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THE POLITICAL OPINIONS

THE UNITED STATES,

IN 1860 AND 1790,

IN REGARD TO THE GOVERNMENT,

THE CONSTITUTION,

NATUHALIZATION & SLAYEEl

SEPTEMBER, 1862.

POLITICAL OPINIONS

IN THE

XJISriTED STi^TES.

Mr. Lincoln, during the late Administration, delivered speeches
in different parts of the Union, in which he assailed the Presi
dent of the United States, the Supreme Court of the United States
Congress, and the Democratic party, not only did he deliver these
speeches, but also approved their publication. If we are to believe
Mr. Lincoln, he did this " under the single impulse of resistance to
a common danger," which he believed would subvert the Consti
tution and destroy the liberties of the nation. Mr. Lincoln was then
exercising the right 0/ speech and of the press, guaranteed to every
American citizen, in order that he might use them for the preserva
tion of that Constitution, the Charter of American Libertr, by
which, and for the preservation of which they were guaranteed.
Did any one deny to Mr. Lincoln these rights ? Did any one say
that Mr. Lincoln should be imprisoned for exercising them ? Wo.
The freedom of speech, the freedom of the Press, and the Constitu
tion of the United States were then committed to a Democratic
President, in whose keeping they were respected, and the malevo
lent assaults and accusations of Mr. Lincoln and the Black Repub
lican party were trumpeted throughout the land, and men who had
held the highest and most honorable offices of government, men who
had been honored and esteemed by great, good and wise men of the
nation, and had received the approbation of the people, were villified
and abused, and for what ? Because their opinions and actions in
conrfomity with their oath of office were not in accordance with the
wishes and sentiments of a minority party that has endeavored to
subvert the established principles and precedents of the government,

4r BLACK KEPrBLICAN IDEAS.
sanctioned during the vhole pnctding existtiice of the na'ion. Mr.
Liui oln in i860 was, by a minority vote, elected to tlie Pre>ideney
of the United States, and wliat has he done since hi- inaiigur.ition ?
He has suppressed the freedom of speech, the frjejubom of the
VREEs, the wRrr of habeas corpcs, and the CosTiTmox of the
L'nited States. Ee has seized innocent citizens without process of
law, and east them into distant dungeons. He has retained them
there without au accusation and discharged them without a repara
tion. And all this he has done in violation of his oath of ofSoe,
and under the plea of necessity. The Constitution neither recog-
uize# nor sanctions any such acts of necessity. It was not made
for its own destruction, but for its preservation. It recognizes not
the Sovereign right of a Dictator, bi.t the Sovereign right of the
People. It was made for peace, for war, for rebellion, and for the
|iuiii»hinent of the President who violates his oath, and tramples
on theP.dladium of the liberties of the People.
Hear what were the warnings of Washington, who conducted the
armies of the L'nited States successfully through the wars of the
Revolution, who was one of the framers of the Constitution, who
established the government, and was truly first in war, first in peace,
and first in the hearts of his countrymen. Here his words and
reflect, " One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within par
ticular districts is to misrepresent the opinions end aims of other
districts.' You cannot shield yourselves too much against the
jealousies and heart-burnings which spring from these misrepresai-
tatiom; they tend to render alien to each othei-, these who ouwht to
be bound together by fraternal aftection."
•' This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced
and unawed, adopted upon full investigatiou and mature delibera
tion, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its
^lotpers * * * has a just claim to your confidence and your
support. Respect for its authority, cotnpliance tcith its laws, acqtties-
reiue in its measiii-es, are duties enjoined by iiu fundamental mcunms
of true liberty."

BLACK REPUBLICAN IDEAS. 5
" All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations
and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real
design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation
and action of the constituted authorities are destructive to this
fundamental principle and of fatal tendency. They serve to or
ganize faction, to give it an artful and extraordinary force, to pu(
in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a
MlNORiTT, often a small but artful enterprising minority of
the community."
" However, combinations or associations of the above description
may now and then answer popular ends. They are likely, in the
course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cun
ning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert
THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE AND TO USURP FOR THEMSELVES the
reins of government ; destroying afteuwards the vert engines
which have lifted them to unjust dominion."
" Towards the preser ration ef your government, and the permanency
of your present happy state, it is requisite not only that you steadily
discountenance irregular opposition to its acknowledged authority,
but also that you resist with care the spirit of i;jnovation upon
ITS PRiwciPLEs, however SPECIOUS THE PRETEXTS. One method of
assault may be to effect in the forms of the Constitution, alterations
which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine
what cannot be directly overthrown.^'
" It is, indeed, litth else than a name, where the government is
too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each mem
ber of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, ard to
maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of
person and property."
" The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened
by THE SPIRIT OF REVENGE, natural to party dissentions, which, in
different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid en
ormities, IS itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at
length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders
and miseries which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek

t> BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
security and repose in the absolute power of an individual ; and
sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able
or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the
purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins op pitblic liberty."
"It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free
country should inspire caution in those intrusted with its adminis
tration to confine themselves within their respective constitutional
spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to
encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to
CONSOLIDATE THE POWERS OF ALL THE DEPARTMENTS IN ONE, AND
THUS TO CREATE whatever the form of government, a real despot
ism. * * * The necessity of reciprocal checks, in the exercise of
poHtical power, by dividing and distributing it into different deposi
tories, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against
invasions by the other, has been evinced by experiments, ancient
and modern ; some of them in our own country and under our own
eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them.
If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modifications of
the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be cor
rected by an amendment, in the way in which the Constitution
designates. But let there be no change bt usurpation- for
though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good. It is
the customary weapon by which free governments are des
troyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in perma
nent evil, any partial or transient benefit which the u&e can at any
time yield."
" It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary
spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more
or less force to every species of free government. "Who, that is a
sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to
shake the foundation of the public."
Promote then as an object of primary importance, institutions
for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion, as the
structure of a "government gives force to public opinion, it is
essential that public opinion should be enlightened..'"

BLACK KEfUBLICAN IDEAS. 7
"In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of ;in old
and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong
and lasting impression I could wish ; that they will contiol the
usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from nmning
the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations ; but
if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some
partial benefit some , occasional good ; that they may now and
then recur to moderate the fury or party spirit, to warn against
the mischiefs of foreign intrigues, to guard against the impos
tures or pretended patriotism, this hope will be a full recom
pense for the solicitude lor your welfare, by which they have been
dictated." Such were the counsels of the Father of his Country, and how
have they been heeded ; it is, now, treason to tell, treason to defend
the liberty which he bequeathed, treason to assail the destroyers of
the Constitution, which was made for the preservation of that
liberty, treason to exercise the rights of an American citizen. And
who are they that now rule this unhappy country ? The Black
Republican Party, with William H. Seward and Abraham Lincoln
for its leaders. And what have been the principles and policy of
this parly, and the doctrines of its leaders? And what are the prin
ciples and policy of the founders of this government? This is wh;.t
I shall attempt to show in the following pages, in which I have
quoted freely from Mr. Lincoln's speeches, he being the representa
tive of the Black Republican Party.
In these quotations I have endeavored to condense what was
essential, and discard what was superfluous, and in doing this I
have, in some instances, been under the necessity of leaving out
irrelevent intermediate substance, if in doing so there should be any
injustice done to Mr. Lincoln, I disavow any intention of having
made these quotations in this manner for that purpose, and hope
that those w ho have access to Mr. Lincoln's speeches, and peruse
this pamphlet, may collate the quotations with the original, and
j udge of their fairness and authenticity.
Mr. Lincoln, in his speech delivered at Springfield, 111., lYth June,

o black repl'blican ideas.
1858, at the close of the Republican State Convention, which had
nominated him as its candidate for United States Senator, makes
use of the following : — " In my opinion, it (slavery agitation) will
not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. A house
divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government
cannot endure permanently half slaves and half free. I do
not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to
fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become
ALL ONE thing OR ALL THE OTHER. EithCT the OPPONENTS OF
slavery will ARREST THE FURTHER SPREAD OF IT, and plaCe it
where the public mind shall rest, in the belief that it is in the course
of ultimate extinction ; or its advocates will push it forward
TILL IT SHALL BECOME ALIKE LAWFUL IN ALL THE StATES, old aS Well
as new ; North as well as South." Such was Mr. Lincoln's text on
that occasion, and it is his theme throughout his speeches. In
order to demonstrate that the tendency of slavery was to become
nationalized and universal in the United States, he brings forward the
Nebraska doctrine and Dred Scott decision, which he calls " that
now almost complete legal combinatim, the evidence of design and
concert ofaction among its chief architects from the beginning:' He
says, " we cannot absolutely know that all these exact adaptations
are the result of preconcert, but we find it impossible not to believe
that all understood one another from the beginning, and all worked
to a common plan or draft, drawn up before the first blow was
struck.'' These words of the Nebraska bill, viz: "It being the true intent
and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory
or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof
perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their
own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States."
Mr. Lincoln says "amounts to just this;— That if any one man
chooses to enslave another no third man shall be allowed to object "
Mr. Lincoln says, "while the opinion of the court, by Chief
Justice Taney, in the Dred Scott case, and the separate opinions of
all the concurring Judges expressly declare that the Constitution of

black eepublicak ideas. 9
the United States neither permits Congress nor the Territorial Leg
islature to exclude slavery from the United States Territory, they
all omit to declare whether or not the same Constitution permits a
State or the people of a State to exclude slavery."
Mr. Lincoln says, " the nearest approach to the point of declaring
the power of a State over slavery is made by Judge Nelson. He
approaches it more than once, using the precise idea, and almost
the language too of the Nebraska Act. On one occasion his exact
language is, "except in cases where the power is restrained by the
Constitution of the United States, the law of the State is supreme
over the subject of slavery within its jurisdiction." In what cases
the power of the States is so restrained by the United States Con
stitution is left an open question, precisely as the same question as
to the restraint on the po\ver of the Territories was left open in the
Nebraska Act. Put this and that together and we have another
nice little niche, which we may ere long see filled with another
Supreme Court decision, declaring that the Constitution of the
United States does not permit a State to exclude slavery frork its
limits:^ " Such a decision is all that slavery now lacks of being
alike lawful in all the States. Such a decision is probably coming,
and will soon be upon us, unless the power of the present political
dynasty shall be met and overthrown.^'' " To meet and overthrow
the power of that dynasty is the work now before all those who
would prevent that consummation."
Mr. Lincoln continues — " There are those who denounce us openly
to their friends, and yet whisper sofUy that Senator Douglass is the
aptest instrument there is with which to effect the object." " They
remind us that he is a great man, and that the largest of us are
very small ones. Let this be granted. But a live dog is better
than a dead lioij. Judge Douglass, if not a dead lion for this work,
is at least a caged and toothless one. How can he oppose the
advance of slavery. He don't care any thing about it. His avowed
mission is impressing the public heart to care nothing about it."
" Our cause then must be intrusted to and conducted by its own
undoubted friends, those who do care for the result."

