extend, nationalize, or encourage:
but to limit, localize, and discourage slavery; and to this
policy, which should never have been departed from, the
Government ought to return.
Resolved, That our Fathers ordained the Constitution of
the United States, in order, among other great national
objects, to establish justice, promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty, but expressly denied to
the Federal Government, which they created, all Constitutional power to deprive any person of life, liberty, or
property, without due legal process.
Resolved, That in the judgment of this Convention, Congress has no more power to make a slave, than to make a
king; no more power to institute or establish slavery,
than to institute or establish a monarchy, — no such
power can be found among those specially conferred by
the Constitution, or derived by just implication from them.
Resolved, That it is the duty of the Federal Government
to relieve itself from all responsibility for the existence or
continuance of slavery, wherever that Government possesses Constitutional authority to legislate on that subject,
and is thus responsible for its existence.
Resolved, That the true, and, in the judgment of this
Convention, the only safe means of preventing the extension of slavery into territory now free, is to prohibit its
existence in all such territory by an act of Congress.
Resolved, That we accept the issue which the slave power
has forced upon us, and to their demand for more slave




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.               311
States, and more slave Territories, our calm but firm
answer is; no more slave States, and no more slave Territories. Let the soil of our extensive domains be ever kept
free, for the hardy pioneers of our own land, and the
oppressed and banished of other lands, seeking homes of
comfort and fields of enterprise in the new world.
Mr. Van Buren, in accepting the nomination, declared
in a public letter, "I have examined and considered the
platform adopted by the Buffalo Convention, as defining
the political creed of the "' Free Democracy," with the
attention due to the grave subjects under which it is presented. It breaths the right spirit, and presents a political chart which, with the explanation I am  about to
make, I can in good faith, adopt and sustain. The present movement, in the public mind, said he, in the nonslaveholding States, upon the subject of slavery, is caused
mainlyby an earnest desire to uphold and enforce the policy
in regard to it, established by the founders of the Republic."
It is a singular fact illustrative of the changes that
politicians have made on the subject of slavery, that Mr.
Van Buren, once the idol of the Democratic party, and by
it elected to the Presidency in 1836, and who in his
Inaugural Address, discountenanced the agitation of
slavery in Congress, declaring he would veto any Bill
passed for the abolition of slavery in the District of
Columbia, became the Presidential candidate of the Free
Soil party, in 1848, and was the chief cause of the defeat
of Mr. Cass, who was the candidate of the Democratic
party, then in unnatural alliance with the slave power;
and it is even more singular, that Mr. Van Buren, and his
friends in the great State of New York, renouncing their
free soil principles of 1848, should, in 1856, commit themselves, to a platform of principles, that gives no restriction to the extension of slavery. Such changes in men
and parties, are sad illustrations of the power of slavery




312        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
over the brightest intellects, and the most sagacious
Statesmen of our country.
In 1852, John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, one of the
earliest, and ablest advocates of freedom, and who, like
MIr. Morris, stood firm, in resisting the slave power in
Congress, in the darkest hours of opposition, was, by the
fiiends of freedom, put in nomination for the President,
and George W. Julian, of Indiana, for Vice President.
The Platform on which they stood in that contest, was as
follows:
" l'hat no permanent settlement of the slavery question
can be looked for, except in the practical recognition of
the truth that slavery is sectional and freedom national;
by the total separation of the General Government from
slavery, and the exercise of its legitimate and Constitutional influence on the side of freedom, by leaving to the
States the whole subject of slavery and the extradition of
fugitives from service.
" That slavery is a sin against God and a crime against
man, the enormity of which, no human enactment or
usage can make right, and that Christianity, humanity,
and patriotism alike demand its abolition.
" That the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, is repugnant to
the Constitution, to the principles of the common law, to
the spirit of Christianity, and to the sentiments of the
civilized world. We therefore deny its binding force
upon the American people, and we demand its immediate
and total repeal.
"' That the doctrine that any human law is a'finality,'
and not subject to modification or repeal, is not in accordance with the creed of the founders of our Government,
and is dangerous to the liberties of the people."
On the 17th of June, 1856, in Philadelphia, the city
where the Declaration of Independence was adopted and
read, from the steps of the Old State House, by one of its
immortal Signers, to the multitudes assembled to hear,




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             313
and who responded to its sentiments of liberty with loud
and enthusiastic greetings, a large Convention of freemen,
met to nominate candidates, to represent the sentiments
of liberty and the political policy, which the freemen
and patriots of Revolutionary memory had roused, on the
subject of slavery. Every Free State was largely represented, as well as delegates from the slave States of
Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky and Missouri.
It was a great assemblage convened to promote a great
and noble cause. This Convention unanimously nominated John Charles Fremont, of California, for President,
and William L. Dayton, of New Jersey, for Vice President. The platform adopted by the Republican Party, in
this important Presidential canvas was as follows:
NATIONAL PLATFORM OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
The Convention of Delegates having assembled in pursuance to a call addressed to the people of the United
States, without regard to past political differences or
divisions, who are now opposed to the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise; to the policy of the present
Administration; to the extension of slavery into free
territory; in favor of the admission of Kansas; of restoring the action of the Federal Government to the principles of Washington and Jefferson, and for the purpose
of presenting candidates for the offices of President and
Vice President, therefore,
Resolved, That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence, and embodied in the Federal Constitution, are essential to the
preservation of our Republican institutions and the
Federal Constitution: the rights of the States and the
Union of the States must and shall be preserved.
Resolved, That with our Republican Fathers, we hold it
to be a self-evident truth, that all men are endowed with
the inalienable right to liberty and the pursuit of happi27




314         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
ness, and that the primary object and ulterior design of
our Federal Government, was to secure these rights to all
persons within its exclusive jurisdiction. That as our
Republican Fathers, when they had abolished slavery in
all our National Territories, ordained that no person shall
be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, it becomes our duty to maintain this provision
in the Constitution against all attempts to violate it, for
the purpose of establishing slavery in the United States,
by positive legislation, prohibiting its existence or extension therein. That we deny the authority of Congress,
of a Territorial Legislature, of any individual or association of individuals, to give legal assistance to slavery in
any Territory of the United States, while the present
Constitution shall be maintained.
Resolved, That the Constitution confers upon Congress
sovereign power over the Territories of the United States
bfor their government, and that in the exercise of this
power it is both the right and duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those twin relies of barbarism,
polygamy and slavery.
Resolved, That while the Constitution of the United
States was ordained and established by the people in
order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice,
insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common
defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty, and contains ample provisions for the protection of the life, liberty and property of every citizen -
the dearest Constitutional rights of the people of Kansas
have been fraudulently and violently taken away from
them; their territory been invaded by an armed force;
spurious and pretended legislative, judicial and executive
officers have been set over them, by whose usurped
authority, sustained by the military power of the Government, tyrannical and unconstitutional laws have been
enacted and enforced; the right of the people to keep and




LIFE OF SENATOR 3MORRIS.             315
bear arms has been infringed, test oaths of an extraordinary and entangling nature have been imposed as a condition of exercising the right of suffrage and holding
office; the right of an accused person to a speedy and
public trial by an impartial jury has been denied; the
right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses,
papers and effects against unreasonable search and
seizure has been violated, and they have been deprived
of life, liberty, and property without due process of law;
the press has been abridged; the right to choose their
own representative has been made of no effet1;; murders
and robberies encouraged, and the offenders have been
allowed to go unpunished; that all these things have been
done with the knowledge, sanction, and procurement of
the present administration, and that for the high crime
against the Constitution, the Union, and humanity, we
arraign the Administration - the President, his advisers,
agents, supporters, apologists and accessories- either
before or after the facts-before the country and before
the world, and that it is our fixed purpose to bring the
actual perpetrators of the atrocious outrages and their
accomplices, to a sure and condign punishment hereafter.
Resolved,^ That Kansas should be admitted as a State
into the Union, with her present Constitution, as at once
the most effectual way of securing to her citizens the
enjoyment of the rights and privileges to which they are
entitled, and of ending strife now raging in the Territory.
Resolved, That the highwayman's plan, that might
makes right, embodied in the Ostend Circular, was in
every respect unworthy of American diplomacy, would
bring shame and dishonor upon any Government or
people that gave it their sanction
Resolved, That a railroad to the Pacific ocean, by the
most central, practicable route, is imperatively demanded
by the interests of the whole country, and that the Federal Government ought to render immediate and efficient




316         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
aid to its construction, and as an auxiliary thereto the
immediate' construction of an emigrant road to the line
of the railroad.
Resolved, That the appropriations of Congress for the
improvement of rivers and harbors of a National character, required for the accommodation and security of our
existing commerce, are authorized by the Constitution
and justified by the obligations of the Government, to
protect the lives and property of its citizens.
Resolved, That we invite the affiliation and co-operation
of men of all parties, however different from us in other
respects, in supporting the principles herein declared;
and believing that the spirit of our institutions as well as
the Constitution of our country, guarantees to us liberty
of conscience, and equality of rights among the citizens,
we oppose all legislation impairing their security.
The great issue in the political contest of 1856, is the
extension, or non-extension of slavery.  Banks, Tariff,
Public Lands, and all issues involving the financial or
material interests of the country, have been settled in favor
of the policy of the Democratic party.
The Whig party, embracing a large proportion of the
intelligence, wealth, and moral influence of the nation,
have disbanded and passed away.
A new party, designated as the American, or Know
Nothing party, arose, in 1854, to sudden and great political influence, and its policy was based on resistance to
Popery and the- Catholic religion, as a politico-religious
system. A National Convention of this party, met in
Philadelphia, on the 22d of February, 1856, and nominated Millard Fillmore, of New York, for President, and
Andrew  Jackson Donnelson, of Tennessee, for VicePresident. It refused to take decided ground against the
extension of slavery, and a large majority of the Northern
delegates seceded; This purpose to avoid the absorbing
question of slavery, lost the party the prestige of its




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              317
power in all the free States, and will, most probably, in a
short time prove its political extinction. These facts in
the history of parties, confirm what Daniel Webster, the
great American Statesman, declared in a speech made in
Faneuil Hall, Boston, in 1852. He said:
" New parties may arise, growing out of new events and
new questions; but as to these old parties which have
sprung from controversies now no longer pending, or from
feelings which time and other causes have now greatly
changed or allayed, I do not believe they can long remain.
Efforts, indeed, made to that end, with zeal and perseverance may delay their extinction; but, I think, can not
prevent it. There is nothing to keep alive these distinctions in the interests and objects which now engage
society.  New questions and objects arise, having no
connection with subjects of past controversies; and present interest overcomes and absorbs the recollection of
former controversies. All that are united on these existing questions and present interests, will not likely weaken
their efforts to promote them, by angry reflections on past
differences. If there was nothing in things to divide
about, I think the people not likely to maintain systematic controversies about men. They have no interest in
doing so. Associations, formed to support principles, may
be called parties; but if they have no bond of union but
adherence to particular men, they become factions."
The providence of God, and the dominant sentiment of
freedom in the free States, produced by the continual
aggressions of the slave power, forced the issue on the
American people. The South admits and accepts it. It
says through its press:
" It is vain to disguise it, the great issue of our day in
this country is, slavery or no slavery. The present phase
of that issue is the extension or non-extension of the institution, the foundations of which are broad and solid in




318'       LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
our midst. Whatever the general measure, whatever the
political combinations, whatever the party movement,
whatever the action of sections at Washington, the one
single, dominant, and pervading idea, solving all leading
questions, insinuating itself into every polity, drawing the
horoscopes of all aspirants, serving as a lever or fulcrum
for every interest, class or individuality-a sort of directing fatality is that master issue. As, in spite of right and
reason-of organism and men-of interest and efforts, it
has become, per se, political destiny-why not meet it?
It controls the North, it controls the South-it precludes
escape. It is at last and simply a question between the
South and the remainder of the Union, as sections and as
people. All efforts to give it other divisions, to solve it
by considerations other than those which pertain to them
in their local character and fates, to divert it, to confound
it with objects and designs of a general nature, are ren.
dered futile. It has to be determined by these real parties, by their action in their character as sectionsinchoate countries."
This great issue rises into unsurpassed importance and
dignity, and the result decides the great question, whether
the American Government and people will commit themselves, and all their institutions of freedom, civilization,
and christianity, to the mission of extending slavery over
the American continent, or return to the ancient, and
the only wise and safe policy, the policy of the statesmen
and patriots of the Revolution, to restrict and arrest
slavery, and direct all Constitutional and moral means for
its final extinguishment-a consummation that would be
the crowning glory of the American nation, and remove
the only hindrance to the perpetual peace and prosperity
of the country. The great Republican party, inviting all
of every party, and receiving its existence and growth, and
its present great and permanent political influence, from




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             319
an unalterable purpose to arrest the extension of slavery
over the broad and free domain of the country, has
intrusted to it this great mission of freedom.
Thomas Morris, in this political and moral work, was
early honored, with a prominent position. His steadfastness, and loyalty to.fieedom and principle, secured,
in the summer of 1841, his nomination for Vice President, on the Liberty Ticket, formed by the friends of
freedom, in the State of New York. This nomination being only for a single State, he suggested through
the following public letter, that his name be withdrawn, until a Convention from all the free States could
meet and deliberate.
DR. BAILEY: — Domestic affliction, occasioned by the
illness of a part of my family, and which is yet continued, has required my attention and presence within
the family circle. I have thus been, in a good degree,
prevented from noticing the important events that are
almost daily taking  place, in the great enterprise in
which we are engaged, by endeavoring to restore to a
large portion of our fellow men, their lost humanity and
their rights, of which they have been robbed by sheer
despotism.
In this enterprise, my name has been placed by my
fellow citizens in New York before the country, in a very
conspicuous situation, as a candidate for the Vice Presidency of the United States. This nomination was not
only unsought, but unlooked for, by myself; but I can
say, with perfect sincerity, that I then received it, and
still view it as the highest honor ever conferred on me by
any portion of my fellow citizens. Was I desirous of
posthumous farae, (which I believe all men are more or
less) I had rather have my name inscribed upon the most
obscure record of the friends of liberty, in the present
struggle, than to be placed in the highest seats of power




320        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
in opposition thereto. The liberty for which we contend,
is that which like the Star of Bethlehem, leads to the salvation
of men.
As the progress of our cause and principles have been
rapid beyond all calculation, (at least mine,) and as I
know and feel that many men, far more able and worthy
than I am, to lead in this noble cause, have of late been
added to our ranks, though I can not admit that any are
more desirous of its success and ultimate triumph than I
am, yet I thought it due to the cause, and to the country,
to afford an opportunity to all our friends to review the
nomination. I, therefore, gave notice to our last Liberty
Convention, at Columbus, that it was my intention to
decline, and wait for further developments in regard to
duty.
I have, within a day or two past, seen, in some of our
Eastern Liberty papers, remarks on the course I thought
it my duty to take. Permit me to say to our friends, in
every part of the country, that no abatement of my zeal
in the cause of human liberty has taken place; and that
my hopes, and my expectations, were never brighter than
they now are, of the speedy and ultimate triumph of our
principles. I feel a strong desire, and I trust some faith,
advanced as I am in life, that I shall yet be spared to see
the day, when the soil of our beloved country, shall no
where be cursed with the foot-prints of a slave. I shall
then leave the world, believing I have left my posterity a
legacy beyond all price.
I would not have taken the step which I have, had I
not fully understood that a General Convention of liberty
men, from all the States, would be held during the ensuing summer. When that Convention shall have met, they
may dispose of my name as they shall judge best. All I
ask is, that the friends of liberty will believe me, when I
assure them, that I am engaged in this cause, under a full
conviction, that it is just and right; and that on its success




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              321
depends, not only the prosperity but the salvation of
the country; and no matter where I labor, my enlistment
and my promise of service are not for years but for life.
I write this hasty communication for fear a wrong construction may be put upon the position I now occupy. I
hope soon, to find time to address the Executive Committee at NewYork on the subject more at length.
THOMAS MORRIS.
Cincinnati, March 20th, 1843.
He was renominated as a candidate for the Vice Presidency on the Liberty ticket, by the General Convention at
Buffalo, August 30th, 1843.
Ohio met in Convention, at the Capitol of the State,
in October succeeding the National Convention, to ratify
the nominations. After presenting the claims and services
of James G. Birney, their candidate for the Presidency,
the Address of the Liberty Convention to the people of
Ohio, says of the candidate for the Vice-Presidency:
"Thomas Morris, our candidate for the Vice-Presidency, is one of the oldest citizens of this State. Whether
as Representative in your State Legislature, or Senator
in Congress, he has ever been known as the fearless,
independent, consistent politician. That most eloquent
speech, delivered by him in 1839, amid the sneers and
frowns of servile and slaveholding Senators; in defense
of human liberty, and in vindication of its advocates
against the assaults of him, who is now the recognized
leader of the Whig party; delivered too, without a word
of encouragement firom  those whose principles and
characters he vindicated; in the face of the policy of
his own party, and with the certain prospect of losing
its favor; that speech, and the heroic love of liberty it
evinced, have endeared him FOREVER to the friends of




322        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
freedom. Ohio will remember hereafter, with delight, that
the only voice which broke the stillness of the Senate
Chamber of the United States, for fifteen long years, in
rebuke of despotism, was the voice of her undaunted son,
Thomas Morris."
Western Virginia, whence Thomas Morris had emigrated in 1795, had a Spartan band who held to the
ancient liberty doctrines of Jefferson, and one county
(Ohio), had in 1843, a Liberty ticket, and issued an
Address, in which they speak of Thomas Morris as
follows:
"They have selected, as their candidate for VicePresident, Thomas Morris, of Ohio, a native of Western
Virginia, who has been from his boyhood a consistent
advocate of equal rights.  This distinguished citizen,
when a few years since, he represented the State of his
adoption, in the Senate of the United States, stood up
alone in that Body, uncheered by the sympathies of
political associates, and unsupported except by a noble
confidence in the justness of his cause, to vindicate the
principles of liberty, against the assaults of Henry Clay,
who then stood as the champion of perpetual slavery.
By that most signal service to the cause of the people,
Thomas Morris forfeited the support of party, but endeared
himself forever to the lovers of liberty."
The following votes for the candidates representing the
sentiment of freedom, will show the progress of the
party devoted to freedom and the American Nation:
In 1840, seven thousand; in 1844, sixty-two thousand
one hundred and sixty-three; in 1848, two hundred and
ninety-one thousand three hundred and seventy-eight;
in 1852, one hundred and fifty-five thousand eight hundred and forty-nine; and in 1856, the date of the present




LIFE OF SENATOR  aMORRIS.                  323
writing, the free States are anxiously waiting to cast their
hundreds of thousands of votes for the Republican candidates, and confidently expect to carry the country in favor
of freedom.
"Who can tell how vast the plan
Which this day's incident began?
And it may prove, when understood,
The harbinger of endless good."