10 BLACK BEPUBLICABT IDEAS.
" Two years ago the Republipans of the nation mustered over
thirteen hundred thousand strong. We did this under the single
impulse of resistance to a common danger. * * * O' strange
discordant, and even hostile elements, we gathered from the four
winds, and formed and fought the battle."
Such were the sentiments expressed by Mr. Lincoln at that time,
when he was a candidate for United States Senator, in opposition to
Mr. Douglass, when probably both of these gentlemen had an eye
to the Presidency. In annalizing this speech it will be found that
Mr. Lincoln was then speaking for the accomplishment of his present
and prospective purposes, the Senatorship and the Presidency. His
object was to establish his claims to the support of the Republican
party, of strange, discordant, and even hostile elements ; and to
destroy the popularity, the policy, and the political prospects of his
opponent, and of the party to which he belonged. Mr. Dougkss
was honored and esteemed by multitudes of friends in everj' portion
of the Union. He was not a sectional man, his noble and mag-
nanijnous patriotism embraced the whole of the Republic, the cham
pion of the equal rights of all the States, he died as he had lived,
devoted to the Union and the Constitution, a patriot, a statesman,
and a Democrat.
The Democratic party have controlled the Government of the
United States during more than two thirds of the period of its
existence. Among the Presidents elected by that party have been
Jefferson and Jackson, the two most popular Presidents since the
days of Washington ; and, strange to say, the two most abused by
the political opponenis of the party to which they belonged and the
two whose authority is most often quoted by these same opponents
in justification ol measurep, which the democracy oppose and
condemn. The foreign population or naturalized citizens of the United States
have had such weight in the politics of the country that their favor
has been courted by every party ; and as their number and import-
ance have increased with the increased facilities and rapidity f
gration from Europe, so has increased the obsequiousness and

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 11
artifices of parties, to win and secure the favor of their influence.
Both the iMme and principles of the Democratic party have to
within a few years past been approved and supported bv the
naturalized population of the United States. But about the year
1854, other political elements that had previously existed, began to
develope themselves in force, and artfully shaped to the circum
stances of the times, produced by their effect, they won by specious
appearances the approbation and support of the naturalized popula
tion. But it was not the naturalized population alone that were
deluded, but thousands of native ciiizens, honest patriots were
made the victims of artful fanatics and designing demagogues.
The policy of every previous party had been based upon national
principles and supported in every quarter of the Union. Mr. Clay,
the embodiment of the Whig principles, was not less honored and
esteemed in Pennsylvania, than in Louisiana. General Jackson, the
idol of the Democracy, was not less honored and esteemed in New
York, than in New Orleans, and these great men, as their not less
illustrious compeer, the champion of the Constitution, Daniej
Webster, knew no narrow-minded sectional prejudice but with
patriotism as comprehensive as their minds, embracing the whole
of their common country, lived the idolized statesmen of the nation,
and dying left their illustrious deeds the imperishable monuments of
their glory. But what party, and what principles have sprung into
power since the departure of these luminaries of our country in the
days of its pride, its power and its prosperity; this is the subject of
my story.
x\bolition and Republican are but different names for the same
party; the former is but the extreme of the latter, the characterizing
principles of each are the same, viz., hostiUty to slavery, the exclu
sion of it from all the Territories, the admission of no more slave
States, and the ultimate extinction of slavery in all the States. The
recognition of the social and political equality of the negro and the
white man may be considered as one of the embrio principles, not
yet fully developed and born, though it has assumed a form and
complexion.

12 BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
The constituent elements of this party is correctly described by its
" standard bearer." Mr. Lincoln, in his Springfield speech of June
1858, in which he says, '"two years ago the Republicans of the
nation mustered over 1,300,000 strong. We did this under the
single impulse of resistance to common danger, with every external
circumstance against us. Of strange discordant, and even hostile
elements, we gathered from the four words." Of such material is
the Republican party composed : of Turners, Abolitionists, Agrarians,
Radicals, Levelers, and all these notorious characters who seek
notority in the extremes of extravagancies and eccentricities, all
those austere puritanical finatics of pharisaical pretentions, all those
hypocritical, false philanthropists, whose studied display of osten
tatious simplicity and humility, but betray the spirit of satanic pride,
and envenomed malice, such are the strange, discordant, hostile ele
ments of the Black Republican party !
The Abolition party existed as early as 1789, and there is reason
to believe that it existed as early as lYSS, when political and re
ligious fanatics first began to middle with the legislation of the
country, and endeavor to impose their ideas of morality as a political
standard for the administration of the government. But though
this party has existed so long, and, notwithstanding the mischief it
has done by inflammatory appeals to the passions and prejudices of
the people of the North, and its mendacious and vindictive denun
ciation of the people of the South, its treacherous and treasonable
opposition to and violation of the Constitution, and constitutional
laws ; yet it has never, until recently, been able to assume any
political importance in the administration of the government. There
are several concurring circumstances which have lecently combined
to give importance and influence to this party. The long and con
tinued agitation of the slavery question b) this party, produced at
last the results in the South, which it had anticipated, and the
reaction of the South contributed still further to advance more
rapidly the poUcy of the Abolitionists, who, like the cowardly assassin,
provoked an assault to gratify its vindictive spirit of malice and
revenge, created the evil that exists, and justified their acts by the
mischief they produced, and thousands of the people without exam-

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 13
ining the origin and true cause of the evil, saw only what existed,
and believed only what they saw, or were taught, under the influence
of passion, to believe. Personal and private difficulties were magnified
into political and public importance, a just and proper resentment of
a personal affront, and punishment of a cowardly malicious vindic
tive vituperator, became the signal for the hostile array of adverse
parties, and the vomiting of the pent up venom of the obscene vul
tures of political factions was applauded as patriotism, and the
foolish, wicked, and despotic spirit of malice and revenge was
elevated to the dignity of statesmanship, and adopted as the policy
of a government that boasts of its wisdom, its justice, and itshberty.
The mad spirit of fanaticism sent forth its midnight assassins to
spread murder, rapine conflagration, and all the horrors of the un
restrained violence of a brutal and licentious bandit, through the
peaceful and happy homes of an innocent and unoffending people ;
and its foolish, wicked, and guilty leader executed on the gibbet
of justice was cannonized as a saint, and songs were sung in his
praise through the streets of the metropolis of the nation by the
soldiers of the government, who were marching to the same field, of
the exploits of their lauded, deplored and cannonized saint.
The Democratic party has ever been the great obstacle to the
Republicans in carrying out their schemes. To destroy that party
has been their great aim ; and the means they have resorted to ac
complish this has been in keeping with the artful, intriguing, men
dacious character of their conspicuous leaders, and with their own
blind ignorance and infatuated credulity. The South has ever been
the great ally of the Northern Democracy. The South has ever
been the devoted victim of the Black Republican party ; and the
Northern Democracy the great preserver of the peace between these
hostile sections, the barrier to the power of the Abolition party.
The destruction of these two became the necessity of that party, in
order to effect its purpose. If they could array all the free States
against all the slave States they could then destroy the Democratic
party, overwhelm the South, and carry out all their schemes. To
affect this their leaders fabricated a gigantic falsehood, a monstrous

14 BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
dogma, inconsistent, absurd, and incredible, save to ignorance,
credulity and fanaticism.
It was taught by the leaders of the Republican party that this
government could not endure half free and half slave ; that it would
become either all free or all slave ; that either the opponents of
slavery would make it all free, or the advocates of slavery would
make it all slave ; finally that the Democratic party were the
advocates of slavery. This was the doctrine taught by the leaders
of the Black Republican party, to array the Northern or free States
against the Southern or slave States, and to destroy the Democratic
party. ' This appeal to the apprehensions of the Northern people in regard
to the asserted designs of the Democratic party to impose the
institution of slavery upon all the free States, was a trick of the
Republicans, to rally to their party all the ' strange, discordant,
and even hostile elements, under the single impulse of resistance to
a common danger ;" for the very idea is preposterous, contradicted
by the whole course of events from the foundation of this govern
ment. The whole tendency of these events has been the very
reverse of the extension of slavery. There was at the formation of
this government but one free State. There are now nineteen free
States to fifteen skve States. The total area ot the United States is
3,306,834 square miles; of this area there is 1,221,457 square miles
of slave territory, including the Indian territory and New Mexico,
or the whole territory that there is any probability of ever becom
ing slave territory ; leaving 2,085,377 square miles, in which there
is no probability of there ever existing the institution of slavery.
Moreover, the whole white population of' the free States is about
twenty mMons, that of the slave States about eight millions. , The
institution of slavery could therefore never be imposed upon the free
States without their consent, and if they wished it they \vould have
it, and as they hare the power to have it, if they wished it, so have
they the power to exclude it, if they do not wish it. They have no
desire to have it, and they never will have it, and there is no power
that can ever impose it upon them but themselves. Then how absurd
and how wicked this appeal to the passions and prejudices of the

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 15
people of one section of the Union to array them in hostility against
the other, that has neither the intention nor the power to impose
the institution of slavery upon any free State, but on the contrary,
has just reason to believe that the number of the slave States will
be lessened by the gradual and constant diminution of the number
of the slaves in the border slave States, until slavery finally becomes
extinct in each one of them.
The Democrats are not the advocates of slavery. They
are the advocates of the rights under the Constitution, of
each and every State, free as well as slave. Northern as well as
Southern. The Democracy is national, not sectional ; constitu
tional, not revolutionary ; for the enforcement of the laws ; not the
violation of them; for the preservation of the Union and the Con
stitution, not the destruction of them; and when they shall rise in
their united strength the majesty of the laws and the honor of the
nation will be rospected as in the days of Jackson, the man whom
the Republicans cursed as a demon, and now praise as a demigog,
the man, the Hercules, who with one hand strangled the monster
Bank, and with the other, the monster Nullification. This man,
who was cursed from Main to Georgia, was the embodiment ot De
mocratic principles, the true type of the Democratic party. He
knew no country but the Union ; no guide but the Constitution ; no
motive but his duty ; and knowing these he disregarded the curses,
and clamours of parties, the eulogies of friends, the denunciation of
enemies, and boldly assuming the responsibility of his acts, dis
charged his duties as a patriot, a statesman, and a hero.
According to the Republican leaders the Democrats are to push
slavery foi-ward until it becomes alike lawful in all the States, while
the Republicans are to extinguish it. This wonderful discovery of
the design of the Democratic party is of comparatively recent date,
since the defeat of Mr. Freemont, as a Republican candidate for the
Presidency in 1856. It is wonderful that the wisdom and sagacity,
if not the envy and maUce of the Republican party, had not earlier
detected and disclosed this design of the Democracy to transport the
slaves from the Southern to the Northern Stages, or to re-open
the African slave trade, expressly to supply the Northern States

16 BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAgi
with negro slaves, in order to convert them into slave States. Not
only to convert them into slave States, but after they had thus been
saddled. with skvery to actually prohibit them from aboHshing it !
Such are the teachings of the Black Republican party. There is
nothing too absurd for its leaders to assert, or too incredulous for its
followers to believe.
Mr. Lincoln begins with the Republican hobby, slavery, and to
strengthen the " single impulse of resistance to a common danger,"
boldly asserts that "the advocate of slavery will push it forward .till
it shall become alike lawful in all the States," while he modestly
asserts that the moderation of the opponents of slavery will only
" arrest the further spread of it ;" thus contrasting the violence of
the one party to carry slavery forceably into every State of the
Union, with the Republican moderation to confine it to its present
limits. What does this appeal to the passions, the prejudices, the fears,
and the credulity of the Northern people amount to ? Hear him !
" All the States have the right to do exactly as they please about all
their domestic relations, including that of slavery." " / Iwld my
self under constitutional obligations to allow ihe people of all the
States without interference, directly or indirectly, to do exactly as
they please." "I do not understand that there is any place were an
alteration of the social and political relation of the negro and the
white man can be made, except in the State Legislature, not in the
Congress of the United States." Hear him again and mark it.
"The Judge (Douglass) alludes very often, in the course of his
remarks, to the exclusive right which the States have to decide the
whole thing (slavery) for themselves. I agree with him very readily,
that the different States have that right. He is but fighting a man
of straw, when he assumes that I am contending against the right
of the States, to do as they please about it (slavery). Our con
troversy with him is in regard to the new territories. We agree,
when the States come in as States, they have the right and the power
to do «s they please. We have no power, as citizens of the free States
or in our federal capacity, as members of the Federal Union, through