324           LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
CHAPTER XXIII.
TERRITORIAL Expansion of Slavery-Missouri Compromise-Her Admission-Agitation-Sentiments of Daniel Webster on the Admission of
Missouri-Admission of Arkansas-Remarks of Mr. Morris, in the
Senate, on the Admission of Arkansas-Republic of Texas-Remarks
and Resolution of Mr. Morris on Texas-Acquisition of Territory from
Mexico-California-Repeal of the Missouri Compromise-Agitation
through the country-Manifesto of Chase and others - Ministers
Remonstrate —The act done —New Territory opened to Slavery —
Kansas-Its Slave Laws-Struggle between Freedom and SlaveryResults of the Expansion of Slave Territory-Shall Kansas be Free or
not?-Its effects on Labor-Opinions of Slaveholders on Labor-Its
effects on Society and on White Laborers-Slavery Demonstrated to be
a Curse.
THE expansion of the area of slavery has ever been a leading purpose with Southern Statesmen. The great motive
was the increase of their political power, and its permanent supremacy in the Government of the Nation. Every
new State added to the Union, not only aided in the preservation of a political equilibrium between the free and
slave States, but continued to the slave power, its political
ascendency. The Constitution provides that the members
of the House of Representatives, shall be proportioned to
the free inhabitants of the States they represent, except
that in each State, three-fifths of the slave population,
shall be for this purpose considered as free inhabitants.
According to this proviso, every five slaves are to be
counted as three white persons. If by law, every sixty
thousand free inhabitants may elect a Representative, a
district containing forty-five thousand whites and twenty



LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              325
five thousand slaves, is by the Federal ratio entitled to a
memnber. This Constitutional stipulation, has through all
the political history of' the American Government, given
the slaveholders a prepondering weight in the National
Councils. Hence the fact, and it is a political anomaly,
that at the present time, the slaveholding interest, has a
representation of thirty members in addition to the equal
representation of the free inhabitants. This is a property
Representation-for slaves in the South are but property
in the eye of the law-which is denied to every species of
property in the free States; and this fundamental law
of the Government operates unequally.
In the Senate of the United States, there is an equality
of political power in the States, each State, however small
or great, being entitled to two Senators in Congress, so
that, a small slave State, like Delaware, has, in the
Senate, a political power equal to the great State of
New York, with her immense population and wealth.
The preservation and the increase of this power in the
Government, has been, and is now, the great motive that
prompts the South to seek the extension of slavery. A
brief historical expose of this extension is here presented.
The first efforts, subsequent to the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, from France, under the Administration of
President Jefferson, made by the slave power, to extend
slavery, was in the case of Missouri. In 1.820, Missouri
sought admission into the Union, as an independent State.
Her Constitution admitted the existence and perpetuity
of slavery; and when she came to ask for admission as a
new State, into the Union, it was earnestly resisted by
the free States, both by the people and their Representatives in Congress. It was a most memorable struggle
between freedom  and slavery, and agitated the whole
country profoundly. After a postponement of a year,
Missouri was admitted into the Union, on condition that,
"In all that Territory ceded by France to the United




326         LIFE  OF SENATOR MORRIS.
States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies North
of thirty-six degrees, and thirty minutes of North Latitude, not included within the limits of the State of Missouri,
slavery and involuntary servitude shall be and is hereby forever
prohibited." The admission of Missouri as a slave State,
under this compromise, was the first great expansion of
the slave power. President Monroe, before he signed the
MAissouri Act, of 1820, required a written opinion of each
member of his Cabinet, as to the proposition whether " Congress has a right, under the powers vested in it by the
Constitution, to make a regulation prohibiting slavery in
a Territory." All the members of the Cabinet, including
John C. Calhoun, and John Quincy Adams, answered in
the affirmative.
Daniel Webster, in 1819, drew up an able memorial
against the admission of Missouri as a slave State, which
he, and others of Boston, signed and sent to Congress, and
from which the following extracts are taken:;" Your memorialists would most respectfully submit that
the terms of the Constitution, as well as the practice of the
Government under it, must, as they humbly conceive,
entirely justify the conclusion, that Congress may prohibit the further introduction of slavery, into its own
Territories, and also make such provision a condition of
the admission of any new State into the Union. We
have a strong feeling of the injustice of any toleration of
slavery. But to permit it in a new country, where yet no
habits are formed to render it indispensable, what is it,
but to encourage that rapacity and fraud, and violence,
against which we have so long pointed the denunciations
of our penal code? What is it but to tarnish the proud
fame of the country? What is it but to throw suspicion
on its good faith, and to render questionable all its professions of regard for the rights of humanity and the
liberties of mankind. If the extensive and fertile fields
of the Missouri Territory shall be opened as a market for




LIFE OF SENAXTOR  MORRIS.           327
slaves, the Government will seem to become a party to a
traffic, which, in so many acts, through so many years, it
has denounced as impolitic, unchristian, and inhuman."
Arkansas, in 1836, was admitted into the Union, with
a Constitution making slavery perpetual. Mr. Morris,
was then called upon as a Senator of the United States to
vote on the question of the admission of another slave State.
His views are presented in extracts from his speech found
in Benton's "Thirty Years in the United States Senate,"
" 3Mr. Morris," said Mr. Benton, " spoke more freely on the
objectional points than other Senators. He said:
" Before I record my vote in favor of the passage of the
Bill under consideration, I must ask the indulgence of
the Senate for a moment, while I offer a few of the reasons
which govern me in the vote I shall give. Being one of
the Representatives of a free State, and believing slavery
to be wrong in principle, and mischievous in practice, I
wish to be clearly understood on the subject, both here,
and by those I have the honor to represent. I have
objections to the Constitution of Arkansas, on the ground
that slavery is recognized in that Constitution, and settled
and established as a fundamental principle in her government. I object to the existence of this principle forming
a part of the organic law of any State; and I would vote
against the admission of Arkansas, if I believed I had
power to do so. The wrong, in a moral sense, with which
I view slavery, would be sufficient for me to do this, did
I not consider my political obligations, and the duty, as a
member of this body, under which I now act, clearly
require of me this vote.
" I hold that any portion of American citizens, who may
reside on any part of the Territory of the United States,
whenever their number shall amount to that which would
entitle them to a representation in the House of Representatives in Congress, have a right to provide for themselves a Constitution and State Government, and to be




328        LIFE OF SENATOR1  MORRIS.
admitted into the Union whenever they shall so apply;
and they are not bound to wait the action of Congress in
the first instance, except there is some compact or agreement requiring them to do so. I place this right upon the
broad, and as I think, indisputable ground, that all persons living within the jurisdiction of the United States,
are entitled to equal privileges; and it ought to be a
matter of high gratification to us here, that in every position, even the most remote of our country, our people
are anxious to obtain this high privilege at as early
a day as possible.  It furnishes clear proof that the
Union is highly esteemed, and has its foundation deep in
the hearts of our fellow citizens.
"By the Constitution of the United States, power is
given to Congress to admit new States into the Union.
It is in the character of a State that any portion of our
citizens must apply to be admitted into the Union; a
State Constitution and Government must be first formed.
It is not necessary for the power of Congress, and I doubt
whether Congress has such power, to prescribe the mode
by which the people shall form a State Constitution; and
for this plain reason, that Congress would be entirely
incompetent to the exercise of any coersive power to
carry into effect the mode they might prescribe. I can not
therefore, vote against the admission of Arkansas into
the Union, on the ground that there was no previous act
of Congress to authorize the holding of her Convention.
As a member of Congress I will not look beyond the
Constitution that has been presented. I have no right to
presume it was formed by incompetent persons, or that it
does not fully express the opinions and wishes of the
people of that country. It is true that the United States
shall guarantee to every State in the Union a Republican
form of Government: meaning, in my judgment, that
Congress shall not permit any power to establish in any
State, a Government without the assent of the people of




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              329
such State; and it will not be amiss that we remember
here, also, that that guarantee is to the State, and not as
to the formation of the Government by the people of the
State; but, should it be admitted that Congress can look
into the Constitution of a State, in order to ascertain its
character, before such State is admitted into the Union,
yet I contend that Congress can not object to it for the
want of a Republican form, if it contains the great principle that all power is inherent in the people, and that the
Government draws all its just powers from the governed.
"The people of the Territory of Arkansas, having
formed for themselves A State Government, having presented their Constitution for admission into the Union,
and that Constitution being Republican in its form; and
believing that the people who prepared and sent this
Constitution, are sufficiently numerous to entitle them to
a Representative in Congress; and believing, also, that
Congress has no right or power to regulate the system of
police these people have established for themselves, and
the Ordinance of 1787 not operating on them, nor have
they entered into any agreement with the United States
that Slavery should not be admitted into the State-have
the right to choose this lot for themselves. Though I regret
that they have made this choice, yet believing that this
Government has no right to interfere with the question of
slavery in any of the States, or prescribe what shall or
shall not be considered property in the different States, or
by what tenure property of any kind shall be holden, but
that all these are questions of State policy, I can not, as a
member of this body, refuse my vote to admit this State
into the Union, because her Constitution recognizes the
right and existence of slavery."
Similar views were expressed by John Quincy Adams,
in the House. He said: " I can not, consistently with a
sense of my obligations as a citizen of the United States,
and bound to support their Constitution, object to the
28




330        I, IFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
admission of Arkansas into the Union as a slave State.
It is written in the bond, and however I may lament that
it ever was so written, I must faithfully perform its
obligations."
The next successful movement of the extension of the
slave power, was the admission of the Republic of Texas,
on the 29th of December, 1845.
Mr. Morris foresaw, in the Senate of the United States,
that the recognition of the independence of Texas had an
ulterior object in reference to slavery. He said, in 1836,
after presenting memorials from Cincinnati, requesting
Congress to acknowledge the independence of Texas, and
in answer to a Southern Senator, Mr. Walker, that " The
recognition of Texas involved a question which did not meet
the eye, and which was beyond the mere recognition of her
independence-a question which would convulse this Uiion
from one end to the other."  That prophecy has been fearfully fulfilled. Since the annexation of Texas, the Union
has been in a state of intense excitement, almost of continued convulsion. That event led to a war with Mexico,
and the war with Mexico resulted in a cession to the
United States of New Mexico and California.
Mr. Morris offered for the consideration of the Senate,
the following resolution:
"Resolved, That while we hail with joy the events in
Texas, which seem to look to an emancipation in that
country, we fear there is increased reason for believing
that a desperate effort will soon be made by the slave
power to annex Texas to this Union, and we therefore
earnestly implore our fellow-citizens of every party to
use all lawful endeavors to avert such a calamity."
In 1854, another wide field was opened, into which the
slave power might extend its dominion. The Missouri
Compromise Act was canonized by a sacred compact, and
by all the forms and sanctions of solemn legislation, and
was regarded with the strongest affection by the American




LIFE  OF SENATOR 5IORRIS.            331
people, both North and South.'Thi, however, was not
sufficient to guard it against the covetousness and the
aggressions of slavery. It was a restraint, a prohibition
to the expansion of slavery, which could no longer be
tolerated. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise was
deliberately meditated, and deliberately done. In the
month of March, 1854, the Senate, by a large majority, consummated its repeal, and the House, by a decisive majority
concurred, and the approval of the President of the IUnited States, Mr. Pierce, completed its legal repeal. It
opened an immense territory, a territory that had been
for a generation consecrated to freedom, and ample enough
to form twelve States as large as the great State of Ohio,
to the evil inroads of slavery. The repealing clause of
the Bill, designated as the Kansas and Nebraska Bill,
declared the prohibition of slavery over those broad and
fertile regions " inoperative and void."
Mr. Chase, then a Senator from Ohio, with other Senators and Representatives from free States, issued from the
Capital of the Nation, a Manifesto to the people, warning
them of the purpose of the slave power, and the peril of
freedom. The public sentiment of the North was roused
to active resistance, and numerous and large public meetings were held, to remonstrate against the measure, and
to protest against the great wrong.
The religious sensibilities and conscience of all Christian denominations, were awakened into intense activity.
The pulpit of the free States, as in Revolutionary times,
vindicated the cause of freedom, and denounced the
measure as a wrong to Christianity, to humanity, and to
the plighted faith and integrity of the nation. Three
thousand clergymen of New England, representing the
sentiments of their respective congregations, with their
names on one large memorial, sent up their petitions to
the Senate of the United States, against the act of repeal,
declaring that it was " a great moral wrong, a breach of




332        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
faith, and eminently injurious to the morals of the community, and calculated to bring down upon the nation
the curse of God." Clergymen in almost all the free
States, sent to both branches of the National Legislature,
similar remonstrances. Senators from the free and slave
States, charged all such clergymen with " prostituting the
sacred desk to the miserable and corrupting influences of
party politics;" of "neglecting their holy religion, and
violating its principles;" "as political preachers, meddling with matters of which they were ignorant." Slavery,
through the subserviency of Northern Congressmen,
obtained the triumph, and the gate was opened for its
entrance.
The repeal of the Missouri Compromise converted
Kansas into a field of contest between slavery and freedom; into a trial of the nature and forces of the two
opposite systems. In this great contest, on which the
entire nation looked with deep sympathy and attention,
freedom, as it had always done, outrivaled the efforts of
slavery —in enterprise, in numbers, in all the institutions
of a Christian civilization; and Kansas gave promise that
freedom and its blessings should yet be the rich inheritance of the millions who were to live upon her soil.
The time came for the Territory to assume an organized
form of civil government. In the election of members to
the Territorial Convention to form a Constitution, the
settlers from the free States were driven from the polls,
by several thousand men from Missouri, and no man was
permitted to cast his suffrage, unless he would vote for
making Kansas a slave Territory and State. The Convention elected were all, but one or two, pro-slavery men;
notwithstanding the free State voters —the actual citizens of the Territory-outnumbered the pro-slavery men
five-fold.
This Convention, elected by Missourians, passed a Code
of laws, marked by the greatest injustice and cruelty, and




LIFE OF SENATOR N MORRIS.            83o
which were (in Congress and throughout the country),
denounced as a disgrace to the age. They enacted that:
"Every person who should write, print, or publish any
book, paper, argument, opinion, advice, or in words, calculated to produce disaffection among the slaves in the
Territory, or induce them to escape from their masters,
should be deemed guilty of FELONY, and be punished by
imprisonment at hard labor, for a term not less than five
years; and if he should publish anything even denying
the right of persons to hold slaves in the Territory, he
should be punished by imprisonment at hard labor for
two years." It was also enacted, that —" Every person
who should raise an insurrection among the Negroes;
who should aid in enticing away a slave, with intent to
procure his freedom; or who should aid in enticing away
a slave; or who should entice and bring from any other
State in the Union, a slave into Kansas, with the intent
to set him free, upon conviction should suffer DEATH."
These and similar acts were passed by the Territorial
Legislature of Kansas.
Freedom, however, did not yield the contest. The
interests and issues were too great to be lost, without an
earnest and laborious struggle. The free and actual
citizens of the Territory held their own election, and sent
members to another Convention, to form a free Constitution, and organize a free Government. Under this State
Constitution, they organized and came before Congress
asking admission into the Union. The House of Representatives, by a majority of three, accepted of the Constitution, and voted to admit Kansas as an independent
State; the Senate, however, rejected it, by a large
majority.
This contest in Kansas, between slavery and freedom,
was marked by the most inhuman atrocities against the
free settlers. They were invaded by armies from Missouri, and South Carolina; their towns were burned;




33).-I        LIFE  OF SENATOR  MIORRIS.
their houses plundered, and their property  destroyed;
their printing-presses demolished; their free citizens, for
defending freedom and establishing free institutions, were
imprisoned and murdered; and almost every act of injustice and inhumanity was perpetrated.  In this great contest the free State men stood firm, and acted and said -
"Give us liberty or death;" and the free women of Kansas, like their mothers of Revolutionary memory, rallied
with their husbands and sons, to the defense of freedom,
and laid their offerings and themselves upon the altar of
liberty.
The struggle is still in progress, and the issue is with
Him who ruleth among the nations; and who created,
not only all men to be free, but gave the earth, as a rich
patrimony to men, to be cultivated as a free soil, and by
free labor. Of Kansas, let every freeman ask, in the
words of a poet.
Shall the free winds, that sweep her grassy vales
Be burdened with the groan of sad despair?
Shall the free waves, that wash her fertile shores
Blush with the blood that runs from furrowed backs?
Shall her tall mountains, crowned with sparkling snow,
Become red altars for the slaughtered slave?
Shall her green valleys be the early grave
Of Freedom, or the cradle of the Free?
Shall her broad rivers, rolling to the deep,
Shout Liberty's inspiring song for aye,
Or slink to the old Ocean's arm to hide
Their stains behind his ample cloak of waves?
Shall her vast plains and prairies, filled with flowers
As glorious night is filled with gleaming stars,
Be cleared, and ploughed, and hoed, and reaped by slaves?
Not only Christianity, the genius of our free institutions and of the age, but humanity and the interests and
dignity of Free labor, demand that the soil of our nation,
every acre of it, should be preserved free from slavery.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                335
Slavery is a system that puts dishonor and disgrace on
labor, which has the seal of honor instamped upon it by
the Creator
The free States of the North, ivhere free labor, has
wrought out all their splendid achievements of enterprise,
are described, by the Southern press, as "rioting in the
excesses of an indiscriminate freedom, prodigal in liberty,
bankrupts in law; —where labor is elevated to political
power, and enjoys the same political privileges with the
capital that employs it." " All society," says a Southern
politician, " settles down into a classification of capitalists
and laborers. The former will own the latter." " If
laborers," said Mr. McDuffie, "obtain the political power
of a country, it is, in fact, in a state of revolution. The
institution of slavery supersedes the necessity of an order
of nobility." Slavery is by the South declared to be a
" National blessing;" " a Patriarchal Institution;" " The
corner stone of our Republican Edifice." " In a few years
the blasphemous Reformers, who curse the Constitution
for legalizing, and the Bible for consecrating slavery, will
curse Heaven, that it did not bless the North with African
slavery, the only antidote to a crowded, motley, foreign
and native population."
Slavery is not only the antagonism of free labor, dishonoring it, and the free laborers of the North, but it is a
system that operates most injuriously and debasingly, upon
the poorer classes of the non-slaving South. Of the six
millions of people in the slaveholding States, and of the
876,243 voters in the same section, there are but 347,000
slaveholders, leaving 528,000 voters in the South, and
m'ore than five millions of persons, who have no personal
interest or complicity with slavery.  They are in the
technical language of the slave system, the' Poor Whites
of the South."  Though not able, or not willing to be the
owners of slaves, yet this immense preponderating population of the slave States, are dishonored by the system




336         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
that surrounds them. They have but little infltlcnce in
political affairs, and are so under the surveillance of the
slave Aristocracy, that freedom of opinion is stifled, and
an independent course of action prevented. Social as well
as political disfranchisement, and debasement, is the condition of this class, who are numerous and worthy in the
South. Schools for popular education, are not provided,
and Free Schools, are unknown, and thus ignorance, the
natural result of slavery, aids in the work of degradation.
The soil also of a slave country, soon becomes, under
the working of the slave system, unproductive. In this
aspect it is a perfect contrast with the results of freedom
and free labor. Consecrate a soil to perpetual freedom;
let the genius of freedom, breathe its air of inspiration
and purity over the soil, and the soil under its power
will produce an abundant harvest. Freedom will replenish, too, the waste and worn out soil, with a new life
and a fresh reproductive vitality. Not so with slavery.
Governeur Morris, a statesman of the highest order of
talents, in the Convention that formed the Constitution,
in 1787, said, " Compare the free regions of the Middle
States, where a rich and noble cultivation marks the prosperity and happiness of the people, with the misery and
poverty which overspread the barren wastes of Virginia
and Maryland, and other States having slaves.  The
moment you leave the free States and enter the slave
States, the effects of the institution become visible. Every
step you take through the great regions of slaves, presents
a desert, increasing with the increasing proportion of these
wretched beings." This contrast, ages of experiment, the
whole history of the world, and the philosophy of cause
and effect, confirm; thus demonstrating, that slavery is a
curse, blighting and destroying every true interest of a
nation, and ought not to extend and establish itself anywhere among a free people, or over a free soil.




LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.                  337
CHAPTER XXIV.
SLAVES brought to Ohio-Mr. Morris memorializes the Governor against
it-Slaveholders in office in free States-Mr. Morris's views on it-A
Judge refuses to license a colored Clergyman to perform the Marriage
Rite-Mr. Morris obtains a writ to compel him to grant it-A  memorial to the Legislature of Ohio, in 1844 —Extracts from a LetterAppeal to Christians-Poem, descriptive of his course and principles.
THE Constitution of Ohio, and of all the free States,
secures personal freedom to every slave, voluntarily
brought by his master within their jurisdiction. The
noble truth, uttered by Cowper, the Christian poet of
England, is the doctrine incorporated into their charters
of freedom:
"Slaves can not breathe in England; if their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free;
They touch our country, and their shackles fall.
That's noble, and bespeaks a nation proud
And jealous of the blessing."
Ohio, in her Constitution, does not permit slavery, or
the foot-prints of a slave, to pollute her soil. Notwithstanding this prohibition, and in defiance of the public
sentiment and moral sense of the citizens of the free
States, slaveholders, in their social visits, or on their way
to a Southern market with their slaves, have brought them
into free States, and during their transit or stay, have
virtually converted free into slave territory.
The free States, also, not unfrequently, are represented
in their State and National interests, by virtual slaveholders. Marriage, or inheritance, puts into their possession, or under their control, Southern plantations, well
29




338        LIFE OF SENATOR MORlIS.
stocked with slaves. Interest and sympathy are then
transferred to the slave power, and thus iNorthern politicians become the most subservient and devoted friends
of the slave power. A potent evil influence, firom this
source, has spread through the free States, and tended to
vitiate the public sentiment of the North on the subject
of slavery. In reference to these two subjects, connected
with slavery, which involved the free States in indirect
complicity with the system, Mr. Morris addressed a
memorial to the Governor of Ohio, containing the following sentiments:
" The violation of our laws by slaveholders bringing,
or sending their slaves into our State, is productive of
more injury to, and creates more disgust and heartburnings among our citizens, than any other violation of
the laws known among us. Ought we not then to be
protected by Executive proclamation, as to what the law
is, and encouraged to carry it into faithful execution?
Ought not our people to be honored in securing liberty to
every man upon whom our laws confer it, instead of the
constant attempts to disgrace them, by heaping upon
them opprobrious epithets, as "negro thieves," etc., to
which the public press, if not the pulpit, sometimes basely
descends.
" For myself I go for the law, the whole law, and nothing but the law, in which the liberty of my fellow-man is
concerned; and as a citizen of the State I call upon its
Executive officer to do the same. If we have no sympathy for the slave, no feeling for his sufferings, let us take
care that a power, arising out of his condition, does not
rule and govern us. To talk of security and peace in
Ohio, while our laws are trampled under foot by the slavehunter, is vain and idle. Even the slave-trade is carried
on through Ohio, with entire impunity; coffles of chained
slaves have landed on our wharf, while numbers are
almost daily within our jurisdiction, on steam-boats, on




LIFE OF SENATOR MIORRIS.              339
their way to Southern markets; and yet we talk about
our opposition to slavery, while we permit the cursed
traffic in slaves thus to be carried on in our midst; and if
any of our citizens shall inform those slaves, that by our
laws they are free, they are indicted and found guilty of
riot. Call you this a faithful execution of the laws'?
"Permit me, Sir, to suggest to you the propriety of
obtaining full and correct information on this subject,
and give to the General Assembly such information, and
recommend such measures to their consideration as will
in future entirely prevent the slave trade from being
carried on through our State. Nothing short of this will
preserve the public quiet among us.
"Another consideration I beg leave to mention. Ought
not persons who own slaves in another State, be prohibited fromn holding any office in this State? Such persons are inimical to the principles of our Government,
and it is solemn mockery for them to take an oath to support our Constitution, while they are violating its very
essence, in sight, probably, of the very spot where they
take such oath. Is not the legislative power competent
to prevent this evil, and cause our Government to be
administered in good fiith, and thus define our position,
by which alone peace and good will can be restored
between us and our sister slaveholding States?'Let
not them pass over to us for our hurt, and we will not
pass over for their hurt, and then there will be no strife
between us.' This is a consummation devoutly to be
wished."
An incident, illustrative of his sense of justice as well
as his benevolence toward an oppressed people, is here
recorded. A colored clergyman of the Mletllodist Episcopal church, applied to a certain Judge of a Court, in
Brown county, Ohio, having proper jurisdiction, for a
legal license to perform the marriage rite. The prejudice
of the Judge was so strong against the color of the appli



340        LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
cant, that in the exercise of his'" little brief authority,"
he peremptorily refused to grant to the clergyman his
legal right. Mr. Morris, perfectly conscious of the injustice and illegality of the act, took the case up to the
Supreme Court of the State. There he obtained justice.
That Court ordered a writ of Mandamus to the lower
Court, to grant the applicant a license to marry those
who desired his services in that way.
The following memorial was written in November,
1844, a short time previous to his death. It was designed
as a form for circulation among all opposed to the extension of slavery, and to the exercise of its power in the
free State of Ohio. It is brief and comprehensive:
Go tbt onntrabhle 1e 6neral &AsemblIg of {be ftaft of 4iom..In approaching the Legislature, we know that it is our Constitutional right, and while it is our desire respectfully to address
the General Assembly, we hope to do so in the language of
freemen.  We intend to make Truth our guide, Equity and
Justice our object, and the Common Good our ultimate aim;
and we ask Legislative action on the following subjects:
WE PROTEST against the annexation of Texas to the
United States, as unconstitutional, unwise, impolitic, and
dangerous to the peace and safety of our country; and
we pray the General Assembly, without delay, to pass a
resolution against such annexation, and transmit the
same immediately to Congress.
We further ask the Legislature to repeal all the Black
Laws (commonly so called), that are now in force upon
the Statute Book. And we make this request, because
those laws are of no benefit to the white man; while they
are unjust and oppressive to the black man, without cause.
We also ask the passage of a law prohibiting the use of
the jails within this State, for the purpose of detaining,
in any manner whatever, any person who may be claimed
as a fugitive slave.




LIFE OF SENATOR MIORRIS.              341
And we further ask the passage of a law, punishing
under severe penalties, any officer holding his office under
or by the authority of this State, from  aiding in his
official character, in any manner or form whatever, to
return or send out of the State any person who may be
claimed as a FUGITIVE SLAVE. And further, to punish in
like manner any citizen of Ohio, or any person within
her jurisdiction, who shall aid or abet, (or who shall
attempt to do so,) any other person to take or carry without the State, any such claimed fugitive slave, except the
person be a citizen of another State, his agent or attorney, by whom the labor or service of such fugitive
slave may be claimed, under the law of the State from
which he or she fled, or by an officer of the United
States.
We have often heard it said, that " Ohio is a free State,
that slavery does not exist here, and that we ought to let
slavery alone." That Ohio is Constitutionally a free
State is admitted; but that many of her citizens and the
administration of her Government is under the influence
and control of the slave power, is equally clear; that her
citizens and officers ought to "let slavery alone," is not
denied; but as this is not the case, we pray the Legislature to provide by law for the attainment of this desirable
object.
A distinguished laborer in the cause of freedom, and an
Elder in one of the New-School Presbyterian churches of
Ohio, in a recent letter, says of Mr. Morris:
"My recollections of him  are very vivid and very
pleasant. I met him at several State Conventions, and
always listened to him with great interest and profit. In
those days, when politicians of all parties united in opposition to the anti-slavery movement, it was as remarkable
as it was gratifying to find one honest, earnest, influential
public man, willing to lay himself upon the altar of




342          LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
liberty; and we young men could but respect and revere
him, who almost alone made the sacrifice.
" The last time I had the pleasure of hearing him was
at Blooiningsburgh, when with remarkable plainness and
force, he called on professors of religion to wipe out the
reproach which their complicity with slavery brings upon
the cause of true Christianity; and I shall never forget
with what feelings of pain and grief, a few of us Presbyterians met and discussed, what we hoped would prove
the initiatory steps to a complete reform in the NewSchool church. The death of the lamented George
IBeecher, which occurred soon after, broke up the Committee, to whom  the matters had been referred, for the
purpose of giving them shape and direction.
" His integrity of character, and devotion to the great
Democratic principles, are worthy of all honor, and are
unlike his compeers, who recognize, as do too many
modern Democrats, only the doctrine as applied to classes?"
The following poem, giving a just description of his
course and principles, on the great cause of human rights
and freedom, is here inserted; it was written on the eve
of his retirement from the Senate of the United States,
by an unknown friend, and addressed to
THOMAS MORRIS.
FREE Senator! accept the lay
The unknown muse attunes for thee:
Not for the valorous display
Of martial feats and chivalry:
Or for the blood-stained laurels won
By knightly deeds of daring done.
Not for the palm of high renown,
The price of blood, and chains and tears;
Nor for the talents vainly shown
In windy war with thy compeers;
But for a deed more nobly brave —
The pleading for the outcast slave.




LIFE  OF  SENATOR  MORRIS.                    343
For this thy name shall live in song,
If song of mine itself shall live;
And living, bear the meed along
Thy deeds have earned, and faithful give
To future time thy moral worth,
When cold thy ashes rest in earth.
And when thy proud compatriots lie
Forgotten,'neath the silent sod;
And when their words and memory die,
Scathed by the blighting curse of GodThy deeds shall gain immortal fame,
And men unborn revere thy name.
Ah! yes, the ransomed slave shall bless
Thy name, when thou art laid at rest,
And pointing to thy tomb express:
"There lies in peaceful slumber blest,
"The advocate of the oppressed,
"Friend of the poor and the distressed."
Intrepid Statesman! when the tongues
Of Northern Senators were hushed,
And despots triumphed o'er the wrongs
Of minds debased and spirits crushed;
When even Webster's spirit quailed,
And firm John Quincy's ardor failed —'Twas then thou rose to breast the storm,
And throw thyself as in the breach —
To raise the captives bleeding form,
And with undaunted manly speech,
To show his wrongs -the sighs and tears
That preyed upon his soul for years.




344           LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
Thou spake, and on the opppressor flung
The burden of thy strong rebuke,
Who quite alarmed and conscience stung,
With rage and consternation shook;
And haughty Southrons, awe-struck hung
Upon the thunders of thy tongue.
Firm and erect thou stood'st alone,
And slavery's haughty champions met;
Not the stern brow of fierce Calhoun,
Nor Patton's gag, nor Preston's threat,
Thy dauntless spirit could dismayThou fear'dest not the face of Clay.
Let fiery Rhett and Campbell roar,
And woman's weak petition spurnLet Waddy Thompson -slavery's slave -
With fury rage and anger burn -
Let Pinkney, Wise, and Atherton
Reap all the fame their deeds have won.
But thou shalt gain immortal praise,
Thy country's blessing rests on thee;
The bondman freed his voice shall raise,
And link thy name with Liberty:For lo! thy monuments shall be
Raised in the hearts of slaves made free.




LIFE  OF SENATOR MORRIS.               345
CHAPTER XXV.
MISCELLANEOUS reflections during his Senatorial term-Calls on the
President-The President's Levee-Bank Excitement-Removal of
Deposits —Violence of Party Spirit-McDuffie's Oratory-Funerals of
Members of Congress-Their pageantry and expense-Departure of
the Government from Republican simplicity-Letter Writers at Washington, etc.
IN this chapter the reader will find various extracts
from letters written by Mr. Morris, to his eldest son, in a
free and familiar manner. They are interesting as reflections on the political condition and parties of the country;
and as the opinions of an observing man, himself a veteran politician of the times in which he lived.
WASHINGTON, November 30, 1833.
YESTERDAY  spent most of the time in visiting  the
President and Heads of Departments, according to the
etiquette of this city. I found the President (Gen. Jackson), a man less in stature than I expected. The constant
crowd around him would not permit any one to stay but
a few minutes. A tedious and stormy session is expected,
and party lines are to be more distinctly drawn here, if I
am not mistaken, than in Ohio. It is said that more
members have brought with them their ladies, than was
ever known before. This, to my mind, shows they expect
a long session.
The Capitol is, I presume, one of the most extravagant
buildings for the same purpose in the world, though both




346        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
the House and Senate Chamber are small, and to my
mind, not very convenient. I have taken a seat next to
IMr. Calhoun, between him and Mr. Mangum. You see I
am in the midst of the Nullifiers.  Col. Benton is upon
the same tier; as is M3r. Clay, on the opposite side of the
chamber; but though surrounded by these great men, I
trust I shall be able to think and act for myself. I shall,
I trust, not give a single vote, or do a single act, I thought
was not right, before I left Ohio.
DECEMBER 2, 1833.
Both Houses this day, at 12 o'clock, formed a quorum.
In the Senate a question arose on the Rhode Island case,
which caused considerable debate, and what I suppose is
very unusual on the first day, the yeas and nays were
taken.
When the certificates of the new members were presented, Judge White, the Presidentpro tempore, called on
them to take their oath; as we were walking from our
seats to the chair, Mr. Clay rose and remarked, that there
was another member, whose name had not been called.
Judge White remarked he was aware of that fact, but he
thought as the two members from Rhode Island were both
present, the action of the Senate was necessary to give
either a seat. So soon as we had retired from the chair,
Mr. Poindexter moved, that MIr. Robbins, who was the
first elected, be permitted to take the oath. This motion
brought on considerable debate, in which Mr. Poindexter,
King, of Alabama, Clay, Kane, Wright, Benton, Chambers, Ewing, and MIanngum, took part.  It appeared that
iMr. Robbins had been elected by the Legislature of Rhode
Island, in January last, and had obtained the usual certificate. In October the Legislature passed an act declaring the election of Robbins void, and proceeded to elect
Mr. Potter. Under these circumstances the question was




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              347
whether either should be admitted to a seat, until the
subject was examined by a committee, and we had all the
facts officially before us.
I was much disappointed at the debate I heard. It was
certainly much less dignified and orderly than I expected,
and if I should say far less wise and forcible, I should say
the truth. There was too much of the small arts of the
County Court Lawyer in it. I know I have heard
stronger and more orderly debates in the Ohio Senate
than I heard to-day. The disorder of the Senate during
the debate was surprising; Mr. Benton remarked, unusual.
DECEMBER 17th, 1833.
Yesterday, the Vice-President (Mr. Van Buren) took
his seat in the Senate. You will see his Address delivered
on the occasion, in the papers; it was handsomely done.
He is rather rapid in the dispatch of business, but will, I
think, preside with dignity. He is a fine, erect man in
his gait, and is, I should think, about fifty-five years old.
With all the hue and cry against him, I have no doubt he
will be the next President. A majority of the Senate are
decidedly oppositionists, and they have appointed all the
Committees, bearing the same complexion. There has
been some speculation here, that Mr. Webster is about to
leave Mr. Clay, and join the Administration. I am half
inclined to think so myself; but it will be done by degrees,
and this session, I think, you may look for him between
the parties. It is idle to talk of party spirit, in the Ohio
Legislature, when compared with the feeling of the opposition here; but they are entirely overpowered in the
House.
I am a good deal disappointed in the appearance and
management of the great men. MeDuffie is far from the
man I expected to find him; he is violent in his gestures,
and dogmatical in his statements. The Senate may well