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. If
the general govei-nment, to disturb slavery in the States where it
exists:'' " I will say here, while upon this subject, that / have no
purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of
slavery in the States where it exists. I believe / have no lawful
right to do so, and / have no inclination to do so."
In each of these five quotations Mr. Lincoln recognizes the right
of the States, where slavery exists, to do with it as they please. In
two he acknowledges the exclusive right of these States on the sub
ject. In one he acknowledges that there is no constitutional right,
in another that he has no lawful right to interfere with slavery where
it exists. In one he asserts that he has no purpose, directly or in
directly, and no inclination to interfere with slavery in the States
where it exists. In one he agrees that a territory, when it comes
into the Union as a State, has the right and the power to do with
slavery as it pleases. Finally, he reduces the contest to a contro"
versy, in regard to new territories. Yet, notwithstanding all these
admissions, notwithstanding his accord with Mr. Douglass, in regard
to the exclusive jurisdiction of the States, where it exists, in regard
to slavery, he asserts that the policy of the Democratic party is to
nationlize slavery and make it alike lawful in all the States.
He says the controversy in regard to slavery springs from the
difference of opinion between the men who think slavery a wrong,
and those who do not think it a wrong. " The Republican party
think it is a wrong — we think it is a moral, a social, and a
political wrong. We think it is a wrong not confirming itself
merely to the persons or the States where it exists, but that
it is a wrong in its tendency, to say the least, that extends itself
to the existence of the whole nation." I will say now that
there is a sentiment in the country contrary to me, and that senti
ment is the Democratic sentiment. Thus, it appears from Mr.
Lincoln's own showing, that he intends the Democratic party as the
opponent of Republicanism, and the advocate of universal slavery.
The ideas which he advances to prove the intention of the Democratic
party to nationlize slavery are the most absurd that any ordinary
politician has ever attempted to impose upon the common sense, and
B

18 BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
credulity of the most prejudiced, infatuated, fanatical, and gullible
people. He says:— "Let any one who doubts carefully contemplate that
now almost complete legal combination— ipiece of machinery, so to
speak— compounded of the Nebraska doctrine, and the Dred Scott
decision, the evidences of design and concert of action, among its
chief architects from the beginning.'' He proceeds to mention the
three points in this great conspiracy— the first was the enacting o f
the Nebraska bill. " This opened all the national territory to slavery
and was the first point gained." " But so far Congress only had
acted, and an endorsement by the people was indispensible." " The
election came, Mr. Buchannan was elected, and the endorsement
secured, that was the second point gained." " The several points of
the Dred Scott decision, in connection with Senator Douglass'
policy, was the third point gained." These several points in the
Dred Scott decision are—" First. That no slave imported as such
from Africa, and no deoendant of such slave can ever be a citizen
of any State in the sense of that term used in the Constitution of
the United States." Mr. Lincoln remarks : — " This point was made
to deprive the negro of the benefit of that provision of the Consti .
tutiow which declares — ' The citizen of each State shall be entitled
to all the privileges and immunities of the citizens of the several
States.' " Secondly. That subject to the Constitution of the United
States, neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature can exclude
slavery from any United States territory. This point is made in
order that individual men may fill up the territories with slaves,
without danger of loosing them as property." " Thirdly. That
whether the holding of a negro in actual slavery in a free State
makes him free, as against the holder, the United States court will
not decide, but will leave it to be decided by the courts of any slave
State, the negro may be forced into by the master. This point ia
made not to be pressed immediately, but if acquesced in for a while,
and apparently endorsed by the people at an election." " Auxiliary
to all this, and working hand in hand with it, the Nebraska doctrine
is to educate and mould public opinion, at least Northern public

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 19
opinion, not to care whether slavery is voted down or up." Such is
the machinery, the m.ain and subordinate parts of an awful con
spiracy ! which, though designed " from the beginning," it was per
mitted only to the genius of Mr. Lincoln to discover, who tells not
only what has been, and is, but also what is to be, and even the
motives of the Chief Justice of the United States in delivering his
opinion. The Supreme Court, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the
President and the People, according to Mr. Lincoln's own showing
all from parts of the " piece of machinery,'' with its evidences of
.design and concert of action among its chief architects from the
beginning. Mr. Lincoln states the questions and decisions in his own peculiar
way, the language of the Supreme Court must not be confounded
with his, which states the questions and decisions to suit his pur
pose. He says : — " If I were in Congress and a vote should come
up on a question whether slavery should be prohibited in a new
territory, in spite of the Dred Scott decision, I would vote that it
should. We let this property abide by that decision, but we will
try to reverse that decision. It is based upon falsehood in the main
as to fects — allegations of facts upon which it stands are not facts
at all, in many instances, and no decision made on any question thus
placed — the first instance of a decision made under so many unfavor
able circumstances has ever been held by the profession as law, and
it has always needed confirmation before the lawyers regard it as
settled law," Now, Mr. Lincoln does not consider himself bound
by that decision, except to "let this property abide by that decision,"
which " is based upon falsehoods," " allegations of facts, upon which
it stands, are not facts at all,'" it is not law, it is not settled law.
Then of what validity is the decision beyond the individual property
to which it related ? Mr. Lincoln will tell you. Listen. " The
essence of the Dred Scott case is compressed into the sentence,
viz: — "The right of property in a slave is distinctly and expressly
affirmed in the Constitution." I believe that the Supreme Court
and the advocates of that decision may search in vain for a place in

'20 ULAOK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
the Constitution, where the right of property in a slave is distinctly
and expressly affirmed, I say, therefore, that / think one of the
premises is not true in fact." " As the Democrats believe that de
cision to be correct, and that the extension of slavery is affirmed in
the National Constitution, they are bound to support it as such.
Judge Douglass understands the Constitution according to the Dred
Scott decision, and he is bound to support it as he understands it. I
understand it in another way, and therefore I am bound to support
it in the way in which I understand it." Mr. Lincoln to sanction what
he advances, says : — " General Jackson once said each man was
bound to support the Constitution as he understood it." Thus Mr.
Lincoln disposes of the validity and obligation of tie Dred Scott
decision in this instance. Each individual is to decide upon the
correctness of each judicial decision, and each legislative act, and
be bound by them only to the extent of the conviction of his own
judgment, of their legality, or constitutionality ; and further, that de.
cision according to Mr. Lincoln, " is based upon falsehood, allegation
of facts, upon which it stands, are not facts at all," and why ? Mr«
Lincoln tells you, " I believe, therefore, I think one of the premises
is not true in fact." This may be a very convincing argument with
Republicans and Abolitionists, who beUeve in the infalUbihty of Mr.
Lincoln, But I want something more potent than Mr. Lincoln's
belief and assertion to convince me of the corruption of the Supreme
Court of the United States, Now, hear Mr, Lincoln on the other
side. He says : — " I spoke of the Dred Scott decision in nfy Spring
field speech, and / was endeavoring to prove that the Dred Scott
decision was a portion of a system to make slavery national in this
country, I pointed out what things had been decided by the Court.
I mentioned as a fact that they had decided that a negro could not
be a citizen, that they had done so, as / supposed, to deprive the
negro, under all circumstances of the remotest possibility of ever be
coming a citizen, and chiming the rights of a citizen of the United
States, under a certain clause of the Constitution, / stated that
without making q-ny complaint of it at all. I then went on and
stated the other points decided in the case ; namely, that the bring-

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 21
ing of a negro into the State of Illinois, and holding him in slavery
for two years there, was a matter in regard to which they would not
decide, whether it would make him free or not ; that they decided
the further point, that taking him into a United States territory,
where slavery was prohibited by Act of Congress, did not make him
free, because that Act of Congress they held was unconstitutional.
I mention these three things as making up the points decided in that
case," Mr, Lincoln must hold either that negroes are, or are not
citizens of the United States ; if the former then, the negro is his
political equal ; if the latter, then the negro could not be deprived
of that which he never possessed, Mr, Lincoln says he does not
make "orey complaint" in stating one of the several points of the
Dred Scott decision, and that one of the working points in this
awful conspiracy, Mr. Lincoln is not " making any complaint at
all !"
In regard to the second point, the exclusion of slavery from the
territory by Congress or the Territorial Legislature, which Mr.
Lincoln enumerates among the working points of this " legal com
bination," he says : — '• I know that in his (Douglass') speech at
Springfield, he spoke of it as a thing they had not decided yet, and
in his answer to me at Freeport, he spoke of it, so far again as I can
comprehend it, as a thing that Imd not yet been decided. I think
that he is not mistaken, in so far as it can be said, that the Court
has not decided any thing save the mere question of jurisdiction. If
any points are really extra, judicially decided then this one, as to
the power of the Territorial Legislature to exclude slavery is one of
them, as also the one that the Missouri compromise was null and
void. They are both extra judicial, or neither is, according as the
Court held that they had no jurisdiction in the case between the
parties, because of want of capacity of one party to maintain a suit
in that Court. I want, if I have sufficient time to show that the
Court did pass its opinion, but that is the only thing actuMlly done in
the case." Mr. Lincoln is as dexterous at his logical tricks as Ileller
or Herrmann at Legerdemain. He can in his peculiar way prove
that a decision has been made, and then prove that it has not been

23

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.

made. An extra judicial decision, according to Lord Mansfield, is
not a " determination of the Court," " is no adjudication."
Mr.Lincolnhas almost ane.xalted opinion of the integrity and wisdom
of the Supreme Court of the United States, as the people of the
United States has of his genius and statesmanship. He says : — "It
is my opinion that the Dred Scott decision, as it is, never would
have been made in its present form, if ihe party that made it had
not been sustained jjreviously by. the election. My opinion is that
the neio Dred Scott decision against the right of the people of States
will never be made if that party is not sustained by the elections. I
believe further that it is just as sure to be made as to-morrow is to
come, if that parly shall be sustained. The course of argument that
Judge Douglass makes use of upon this subject is preparing the
public mind for that new Dred Scott decision." It must be remem
bered that Mr. Lincoln is electioneering, is stumping the Stale of
Illinois, is a candidate in opposition to Mr. Douglass for the Senator-
ship, in Congress, of that State ; that he has the Presidency in pros
pect ; that he is endeavoiing to arouse " the single impulse of resistance
to a common danger" to rally the Republicans, " of sirawi^e, rfjs-
cordant, and even hostile elements," " gathered from the four winds ''
to fight his battle ; all this must be recollected, remembered, kept in
view, in pursuing the sinuous, labyrinth to the dark recess of his
secret motives.
The absurdity of Mr. Lincoln stating points, as decided as evi
dence of a " legal combination," " design concert of action " to
carry out a grand scheme of conspiracy to make slavery national,
and prohibit the States and Territories from excluding it, which " is
the subject of his story," if not of his complaint, and then saying
" I stated that without making any complaint of it at all" is easily
explained. The Supreme Court, according to Mr. Lincoln had de
cided that the negro was not a citizen of the United States. This
would be a good bait for the Abolitionists— this would raise a howel
against the violation of the principle of the Declaration of Inde
pendence, that "all men are created equal "—" liberty, fraternity,
and equality" had served as a good watch word to rally the popu-