348         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
be termed, the aristocratic branch of the Government, for
it is truly so at present. It is even'whispered here, that
Mr. Taney, as Secretary of the Treasury, is to be rejected.
I hope not, for the honor and dignity of the Senate.
Is the rejection of Mr. Van Buren already forgotten,
and will the Senate destroy their usefulness by their
capriciousness?
A number of bills have been reported to the Senate, all
asking for money to some individual purpose. In looking
over the appropriations of last year, when applied to their
individual objects, I did not believe it possible that human
ingenuity was capable of inventing as many schemes for
the laying out of money. This city lives upon the bounty
of Congress, and wishes to claim it as a right.
The Senate continues in session rather less than three
hours each day; the louse somewhat longer.
DECEMBER 22d, 1833.
I expressed to you, in some of my letters, that the
North and East were coming round to correct principles,
while the South was receding. I am still more and more,
of that opinion, from what I see and hear daily. I sent
you the first part of Mr. McDuffie's speech; you see the
tone which it displays; yet it speaks the language of the
Southern majority. We have here a great deal of combustible matter and discordant materials. I have far less
hopes of a lasting Union between the States than when I
left home. I hope that I may, before the Session adjourns,
find I am in error; but of this every day lessens my hope.
If this Government will confine its action within the
strict letter of the Constitution, and exercise even then,
as little power as possible, so as to fulfill the design of the
Constitution, all will yet be well.
My fears of consolidation are subsiding, as to the exercise of the civil powers of this Government. Congress




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              349
can not put down the State authorities by the operation
of law -that sentiment, I feel certain, is gaining ground.
The States can, and will, govern here, if they make the
effort, and are united; and an attempt on the part of the
General Government, to oppress any State, will, as every
other act of oppression does, eventually create sympathy
for its fate.
Matthew Carey, in his New Series of the Olive Branch,
tells the people of the South, that he would willingly part
from them, if the tie could be broken without shedding
blood; that, although the course they are pursuing is an
evil to the country, yet their separation would be a still
greater one.
DECEMBER 24th, 1833.
I mail you the Telegraph, of this morning. You will
see renewed evidences of the bitter feeling of the Nullifiers, in that paper, and in McDuffie's speech. With him
the Bank is everything, and the Government nothing;
Biddle his idol, and Jackson his Devil. I went into the
Hall of'the House on yesterday, while he was speaking.
You know that the members sit with their hats on; but
one-half or more, had left the room.
McDuffie is not the orator that we used to think he was.
While speaking he throws his hands very awkwardly,
picks up and then puts down his handerchief and papers
before him, has rather a squealing and disagreeable voice,
is small, and leans forward. If he is the great intellectual
champion of Nullification, I think its props will soon give
way.
I have as yet sat still in my place. I am endeavoring
to learn what sort of stuff the Senate is made of. I have
heard some speeches here not so good as I have heard in
the Ohio Senate. The Reporter here makes the speech
as printed. It is delivered not half as correct, and




350        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
frequently so low as to be scarcely audible. I sat near the
center of the room, and I could not correctly hear Mr.
Webster.
DECEMBER 29, 1832.
The Bank and Bank-men are in dreadful agony. We
hear their groans daily; all will not do. The House have
settled the question. No one of the majority there can
now go for the Bank, without a total loss of his reputation,
both public and private.
JANTARY 1, 1834.
I have just returned from the President's Levee. The
house was so filled that it was irksome to be there; to the
President it must be splendid misery. Such I thought
was his situation the other day when I dined with him;
his visitors, however, have the advantage, as they can
leave as they please. It is only imagination that men
here are greater than elsewhere.
The Bank party find themselves in a minority in the
House. They pretend to wish a speedy discussion on
the Deposit question-but this is mere pretense. It is
plainly perceivable that they bend their whole course to
create as much excitement here as possible, in order to
create a corresponding excitement in the country, in
hopes that a state of things will be produced which will
terrify or induce men to vote for the Bank. This complied with, the money influence is now their only hope.
They act in perfect concert. This plan of operation,
which is no doubt designed to affect the public mind, is
prepared by the master spirits out of doors.
Mr. Polk, of Tennessee, has begun his reply to AIcDuffie,
in the House. It will be a most triumphant refutation,
and will completely vindicate the President and Secretary




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              351
in the removal of the Deposits. It will disabuse the
public mind, and set matters in their proper light. But
this is to be procrastinated by the arts of the Opposition,
as long as possible. Never has any curse fallen on this
Republic equal to the Bank. If it triumph now it will
rule for ages. I trust the majority of the House will
stand firm. Should corruption find its way into the
Capitol Gen. Jackson will be found safe. But I do wish
and hope the venerable chief will be spared this further
trial.
JANUARY 3d, 1834.
Col. Benton is now engaged in replying to Mr. Clay.
He has so far, in my opinion, completely prostrated all
the arguments and assertions that have been used against
the President and Secretary, on the removal of the
Deposits. He has stated some facts showing the most
unjustifiable and illegal conduct of the Bank, and which
ought at once to close the mouths of its advocates.
One of these facts is, that the Bank had issued orders to
its several Branches, to dishonor each other's notes; that in
fact notes on Branches have been received on account of
the Customs, and refused by the Branch where the Custom was collected; that individuals owing at Branches,
could not pay their debts with the notes of other Branches;
that this order had been lately issued, and this is one
cause, and among the greatest, of the pressure upon the
money market in the commercial cities. The Bank and
its friends are no doubt doing all in their power to distract
the country.
Col. Benton has given notice, to-day, that he will offer
a resolution to call President Biddle to the bar of the
Senate, to answer under oath, together with others, respecting the conduct of the Bank. This resolution will,
no doubt, be offered, and I can not see upon what principle the Bank-men can vote against it. It will be a scene




352        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
indeed, to see " Old Nick " marching up to the bar of the
Senate, to give an account of his evil deeds. Will he
come? I doubt it. It is said, and appearances are in
favor of it, that Mr. Webster is courting the West; looking, probably, beyond Mr. Van Buren's time, and the
opinion or resolution of our General Assembly will have
much weight with him.
JANUARY 24th, 1834.
The rage for speech-making is not in the least abated.
Colonel Preston, of South Carolina, finished his speech
to-day. It was a most inflammatory and theatrical one;
but containing assertions repugnant to every American
feeling. It will be extolled to the skies by the Nullifiers.
Men of sense however, will and already do, condemn it.
I visited the President last evening; he is firm, and in
good heart. Every day brings him fresh assurances of
increased confidence among the people, in his administration. And I have not at present, a doubt, but he is fully,
if not more popular now than at any former period;
although in the Senate, he is every day, if any of the
opposition speak, called over and over again, a usurper, a
tyrant, a violator of the Constitution, and totally disregarding any law, he heedlessly follows the blind impulses
of his own mind. Indeed this abuse is moderate, as to
what is sometimes said. But all this thunder is lost on
the walls of the Capitol, or only cheers a few Bank
dependents that surround the Halls.
I am fearful we shall not adjourn before next harvest.
Mr. Webster said on yesterday, that we ought not to
adjourn until we did something to regulate the currency;
that a Bank of some kind must be had; that for his part,
he was in favor of a re-charter of the present Bank. I
thought when he said it, and I still think, if we stay until
that time, we shall not be at home after the fourth of next
March a year. Indeed, I have but little doubt, that in




LIFE  OFi SENATOR MORRIS.            353
five years time, Congress will continue in session the
whole time after their first meeting, until the end of the
two years, unless the people. and the State Legislatures
express themselves strongly on the subject.
FEBRUARY 7th, 1834.
I have just returned to my lodgings, from the Hall of
the House. The long agony is over. The House has
taken the vote on the preliminary question which has
been debated for more than two months past-130 against
the Bank, 98 in favor of it. The country now I think,
will settle down; and men, instead of depending on borrowing, will look to their own industry for support -at
least it ought to be so.
FEBRUARY 13, 1834.
I have just returned from the funeral of Judge Boulden,
of Virginia, the successor of John Randolph in the House
of Representatives. The time, place, and manner of his
death, you will see in the Telegraph. It is an extraordinary circumstance, and one no doubt, that will cause
considerable political speculation.
The manner of burying a member of Congress here, is
a piece of vain pageantry, costing I have no doubt, not
less than ten thousand dollars. The very hacks that
went out front the Capitol to the graveyard (I have no
doubt), will amount to more than five hundred dollars,
paid out of the contingent fund of the House. But so it
is, and so it will be, till the people of the States are more
attentive to what is done in small things, as well as great.
Bank petitions from the cities still come in; the country however, is on the other side. Some of the opposition
papers talk of a civil war. Yes, even in the State of New
York, is this vain and wicked threatening made, when
30




354        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
their own Legislature, by more than two to one, voted
against the restoration of the Deposits and a renewal of
the Charter.
JANUARY 20th, 1834.
We have had for some weeks past, petitions from the
Bank Gentry pouring in upon us, by thousands and tens
of thousands, but we now begin to hear from the great mass
of the people. Pennsylvania will no doubt stand firm
against the Bank; both her Senators and I believe a
majority of her Representatives, are for the people and
against the Bank.
The corruptions of that Institution are horrible; and
could we get a Committee to examine and make a faithful
Report, the public would be astonished. I have been told
to-day, that in the Folding room of the House, there are
now twenty thousand or more of the different speeches
of the members of Congress, and other documents, in
favor of the Bank, that have no doubt been printed by its
order, and sent here to be folded and franked by members
of Congress; thus' the folding paper, the time of the
officers of the House, the postage that is saved by the frank,
amount to many thousand dollars, of which the Bank thus
defrauds the people by their friends in Congress. There
are a number of young men and boys employed by each
House, who fold all the public documents for the members,
and a room is appropriated in the Capitol for that purpose.
This is what I mean by the folding room, and it is thus
prostituted to the service of the Bank.
I see that in some places in Ohio, movements are making
in favor of the Bank; it has produced here considerable
effect. If the people were called to act in a Presidential
Election, under the present excited state of feeling, it
would, in my opinion, be doubtful if the Bank would not
be sustained. It has evidenced much prudence and foresight in the President, that the Crisis has been brought




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             355
on now by a removal of the Deposits. The public will
have time to examine, reflect, and judge; and they will
discover in time only, the dangerous power of the
Bank.
Mr. Wirt, late Attorney General, was buried to-day.
He died the evening before last. He had attended Court
until a few days before his death.
From all I can learn, there appears to be no doubt, that
Van Buren and Johnson are to be taken up by a National
Convention. They will succeed.
MARCH 1st, 1834.
A rather unpleasant and curious circumstance took
place in the Senate, yesterday. Mr. Poindexter had made
some serious and unfounded remarks against the Secretary
of the Treasury, saying, that he had issued an order to
remove a million of dollars or more, from the Bank at
Natchez, which had been deposited on account of the
United States, to New York, to prevent the Safety Fund
Banks, in that State from failing.  Mir. Forsyth received
from the Treasury department, a certificate, that no such
order had been issued, or even thought of, and he charged
the matter home on Poindexter, by telling him on the
floor that he had stated a falsehood.
Poin-   in a passion, demanded to know if Forsyth
intended to impeach his veracity, saying, at the same
time, no man should do this but at the hazard of his life.
Forsyth, with much dignity, said, "what he had said was
said; he despised the threat of the gentleman, and would
not answer his questions." You can easily see, in what a
position this answer placed the parties. The Senate,
however, before they adjourned, and with, closed doors,
had the matter compromised, much to the satisfaction of
both Poindexter and his friends; for he found in Forsyth
he had caught a Tartar.




356        LIFIE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
MARCH 12th, 1834.
We are now threatened by 1Mr. Webster, that we must
stay here until the country is relieved, that is, the Bank
must be re-chartered, and this is to be effected by operating on members by keeping them in Session by force of
the majority in the Senate, until the agitation of the
country shall be such, that fear and not duty shall do the
work.
Mr. Clayton, of Delaware, said, a day or two since, the
people would obtain redress by petitions and remonstrances if they could, if these would not do, they would
resort to other means, that of revolution; that his constituents had strong arms and stout hearts. Other Senators
had used still more threatening language than this. The
Bank partisans adopted the same idea, and by this kind of
operation, worse than folly itself, they hope to succeed.
As far, however, as I can learn, a reaction is now begun
in the country, and I feel certain that the President would
be sustained, if the question was put at this time. A new
election will, however, show the state of public feeling,
and this, I believe, is what they most fear; and hope
before that evidence is taken, to carry their project by
storm.
MARCH 25th, 1834.
Mr. Webster has reported a bill to extend the Bank
charter six years. The question was leave to introduce
it; a debate had begun on the bill to-day; he moved to
lay his motion on the table; a few of us tried to keep it
up for debate but were outruled.
The distress party here, are in real distress themselves;
they have cried wolf so long that no one cares for it, and
now when publie opinion against the Bank is coming in
from  almost every quarter, in such force, as to leave no
doubt that the country will sustain the President, their
own cries of distress will not avail them. The Virginia




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              357
elections come on next week, and no doubt is entertained
here but they will sustain the President, and that Mr.
Rives will be returned to the Senate next winter.
Pennsylvania, too, will be found against the Bank.
Resolutions to that effect have already passed the Senate,
and no doubt will pass the House; a sufficient number
of States in that event, will have declared against the Bank,
to carry the next Presidential Election. The Bank men
may hang their harps on the willows.
APRIL 29th, 1834.
No possible good can come of this session, is now
admitted by all parties here; yet we are to be kept in
Session by the majority of the Senate, for the purpose
of producing effect on public opinion, which is to operate
on the next October elections, in some of the most important States.
MAY 20th, 1834.
Though the Bank party here are still apparently in
good spirits, yet it is evident their cause is on the decline,
in every part of the country. The whole object seems
now to be, to induce some friends of the Administration
to propose to the present Congress, a bill for a new Bank,
and have hope that the scheme will come from R. M.
Johnson. If the Col. should take this step, it will, in my
opinion, prostrate his hopes in the Western country.
The investigating Committee have not yet reported.
If the American people can submit to the conduct of the
Bank toward that Committee, they may well be considered
not only slaves, but fit slaves of the Bank.
There are more falsehoods fabricated here and sent
abroad by letter writers, than from any other spot in the
1 nited States. They are a set of hangers on about




338        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
Congress, who live by misrepresentations and falsehoods.
They are constantly striving to keep up the present excitement in the country, and to procure memorials in favor
of the Bank to be sent to Congress. Ohio has so far
escaped their wiles.
I have begun a calculation on the public printing, showing the amount of printing only. I have no doubt but it
will be found that each member of Congress requires ten
dollars per day for Contingent expenses alone, independent of the officers of each IIouse, which will amount
during the present Congress, to nearly nine hundred
thousand dollars.  I confess I am  astonished at the
result. Can this Government be continued under such
abuses? The country is too large; we are too far from our
Constituents.
This Government in money matters is becoming more
corrupt than any other on the face of the earth, yet
we talk of Republican simplicity. It is in the power of
the States, in the formation of a Senate, to do more for
the preservation of our liberties than any other branch
of the Government. If the States, in their sovereign
character will not take charge of, and keep this Government in proper bounds, I predict its total change, either
by a separation of its parties, or an amalgamation of them;
and in this opinion, I know I am not alone. Many of
the most sober minded men in Congress, think the same.
We are now near the close of the Session, without having
done anything but vote money, lands, etc. No news yet
from France. I am confident the country will sustain the
President, in his proposed actions against France, though
I would willingly forbear as long as possible; yet something ought to be done, before our adjournment. I am
for a non-intercourse Act. This, I think will do for the
present.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                 359
CHAPTER XXVI.
EXTRACTS from Various Speeches -Extravagance in Public Printing —
Contingent Expenses of Members of Congress -Cost of their Snuff,
and Horse Hire, etc. —Speech on the Safe Keeping of the Public
Moneys - Extracts from it - Its Just Views - Speech on the Laid
Bill -Speech on the Ohio and Michigan Boundary Line.
As a Senator in Congress, to whom was intrusted, in
part, the special interests of Ohio, and the common
interests of the country, Mr. Morris felt his responsibilities, and was active and faithful in the discharge of his
duties. His manly position and defense of freedom, and
his vigilant labors against the aggressions of the slave
power, did not exclude from his attention other important
interests of the country. As an independent politician
and legislator, he acted, and voted, in the Senate Chamber
of the United States, on all subjects, in accordance with
the matured convictions of his judgment. A Democrat
from  principle, and not for party- he was always found
advocating the doctrines of Democracy, on the great
financial questions that came up for examination and
settlement. A Southern Democratic Senator, in familiar
greeting, said to him — " Morris, you are right on all
subjects but slavery."
In this Chapter will be found extracts from various
elaborate speeches he made on the Currency of the Country; the Land Bill; the Boundary Line between Ohio
and Michigan; and on the Extravagance of the Government, in the use of Public Moneys.  They are worthy of
the reader's attention.