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 23
lace i« the bloody revolutions of France, it might serve in a like
manner in the approaching struggle to rally the populace, the
" strange, discordant, hostile elements,'''' from the " four winds,''
under the black banner of Republicanism, that was the object of the
statement of the point.
He did not make "any complaint of it at all." Why should he
complain of it? Tlie decision of the Court was in eiccordancs with
his own sentiments. If it was not constitutional it ought to have been,
and virtually was, in as much as the denying to the negro of the
rights of citizenship, by the people of the United States, is a fact as
firmly estabUshed as if it had been made so by an amendment of the
Constitution, declaring that negroes are not citizens. The Missouri
compromise, the great hobby of the Whig party, the Quondum
party of Mr, Lincoln, the Missouri compromise made in violation of
the Constitution, converting a congressional act into a constitutional
amendment, had not a tithe of the claim to the acquiescence of the
citizens of the United States, that has this opinion of the Supreme
Court, sanctioned by the universal custom of the people. The ex
clusion of the negro from all the privileges and immunities of a
citizen of the United States, ought to be sufficient to establish that
as law, which universal custom has sanctioned for a centuary, espe
cially ought it to be so, when the right of citizenship is based upon
a political equality, for which the negro is physically disqualified by
reason of the inferiority of his organization, which qualifies him only
for the social and political equality of the race to which he belongs.
Mr, Lincoln has said that he is the standard bearer of the Republi
can party, then let this representative, embodyment of Republican
principles, speak with authority in behalf of his party. Hear
what he says of negro equality: — "I think 1 would not hold one
(negro) in slavery at am rate ; yet the point is not clear enough for
me to denounce people upon. What next? Free them, and make
them politically and socially our equals ? My feelings would not
admit of this ; and if mine would, we well know that those of the
great mass of the white people will not. A universal feeling cannot
be safely disregarded. We cannot then make them equals." Mr-

24 BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
Lincoln does nut think the iioint clear enough for him to denounce
people upon. He does not denounce any body, no not he. He
only says slavery is a '^ moral evil" a violation of the plain principles
of justice and rectitude, a crime ; an offense against the laws of
right prescribed by God and man. Mr. Lincoln proceeds : — " I
have no purpose to introduce political and social equaUty between
the white and black races. There is a physical difference between
the two, which, in my judgment, will probably forever forbid their
living together upon a footing of perfect equality, and in as much as
it becomes a necessity that there must be a difference, I am in favor
of the race to which I belong, having the superior position. I have
never said anything to the contrary." 0, no, Mr. Lincoln has never
said anything to the contrary. But horrible ! " all men are created
equal," so says the Declaration of Independence, and the Supreme
Court has decided that negroes are not citizens, and therefore the
negro has not " the right to eat the bread without the leave of any
body else, which his own hand earns," to which small dimensions
and humble condition Mr. Lincoln reduces, "all men are created
equal," and " the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi
ness." Mr. Lincoln, in his Quincy speech, says : — " At our first meet
ing at Ottawa, I read an extract from an old speech of mine, in
which extract I expressly declared that my own feelings would not
admit a social and political equality between the white and black
races, and that even if my own feelings would admit it, I still knew
that the public sentiment of the country would not, and that such a
thing was an utter impossibility. 1 have no purpose to introduce
political and social equality between the white and black races."
Mr, Lincoln, in his Columbia speech, expresses himself more em
phatically on this subject. He says :— " I am not, nor ever have
been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political
equahty of the white and black races, that I am not, or ever have
been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of quali
fying them to hold office, or intermarry with the white people ; and
I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS, 25
the white and black races, which I believe will forever forbid the
two races fi-om living together upon terms of social and political
equality. I will add to this, that / have never seen, to my know
ledge, a man, woman or child, who was in favor of producing per
fect equality, social and political, between negroes and white men."
Mr. Lincoln, in his Charleston speech, says : — "I am not in favor
of negro citizenship. My opinion is that the different States have
the power to make a negro a citizen under the Constitution of the
United States if they choose. The Dred Scott decision decides that
they have not that power. If the State of Illinois had that power,
I should be opposed to the exercise of it," Who shall decide when
doctors disagree ?
Notwithstanding all that Mr, Lincoln has said in the above
quotations of the inequality of the white and black races, and
of the inferiority of the negro race, and of his assigning an
inferior position to the negro race, he in his own classical lan
guage, "kicks his fat into the fire." He says: — "These arguments
that are made, that the inferior races a:re to be treated with as much
allowance as they are capable of enjoying ; that as much is to be
done for them as their condition will allow. What are these argu
ments ? They are the arguments that Kings have made for enslav
ing the people in all ages of the world. You wiU find that all the argu
ments in favor of king-craft were of this class ; they always bestrode
the necks of the people, and that they wanted to do it, but because
the people were better off for being ridden. I should like to know if
taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all
men are equal upon principle, and making exception to it, where will
it stop ? If one man says it does not mean a negro, why not
another say it does not mean some other man ? I have only to say
let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man —
this race, that race, and the other race being inferior, and therefore
they must be placed in an inferior position — discarding our standard
that we have left us. Let us discard all these things, and unite as
one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up
and declare that all men are created equal, I leave you, hoping that

26 BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
the lamp of Uberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no
longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal."
The avowed policy of the Republican party was to exclude slavery
from all the territories of the United States, to acquire no more slave
territory, to admit no more slave states, and to restrict slavery to
the States where it exists. Such was, until lately, the avowed policy
of the Republican party— the principles upon which that party has
risen into power, though they violate the compact between Texas
and the United States, by which Texas was admitted into the Union,
The Republicans saw that, in order to accomplish their avowed pur
poses, it was necessary to establish certain propositions as truths.
These propositions are, that slavery is a moral, a social and a politi
cal evil ; that slavery is not recognized in the Constitution of the
United States ; that slaves are not property ; that the words of the
Declaration of Independence that " all men are created equal," in
cludes the negro. Now, in regard to the first of these propositions,
it was only necessary to prove that slavery was a moral evil, in order
to demonstrate that it was also a social and political one. So the
Republicans struck at the very foundation, in order to overthrow the
whole edifice, and proclaimed their fiat to the people in the following
words : — " We think it is a moral, a social and a political wrong ;
we think it is a wrong, not confining itself merely to the persons or
the States wliere it exists, but that it is a wrong in its tendency, to
say the least, that extends itself to the existence of the whole
NATION," What is a moral evil ? A violation of the plain princi
ples of justice and rectitude- — A crime ; an offence against the
LAWS OF right, PRESCRIBED BY GOD AND MAN. Such WaS the dCCrCe
of the Black Republicans against the institution of slavery. Pamph
lets, speeches and books, disparaging southern men, southern society,
southern institutions, were freely and extensively disseminated
among the population of the North ; and itinerant lecturers sent to
fan and feed the flame of envy, hatred and malice, and all unchari-
tableness; emissaries were sent South, in the guise of teai'hers,
and governesses to sneak into the sanctuary of the domestic circle,
violate the laws of hospitaUty, and serpent-hke, sting the bosom that

liLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 27
had sheltered them. Even the pulpit, consecrated to the worship of
the God of truth and love, was converted into a political rostrum,
whence blasphemy and infidehty propagated the infernal principles
that were to sap the foundations of society, sever the Union, and
subvert our laws, our liberty and our Constitution. And Mr. Lincoln
complacently asks, " Does not this question make a disturbance out
side of political circles? Does it not enter into the churches and
rend them asunder? What divided the greai Methodist church into
two parties. North and South ? What has raised this constant dis
turbance in every Presbyterian General Assembly that meets?
What disturbed the Unitarian church in this very city (Cincinnati)
two years ago ? What has jarred and shaken the great American
Jract Society recently, not yet splitting it, but sure to divideitin the
end ? Is it not this mighty deep seated power that somehow oper
ates on the minds of men, exciting and stirring them up in every
avenue of society — in politics, in religion, in literature, in morals,
iu all the manifold relations of life." Thus have the Black Republi
cans affected, to a fatal extent, their iniquitous purposes, by " oper
ating ON THE minds of MEN, EXCITING AND STIRRING THEM UP IN
EVERY AVENUE OP SOCIETY — IN ALL THE MANIFOLD RELATIONS OF
LIFE.'' Ihe second and third proposition, viz : That slaves are not
recognized in the Constitution, and that slaves are not property, are
both made to deprive citizens of slave States, holding such property,
of their Constitutional rights in the territories, and thus exclude
slaves from the territories. The equahty of the States and of the
citizens of the Slates ; and the rights of the States and the citizens
of the States are recognized in the Constitution, which says', " no
preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue
to the ports of one State over ttiose of another." " The citizens of
each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens
in the several States." "No person held to service or labor in one
State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in conse
quence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such
service or labor," " The Congress shall have power to dispose of and

28 BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or
other property belonging to the United States ; and nothing in this
Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the
United States, or of any particular State."
Mr. Lincoln's sophistry on this subject is worthy of transcribing
as a specimen of the logical powers of the embodiment of the Re
publican party and principles in the present incumbent of the seat
that has been graced and honored by the wisdom and patriotism of
a Washington, a Madison, a Jefferson, and a Jackson. Mr, Lin
coln says : — " The essence of the Dred Scott decision is compressed
into the sentence : — ' The right of property in a slave is distinctly
and expressly affirmed in tlie Constitution: What is it to be affirmed
in the Constitution ? Made firm in the Constitution — so made that
it cannot be separated from the Constitution without breaking the
Constitution — durable as the Constitution, and part of the Consti
tution. Now remember the provision of the Constitution, which I
have read, affirming that that instrument is the supreme law of
THE LAND ; that the Judges of every State shall be bound by it, any
law or Constitution of any State to the contrary, notwithstanding !
that the right of property in a slave is affirmed in that Constitution
is made, formed into, and cannot be separated from it without
breaking it, durable as the instrument, part of the instrument, what
follows as a short and even sylogestic argument from it ? I think
it follows, and I submit to the consideration of men capable of argu
ing, whether, as I state it, in sylogestic form, the argument has any
fault in it,"
" Nothing in the Constitution, or law of any State, can destroy a
right distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution of the
United States."
" The right of property in a slave is distinctly and expressly
affirmed in the Constitution of the United States."
" Therefore, nothing in the Constitution, or laws of any State, can
destroy the right of property in a slave."
Thus does Mr. Lincoln demonstrate that the opinion pushed to its
" logical conclusion" prohibits the States from excluding slavery.

fiLACiC EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 29
But Mr. Lincoln says : — " There is a fault in it (the opinion) as I
think, but the fault is not in the reasoning, but thei falsehood, in fact
is a fault of the premises. I believe that the right of property in a
slave is not distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution. I
believe that the Supreme Court and the advocates of that decision
may search in vain for a place in the Constitution, where the right
of property in a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed. I say,
therefore, that / think one of the premises is not true in fact."
But Mr. Lincoln says : — I am somewhat acquainted with the
Old Line Whigs." " I was with the Old Line Whigs from the
or'gin to the end of that party. I became pretty well acquainted
with them, and I knew they always had some sense." I guess we
are surrounded to some extent to-day by the old friends of Mr. Clay,
and they will be glad to hear any thing from that authority." Well,
what is that authority, on the subject of the legality of slavery being
recognized in the Constitution ? Mr. Clay says : — (He is speaking of
the principles of equality in the Declaration of Independence.) " Do
you believe that, in making that Declaration, the States that con
curred in it intended that it should be tortured into a virtual emanci
pation of all the slaves within their respective limits ? Would Vir
ginia and other Southern States have ever united in a Declaration,
which was to be interpreted into an abolition of slavery among
them ? Did any one of the thirteen colonies entertain such a design
or expectation ? To impute such a secret and unavowed purpose,
would be to charge a political fraud upon the noblest hand of
patriots that ever assembled in council — a fraud upon the Confed
eracy of the Revolution — a fraud upon the Union of those States,
whose Constitution not only recognized the lawfulness of slavery, but
permitted the importation of slaves from Africa until the year 1808."
The fallacious reasoning of Mr. Lincoln is so apparent throughout
his speeches, that a discerning mind is not at a loss to detect his
motives. The following is an illustration of the unlimited assertions
of Mr. Lincoln : he says " I believe the entire records of the world (!)
from the date of the Declaration of Independence up to within three
years ago, may be searched in vain for one single affirmation, from

30 BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
one single man, that the negro was not included in the Declaration
of Independence. / think I may defy Judge Douglas to show that
he ever said so, that Washington ever said so, that any President ever
said so, that any Member of Congress ever said so, or any living
man upon the whole earth ever said so, until the necessity of the
present policy of the Democratic party, in regard to slavery, had to
invent that affirmation." Look upon that picture and then upon
this. At Galesburg the other day, I said, in answer to Judge Doug
lass, that three years ago there never had been a man, so far as /
Icneio or believed, in the whole world who had said that the Declara
tion of Independence did not include negroes in the term " all men."
I re- assert it to-day. I assert that Judge Douglass and all his friends
may search the whole records of the country, and it will be a matter
of great astonishment to me, if they shall be able to find that one
human being, three years ago, had ever uttered the astounding senti
ment that the term " all men" in the Declaration of Independence
did not include the negro. Do not let me be misunderstood. I know
that more than three years ago there were men, who, finding this as
sertion constantly in the way of their schemes to bring about the as
cendency and perpetuation of Slavery, denied the truth of it. /
know that Mr. Calhound and all the politicians of his school denied
the truth of the Declaration of Independence. / know that it ran
along in the mouths of some Southern men for a period of years,
ending at last in that shameful, though rather forcible declaration of
Petit of Indiana upon the floor of the United States Senate,
that the Declaration of Independence was, in that respect, a self-
evident lie, rather than a self-evident truth. But I say, with
a perfect knowledge of all this hawking at the Declaration, with
out directly attacking it, that three years ago there never had
lived a man who had ventured to assail it in the sneaking way, of
pretending to believe it and then asserting that it did not include
the negro. Ibelieve tlie first man who ever said it, was Chief Jus
tice Taney, in the Dred Scott case, and the next to him was our
friend, Stephen A. Douglass. " Such are the evidences of Mr. Lincoln's
logical powers— or rather of his sophistry and chicanery. It is.

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 31
" I believe", " / think" " therefore 2 say," and sweeping asser
tions, embracing the world and all mankind.
At the time of the Declaration of Independence, monarchical in
stitutions existed in almost every nation in Europe, variously modi
fied from absolute despotism to constitutional monarchy ;. Kings,
Princes, and Nobles held the highest offices by heriditary right, and
chiefly constituted the government — a government that had been
established by force or fraud, and sanctioned by custom or power.
At the period of the settlement of the North American Colonie?,
the monstrous doctrine of Ihe divine right of Kings had been asserted
and advocated. "It was gravely maintained that the Supreme Being
regarded hereditary monarchy, as opposed to other forms of Govern
ment, with peculiar favor ; that the rules of succession, in order of
primogeniture, was a Divine Institution ; that no human power
could deprive the legitimate Prince of his rights ; that the laws by
which the prerogative was limited, were to be regarded merely as
concessions which the sovereign had freely made, and might at his
pleasure resume; and that any treaty into which a King might enter
with his people, was merely a declaration of his present intentions,
and not a contract of which the performance could be demanded.
The populace of Europe had held for ages the condition of serfs,
slaves, and had been taught that implicit obedience to the powers
that were, was a christians duty. Such was, or had been the
state of Europe, hence, refugees from the power of their oppressors
had peopled the Colonies of North America. Having become com
paratively numerous and powerful, the people of the Colonies re
solved to establish an Independent Government, based upon what
they beheved to be the fundamental principles of human rights.
The Declaration of Independence, embodying these principles, was
presented to the assembled Delegates of the thirteen Colonies, who
declared them to the world, pledging for their support under Divine
Providence, their hves, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
The following, from the Declaration of Independence, is the spirit
of that instrument, viz : " We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their

33 teLAOK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life,
liberty, and the puisuit of happiness. That to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed ; and that wlienever any form of
government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the
people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, lay
ing its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in
.puch form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety
and happiness. When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pur
suing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them {man
kind) under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to
throw off snch government, and to provide new guards for their
future security. Such are the political doctrines promulgated by
the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July 1776, when
3,000,000 of British subjects severed the political ties that bound
them to the British Empire.
The Declaration that all men are created equal, relates only to the
natural condition of man in which all men are equal ; no one is
created to a condition superior to that of another. The inequalities
in the conditions of men are produced by human laws and the de
velopment of the superior endowments of individuals. They were
created with these endowments, and in this respect, one man is crea
ted superior to another ; but the Declaration of Independence has
reference only to the natural condition of man, in -N^hich all men
are created equal. Mr. Lincoln and Sambo, both came into the
world without either having any privilege or immunity over the
other, in the natural condition to which they, in common with all
created humanity were born. But Mr. Lincoln and Sambo were
very unequally endowed ; the development of the endowments of the
one has raised him from the original level to the pinnacle of political
power, while poor Sambo, constituting the tale end of humanity, has,
in common with the subjugated citizens of the United States, the
theoretical right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The principle that all men are created equal is true, in regard to
the natural condition of man ; that of governments, deriving their

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 83
JAist powers from the consent of the governed is good in theofy, but
false in fact; it is contradicted by nearly the whole record of the
human race ; (orce ov fraud has been the foundation of almost every
government that has existed; it asserts, not what is, or has been, but
wlmt should be in an intelligent civilized community. No en
lightened man could ever believe that these principles of govern
ment were ever intended to he applied to Caffirs, Hottentots, or
Negroes. None but a Black Republican or an Abolitionist could
believe this.
How the equality set forth in the Declaration of Independence
could aid in either bringing about or in defeating " the ascendency
and perpetuation of slavery," I am unable to perceive ; but from the
persistency of the Abolitionists and Black Repubhcans in per
petually associating it with the negro, one might infer that they
believed that there was some great and extraordinary virtue in it,
which would convert the negro into a white man and abolish slavery
throughout the land.
Mr, Lincoln so often refers to the principle of equality and the
right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, in connection
with the negro, that one ignorant of the purpose and principles of
the Declaration of Independence might reasonably infer that that
instrument was expressly made in reference to the Independence of
the negro. General rules and general principles are the foundation
of all governments, religions, societies and systems ; broad, general,
universal in their, extent ; then come the particular principles, the
practicable, expedient, taught by experience and sanctioned by usage
and custom. Have all men an inaleinable right to life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness, a right of which they can neither divest
themselves nor be divested? Are not men deprived of life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness, even by the law itself, which was
made for their protection ? This may seem very inconsistent, but it
is a just illustration of the great fundamental principles, and the
particular principles by which they are rriodified and controlled under
particular circumstances. And what is liberty? Is it vice and
virtue placed upon the same equality, with unrestrained powers Of
C

34 BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
action ? No ; liberty, real liberty, is virtuous action unrestrained,
protjcted by laws that restrain and control vicious action. Or to good
the greatest, and to evil the least possible limit, consistent with the
general welfare, such is political liberty, or the liberty enjoyed in
civilized communities. As good and evil are mingled in the con
stitution of each individual, it necessarily follows the wise restraint
upon the powers of human action is the foundation of political
liberty. The extent of the restraint must be determined by the race
or community, whose liberty is to be secure ; and to ensure liberty
and pohtical equality to the community, it must be impartial and
universal, but applicable only to the distinct race, for only the mem
bers of an individual race are qualified, by their physical organiza
tion, forthat liberty and equality, which is best adapted to secure the
greatest good to that race. But how is a nation to act which has
within it a race inferior and entirely distinct? Shall the war steed
stop for the donkey, and the eagle for the owl ? Or shall the laws
of God and nature, indelible, and unmistakable, be regarded — laws
that have formed the human family into various distinct races, which
under their irresistable influence, have formed separate and distinct
communities, to which alone the great principles of liberty and
political equality are applicable,
Mr, Lincoln has appealed to the passions, the prejudices, and the
fears of the Northern People. He has either insulted their intelli
gence, or displayed a degree of ignorance in regard to the history,
the policy and the principles of the Government, which is surprising
in one whose artful ambition, under the guise of modesty and
humility, has inspired him. encouraged' by a deluded people and an
infatuated party, to aspire to the Chief Magistracy of a nation that
has hitherto been honored for its wisdom and its glory, respected
for its power and its prowess, and envied for its wealth, its prosperity
and its happiness— not under Abolition, not under Free Soil not
under Black Republican rule, but under the auspices of the Great
National Democratic Principles, sustained by the greatest number
of the greatest men that the Republic has produeed, who, under
their benign influence have administered the National Government

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS, 35
more tlian two of the three quarters of a century of its existence,
who have illustrated its civil and its military career with the brightest
names that have adorned the pages of its history.
What is more absurd, inconsistent with the whole record of the
country, than the statement of Mr, Lincoln, that it was the object of
the Democratic party to nationalize slavery, to make slavery lawful
in all the States, and prohibit them from abolishing it ? There was,
at the formation of this government, but one free State ; there are
now nineteen free States to fifteen slave States. But in the number
of slave States, there are two merely nominally so, viz : Maryland,
which has but 87,188 slaves to a population of 500,000 free persons ;
and Delaware, which has but 1,798 slaves to a population of 90,000
free persons.
The total area of the United States is 3,306,834 square miles ; of
this area, there is, including the Indian territory and New Mexico,
1,221,457 square miles of slave territory ; leaving 2,085,377 square
miles, in which there is no probability of there ever existing the
Institution of Slavery. The whole course of events since the for
mation of this government, has been the consolidation of slavery,
and the expansion of freedom. The operation of the increase of
the population of the free States was destined to act upon the slave
States as soon as the States north of the Ohio River should become
comparatively densely populated. The occupation of the lands
north of the Ohio, the remoteness of the public lands, the increase
of native population, and of the influx of foreign population on the
one hand ; the waste and desertion of lands in some of the border
slave States, the large area of unoccupied lands in these states, the
emigration from these States to the rich cotton lands of the South,
the high price of cotton which stimulated emigration to the South,
and enhanced the value of slaves, so as to make it more profitable to
employ them in the cultivation ot sugar and cotton, or to sell them
for that purpose rather than to keep them in a border State, exposed
to the machinations of abolition emissaries on the other hand, indi
cated that the "irrepressible" but peaceful conflict would be the
advance and increase of free States and free population, and the