360        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
The first extracts are from a Speech on the Extravagance of Congress in Printing Documents and Books.
Mr. Benton, on the 28th of December, 1838, made a
motion, that thirty thousand copies of certain voluminous
documents, printed by the British Parliament in 1818, in
reference to salt duties, be reprinted by Congress, for the
use of members, and for information to the country. The
motion was carried. Mr. Morris, a day or two subsequent, moved, that the resolutions to print these documents, be rescinded; and offered, among others, the
following remarks, on the practice of extravagant printing by Congress:
"' lie thought the printing of books by order of Congress, a very unjustifiable use of the public money, and if
Congress took a few steps more in this business - indeed,
if they persisted in the order for printing thirty thousand
copies of this book —it might well be said, that instead
of a legislative body, Congress would soon convert themselves into a great iNational Book Concern. A Methodist
Book Concern, a Presbyterian Book Concern, or that of
any other religious or political association, was a commendable thing; but it was a private affair, by which
individuals at their own expense, undertook to promulgate through the country and among the people, their
own peculiar opinions and doctrines; and all they asked
of the Government in the exercise of this, their undoubted
right, was protection and safety for their persons and
property, from mobs and unlawful violence. But he had
seen with regret and alarm, Congress as a public body,
ordering tile printing of documents and papers calculated
to promote the peculiar views and doctrines of individuals
and parties in Congress.
The filact was, and lie well knew it, those Public Doeuments, printed by order, were seldom read; and if the thirty
thousand of these Salt Documents should be printed, not




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             361
one-third of the members of Congress themselves would
read one, and they would be read by a far less proportion
of the community at large. There was another objectionable view of this matter.
" These Books and Documents were always made with
a professed view of circulating information among the
people. And how was this done? We tax the people at
large, say two hundred thousand dollars, yet books and
papers when printed, become ipso facto, the private property of the members. A fair division of the plunder, he
admitted, was always made. The members could either
sell them or send them to their friends, as each one
thought best; or leave them in their boarding rooms, to
be used as waste paper.
" These documents were frequently printed for political
effect; for the purpose of advancing the private and political views of individuals, and he did not believe that the
people would be willing to be taxed for this purpose. Let
any Senator collect together one hundred thousand of his
constituents, and inform them that he would lay and collect a tax, to which each should contribute fifty cents, and
that with this sum of fifty thousand dollars he would
cause to be published, thirty thousand documents-these
British documents-and that he would select thirty thousand from among the number, to whom, if it should suit
his pleasure, he would bestow as a gratuity, and under his
own frank too, one copy each, to become the private
property of such individual. He did not believe any
portion of the American people would consent to be taxed
in this manner, and for such a purpose as this; yet such
were the facts in the case, and such the results of voting
books and documents to ourselves. We tax the whole
people, and then put our hands into the public Treasury,
apply the tax to the purchase of books to distribute
among our friends, which may enable them to sustain us
at all future elections. He would much rather let the
31




362         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
fifty thousand dollars, which the printing of these books
would cost, remain iu the pockets of the people, to purchase such books as their judgments or fancy should suggest. There is a still more pressing objection to the
printing of these foreign books.
" The extravagance of the Government has become proverbial, and the corruption which such a system was
introducing throughout the country was alarming. The
astounding defalcations which had lately taken place
among collecting and disbursing agents, was a part and
parcel of this system of extravagant and improper appropriations; and in these piping times of talking about
economy and reform, our declarations were but in mockery of our doings.
"' What was the amount of contingent expenses of the
other House of Congress, the last session (1838)? $272,245.84! Yes! only two hundred and seventy-two thousand, two
hundred andforty-five dollars and eighty-four cents! The contingent expenses of the Senate, for the same session, was
$112,992.20-one hundred and twelve thousand, nine hundred
and ninety-two dollars and twenty cents! A man of common
sense and prudent habits, in looking over the items to
make up this enormous amount of expenditure, for the
mere contingencies of Congress for one session, must feel
amazed at the ingenuity of men in devising means to
waste the public money. He had looked hastily over the
items, and found one hundred and fifty-two dollars for
making penls, thirty-nine dollars and fifty cents for snuff,
and one thousand six hundred and forty-one dollars for
horse-hire for the House of Representatives, and three
hundred and fourteen dollars for an hostler- in the Senate
for the same hire, one thousand six hundred and thirtythree dollars. It would seem to a plain, upright man, if
he were informed that this sum of three thousand two
hundred and seventy-four dollars and ninety-two cents
for horse-hire, and three hundred and fourteen dollars for




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             363
an hostler, was expended during one session, that this
Congress actually legislated for the greater part of the
time on horseback. Sir, it is mockery, cruel mockery, to
talk here about favoring the laboring classes, the agriculturists-those from whom you draw all the means for
the extravagance around us; some thousands of dollars,
MSr. President, for the very drapery over and around your
chair, while every part of the Senate chamber presents
equal extravagance. The money expended yearly, within
your iron-bound enclosures, which surround your Capitol,
was more than the yearly expenses of the Government of
the State of Ohio, which he had the honor, in part, to
represent.
" He did not wish now to look into the expenditures of
the public money in the different departments of the G-overnment; that stupendous mass of extravagance, corruption and fraud, which he feared existed; the fault of which
was, mainly, if not altogether, in the legislation aud acts
of Congress. He had confined his view to the household
economy of the body, to their furniture, the dress of their
chamber, and their pin-money alone; and he hoped they
would begin the work of reformation and retrenchment
at home. The people had been " salted " quite sufficient in
this branch of the public expenditure, without adding to
the amount fifty thousand dollars for printing these
British salt documents.
"He hoped Senators would pause, and look back at what
they had done. The amount paid for printing had been
enormous. The Post Office Report-some thirty thousand
copies, or more —had been printed at about fifty thousand
dollars cost, with a view of' enlightening the people, as to
the alleged corruptions of that Department; and what
had this printing done? Furnished.a fat job for the
printer —and the whole story is told. He had heard of
their being used as wadding for cannon, fired to celebrate
Democratic victories! He thought this an effectual mode




364         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
of distribution, and commended the inventor for his wit.
In his part of the country, this document, with others,
under which the mails groan, franked by members of
Congress, was distributed in country stores, and used for
wrapping paper for tea, and other articles.
" Thus we had gone on, printing and distributing books
and documents, until the practice had become a serious
drain upon the Treasury, and almost a nuisance in the
country; they were used, not for information, but as
weapons for political warfare, by contending parties."
The extravagance of Congress, in public printing, and
in other things, as here described by Mr. Morris, has
greatly increased since he was in the Senate. The cost of
three publications, during the Congress of 1853 and'4,
"' Perry's Japan Expedition," " The Pacific Railroad Survey," and "Ellis's Report," cost over one million of
dollars; and the present Congress of 1856, voted each
member over a thousand dollars worth of books, printed
at the expense of the people.
EXTRACTS FROM HIS SPEECH ON THE CURRENCY, AND SAFE KEEPING
OF THE PUBLIC MONEYS.
What, Mr. President, is the question before us? It is,
does there exist a vital, inherent power in this Government, that Congress can call into action, for the purpose
of preserving, and keeping safely, the money contributed
by the people, for the purpose of carrying on the functions
of Government, between the times of its collection and
disbursement in pursuance of law, and that, too, without
any foreign or extraneous aid? To a plain and honest
man, unacquainted with the intrigues of office, or the
wiles of speculators, to ask this question would be to
answer it.
The position assumed is, that Congress is bound to
provide a currency for the country. I can by no means
admit this argument, in the sense in which it has been




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.            365
urged in this debate. Congress furnish, in fact, a currency for the country! If so, fromn what source is that
power derived, and in what form is it to be exercised?
Congress, by the Constitution, has power to coin money,
and regulate its value, and the value of foreign coins.
This provision of the Constitution by no means authorizes Congress, to make or increase the currency, by the
mere act of Government, either for its own use, or the use
of individual citizens. It would be a dangerous practice,
and at war with every principle of our Government, for
Congress to exercise or possess a power like this.
I admit, that in despotic or monarchical Governments,
where power is claimed not to be derived from the people,
but jure divino, the power to supply their own Treasury, by
their own authority, is claimed and exercised. It is the
peculiar prerogative of the crown to make its own money.
That power, in this country, belongs to the people. The
Government can have no money, but by their permission.
The people have in their Constitution provided, that gold
and silver shall be the material of which money shall be
made; and they have given the power to Congress to coin
it, and regulate its value. Congress has declared by law
the shape and size of money, and the inscription it shall
bear. They have also caused to be erected a mint, a great
national workshop, where money shall be made; they
have erected machinery and employed workmen for this
purpose, all at the public expense, and the operation is
called coining; but Congress have no power to dig the ore
or purchase bullion, in order to make money for the use
of the Government. The mint belongs to the people; it
is for their use; it is to make money for them, free of
personal expense, out of their own metal, and for their
own benefit; and how much, or how little they will have,
like all other articles of property, depends on themselves,
and will be regulated by their means, their industry, their
fancy, and their taste; and the Government is under no




366        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
more obligation to afford aid to individuals in this pursuit, than it is to aid them in rearing cattle, or in acquiring
any other species of property. It would be as dangerous
to public liberty to permit the Government to enter into
competition with individual enterprise, in this particular,
as it would be to enter into competition in the trade, commerce, manufacturing, or agricultural pursuits of the
people.
Hence the wise men who framed our Constitution, have
prescribed that the Government shall have no other
income for its support, but what the people shall contribute, by taxes, duties, imposts, excises, the sale of the
public domain, and the borrowing of money. If I am
correct in the positions I have assumed, and upon which
I have no doubt, what becomes of the argument —that
Congress is bound to furnish a currency for the country?
It is lost, having no foundation whatever on which to rest.
Gentlemen urge on us another system, which they call
the credit system - a concentrated and corporate credit,
which circulates in the form of bank notes, and which
they contend, is the purifier of our morals, the reformer
of the age, and whose benign influence scatters peace and
smiling plenty on the country, and without which we
would retrograde in a short time, at least to a semibarbarian age. Permit me Sir, to examine for a moment,
this credit system. Gentlemen say that the Government
is making war upon that system, and thus destroying
confidence, upon which the whole prosperity of the country depends. Sir, in my opinion, we have too much,
instead of too little credit; too many of our citizens are
endeavoring to live on credit, instead of industry. These
consist of the trading and speculating classes. And they
are asking the aid of the Government, to enable them to
seize upon the property of the laboring and production,
classes, and appropriate it to their own use, by virtue of
this credit system. Credit belongs to man.in his individual




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             367
character, not in his corporate capacity; and it is the
essence of oppression and tyranny for the Government to
bestow upon it a fictitious existence, in order to give them
a credit which they never could otherwise have, and for
which, in that character (their individual character), they
are not responsible. It is to my mind impossible for the
Government to lend its support to the credit of any man
or set of men, without producing injury to others. The
Government has nothing of its own intrinsically: what it
bestows upon one, it must wrest from another; and it
would be as highly impolitic, unjust, and despotic, for the
Government to seize upon the individual credit of the
country, and force it out of its natural channel according
to its pleasure, as it would be to seize upon the entire
property of the country for the same purpose. No country can be free, where the Government thus interferes
with the private concerns of individuals, for the purpose
of adjusting the balance of wealth among them.
On first taking my seat in this body, I was surprised to
hear that the practice had been to permit those who had
the public money in their hands, to use it in trade or speculation, between the time of its collection and disbursement. Large sums were then being paid into the treasury,
for which the Government had no immediate use. I was
asked if I would permit those sums to lie idle until
expended by operation of law? Surely I would. I thought
then, and I think now, that it would be better for the
country that they should have been entirely lost, even
burnt in the streets of Washington, rather than be used
for the corruption of the people. But, Sir, other counsels
prevailed, the money was ordered to be deposited in the
State Bank, a measure to which I gave an unwilling
assent. The banks were told to loan liberally on those
deposits. And what has been the consequence? A host
of borrowers were immediately found at the banks, who,
in the pursuit of fancied wealth, neglected the ordinary




368        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
and substantial pursuits of life. Loans were obtained,
and many estimable young men, who otherwise would
have been valuable and useful citizens, became speculators in practice, and gamblers in principle. The Government thus tempted them to leave the sober, honest walks
of life, for the uncertain pursuit of riches; and they forgot
that excellent prayer, the best ever put into the mouth
of man, "Lead us not into temptation."  Thus, this
valuable class of our citizens were prevented from adding
to the permanent wealth of the country. They became
borrowers, dependants upon the banks; they forgot that
word of truth, " That the borrower is the servant of the
lender," and it seems to be forgotten here. A gentleman
near me, Sir, says that slave is the original word; yes,
Sir, the borrower is the slave of the lender! Who, Sir,
will dispute this? Thus, that manly independence of
mind that should mark the American character, is
exchanged for a miserable dependence on soulless corporations, and in the midst of this wild course of extravagance, the banks themselves become involved, they close
their doors, refuse to refund to the Government the money
deposited, or to discharge their other liabilities to individuals. What a monstrous picture of corruption.
Born, Sir, and cradled in the lap of the Revolution, my
infant mind received its first impressions of Government
from that Constitution under which we now live, formed
by the wise and good men of that day. I was taught to
believe that the great object of the Revolution, and the
end proposed by the Constitution, was the security of the
individual liberty — not the promotion of individual
aggrandizement, or the means of procuring individual
wealth. It was to secure the blessings of liberty, of equal
rights to each and to all, to themselves and their posterity
forever. All we ask from the Government, is protection,
security from violence, and the administration of impartial justice; that the domestic fireside may be safe from




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              369
either internal or foreign aggression; that the bounties
of Providence which we have gathered through the day
by the labor of our own hands, may be safe from the
midnight robber; in fact, that we may all sit with safety
under our own vine or our own fig tree, and none be suffered to make us afraid.
We claim neither the vine nor fig tree of Government;
nor do we wish the power or means of Government to
enable us to avail ourselves of the labor, or possess the
vineyard, of another. Riches and wealth should be the
reward of individual industry, frugality, and economy —
and not acquired by the favor or patronage of Government. Yet the whole of the arguments against this bill,
are based upon this principle —the principle that the
Government is bound to furnish the means to the citizens,
not only for obtaining a livelihood, but of accumulating a
fortune. Sir, this is the language of tyranny and despotism -to promise the people much, for the purpose of
gaining sufficient power to rob them of all. I heartily
agree in the sentiment expressed by the President —
" That all communities are apt to look to Government for
too much. Even in our country, where its powers and
duties are so strictly limited, we are prone to do so,
especially at periods of sudden embarrassment and distress. But this ought not to be. The powers of our
excellent Constitution, and the people who approved it
with calm and serious deliberation, acted at the same
time on a sounder principle. They wisely judged, that
the less the Government should interfere in private pursuits, the better for the general prosperity. It is not its
legitimate object to make men rich; or to repair by direct
grants of money or by legislation, in favor of particular
pursuits, the losses not incurred in public service. This
would be substantially, to use the property of some for
the benefit of others; but its real duty -that duty, the
performance of which makes a good Government the most




370        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
precious of human blessings-is to enact and enforce the
system of general laws commensurate with, but not
exceeding the objects of its establishment; and to leave
every citizen and every interest to reap under its benign
influence, the rewards of virtue, industry, and prudence."
The President further says -" I can not doubt that on
this as on all similar occasions, the Federal Government
will find its agency most condusive to the security and
happiness of the people, when limited to the exercise of
its conceded powers. In never assuming for a well-meant
object, such powers as were not designed to be conferred
upon it, we shall in reality do most for the general welfare. To avoid every unnecessary interference with the
pursuits of the citizens, will result in more benefit than to
adopt measures which could only assist limited interest."
Sir, these are the sentiments of our Republican citizens,
and of that eminent man whom they have called to preside over the affairs of the country; they are sentiments
in the belief of which I have grown up, and they now
form the creed of my political faith, and in the belief of
which I expect to die. But, Sir, this is not the political
doctrine which the opposers of this administration inculcate. Their doctrine teaches a servile dependence of the
people upon the Government for the promotion of individual or local interest; a doctrine which makes the
people nothing within themselves, and the Government
everything for the promotion of their pecuniary interest.
This is the doctrine of despotism, and the means by which
tyrants have always seized upon power. Establish it
here, and your boasted liberty will be but an empty
sound, a mere delusive phantom, of which you will soon
lose even the sight.
It has been thundered in our ears, that the great question is, whether the people shall have bread or no bread?
This sound was first heard from the consuming classes of
our great commercial cities; it originated with those who




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             371
not only lived upon their own credit, but had sold that
credit to their laborers and dependents, and when it failed
and became worthless for want of a " basis," they came
forward and asked the Government to sustain it in its
sinking condition, by permitting them to amalgate it with
the credit of the Government; and because this unjust
application is refused, they raise the cry of bread or no
bread, and declare that the Government is withholding
bread from the people; indeed this false and groundless position is assumed on this floor. Gentleman have
asserted the same thing r-indeed, they have gone still
further. It has been said (but I do not deem it necessary
to designate gentlemen by reference), that "the duty of
the Government, as I understand it, is to provide
bread for the people."
" The duty of the Government to provide bread for the
people! " Clothing also, I suppose! This idea of providing by the Government for the private wants of the
people, has in it nothing new. It has been long practiced
by men whose object was the overthrow of their country;
and we find this scheme resorted to, in almost every age
of the world.
When the unnatural son of the Jewish King wished to
dethrone his father, he made use of this same principle.
He told every man who had any application to make to
the Government, that his matters were just and right; but
there was no one deputed to hear him; and he, also, told
all such, that if he were made Judge in the land, that he
would do every man justice. I fear, Sir, the same disposition is felt and breathed from many a heart in this our
day. " Oh! that I were made President of these United
States, then should every man have bread." I trust the
last scene of Absalom's career will not be theirs. And
Watt Tyler, too (if I mistake not the name), promised
the people of England, in his attempt to break down the
Government of that country, that when he obtained rule,