36 BLAOK EEPUPLICAN IDEAS.
retrogression and consolidation of slavery, and necessarily diminution
of slave States until the whole slave territory and population would
be confined to the States south of the thirty-fifth parallel, or to the
Gulf States, South Carolina, Arkansas, and the Indian Territory, or
to nine States, or an area of 737,596 square miles, leaving 2,569,238
square miles of free territory. The eflects of this operation is plainly
perceptible in every border State from Delaware to Missouri. But
the Black Republican party were not satisfied with this, they
must get up the " single impulse of resistance to a common danger"
and array all the free States against all the slave States, to carry our
their own iniquitous schemes.
The votes of the United States in 1856, were :
Northern Votes  2,958,958
Southern Votes  1,090,246
The population of the United States in 1850, was :
Northern Population  13,598,734
Southern Population  9,658,238
Of the Southern population 3,200,000 were slaves.
The present population of the United States is about as follows :
Northern Population  19,530,000
Southern Population  11,870,000
Of the Southern population about 4,000,000 are slaves. Finally,
there are five fret States whose representation in Congress is
greater than that of all the Southern States, and yet the people
are taught by the Black Republicans that the advocates of
slavery are going to make slavery lawful in all the States and pro
hibit them from abolishing it !
What is more indicative of the monomania of the Black Republic
party on the subject of slavery, and of their perverted minds, than
the loliowing language of the Republican Standard Bearer. He,
Mr. Lincoln, says, " I am not unaware that this government has en
dured eighty-two years, half slave and half free. '¦'¦ Iknoiv that." I
believe it has endured, because during all that time until the intro
duction of the Nebraska Bill, the public mind did rest all the time
in the behef that slavery was in course of ultimate extinction. That

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 37
was what gave us the rest that we had through the period of eighty
two years, at least so Ibelieve. I have a?«oays hated slavery, I think,
as much as an Abolitionist. I have been an Old Lino Whig. I
have always hated it, but I have always been quiet about it until
this new era of the introduction of the Nebraska Bill began. I
always believed that everybody was against it and that it was in course
of ultimate extinction. The great men of the nation have rested in
the belief that slavery was in course of ultimate extinction. "They
had reason to believe so."
" The adoption of the Constitution and its attendant history lead
the people to believe so ; and such was the belief of the framers of the
Constitution itself, why did these old men about the lime of the
adoption of the Constitution declare that slavery should not go into
the new Territory where it had not already gone ? Why declare
that within twenty years the African Slave Trade, by which slaves
are supplied, might be cut off by Congress ? What were they but
a clear indication, that the framers of the Constitution intended and
expected the ultimate extinction of that institution ? And now
when I say that / think the opponents of slavery will resist the
further speed of it and place it where the public mind shall rest, with
the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction. I only mean
to say that they will place it where the founders of this government
originally placed it."
Mr. Lincoln says : — " I always believed that every body was
against it (slavery) and that it was in course of ultimate extinction.
The great mass of the nation have rested in the belief that slavery
was in course of ultimate extinction." Now, Mr. Lincoln accuses the
Democratic party of a conspiracy to make slavery lawful in all the
States, and prohibiting them from abolishing it; then surely this
party, according to him, cannot be against slavery ; and yet he says : —
" I always believed that every body was against it." Perhaps he
thinks the Democrats ai'e nobody. But here is the record of the
Democratic party.

38 black eepublican ideas.
Democratic Terms. Democratic Presidents.
1801  Jefferson.
1805  do
1809  Madison.
1813  do
1817  Monroe.
1821  do
1829  Jackson.
1833  do
1837  VanBuren.
1845  Polk.
•^ 1853  Pierce.
1857  Buchanan.
Washington was inaugurated the first President of the United
States, under the ^T-esew^ Constitution, April 30th, 1789, from that
date to 1860, a period of 72 years, there have been 18 regular
Presidential Terms, and of these there have been 12 Democratic,
amounting to 48 years or two-thirds of the existence of the Con
stitutional Government of the United States. Or within that period
there have been 13 regular Presidents, of whom 8 have been Demo
crats, who have administered the Government during two-thirds of
its existence. They have administered it during the most critical
periods of its existence. They have carried it successively through
two wars, and added more than 2,000,000 of square miles to the
public domain, thus increasing the area of the United States to
quadruple its original dimensions.
Mr. Lincoln has said that while the public mind rested in the be
lief that slavery was in course of ultimate extinction there was
peace on that subject, and he says that the public mind did rest in
that belief until the introduction of the Nebraska Bill. Then, ac
cording to Mr. Lincoln, there was peace on that subject up to that
time. But how is this to be reconciled with the following words of
Mr. Lincoln : — " This slavery element is a durable element of discord
among us, and we shall probably not have perfect peace in this coun
try with it, until it either masters the free principles of our govern-

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 39
ment, or is so far mastered by the free principle as for the public mind
to rest in the belief that it is going to its end." " We all know that
it {slavery agitation) has continued, ivith more or less violence ever
since the revolution."
Mr. Lincoln says : — " From the adoption of the Constitution, down
to 1820, is tlie precise period of our history, when we had com
parative peace upon this question (slavery.) Then it would be
worth our while to stop and examine into the probable reason of
our coming nearer to having peace then than at any other time."
Here follows his reason. He says : — " This was tlie precise period of
time in which our fathers adopted, and during which they followed a
policy, restricting the spread of slavery, and the whole ZTnion loas
acquiescing in it."
The Constitution was "adopted" in 1789, from that year to
1820 is a period of 30 years, during which Mr. Lincoln says our
fathers adopted and followed " a policy," That is true, but it was
not a policy either restricting or extending slavery, it was an impar
tial policy in regard to the admission of States, and was governed by
the principles of the Constitution, which guaranteed to every State
in ihe Union a Republican form of government. The question, then,
on the admission of a new State, was not whether it was to be a
free or a Slave State, but whether in confirmity to the Constitution
it was to be admitted with a Republican form of government. It
was not until 1 820, on the admission of Missouri, that slavery began
to be a consideration on the admission of a new State, it was then
that the policy which "our lathers" had followed during thirty
years was perverted by the demagogues and politicians.
It was during this period of 30 years that Washington, the elder
Adams, Jeflerson, Madison and Monroe, administered the govern
ment, all men of the revolution familiar with the events that lead to
the formation of the Constitution and well versed in the principles of
Constitutional Government. The last three of these great men of
the nation were Democrats and administered the government during
one half of this period, in which Mr. Lincoln says they were follow
ing a policy " restricting the spread of slavery." Was the admission

40 BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
of Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, all
Slave States, admitted during this period, restricting the spread of
slavery ? Was the admission of Vermont, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
and Maine, all free States, admitted during this same period, extend
ing the spread of slavery ? Two of these States, and Slave States
at that, were admitted during the administration of Washington,
one of which was admitted upon his recommendation ; the remain
ing States, except Vermont, //-ee and slave, were admitted during the
Democratic Administrations of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. It
was in 1820, on the admission of Missouri as a slave State into the
Union, that that fatal agitation of the slavery question first began to
shake the foundation of the government, which now under the ad
ministration of a sectional Black Republican President, has rent it
assunder, subverted the Constitution, and scattered the brands of civil
war throughout the land.
I come, finally, to the consideration of the last quotation from Mr,
Lincoln's speeches. In considering the adoption of the Constitution,
its attendant history and the views of its framers, it is necessary to
bear in mind the circumstances of the countiy and the people to
whom the Constitution was adapted at the time of its formation.
We have now a country vast in extent, second only to the greatest
empire of the earth ; greater than the Roman Empire in its greatest
extent ; a country unexplored and unknown to the framers of the
Constitution at the formation ot this Government, It never came
within their conception, at the time of its adoption, that its jurisdic
tion was to be limited only by the waves of the Pacific. The horizon
of their widest vision was bounded by the Great Lakes of the North
the Great Gulf of the South, and the mighty waters of the Mississippi.
The area of the United States, now, is more than 3,300,000 square
miles; then, it was less than 800,000, but larger than the largest
empire of Europe, excepting Russia ; and scattered over it was
a population less than that of the least kingdom of Europe a
population less than that which now a single state contains. On the
North were the Provinces of Great Britain ; on the West and South
were the possessions of Spain. To the latter opened a more flatter-

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 41
ing prospect of power and dominion than presented itself to either of
the others, and the apprehension of trouble and danger from the
proximity of so powerful a neighbor, early created alarm in the
minds of American Statesmen. No steamboats then plowed the
waters of the Western rivers, or the Northern lakes, or of the South
ern Gulf — steam navigation was then unknown — beyond the Alle-
ghanies was a wilderness stretching westward to the Mississippi, and
from the Lakes to the Gulf, where prowled the wild beasts and the
red men of the forest ; perhaps an hundred thousand whites were
scattered through this vast domain. East of the Alleghanies were
nearly the whole population of the United States, and in every State
save one, from Maine to Georgia, the negro was the white man's
slave. At that early period there were doubts whether a common govern
ment could embrace so large a sphere, and if doubts, in regard to a
common government, embracing a sphere, one quarter of the pre
sent area of the L^nited States would not those doubts have been
dispelled in the contemplation of its embracing a country nearly as
largy as the whole of Europe, and been converted into a conviction
of the impracticability of such an apparently impossible scheme.
Mr. Ames, a member of the first Congress, in discussing a pro
posed amendment, establishing the ratio of representation, says : —
" Now, if it has been questioned whether this country can remain
united under a government administered by men of the most con-
sumate abilities, the sons of wisdom, and the friends of virtue, how
much more doubtful will it be if the administration is thrown into
different hands ; and different hands must inevitably be employed if
the representation is too large." The language of Washington, in
his farewell address, delivered six years, subsequent to the preceding,
relates wholly to the original United States.* Every American
knows what that address is. If such were his apprehension, solicitude
and fears, in regard to the original domain, and if such were the
* There have been three conditions of the United States. First. As the Confed
eration. Second. As the original Union under the present Constitution confined to
the original limits. Thirdly. The United States bounded by the two Oceans, the
Lakes and the Gulf.