372        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
a four-penny loaf should be sold for two pence, and the
price of ale should be reduced. He also endeavored to
make the people believe, that a change in the Administion would give them abundance of bread. In every age
and in every country, in which the people have not relied
for their support and comfort upon their own individual
industry, but have consented like cattle, to be fed from
the public crib, the downfall of freedom has been sure,
and the establishment of despotism certain.
I have always believed that the happiness of a country,
and the safety of Republican institutions, were to be found
in an industrious and rich population, with a poor and
just government. All the public works executed and
owned by any Government, have a tendency to strengthen
its powers, and make it arbitrary and despotic, by reducing the people to the condition of its laborers, dependants,
or tenants. It has also the direct effect to increase official stations, and the arrogance of office; and I am well
satisfied, that if the Government now owned all the canals,
railroads, and turnpikes in the United States, and should
reduce the fare, it would not be to the advantage of the
country, because it would soon change the nature of our
Republican institutions- except we prefer a Government
to rule over the people, instead of a Government to be
ruled by the people, we might then put off the honest
garb of home-industry, and glitter in the livery of
power.
The following are extracts from his speech on the Bill
to appropriate, for a limited time, the Proceeds of the
Sales of Public Lands, and to grant Lands to other States;
delivered in the Senate, April, 1836.
" The Committee assume in their Report, that there is a
vast surplus of revenue in the Treasury; that this state of
things is not desirable, because its natural tendency is to
produce extravagance in appropriation, and wastefulness




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              373
in the expenditure of the public money. This is a truismn, in part, not to be controverted; but if it be true
that this surplus actually exists, it is strange that the
Committee, after having discovered this wasteful disease,
and its cause, instead of recommending a radical cure,
should propose to extract the infectious matter from this
Government, and diffuse it into the State Governments,
and thus innoculate the entire body politic. To prevent
its effects here, this political empiricism would be productive of the most fatal results. The reduction of the customs, which would be a complete and effectual cure, the
Committee believe can not, or rather ought not to be
resorted to, because it would awaken, as they say, feelings
dangerous to the peace and harmony of the country. And
the reason assigned for this strange conclusion is, that the
tariff law now in force, is the result of compromise of the
opinions of citizens in different sections of the Union, and
ought not to be disturbed, unless a strong political necessity calls for some new modification. The first position
assumed by the Committee, I believe to be founded in
error, and calculated to mislead the public mind.
"The tariff, as it now exists, is not the compromise of the
opinions of the citizens in the different sections of the
country, because it is too evident to require proof, that
the citizens of the United States have constantly been
opposed to a protective tariff, and to the collection of taxes
either directly or indirectly, to a greater amount than
would be necessary for the support of the Government;
and on this ground have they constantly opposed the
whole doctrine of internal improvements by Congress.
The present tariff law is rather the result of a compromise
between individual members of Congress, representing
different sectional interests of the country, and was
entered into for the advancement of those interests, independent of any consideration of results, as operating upon
the citizens generally, in each and every section of the




374        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
Union. The measure was a foul conception, and producedl
an unnatural offspring. Its first born was an attempt to
bind the hands of any future Congress from legislating on
the subject, for a given term of years: its next has been
to accumulate money in the Treasury, which may be used
to corrupt this Government, or be used for corrupting the
Governments of the States, as may best suit the interest
or convenience of those who have, for the time being, the
power of its disposal. And under this unnatural state of
things, it is said that the present rate of duties must be
continued, and kept up for the proper regulation of commerce, and may be necessary for the ordinary wants of
Government. If this last be true, then indeed ought not
the customs to be reduced? and if sufficient for the ordinary wants of the Government is to be raised by the
customs, then the public lands ought no longer to be
considered as a source of revenue; but I confess I am unable to see either the truth or force of the former part of
the argument. Duties for the proper regulation of commerce, does not depend on the amount, but on their
equality in the different ports of entry in the United
States. If this be correct, and I deem it an undeniable
position, then the whole argument, on this point, falls to
the ground; for surely the customs can be so lessened as
to reduce entirely the whole surplus revenue in the
Treasury. The attempt to tie up the hands of a future
Congress, by the mere operation of a law, is still a more
palpable error. The legislative power of the country is at
all times equal; it has no bounds but the Constitution, and
ought to have no other guide but the public will: where
that leads it ought always to follow. It is essential to the
welfare of the country, as well as the maintenance of
equal rights, that the legislative power should constantly
be free and unencumbered; but this never would be the
case if its deliberations could be prevented from being had
on any subject by existing laws, over which it ought not




LIFE OF SENATOR  MORRIS.             375
to exercise any control. It would establish this dangerous
principle, that the power of the people is not always
competent for the maintenance of their rights. The proposed measure of increasing the appropriations for fortifications, the navy, and general defense of the country, is
not by the Committee attempted to be directly negatived;
but it is said that large and liberal appropriations of
money for these purposes, though just and proper in itself,
can not be well applied, and ought not to be made, because
it is not in our power to supply proper materials, and
skillful engineers for this purpose. This is, at least, the
force of the argument; and on account of this exigency,
no more than ordinary appropriations ought to be made.
I am at loss for words to express my surprise at this argument; nor can I, for a moment, admit its correctness; I
can view it in no other light than as a libel upon the American people, and an imputation on their skill and industry;
that people, whose inventive faculties and mechanical
genius have not only surpassed former ages, but is the
wonder of our own, and who have subjected the very elements to the condition of a laborer in their employ; that
this people should be told by their representatives that
they have not sufficient knowledge to erect forts, build
ships, and other public works to any extent, and in the
best possible manner, is an assertion as new as it is
unjust.
" The reducing the price of the public lands, or the
ceding them to the States in which they lie, is next considered by the Committees.  The first objection to a
reduction of price is, that it would tend to reduce the
price of real estate generally. This objection is not well
founded; the price of an article is a relative term, wanting
both stability and uniformity: it is the effect, not of reason
or justice, but frequently of caprice or whim, and not
unfrequently of taste, convenience, or necessity. But as
to the public lands, justice, reason, convenience, and




376        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
necessity, all seem to unite in requiring Congress to reduce
the price; and if this argument of the Committee be valid,
it applies with equal force against the introduction or erection of any new machinery, or the establishment of any
new trading house; for those now in existence will be
lessened in value thereby, a position which I believe the
Committee themselves would not contend for.
" The next objection to a reduction of the price of the
public lands, is, that it would operate to the injury, not
the benefit, of the country in which the lands are situated.
This argument is attempted to be sustained on the same
grounds as the former, but making its application more
local, by the assertion, that it would reduce the price of
all land in the neighborhood, pro rata with that of the
public land. In reply to this argument, I beg leave to
remind the Committee, that the united voice, and almost
unanimous opinion of the people, in all the States in which
the public lands are situate, is against them, as well as
the opinion of every intelligent and unbiased citizen who
has any correct knowledge of the new countries. They
all well know, that the Government which secures the
greatest quantity of happiness and comfort to the people,
is unquestionably the best; and that the surest means to
accomplish this desirable end, is to enable every man to
become a freeholder, so that he can have the satisfaction
of saying, that some spot, however small, is his own; that
the Government of this country is bound to protect him
in its quiet enjoyment, and that, when he shall return
from his daily labor to his hearth and his fireside, none
shall be suffered to make him afraid: the sleep of such a
man will be quiet, and his repose sweet: and no matter
how coarse his fare may be, his love of country will never
fade nor languish. Such men as these are the true riches
of Government, and will always be found ready to defend
their country for their country's sake. It ought to be
our most ardent wish, and constant policy, to provide




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             377
means by which every man in the United States might
become a freeholder, if that freehold did not consist of
more than twenty-five acres; indeed, it matters not so
much as to quantity, if a right to the soil be the lot of
every citizen.
" Another objection, made to a reduction of the price
of the public lands by the Committee, is, that it would
encourage speculation, and throw the whole of the public
domain into the hands of sharp sighted capitalists, who
would be enabled to retail it at advanced prices to actual
settlers. This objection is more showy than solid, for
every day's experience teaches us, that speculation in
articles of high value is more common than in those of
low; when the Government lands were sold at two dollars
per acre, speculation was as much complained of then as
now. It is the relative, not the actual value of an article,
that induces speculation. But this objection is easily
obviated by providing for the sale of the public land to
actual settlers only, and in limited quantities.
" The last, and which the Committee consider the most
important objection to the reduction of price in the sale
of public lands, or ceding them to the States in which they
are situate, is, that the several States, by their deeds of
cession to the United States, vested only a trust power,
and that the Government of the United States is only the
mere trustee of the several States, bound to carry into
effect the grants made by the States for the specific purposes intended by the grantors; and when those purposes
are fulfilled, the residue of the grant does, and of right
ought to revert to the States; and extending the trust
power further than I believe it has ever been extended in
equity, they give the trustee the power to change the
nature of the trust, and convert the land into money, and
distribute that among the States.  And one further
stretch of the imagination leads the Committee to conclude,
that lands acquired by the United States by virtue of
32




378        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
treaties made since the adoption of the Constitution, have
been paid for by money had from the sale of lands ceded
by the States, and, according to the rule laid down, they
subject the pro'eeds of these lands to the like disposition.
" My first objection to this fine-spun and subtle theory is,
that I have serious doubts that the sovereign power of
a country, at least the sovereign power of this Governnent as vested in Congress by virtue of the Constitution
of the United States, can, in any case, become a mere and
naked trustee; though it may be said the idea is borrowed
from monarchical power, yet it is no less correct, that
the sovereign power of a country, be it vested in whom it
may, is supposed to be constantly employed for the public
good, and that no partial care can enter into its composition. It can not subject itself to control by any part of
those over whom its constant duty is to watch for the
welfare of all; nor can it act in subordination to any
other power; for, in either case, it would be an abrogation of sovereignty. But it is not absolutely necessary to
sustain the argument that I should rely exclusively on
the general doctrine that the sovereign power, where it is
primary, original and confined in its operation only by
Constitutional limits, as in the case with the Legislative
power of the States, can not be a trustee; vet in a Government like that of the United States, where its whole action
exists and is brought into operation by grants, the exercise of its power must be limited and brought expressly
within those grants; and I contend, that in no part or
clause of the Constitution of the United States, is the
power granted to Congress to become a trustee in any
case; no, not even for the purpose of diffusing knowledge
among men. But if such power can be inferred from the
Constitution, it must be from some general grant in that
instrument; and if so, by virtue thereof, the United States
can not only act as trustee for the several States, but may
be the trustee of any foreign gentleman or State whatever.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             379
This Government, if this position be correct, can become
the trustee of the Barings or Rothschilds in the management of any money concern they may think proper to
establish in this country, whether it be for the diffusion
of knowledge among men, or of buying men for political
purposes without knowledge, or at least, without virtue.
fUnder this general trust power, as it is presented to my
mind, and as admitted, and, indeed, contended for by the
Committee, Congress can become the trustee of the Bank
of' England; the trustee of the East India Company, or
of any foreign Government whatever; and thus act in the
double capacity of an American Legislature, and as agent
or trustee for another power, however inimical that power
may be to our own. Indeed, I can not see but Congress,
by becoming trustee, can effect any object they wish, no
matter what that object is, whether within the granted
powers of the Constitution or not. Congress may have in
view a favorite object of an internal improvement, for the
benefit of two or more favorite States; they may bestow
upon, or, in the language of the bill, distribute to these
States millions of the public revenue; and it may be well
understood that the States are to create Congress a trustee
for the express purpose of expending this money according to their own wish. There can be no end of abuses of
this kind if Congress can act as trustee, and accomplish
that which they can not do by direct acts of Legislation.
I contend, in the next place, that the deeds of cession
made by the States to the United States, did not create a
trust, nor were they so intended; they contain no words
of limitation, but such as are applicable to the exercise of
power by Congress in every other case.
" Take, for example, as the Committee have, the deed of
cession made by Virginia. The only words of limitation
mentioned by the Committee, and they are the only ones
in the deed, are, that the land ceded shall be considered a
common fund for the use and benefit of the United States,




380        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
members of the federal alliance, ahd shall be faithfully and
bona fide disposed of for that purpose, and for no other
use or purpose whatever. These words, which are now
to operate as a talisman, and change the money received
for public lands from the character of revenue, into that
of property held by the Government in trust for the
States, are nothing more, nor can they rightfully receive
any other construction, than to place the avails of the
public lands on the same footing as the proceeds of taxes,
duties, or customs. The money received from all or either
of these sources, is the revenue of the country, and Congress is bound in good faith to consider it a common fund
for the use and benefit of all the United States, as a joint
confederacy, and not as a fund belonging to the States
severally; and Congress have power only to apply the
whole, or any part thereof, to such objects as are exclusively within the power of this Government, and to no
other use, intent, or purpose, whatever.
" But there is an inconsistency in the views of the Committee, which they seem to have entirely overlooked.
They contend that this Government, as trustee, ought to
distribute the proceeds of the public lands to the States
in severality, while the very words of the trust which
they claim, are, that the land shall be a common fund for
the use of the States as a joint confederacy. This very
inconsistency proves the fallacy of their whole system.
" That the United States acquired a full and absolute title
to the lands ceded by the States, I think is clearly evident,
because Congress have granted portions of these lands to
States, as well as individuals, without any compensation
given for the same; and titles made in pursuance of such
grants are unquestionably valid in courts of law, and the
power of Congress in this particular, as being rightfully
exercised, has never been questioned in public opinion.
" In my own mind, I am perfectly satisfied that the public lands of the United States may be granted by Congress




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             381
to the individual States in which they lie, or to individual
persons, with or without compensation, as the safety or
security of the United States shall require; but when
converted into money, and paid into the Treasury of the
United States, they assume a different character; they
are revenue; and that Congress can apply the revenue
of the country to internal improvements, or make a
donation of it to States or individuals, has been constantly denied by a great majority of the American
people.
" If we are to consider the distribution contemplated by
the bill as a mere gratuity on the part of this Government,
and that Congress has no power to define the purposes to
which the States shall apply it - and this principle seems
to be admitted by the bill itself —I should be glad to
know what could prevent Congress from distributing to
twenty-four individuals, or any other number, this money,
instead of a distribution among the States. I can see no
difference in the principle governing the two cases; and
the exercise of power, in my view of the subject, is as
clearly unconstitutional in one case as the other; though
a distribution to individuals would so shock the moral
sense of every man that, with one united voice, it would
be declared that Congress had most grossly violated the
Constitution, as well as being guilty of an act of moral
turpitude.
" There is another view of this subject still more appalling. It is true that Congress, by the Constitution of the
United States, have no power to make any law respecting
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; but if Congress have power to create a surplus revenue, and power to make a distribution of the
same, they can in effect render null and void this provision
of the Constitution; they can distribute this money to any
church or sect they please, and thus as far as money and
the favor of the Government will answer, give such church




382        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
or sect the ascendency, whether the same be Protestant or
Catholic. It is said money answers all things. Congress
can then, by its use, make an establishment of religion.
There can be no doubt on this subject, if Congress possesses
the power to make the distribution contemplated by the
bill, I feel confident that I have not extended the argument
further than the premises will warrant; and I now seriously put the question to every member of this Body, if
he is prepared to say, that by virtue of the power vested
in him by the Constitution of the United States, he has
the right to vote an appropriation of money to be paid
out of the Treasury of the United States, for any of the
purposes which I have mentioned? I do not believe there
is one Senator who will openly and positively avow such
right.
"As you lessen the necessity for the States relying on
their own means and exertions for their support, you
destroy their ability to do so; their increasing weakness
becomes the strength of this Government, and thus
enables it to supply additional means to make the States
still more weak. The very money you bestow, although
it may make the State rich in a pecuniary point of view,
yet those very riches will be the bane of equality and
freedom. Suppose the money you bestow should be sufficient to enable the State to become the owner of every
canal and leading road in its jurisdiction, and to hold the
same as Government property; the first result would be
a host of officers to' eat out the substance of the people,
and destroy their living;' the next to bring into existence
a class of men who would of course become the tenants,
laborers, and dependents of the Government, instead of
being free citizens of the State. When Government is a
large property holder, the inevitable consequence must
and will be distinctions in society. The wealth of the
country will be found in the lesser number, and power
will be more secure in the hands of those who are




LIFE OF SENATOR  MORRIS.            383
intrusted with the management of public affairs, until the
very condition of landlord and tenant will be found to
exist between the officers of Government and laborers for
the State. It is, in my opinion, a perfect absurdity to
suppose that the principles of democracy and equal rights
can long exist in a State that is herself a large property
holder.
" The public lands ought to be looked to as a source of
wealth belonging to future generations, not on account of
the money they will bring, but for the population they
will sustain. A steady, industrious, contented and fixed
population, are the riches of a country. A provision of
the above kind, would, in my opinion, produce that effect;
a residence of three years would produce the blessings
and attachments of home, while the sale of the freehold,
even at an advanced price, would seldom be an inducement to part with it, because a larger quantity of land in
most cases could not be purchased elsewhere, and thus
contentment would ensue, while the products of the farm
would enable the younger branches of the family to provide themselves a home upon the same terms. The next
beneficial result would be, to check at once the fearful
speculation in public lands that is now in progress, and
that ruinous system of borrowing that is resorted to for
that purpose; and those now engaged in that business
would then turn their attention and means to some other
pursuit that would advance the growth, prosperity and
permanent wealth of the country. And last, though not
least, it would dry up one of those sluices, through which
money that is not needed is constantly pouring into the
Treasury; and it would preserve for our children and our
children's children, even to remote generations, an opportunity of acquiring a freehold on the same terms as was
afforded to their fathers. But if we sell this valuable
estate now as fast as possible, for the highest price that
can be obtained, and make that and not the settlement of