42 BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
multitude of dangers, which he pointed out as threatening the ex
istence of that Union, what would have been his apprehension had
his views been extended to the then unexplored and savage wilder
ness that stretched from the banks of the Mississippi to the unknown
shores of the Pacific, His language of doubt in that address is as
follows: — "Is there a doubt that a common government can embrace
so large a sphere ? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere specu.
lation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope
that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxilliary agency
of governments, for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy
issue to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment^
With such powerful and obvious motives to union affecting all parts
of onr country, lohile experience shall not have demonstrated its im-
practability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of
those, who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bonds."
Now, these doubts of Washington, and his eflbrt to silence those
who might doubt the pi-actability of an experiment, by impeaching
their patriotism are strong evidences of his just apprehensions and
of the weakness of a Union that would not bear investigation.
Who made this government ? Who laid the foundation upon which
has been erected this mighty empire ? Could this have been with
out the territories, which have been populated by the emigration
from the original and from the foreign States ? And to whom did
this territory belong ? The whole original territory of the United
States may be set down at 800,000 square miles, of which about
one-fifth, cr 166,358 belonged to the Northern States, while nearly
four-fifths, ov 633,348,square miles belonged to the Southern States.
Ejfcept the State of Massachusetts, which possessed Maine, none of
the Northern States possessed territory outside .of their present
boundaries, while of the Southern States, Virginia, North Carolina,
and Georgia, possessed extensive territories. That of Viro-inia ex
tending westward to the Mississippi, and embracing all the^terri'tory
east of Pennsylvania, and north of the Ohio, the North Western
Territory. That of Georgia and North Carohna, extending westward
to the Mississippi, The thirty-first degree of Northern latitude was
the Southern boundary of the United Stales,

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 43
" From the commencement of the revolutionary war, serious diffi
culties existed between the States, in relation to the disposition of
large and unsettled territories, which were included in the chartered
limits of some of the States. And some of the other States, * *
which had no unsettled lands, insisted that as the unoccupied lands,
if wrested from Great Britain, would owe them preservation to the
common cause and the common sword, the money arising from
them ought to be applied in just proportion among the several
States to pay the expenses of the war, and ought not to be appro
priated to the use of the State, in whose chartered limits they might
happen to be, to the exclusion ot the other States, by whose com
bined efforts and common expense the territory was defended and
preserved against the claim of the British Government, These
difficulties caused much uneasiness during the war, while the issue
was in some degree doubtful, and the future boundaries of the
United States yet to be defined by treaty if we achieved our inde
pendence. But these difficulties became much more serious after
peace took place, and the boundaries of the United States were es
tablished. Every State at that time felt severely the pressure of its
war debt ; but in Virginia, and some other States, there were large
territories of unsettled lands, the sale of which would enable them
to discharge their obligations without much inconvenience, while
other States, which had no such resources, saw before them many
years of heavy and burdensome taxation ; and the latter insisted for
the reasons before stated, that these unsettled lands should be treated
as the common property of the States, and the proceeds applied to
their common benefit. The letters from the statesmen of that, day
will show how much this controversy occupied their thoughts, and
the dangers that were apprehended from it. It was the disturbing
element of the time, and fears were entertained that it might dis
solve the Confederation by which the States were then united. These
fears and dangers were however at once removed, when the State of
Virginia, in 1784, voluntarily ceded to the United Stales the im
mense tract of country lying north-west of the river Ohio, and which
was within the acknowledged limits of the State. The only object of

44 BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
the State, in making this cession, was to put an end to the threaten
ing and exciting controversy, and to enable the Congress of that lime
to dispose of the lands, and appropriate the proceeds as a common
fund for the common benefit of the States. It was not ceded, be.
cause it was inconvenient to the State to hold and govern it, nor
from any expectation that it could be belter or more conveniently
governed by the United States. The example of Virginia was soon
afterwards followed by the other Slates, and at the lime of the adop
tion of the Constitution, all of the Slates, similariy situated, had
ceded their unappropriated lands, except North Carolina and
Georgia." — [ Taney. '\
Thus did Virginia, which had, and has done more than any other
Stale for the formation of the Confederacy, the Constitution, and
the Government voluntarily ceded to the United States all her
territory west of Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio, the North
Western Territory, a terraqueous area, more than double that of all
the Northern Stales. Thus did this noble and magnanimous State,
the mother of Presidents, of great good and wise men, quiet the
apprehensions of her lesser sister Slates, and lay the corner stone of
the foundation of the great Republic of the West.
The total number of the original Stales was thirteen ; seven small,
one medium, and five large. The total area of all the small Slates
did not exceed that of any one of the five large States. Of the small
Stales five were Northern and two Southern. The circumstance of
the Northern territory, Vermont and Maine, which remained to be
converted into Slates, was such that the States to be forrped out of it
would be one small, and the other not exceeding the medium size, if
only two were formed out of the whole territory. The circumstance
of the Northern territory was such that it indicated there would be
four large States formed out of it. Tiie first act of Virginia favor
ing the separation of Kentucky, passed January, 1786, thus was
indicated the size oi Kentucky. Events were placing Tennessee in
the same relation to North Carohna, that Kentucky was to Viro'inia.
The Tombiggby River indicated what would be the line to divide
the territory of Georgia into two States. Thus current events and

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 45
the natural and conventional boundaries indicated the size of the
future Southern States, and it was evident to Southern Statesmen
what would be their number.
A resolution of Congress, of the Confederation, passed 1780, fixed
the area of the States to be formed out of territory ceded to the
Confederate Government, at "not less than one hundred, nor more
than one hundred and fifty miles square, or as near thereto as circum
stances will admit." This would have converted the North Western
Territory, which was about all the territory the Confederate Gov
ernment possessed, into ten petty States, a number almost double that
of all the Southern States, had they retained their territory ; giving to
the North seventeen States ; to the South six. But the Ordinance
of 1787 limited the number of Stales to be formed out of that terri
tory at not less than three nor more than five, the latter number
giving the average size of the States the dimension of that of the
larger of the original States, and making the relation of all the
Northern to all the Southern States, including on both sides these
existing and these in prospect — as 14 to 10.
The ordinance of 1787 escludes slavery from the territory which
Virginia had ceded to the Confederate Government, the object for
which that territory had been ceded would not have been accom
plished had not slavery been excluded. One of the designs of its
cession was to satisfy the demands and wants of the inhabitants of
the northern States, who were almost without territory, for the pur
pose of forming free Stales with their increasing population, who
would seek new lands beyond the limits of their native State ; be
sides, it equalized the territory and gave an equilibrium between the
political power of the North and the South in the House of Repre
sentatives, while no vital measure could be carried in the Senate
without the concurrence of the Southern Senators.
It is true that slavery existed in the Southern States at the time
of the formation of the Constitution, but there was then already at
the North a public sentiment opposed to it. As early as 1783 the
Quakers had presented petitions to Congress for the abohtion of
slavery, and the slave trade. Except New York and New Jersey,

46 BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
there were very few slaves in any of the Northern States ; the total
number amounted to 40,370. In the South there were, about the
time of the formation of the Constitution, 657,527 slaves, 203,427 of
whom were owned by Virginia, but Virginia alone was half as large
as all the Northern Stales.
Virginia, that ceded to the Confederacy the North Western
Territory, with restrictions prohibiting slavery within its limits,
possessed also Kentucky, which district on the 8lh of August,
1786, passed in Convention the following resolution : — " That it
is the indispensable duty of "this Convention to make apph-
cation to the General Assembly, at the coming session, for an Act to
separate this district from the present government, forever, on terms
honorable to both, and injurious to neither." The Legislature of
Virginia received the petition and passed an Act providing for the
election, on the ensuing August, by ihe free white male inhabitants o{
the district, of five representatives from each County, who should de
termine whether it was expedient for, and the will of the people of
the district that it should be erected into an independent Slate on
certain conditions. It was enacted that if the Convention should
approve of separation, a day should be appointed posterior to the
1st September 1787, when the authority of Virginia should cease,
provided that Congress should, prior to 1st June 1787, assent to the
seperalion, relieve Virginia from her federal obligations arising there
from, and admit Kentucky as a Stale, into the Federal Union.
Indian hostilities prevented the assembling of a quorum of the Con
vention, and a committee presented a memorial, oraying an altera-
alion of terms in the separating Act. The memorial was granted,
and an Act in conformity was passed — arrived at Danville in Jan
uary, 1787, after a formal vote had been taken in favour of the
separation, and thus delayed the separation. Mr. Marshall, to whom
the memorial had been transmitted, addressed a letter to the Con.
venlion, explanatory of the course taken by the parent Common.
wealth. The most important reason was, that the delay in executing
the Act of Virginia, had rendered it impracticable to obtain the
assent of Congress before June, 1787. The new Act of Virginia

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 47
continued its assent to the separation, but postponed its operation
until the 1st January, 1789. On the 29th February, 1788, the
address of the Kentucky Convection, praying for admission into the
Union, was presented to the old Congress, by which, on the 3rd
July, it was referred to the new Government, for ultimate decision.
A Bill before the new Congress, providing for the admission of Ken-
lucky into the Union, was finally passed, January 28th, 1791.
Now here is a State larger than five of the original seven Northern
States, and with only 10,000 slaves within its borders, applying to
the very State that ceded the North Western Territory, with the
restriction of the Ordinance of 1787, prohibiting slaves within that
Territory, and at the very lime of the framing of that Ordinance ;
and to the Congress at the very time of the framing of the Constitu
tion — to the former for independence of it, and to the latter for ad
mission into the Confederacy of Stales. The State of Virginia con
sents to its separation and independence, without a restriction on
slavery. The Congress of the Confederacy refers its apphcation to
the new Government, bj- which it is admitted into the Union on an
equaUty with the other Stales, and without a restriction on slavery.
A new Government, that formed with a full knowledge of all the
facts relating to the North Western Territory, and the district of
Kentucky, had not placed a clause in the Constitution requiring the
abohtion of slavery within its borders, as the terms of the admission
of a State into the Union; but, on the contrary, had made the im
portation of African slaves a lawful pursuit to all the Stales of the
Union for a term of eighteen years from the inauguration of the
new government. Mr. Lincoln may " think," " believe," and " say"
what he pleases of the policy of government in regard to slavery
and the territories, and his infatuated followers may credit what he
says, thinks, and believes; butmenof/rce minds mil require and
investigate the facts in evidence, and decide according to the convic
tions of an enlightened reason and an impartial judgment.
But the cession of the North Western Territory is to be consid
ered in another point of view, and in considering it in this light it
becomes necessary to present facts in evidence of what has been pre-

48 BLACK EEPUBLiCAii IDEAS.
viously slated. Among the other objects of the cession of this
territory was the raising of a revenue for the general government,
and the liquidation of the debts of the Confederacy. The follow
ing language of Mr. Scott, a member of the first Congress, will
convey some idea of the importance of that cession in this respect.
Mr. Scott said in Congress : — " But a very inconsiderable part of
the soil, and that far from being the most excellent, has been dis
posed of, yet the sales amount to 4,936,863 dollars ; land for almost
five millions of specie dollars has been already sold in that district ;
a sum amounting to near one-fifth — to more than one-sixth — of the
whole domestic debt of America. This treasure which we possess
has done thus much toward extinguishing a debt bearing hard upon
every part of the Union. Have any of the States done as much ?
Have any of them made an exertion equal to this inconsiderable
effort ? No, they have not ? Have all the States togettier done as
much ? No, they are incapable of doing what this wilderness has
done ?" There were no doubts of the statesmen of that day, that the
sale of these lands, if properly managed, would "pay the principal
and interest of all the debts of the United States."
The extent and resources of this territory are now known, then it
was conjectured. It was conceived that it would contain 6,000,000
of inhabitants, or double that of the then inhabitants of the United
States; whereas it now contains 7,000,000 of inhabitants, and is
capable of containing more than 14,000,000, if populated as Ohio
now is ; but it is quite probable that this territory alone, will ulti
mately contain as great a population as that of the whole United
Slates at the present time, 30,000,000 ; such was the munificence
and magnanimity of the Old Dominion, whose statesmen and heroes
from Washington to Scott, have ever stood the first in council and
in arms.
It was the eariy object of the Government to sell these lands to
actual settlers. There were two especial reasons for doing so, viz :—
"To raise a revenue and to fix the settlers on the lands' of the
General Government, and thus prevent them from settUng up on the
public domain, a government independent of the United States, and