384        LIFE OF SENATOR M ORRIS.
the country our object, and then distribute the proceeds
among the several States, for the purpose of having it
expended, spent, or squandered, we act the part of an
improvident spendthrift, who, having acquired by descent
a large landed estate, converts it in to money as fast as possible, for the purpose of gratifying his vanity, or acquiring
power and influence by corruption and fraud.
" In the next place, I would repeal the entire duties on
all articles that are used in any manner or form in the
diet of the country; and to show its effects upon that part
of the country in which I reside, I would instance the
duty on sugar alone, which we now pay into the Treasury
or as a bounty to the manufacturer; take the duty off that
article, and the price would be reduced at least two cents
on the pound. The bill contemplates giving to the State
of Ohio about one and a half millions of dollars as her
proportion of the spoils for three years; and the profession
of the friends of the bill are, that they wish to give this
money back to those who paid it, and as they can not do
that, they will approximate as nigh as possible, by giving
it to the States. Every family in the United States, I
presume, uses sugar, and for the argument I will allow
one hundred pounds per annum to each family of
five persons. In Ohio we have probably three hundred
thousand families who pay a tax on sugar of six hundred
thousand dollars yearly. In three years we pay one
million eight hundred thousand dollars tax on sugar
alone; repeal this.tax, and you in effect give to each
family two dollars per annum-a sum larger than will be
distributed to them by the bill, could its friends make its
operation as they profess to wish; but if the surplus
revenue be so extravagantly large as has been represented, I would go one step further, reduce the duties on
articles of wearing apparel of the coarser texture, which
are used mostly by the laboring classes, so that the
revenue of the Government will not exceed its just wants,




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             385
and you will relieve the State of Ohio, in one year, from
the payment of a much larger amount than is proposed
to bestow upon her by the provisions of this bill.
" It has been also said in the course of this debate, as
matter of alarming tendency, that it is claimed for the
President that he is the representative of the people, and
that General Jackson has put up such claim in his own
behalf, as the single representative of the whole people
of the United States. Whether these assertions be well
founded or not, I think it unnecessary to inquire. I have
never been alarmed at the cry of danger from Executive
power. That power, though extensive in its operations,
is held under so many checks and restraints, that I have
always viewed it the weakest and least dangerous of the
three great powers of this Government. It is in the first
place an elective power by the whole people for a short
period of years; and being intrusted to a single person, it
is watched with the most vigilant attention, and the least
departure from correct principles is deeply noted in the
public mind. It is a power which can originate no
measure, but is the agent, and subject to the orders of
the other great powers of the Government. Being in
the hands of one man, he is subject to impeachment
by the Representatives of the people; and the Senate,
with the Chief Justice at its head, are his judges. It
would be strange indeed, if the Executive power, thus
checked and circumscribed, first by the people, then by
the other powers of the Government combined, should
ever become dangerous to the liberty of the country.
The framers of the Constitution have thrown too many
guards around it to excite any such fear. I am myself
clearly of opinion, that if the liberties of the people of
this country are ever destroyed, it will be the act of an
American Congress; and the first scene of the grand
drama, constituted as the Senate now is, will take place
in this Body."
33




386'       LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
When Michigan sought admission into the Union, in
1836, a controversy arose between her and the State of
Ohio, as to the geographical boundary line between them.
The Constitution of Ohio, and that of Michigan, in
defining their respective territorial boundaries, came in
conflict; Michigan claiming a portion that was included in
the geographical limits of Ohio, as described by her Constitution, and established by the Act of Congress, in
admitting Ohio into the Union. The Controversy occasioned no little excitement in both States, and each threatened to maintain their rights by force of arms. Governor
Lucas, of Ohio, an early legislator and an honest politician
and man, called an extra Session of the Legislature, to
determine what Ohio would do in the case. The question
came before Congress for settlement, when Michigan
asked admission into the Union, and was one of grave
interest and importance to the National Legislature. In
the Senate, a select Committee, of which Mr. Benton was
Chairman, was appointed; and many of the Senators participated in the debate, which the controversy originated.
Mlr. Ewin- and Mr. Morris, Senators from Ohio, made
lengthy speeches, in defense of the claims of Ohio; the
question was settled by an Act of Congress, and in favor
of Ohio. Brief extracts from Mr. Morris's able speech,
made in the Senate, on the 10th of March 1836, are here
recorded:
" Let it be constantly borne in mind, that Ohio, on this
question, comes before Congress, as a sovereign State;
that she is not soliciting a favor, but demanding a right;
that she claims to have the clear grant of the Territory,
in dispute between her and Michigan, and appeals to
Congress to withdraw the incumbrance they have cast
over her title.
" In the year 1806, I first had the honor of a seat in the
Legislature of Ohio. No one then doubted the Constitu.
tional boundary of the State; no one thought of a




LIFE Or SENATOR MORRIS.               387
provisional boundary subject to the after control of Congress, or that any assent of Congress then given or withheld, without the consent of the State, could possibly make
any alteration of the actual existing boundary. But, as the
country in the Northwest part of the State was then unsettled, and its geographical situation not well understood,
and as political movements of much importance were
then taking place in the United States; the attention of
the General Assembly was not turned to this subject
during that Session. But the next Session of the General
Assembly took up the subject, and after expressing belief
that the due east and west line drawn through the
Southerly extreme of Lake Michigan would not intersect
Lake Erie, or would intersect that Lake east of the Miami
River or Lake, they, therefore, instructed their Senators
and requested their Representatives in Congress, to obtain
a law to ascertain and define the Northern boundary of
the State, and fix the same agreeably to the proviso contained in
the Sixth Section, and Seventh Article of the Constitution. The
succeeding session reviewed the request, and also in the
Session of 1811. Congress, in 1812, passed an act to
authorize the President, to ascertain and define certain
boundaries. This act was passed in pursuance of the
repeated applications of the General Assembly of Ohio,
but, (the war of 1812, intervening) was not carried into
effect till 1816. In that year, President Madison directed
the Commissioner of the Land Office to authorize the Surveyor General to run and mark the Northern Boundary of
Ohio; in pursuance of this authority the Surveyor General
directed William Harris, to run and mark the line to
which Ohio asserted jurisdiction, and which he contends
is the true northern boundary. This officer (the Surveyor General) had been President of the Convention
that formed the Constitution of Ohio; was the first
Governor of the State, and afterward Senator in Congress.
As a faithful public officer, he ~was bound to carry into




388        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
effect the instruction of the President. Governor Worthington, who had formerly been a member of the United
States Senate, from Ohio, in his message to the General
Assembly, in 1817, declared that the Northern boundary
of the State, had been lately ascertained, Tunder the authority
of the United States. The message on this subject was
referred to a committee who reported' That the Congress
of the United States, fully assented to the proviso in the
Constitution of Ohio, by their acceptance of the State into
the Union.' A resolution, in accordance with the boundary line, as defined in the Constitution, was reported and
adopted.
" Permit me here to pause, and ask the solemn question,
how public compacts are to receive construction, action,
and validity? We have seen what the compact was, the circumstances under which it was made and the parties to
it; and I know of no better source to look for the manner
in which it ought to be fulfilled, than public opinion. It
was that which laid the foundation of our Government,
erected the superstructure, and constantly supports the
whole edifice. Let us then test this compact by the public opinion in Ohio. The Constitution of her State was
formed when her Territory contained less than fifty
thousand inhabitants, and up to the present moment,
1836, when the same Territory is teeming with nearly, if
not fully one and a half millions-during all this time,
and under every change of circumstances and men, that
there has been but 9ne undivided, unbroken opinion in
the State, on the question of her northern boundary; and
that is, that the northern boundary of the State is established by the Constitution, and is where the line has
been lately re-marked by the authority of the Legislature.
To this fact, all the public functionaries of the State, have
borne ample testimony, as well as the united voice of her
citizens. Can it be possible that any portion of the enlight.
ened citizens of this country, acting in the sovereign




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             389
character of a State, can, in a question of Constitutional
right be mistaken, and that mistake persisted in, for more
than thirty years; or that a million and a half of our
citizens are so unjust, that they ask an alteration in the
boundaries of the State, and are willing it should be
resolved into a question of mere political expediency.
Sir, I can not thus libel the people of Ohio. I can not
believe it.
"In January, 1805, Congress passed an act establishing
the Michigan Territory, and by the provisions of that
act imprudently, if not unwittingly, extended the Southern boundary of that Territory, over the Constitutional
limits of Ohio. The authority of Michigan, I think, was
not attempted within those limits until 1818, and after the
authorities of Ohio had assessed a tax on the people living within that part of the State included in the Michigan
Territory, by the act of Congress before mentioned. After
this took place, some of the inhabitants applied to the
Governor of Michigan for commissions as Justices of the
Peace, and other offices, under the authority of that Government, which were readily granted; and thus commenced the jurisdiction of Michigan within the borders
of Ohio. After the possession of the disputed territory
was thus acquired by Michigan, under color at least of an
act of Congress, the application of the military of Ohio
would have been unjustifiable in regaining the possession
at that time, and would be so still. Congress having cast
over our boundary another title, and possession being
obtained under that title while we slept, the President of
the United States, who is bound to take care that the
laws of Congress are faithfully executed, would have been
required by a faithful discharge of his duty, to have sustained the jurisdiction of Michigan against a military
force, until Congress should have withdrawn the jurisdiction of that Territory beyond the boundaries of Ohio;
and this is all that Ohio now asks.




390        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
"'The people of Ohio will not, I know they will not,
endanger the peace and safety of the country by an
attempt to prevent the operation of an act of Congress by
force. They have already had too many evidences of the
justice as well as the liberality of Congress, to believe
that this will ever be necessary. But this disposition on
the part of Ohio, the forbearance of her citizens, will not,
I hope, be construed into an abandonment of her rights,
or a dulness in comprehending them. Let it be remembered that Ohio has claimed jurisdiction of the country in
contest between her and the State of Michigan, as her
undoubted right, being included in her Constitutional limits;
nothing short of a recognition of this principle will
satisfy her people; and it would be an act of humiliation
to the State, to give to her territory to which she has not
a Constitutional right, as an act of law, of equity, or
political expediency.
" Suppose, Sir, you give Ohio the boundary claimed by
the State, on the score of political expediency, will it not
be expected that Ohio, under this obligation, will, on the
score of political expediency, be bound to favor the political views of the donors, for the favor bestowed. It may
be thought that the smallest return she could make would
be to act with, or for you in future elections, if it should
be at the expense of her honor, as well as Constitutional
rights. It will be an entire mistake, if you expect to
conciliate the favor of the people of Ohio, by letting them
know that the Constitution gave them no such right, but
that the same was granted out of your abundant favor
and good will, as an act of grace. Is not this the language
you hold to Ohio, when you talk of political justice and
expediency? Ohio, I am fully persuaded, will never so
far humble her honor and self-respect, as to acknowledge
such a principle.
" We ask for nothing but justice-naked, simple justice;
but we ask that, not as an abstract principle, but as our




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             391
undeniable right. It seems strange, to me at least, that
we should feel so much disposed to assail the Constitution
of the State, and be constantly looking after some principle, by which we can, with some degree of plausibility,
claim the honor of adding to Ohio a strip of territory,
which we would make her citizens believe the Constitution of the State had not secured to them; when, if we
would look directly to that instrument, and make it the
rule of our action, we would find it sufficient for our purpose, and there written all we ask for.
"Are the boundaries of a sovereign State to depend on
the fluctuating legislation of Congress? This doctrine of
depending exclusively on an act of Congress for their
boundary, will not satisfy the people of Ohio. They will
require something more permanent; and they will not
cease their endeavors until Congress withdraws all jurisdiction foreign to their Constitution and laws, North of a
direct line drawn from the most Southerly extreme of
Lake Michigan to the most Northerly cape of the Miami
bay, and thus recognizing the jurisdiction of the State,
under the provisions of their own Constitution, and which
they are fully satisfied no power on earth, but themselves,
has any right to alter, abridge, or restrain, in a single jot
or tittle."
EXPUNGING RESOLUTIONS.
In March, 1834, the Senate of the United States passed
a resolution condemnatory of President Jackson, for the
removal of the Deposits of the public money from the
Bank of the United States. The act of removal created
great excitement in Congress and throughout the Union.
Mr. Clay offered a resolution of censure, which was
passed. Mr. Benton avowed his settled determination to
persevere until the resolution of censure was expunged
from the Journal of the Senate. After renewing his
Expunging Resolutions for several Sessions, it was carried,




392        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
by a vote of twenty-four to nineteen, on the 16th of
January, 1837; and the Secretary of the Senate, in the
midst of the silence of the Senate, and a crowded gallery
of spectators, proceeded in a formal manner, to draw black
lines around the resolutions of censure, and to write in
strong letters across the face of it —' EXPUNGED, BY
ORDER OF THE SENATE."
Senator Morris received from the State of Ohio, which
he in part represented, resolutions instructing her Senators to vote for the Expunging Resolution.  These
resolutions were passed by the Legislature of Ohio, in
January, 1836; and Mr. Morris presented them to the
Senate on the 31st of March, 1836, and on their presentation made the following remarks:
Mr. President-It becomes my duty, a duty I owe to
the State and the country, to present these resolutions.
I take this occasion to say, and I have no doubt of the
fact, that these resolutions express the sentiments of a
vast majority of the people of Ohio. I venture this
opinion without fear of a successful contradiction; for it
will be remembered that during the session of Congress,
which has so appropriately received the name of the PANIC
session, resolutions were passed by the Ohio Legislature,
instructing their Senators in Congress to aid in sustaining
the President in the removal of the public money from
the Bank of the United States, and to oppose a re-charter of that Institution. We were then told with great
confidence, that the General Assembly had altogether
mistaken the opinion and wishes of their own constituents, and those upon whom resolutions of this kind were
designed to operate, took an appeal from the constituent
body to the people at large; and to influence the public
judgment the people were told, that should the Deposits
not be restored and the Bank re-chartered, a most deleterious effect upon the trade, prosperity, and welfare of the
country would be the consequence; that in fact it would




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             393
make our " canals a solitude, and our lakes a desert waste
of waters." The long, loud, vehement, and repeated
denunciations of the President for his act in removing the
Deposits, the fearful forebodings so strongly and eloquently urged on this floor as to the fatal issue of that
act, all coming in aid of the means used by the Bank in
producing distress in the country, took some effect, and
operated for a moment, on the public mind in Ohio. It
threw into each branch of the General Assembly for that
year, a small majority opposed to the Administration;
but even that General Assembly, elected as it was under
the full pressure of Bank power and panic speeches, had
not the temerity to instruct the Delegation in Congress
from Ohio, to vote either for a restoration of the Deposits,
or a re-charter of the Bank; they well knew that such
instructions would be a violation of the public will, and
they still, in appearance at least, paid so much regard to
that, that they did not attempt it, but contented themselves with a bare repeal or rescinding of the resolutions
passed on that subject at the previous session, and thus
in order to save themselves and friends, indirectly denied
the right of instruction by the Legislature of their Senators in Congress. The appeal to the people was then
perfected, and the issue thus made, fairly presented to
the voters of Ohio, to be tried at the election held in
October last, and what has been the verdict? A solemn
decision that the right of instruction exists in the Legislature, and that Senators are bound to obey. That verdict is recorded, and judgment pronounced in the resolutions I now offer. But, Sir, that judgment has also been
reviewed and re-affirmed, and is presented here with a
double force, not only as the opinion of the last General
Assembly, individually considered, but as required by the
people of Ohio at the hands of their Representatives (as
the General Assembly has rightfully declared) in the passage of these resolutions. It is hoped and expected, that




394         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
this high and solemn mandate will not be entirely disregarded, and the requirement of the General Assembly
altogether useless. The obligation that a Senator is under
to his own State, and the duty he owes, are of too sacred
a character to be dispensed with. Disobedience by a
Senator to the instructions and requirements of his State
as expressed by her Legislature, is a deep and festering
wound in the vital principles of our institutions, which if
not speedily cured, will soon assume a fatal ulcer. It is,
in the first place, a total abrogation of the doctrine that
the Legislative Body is the true representation of State
sovereignty. And it gives to the Senator, for the time
being, all the attributes of despotism, the full and free
exercise of his own will and authority, without accountability. But, Sir, could any one for a moment entertain
such doctrine, and deny to the Legislature the right of
instructing Senators of their States? yet in this case the
resolutions offered have another and different support,
little inferior to the Legislative Body itself, and probably
more conclusive to the real sentiment of the people on
this important subject. The Convention which met at
Columbus, on the eighth of January last, composed of
about five hundred members, representing upward of
sixty counties, being nearly the whole number in the
State, by a unanimous vote, passed a resolution in the
following words:
" Resolved, That we regard the right of instruction as
the sheet anchor, the main pillar of our freedom, and that
we are determined never to surrender it, but to the last
to stand by it. Convinced as we thoroughly are, that it is
only by the frequent and rigid exercise of this invaluable
privilege, that the Democratic character of this Government can be preserved, we believe the agent who disobeys
to be unworthy the confidence of his constituents, and
that he ought to resign his seat."
" It is true, this Convention was composed of men friendly




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.             395
to the present Administration; and as a doubt no longer
exists, that a majority of the people of Ohio are of the
same opinion, the Convention thus re-affirming the principles of the resolutions passed by the General Assembly,
must satisfy every man, that Ohio requires her Senators
to vote as instructed by the Legislature. But, Sir, this is
not all; we had another Convention, a grand Whig Convention, held on the 22d of February last, and they claim
that a number of returning prodigals had come into their
ranks, and the great ox, instead of the fatted calf, was
killed; and they had much rejoicing; and it is hardly
necessary to say, that opposition to the Administration
was their watchword; and while they boast of having far
outnumbered the former Convention, they did not open
their lips on the subject of the resolutions of instruction,
passed by the General Assembly. In the pride of their
strength, they were endeavoring to catch the popular gale,
and well knew that opposition to those resolutions would
prove their overthrow. I have before me, a paper containing an accotunt of their proceedings, and I find no
resolution pro or con on the subject of instruction to Senators here. This silence is evidence of approval by our
political opponents in Ohio, or that they well knew that
the people of that State strongly disapproved of the condemnatory resolution passed by this Senate. This exciting subject had occupied public attention. Almost every
man in Ohio had thought and conversed on the question,
and the Whig Convention, no doubt, would have used it
to their advantage, if in their power.
Under this highly responsible situation, we are called
to act and vote; and the great question is, shall we do
our own will, or the will of that sovereign power who sent
us here? It is a hopeless warfare to be contending
against our States; it is a kind of moral treason, for
which, sooner or later, we must expect to suffer the penalty. It is wisdom then, for us to make our submission at




396        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
once; and when we are called to vote on the resolutions
offered by the Senator from Missouri, that we vote in their
favor. I have now strong hopes that Ohio will be united
in her vote here, on this important question. Her Senators appear to pay the highest respect to the resolutions
of her Legislature. I hope the one I now offer will not
form an exception to our general conduct. Can we refuse
our obedience on the ground that this resolution requires
an unconstitutional act? We ought to pause before we
make this excuse, and well distrust the correctness of our
own opinion, when it comes in contact with the opinion
of our State, repeatedly, and I may add almost, if not
entirely unanimously expressed, not only of our own
State, but of twelve States; while not a single State has
expressed a contrary opinion. It is the opinion of the
State, and not the individual agent, that ought to be
known and felt here. If the agent is unable, from conscientious motives, to express that opinion, his path of
duty is plain before him.
These extracts not only give the views of Mr. Morris
on the various subjects discussed, and his ability to comprehend and express them in a clear manner, but also
show that, as a public Servant, he was faithful to all the
interests which he believed were connected with the
prosperity and welfare of Ohio, and the Nation.




LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.               397
CHAPTER XXVII.
His Private Life and Personal Characteristics - Liberality to Poor and
Honest Young Men-Thomas L. Hamer-His Life and Character-Mr.
Morris's Son pronounces his Eulogy in Congress-An interesting factHis Sense of Justice and Tenderness-Lines on the Death of a Granddaughter-His Dislike to Idler's —Advice to his Youngest Son, on
Leaving Home for College-The Editor's Reminiscences-His Religious
Faith-The Moral Significance of his life.
THE private life of Thomas Morris, deserves a brief
record. In this sphere, where the true nobleness of man
is developed, there is an honorable correspondence with the
principles that governed him, in his public career and
character. Selfishness was not the ruling element of his
private, as it was not of his public life. He felt that no
one ought to live, without exerting a good and active
influence on his fellow-men, and doing his part in the
work of humanity and benevolence. In his own way he
did his. He was a friend to the poor and oppressed, and
no honest person, in want, ever went from his door, without receiving practical sympathy and aid.
His liberality was unbounded and disinterested, toward
poor and honest young men, struggling for honorable
advancement in life; and he had a pleasurable pride, in
witnessing their success in life. Few men, perhaps, were
more ready or were, under similar circumstances, more
liberal in means and sympathy, to encourage and bring
forward men, in the walks of public life, than was Mr.
Morris. His influence lives in those who have been, and
now  are, prominent and influential, in the civil and




398         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
political history of the country. They have risen to distinction, filled with ability high offices under the Government of Ohio, and of the nation, and gratefully acknowledged their obligations to Mr. Morris for his sympathy
and aid.
One such, now sleeps in an honored grave. He rose from
obscurity and poverty, to great prominence and influence
in the civil and military history of Ohio and his country.
Inl early life, as a young adventurer, he went forth from
an humble home, to seek fortune and fame, in the wide
world. Friendless, without means, and with only a good
common education, he found his way to the village and
home of 3Mr. Morris. He was received into his family, and
enjoyed his patronage. Engaging, in the honorable
and useful business of a teacher, this young man, pursued
it for three years; enjoying during this time, the law
Library and Counsels of Mr. Morris, in the bosom  of
whose family he had found a home. In 1821, he was
admitted to the legal profession, and soon rose to eminence in his profession. His popularity and abilities soon
placed him in the Legislative Halls of his adopted State,
over which he presided as Speaker of the hlouse. In
1832, he was elected to represent his District in Congress,
to which position he was selected for six consecutive
years, when he declined a re-nomination. In 1845, when
the war between Mexico and the United States began, he
volunteered as a private soldier, was elected Major
General of the first Ohio Regiment, and afterward was
appointed by President Polk, a Brigadier General in the
army. his field of military glory, became his grave. On
the 2d of December, 1846, before the city of Monterey, in
Mexico, he died with fever. In October, 1846, two months
previous to his death, his old District in Ohio, re-elected
him to Congress. In 1847, Jonathan D., eldest son of
Thomas Morris, was, without opposition, elected to fill
the seat in Congress vacated by his death. On the 23d




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              399
of January 1848, Jonathan D. Morris, in pronouncing in
Congress a just eulogy, on his predecessor THOMAS L.
HAMER, after a recital of his early life, and political and
professional career and character said:
"The intellect of General Hamer was clear and discriminating. Iie was cautious, energetic, affable, and his
colloquial powers were peculiarly fascinating. The purity
of his character, in the private and domestic relations of
life was never questioned. He was unwearied in his efforts
to improve his powers, and though nature had been
liberal to him, it is, mainly, to this course on his part,
that we are to look for the reason, for his great attainments as a Statesman and a lawyer. His friends being
aware of this, claimed that his career would be onward,
and that, if he had lived, his final triumph would be the
the receiving of the highest honor which men can bestow
on man."
His remains were re-interred in Georgetown, Brown
County, Ohio, his home, at the expense of the State.
It is a singular and honorable coincidence, that Thomas
Morris should be the means of aiding a young man of
high talents and ambitious aspirations, and that he, after
a brilliant career in the civil and military history of his
country, and dying in that service, should have his eulogy
pronounced in the Halls of Congress by a son of him, who,
thirty years before received him as a friendless youth,
and aided him in the achievements which cluster around
his active and honorable life. MIr. HIamer, a few years
before he died, acknowledged his indebtedness to Thomas
MIorris, declaring his willingness to aid, if necessary, any
child of the friend and patron of his early youth. This
liberality of 3Mr. Morris has been repaid in the success of
those to whom he extended practical sympathy and aid.
A sense of justice, equal and exact justice, to all men,
independent of circumstances, or conditions, or color, was
one of the strong and marked elements in his character.




400          LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
In professional, political, and private life, this trait had a
bold and manly development, and gave executive energy
to his acts. His strong sense of justice mnay not have
graced him with a winning suaviter in modo, yet it gave him
the ardent fortiter in re-a purpose to hold on and to carry
out the ends of justice everywhere.
And this element was blended with a kind and benevolent heart.  Though seemingly it was not prominent in
outward development, yet his nature had a rich vein of
genuine sympathy and kindness running through it. The
sorrows and bereavements of life of which he had in his
own family a full share, melted his heart into tenderness.
He was called to bury four married daughters, from
twenty-four to thirty years of age, each leaving a family
of small children, some of whom he adopted and educated
with parental affection and interest.
The following lines will exhibit the tenderness of his
heart in the sorrows of life. They were written after
visiting the grave of a pious and accomplished granddaughter, who, after completing her education, fell a victim, at the age of eighteen, to consumption. At the
request of her three surviving sisters, he penned thesestanzas:
Dearest sister, gone forever
From this scene of care and wo;
The tie that bound us death did sever,
Yet calm and peaceful didst thou go.
April's sun, and vernal flowers,
Saw thee gently pass to rest;
Now the rose which friendship gave thee,
Grows and blossoms on thy breast.
The friendly giver, wan and feeble,
In fond remembrance weeps thy doom,
And kindly asks, if the rose she gave thee,
Is green upon thy early tomb.




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.                       401
Sainted mother -sainted sister,
Lie sidle by side in quiet sleep;
Though the grassy hillock hide you,
Yet our heart your memories keep.
When late we viewed thy graves together,
Deepest grief our hearts did fill;
Yet resigned we checked our sorrow,
For'twas our Maker's holy will.'Tis flesh that dies, the spirit lives
Immortal, in a world Divine;
And hope its brightest prospects sheds,
That now that better world is thine.
Though parted here, we hope to meet you,
When the toils of life are done;
In a world of light to greet you,
A world of light without a sun.
The meek example thou hast set us,
Will, we trust, with us.abide,
That our walk in life may fit us
To die, when called, as thou hast died.
He had an intense hatred for idleness.  Himself a hard,
practical worker, in his profession or at manual labor, he
could not tolerate idleness in others.  His motto was:
" Faint not in all the weary strife,
Though every day with toil be rife,
Work is the element of life;
Action is light; -
For man was made to toil and strive,
And only those who labor live."
He left this moral legacy to his children, in the advice
he gave to his youngest son, a young man of rare intellectual powers, and purity of moral life, who went to an
34




402         LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
early and lamented grave, in the autumn of 1842, in
Quincy, Illinois. When that son left home to pursue his
Collegiate education, the motto that his father put in his
memorandum book, as a souvenir of parental affection, and
a guide to moral conduct, was, " Idleness is the bane of every
enterprise, the downward road to ruin. Let strict morality,
untiring industry, rigid economy, and a steady perseverance, be
your constant aim and practice." A motto that will lead all
young men, if adopted, to honor and prosperity.
The editor of this work remembers with gratitude, the
many lessons of practical wisdom and morality he received
during his five years of College life, at Miami University,
Oxford, Ohio; and, as he is indebted to his father, for
whatever of influence or good he may have achieved in
the Ministry, or in society, he esteems it a privilege that
he has been, through a kind Providence, permitted to
compile the life and labors of Thomas Morris, and to leave
them as a living monument to his country, and his
descendants. He was, as a parent, deeply interested in
his children, and spared no means to qualify them for
usefulness and success in life. " It is my aim, my wish,"
(said he), "so to bind together my family, that there may be
perfect harmony and mutual assistance given to each other;
without this few families can prosper.
He was not a religious man in the church acceptation
of that term. He had an unshaken faith in the Divinity
and truth of Christianity, and acknowledged that its obligations were binding upon all men; yet, like too many of
our public men, he did not publicly yield his heart and life
to its practical power. The general harmony of his political
principles with the moral teachings of Christianity, and
his frequent reference to the Bible as the fountain of all
good, and of the highest authority, in legislation and in all
human conduct, evinces his faith in its Divine origin, and
its essential importance to all the interests of men. Nothing afforded him greater pleasure than to witness the




LIFE O0' SENATOR MORRIS.             403
members of his family become pious, and join a Christian
church.
The record of his life and services here closes, and they
have a suggestive and a noble moral significance. They
are not surrounded with the halo of a military hero, nor
the transient reputation of an ambitious and successful
politician, nor the renown of a great statesman; yet they
are the record of a moral hero, a true patriot, of a life
devoted to freedom, and the true welfare of his country.
His memory and services will live in the history of freedom, and the great principles he advocated, undying in
their nature, will have universal triumph and a perpetual
ascendency in the nation and the world. His life illustrates the great fact, fixed in the moral constitution of
things, that truth and right are imperishable, and that
true and immutable principles, are the only basis upon
which to build solid character, lasting renown, or to gain
the final and permanent favor of the world.
That he had his faults, said his friend, Dr. Brisbane,
none will deny; that he sometimes erred in practice, as
well as in judgment, is but the common lot of humanity.
That he had enemies, is nothing more than the best
men have always suffered. That even friends were
alienated from him by their misconstruction of his motives
and acts, is only proof that they who do not know another's heart, need that charity which covers the multitude
of sins. He was a man, not faultless indeed, but who as a
husband, as a father, as a friend, as a citizen, was valued most by those who knew him best.




404         LIFE  OF SENATOR  MORRIS.
CHAPTER  XXVIII.
HIs Death and Dying Exclamations —Burial - Monument over his
Grave-Its Inscription-Notice of his Death by the Friends of
Freedom-Dr. Bailey's Notice and Analysis of his character-Meeting
of the Liberty Party at Cincinnati-Vote to Erect a Monument to his
Memory, in Hamilton County-Final Remarks.
HE died suddenly, on the 7th day of December, 1844.
In perfect health, with his intellectual powers unimpaired
by age, his physical system in vigorous activity, and his
heart still warm in the cause of human freedom, he was
stricken down by a fatal attack of apoplexy. Engaged
in early morning, in making preparation for a visit of
affection, to bring the invalid family of his eldest living
daughter to the paternal home, he felt the disease coming
upon him. He hastily entered his dwelling, sank upon
the floor, and, with an audible voice, exclaiming three
times, " Lord have mercy on me," expired, in less than five
minutes. He died on his homestead farm, four miles from
Bethel, Clermont county, Ohio. After the repose of a
Sabbath, on the following Monday his remains, surrounded
with a vast concourse of neighbors and friends, were
entombed in the grave yard of Bethel. Ere the rites of
sepulture were completed, his son, a Minister of the Gospel,
stepping upon a hillock of dirt beside his grave, about to
receive all that was mortal of Thomas -Morris, addressed
a few brief words, commemorative of his life and the Providence of God, and offered a prayer, and the solemnities
of the funeral scene were ended.
The spot of his burial is in a retired rural village,
in Clermont county, in the service of which he so long




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              405
labored, as a Lawyer, and a Legislator. If ever the
lover of liberty, or the friend of' the slave, should visit
that apot,.e will find in that cemetery of. the dead, a
marble monument, which the filial affection of his children has erected to his memory; and on that monument
may be read this brief inscription:
THOMAS MORRIS:
BORN JANUARY 3D, 1776. DIED DECEMBER 7TH, 1844.
AGED 69 YEARS.
UNAWED BY POWER, AND UNINFLUENCED BY FLATTERY,
HE WAS, THROUGHOUT LIFE, THE FEARLESS ADVOCATE
OF
HUMAN LIBERTY.
His death was noticed by the friends of freedom, with
appropriate tokens of sorrow, and tributes to his memory
and services. A public print in the Capital of Ohio, in
noticing his death said: " He has possessed the confidence
of a very large portion of his countrymen, as a philanthropist and a patriot, and has sacrificed much of political
advancement to extend and strengthen Abolitionism in
the country."
A friend who knew him well, and a distinguished colaborer, in the great cause of freedom, Dr. Bailey, present
Editor of the N2ational Era, said, in noticing his death:
" This distinguished citizen is no more; he died suddenly
on Saturday last, at his home. On the Thursday before, he
was at our house in high spirits, and pressing upon us the
importance of soon having a Liberty Convention in Columbus. We little thought it was the last time we were to see
his face. During the past six years, we have known him
intimately, and we had every reason to respect him for




0i6        LIFE OF SENATOR  MXORRIS.
the consistency of his political views, the ardor of his
zeal in the cause of human rights, the morality of his
sentiments and his respect for the principles and precepts
of religion. In our business transactions, we have found
him honorable and generous.
" Early education, and a well disciplined judgment would
leave made him one of the most gifted, as he was one of
the most energetic and independent of our politicians.
His political integrity has never been questioned; his
political consistency, fearlessness, and firmness, have
always been admired even by his enemies. He never
seemed to seek popular applause. He neither sought to
lead, nor would he be led. He was not given to popular
arts. If ever there was a politician free from the disposition, and we may add, the ability to play the Demagogue, that man was Thomas Morris. The cause of
Human Rights, to which he had consecrated his latter
days, has lost one of its most fearless Champions. His
views were generally well sustained by sound principle
and logic. He was indeed remarkable for the boldness of
his propositions, and the force with which he sustained
them.
" Thomas Morris will live in the hearts of the friends of
freedom  throughout the Union.  His noble stand in
defense of liberty, in the Senate of the United States, can
never be forgotten. The mass of the American people
may now think of him only as a fanatical Abolitionist,
but the day is not far distant, when a monument will be
erected to Thomas Morris, and posterity will honor him
as the first who dared to raise his voice against the
despotic acts of a slavery-loving Senate.
"Let his memory be honored. Let the Democracy which
disowned him, be ashamed, and hang its head; let the
friends of freedom weep over his grave: for when, in
coming time, it shall be asked, whose was the ONLY voice
that was raised in indignant rebuke of the most eloquent




LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.              407
of Senators, when he lifted his hand to crush the cause
of freedom and its advocates, the answer will be:' It was
the voice of the INTREPID Thomas Morris.'"
In Cincinnati, the friends of freedom who had labored
with Mr. Morris in the cause of human rights, at his
death issued a call for a public meeting, in these words:
"The sudden decease of our honored co-laborer in the
cause of human freedom, Thomas Morris, has spread a
universal sadness among us. It seems to be the unanimous sentiment that those who, in times past, witnessed his
courage, disinterestedness, and unshrinking consistency
in the cause of human rights, should meet to express
their regard for his memory. A pillar in the Temple of
Liberty has fallen. There are few of us now to mourn
over its noble ruins. The patriot heart grows sad when
the voice is hushed that rang forth its trumpet tones
against National Evil, and the heart ceases to throb whose
strongest pulsations were against oppression."
In obedience to this call the friends of freedom met in
Wesley Chapel, in Cincinnati, on the 20th of December,
1844, and passed the following resolutions, offered by
William Birney:
WHEREAS, it has pleased an all-wise God to remove
from among us, by sudden death, our distinguished fellow
citizen, Thomas Morris; and as it is becoming to pay a
tribute of respect to the memory of departed patriots,
who have illustrated by their virtues, the history of their
countryResolved, That we can never cease to admire the lofty
and disinterested patriotism of Thomas Morris, manifested as it was by a consistent public life of nearly forty
years.
Resolved, That posterity will honor him as the efficient
Legislator, the incorruptible Judge, the able Senator, and
above all, the bold and conscientious Advocate of Human
Rights.




408        LIFE OF SENATOR MORRIS.
Resolved, That we shall cherish his memory, because he
preferred Truth to party, Humanity to ambition, and his
Country to the emoluments of office.
Resolved, That we are encouraged by his noble example
to renewed efforts for the abolition of slavery, and will
adopt for our motto the closing words of his celebrated
Speech in the Federal Senate-" The Negro shall yet be
free."
Resolved, That a Committee of three, with power to add
to their number, be now appointed to receive contributions, for the purpose of erecting at some point in
Hamilton county, a suitable monument to the memory of
the deceased.
TE  END.