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS. 49
from emigrating to the other side of the Mississippi river, where the
soil was as fertile and the chmate equally agreeable, and where the
Spanish Governor held out " an invitation to all persons incUned to
settle in the western country ; oftering them, as inducements, lands
without charge, exemption from taxes, protection in ciyil and religi
ous liberty ; besides provisions and implements of husbandry."
The men who first settle in a wilderness upon the frontiers, be
tween the savage and the civilized portion of a country, are men of
enterprising, violent, discontented, turbulent spirits ; these characters
were already in that .territory by thousands, and their numbers were
daily increasing. Already the intrigues of foreign powers were en
deavoring to sever the Union ; to build up an independent empire
in the Western Territory of the Government.
The following language, uttered in the Congress of 1789, by a
member, conveys a correct and vivid idea of those times : — " There
are seven thousand souls waiting for lands, they will have them here
or elsewhere ; but there is some danger if they cannot be accommo
dated within the boundaries of the United Stales, they will do one
of two things ; either move into the Spanish Territory, and become
an accession of power to a foreign nation, forming to us a dangerous
frontier ; or they will take this course, move on the United States
Territory and take possession without your leave. What then will
be the case ? They will not pay you money. Will you raise a force
to drive them off? That has been tried ; troops were raised and
^ent under General Harmer, to effect that purpose. They burnt the
cabins, broke down the fences and tore up the potatoe patches ; but
three hours after the troops were gone, those people returned again,
repaired the damages, and are now settled upon the lands in open
defiance of the authority of the Union. But, nevertheless, they are
willing to pay an equitable price for those lands. But if you do not
listen to their request ; if you neglect or despise their offers and they
prove too weak to resist the omnipotent arm of Government, they
will have recourse to a neighboring Power for protection. Hopes of
that protection are now held out to them." "Your citizens, I tell
you, are already there by thousands ; they are going by thousands
, D

50 BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS.
more, and are every hour growing up into consequence. They
never expect to return into the Atlantic States ; plant them in your
soil ; add this wealth of population to your own, and form an
empire illustrious as it is extended."
Another member said : — " The unappropriated land in the
Western Territory is a great fund of wealth, and which, if properly
disposed of, might extinguish the national debt, and be peopled by a
valuable class of citizens; but if, from a mistaken policy, it was
thrown away upon foreign adventurers or speculators, the public
would get nothing for it. It is true, such measures may induce a
number of foreigners to come among us ; but then it ought to be
remembered that such are generally persons of different education,
manners and customs, from the citizens of the Union, and not so
likely to harmonize in a Republican Government as might be wished
consequently any considerable accession of this class of settlers
might tend to disturb the harmony and tranquility, and embarras ,
the operation of the Government, He thought it worthy of -inquiry
whether America stood in need of emigrants to people her territory.
He supposed the notorious rapid population of the present inhabi
tants was, of itself, sufficient for the purpose,"
'ihe Government of the United States, formed and inaugurated, re
quired a revenue to support and carry it into operation. The donation
of Virginia gave the basis of a revenue adequate to the demands of
the Government, But these lands had to be sold to raise that
revenue, and, therefore, settlers became necessary to purchase and
settle the territory, this lead to the subject of emigration, this to the
naturalization of foreign emigrants. Thus the commencement and
progress of the Government developed its resources, its wants and its
policy ; and as conflicting views in regard to the best measures to
effect a purpose, are the origin of parties, they necessarily sprung from
the progress of government ; then selfish interest and ambition begat
demagogues and poUticians, who misrepresmted the objects of thtir
opponents, cancealed their own, and left no means untried 'to effect
their purpose; thus factions controlled the influence, and directed the
power of parties; and the patriotic efforts and designs of the founders

BLACK EEPUBLICAN IDEAS, 51
of the Government were directed to the perversion of its principles
and the destruction of the Constitution which they had made for the
preservation of the property, the lives, the liberty, and the happiness
of the people,
Mr, Lincoln, page 224, says : — "It may be agreed that there are
certain conditions that make necessities and impose them upon us
and to the extent that a necessity is imposed upon a man he must
submit to it. I think that was the condition in which we found our
selves wlien we established this government. We had slaves among
us ; we could not get our Constitution unless we permitted them to
remain in slavery ; we could not secure the good we did secure, if
we grasped for more, and having by necessity submitted to tha
much, it does not destroy the principle that is the charier of our
liberties." The condition in which we found ourselves when we established
this government, was this : — Slavery in every Stale, except one ; as
many in New Jersey as then in Kentucky ; as many in Penn
sylvania as then in Tennessee ; New York the sixth in the
number of its slaves; and two States, North Carohna and Rhode
Island, returned to their original independent condition ; such was
the condition, when in 1789 the government was established. Slaves
were in nearly every State, and could not the Constitution be had
without permitting them to remain in slavery ? Were they per
mitted to remain in slavery ? Have they not been liberated in seven
of the original thirteen States ? And what was the necessity imposed
upon ourselves when we established this government ? There was
no necessity imposed upon any State ? Each State was perfectly free
to ratify or not the Constitution that was submitted to it. Neither
North Carolina nor Rhode Island thought proper to do so, and did
not, until after the Confederation had been destroyed, and the new
government had been established ; the one State remaining indepen
dent for eight months and the other for more than a year ; being
during that time neither members of the Confederation nor members
of the new Union. No necessity was imposed upon the Slates which
objected to slavery to unite with those which preferred it. There

52 Slack EEPU?i.icAN IDEAS.
could have been two governments, as there would have been, had
the Northern States determined, in the framing of the Constitution,
to abolish slavery, and the Southern States to retain it. The Southern
States could have done much better without the Northern Stales than
the Northern Stales could have done without the Southern ; the
Southern States had a population equal to that of the Northern, and
possessed four-fifths of the territory. But examine the principle of
Mr. Lincoln's mode of argument, and thj rational inference. Ne
cessity compelled the Northern Stales, which were opposed to
slavery, to unite with the Southern, which were in favor of it, and
to the extent of the necessity they had to submit, and now the force
of the necessity no longer operating the North are freed from the
obligations which it originally imposed. But the Constitution is
itself a reputation of Mr. Lincoln's assertion.
" Article vii. The ratification of the Conventions of nine States
shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between
the States so ratifying the same." This was all that was required
by the Constitution to establish a constitutional government under
the present system. Will Mr. Lincoln deny that the Northern States
and Delaware, and Maryland, being nine of the original thirteen
States, could not have formed an independent constitutional govern
ment ? Will he deny that the remaining Southern States, whose
territory would still have been as large as that of the government
thus formed, even though it were enlarged by the accession of the
North Western Territory, could not have formed a government,
" laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers
m such form as to them should seem most likely to effect their safety
and happiness ?" He cannot without controverting the Constitution
and denying the principles of the Declaration of Independence.

CONCERNING THE CONSTITUTION.

The following resolution was passed in the Confederate Congress,
on February 21, 1787. " Resolved, That in the opinion of Con
gress, it is expedient that on the second Monday in May next, a
Convention of delegates, who shall have been appointed by the
several States, be held at Philadelphia feyr the sole and express pur
pose of revising the articles of Confederation and reporting to Con
gress and the several Legislatures, such alterations and provisions
therein as shall, when agreed to in Congress and confirmed by the
States, render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of
Government and the preservation of the Union."
The purposes for which this Convention was to assemble, are ex
pressed as plainly as language can convey ; and, in the appointment
of the Delegates to that Convention, by the several Slates, the same
or synonymous language is used ; so there is nothing to indicate the
wish or intention of the several States to overthrow their Constitu
tion and establish another ; but on the contrary, the words of the
resolution plainly indicate that the " Articles of Confederation'' were
still to remain as the Constitution of the Confederacy ; for the very
manner in which " such alterations and provisions" were to be made
valid, was, according to the .Articles of Confederation, which says,
"The Articles of this Confederation shall be inviolably observed by
every Stale, and the Union shall be perpetual ; nor shall any altera
tion at any lime hereafter be made in any of them, unless such
alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and be
afterwards confirmed by the Legislature of every State."
The convention consisting of thirty-nine members, viz: — Fjom
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Georgia, two each ;
from Maijyland, Virginia and North Carohna, three each ; from New
Jersey and South Carolina, four each; from Delaware, five; from

54 CONCIOENING THE CONSTITUTION.
New York, one; from Pennsylvania, eight; met at Philadelphia
on Monday, 14th of May, 17S7, and on the I7th September, 1787,
agreed to the Constitution. The number of Members from
Pennsylvania is remarkably disproportionate to the number from
any of the other States ; it was nearly as large as that of
all the Members fiom the other Northern Slates ; double that
of the Members from any one of the Southern Slates. Two of
its Members were afterwards representatives from that State to
the First Congress ; one of whom introduced the first petition
for the abohtion of slavery, that was ever presented to Congress ;
it was from the Society of Friends in Philadelphia. Another
of its Members was the President of the first Abolition Society that
ever existed in the United Stales ; the Pennsylvania Abohtion
Society, and signed, as the President of that Society, the
third petition for the abolition of Slavery, that was pre
sented to Congress ; all of which petitions were presented
to Congress in rapid succession, during the Session of 1790
Supposing the Convention to have been in session every day, except
Sundays, the whole time employed in framing the Constitution
would be one hundred and eight days. The Convention having
agreed to the Constitution, passed the following resolutions : —
Resolved, — " That the preceding Constitution be laid before the
United States in Congress assembled, and that it is the opinion of
this Convention, that it should afterwards be submitted to a Conven
tion of Delegates chosen in each State, by the people thereof under
the recommendation of its Legislature, for their assent and ratifica
tion ; and that each Convention assenting to and ratifying the same
should give notice thereof to the United States, in Conffress assem
bled." ^
Resolved,— ^'' Thai it is the opinion of this Convention, that as
soon as the Conventions of nine States shall have ratified this Con
stitution, the United Slates, in Congress assembled, should fix a
day on which electors should be appointed by the States which shall
have ratified the same ; and a day on which the electors should
assemble to vote for the President ; and the time and place for com-

CONOEENING THE CONSTITUTION. 55
mencing proceedings under this Constitution, &c., &c." Congress
accordingly, passed a resolution, transmitting the Constitution to the
several Legislatures for the purpose before stated, and the States
having accordingly passed Acts for severally calHng Conventions,
the Constitution was submitted to them, and ratified in the following
order: — By Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, in December,
1787; Georgia and Connecticut, January, 1788; Massachusetts,
February, 1788 ; Maryland, April, 1788 ; South Carohna, May, 1788 ;
New Hampshire and Virginia, June, 1788 ; New York, July, 1788 ;
North Carolina, November 21, 1789 ; Rhode Island, May 29, 1790.
All the requisitions of the Constitution, and of the resolutions of
the Convention which framed it, in regard to establishing it as a form
of Government, among the States so ratifying it, having been com
plied with by the requisite number of States, and the election of the
Senators, Representatives, President and Vice President having been
made, by appointment of Congress, the Government of the United
States, under the present Constitution, was inaugurated with the
inauguration of Washington as the first President, on the 30th of
April, 1789.
The Constitution had required the ratification of the Conventions
of but nine States to estabhsh it between the States so ratifying it_
It will be seen that more than that number had ratified it, before it
went into operation. It will be seen that both North Carolina and
Rhode Island remained independent of the new Government and
did not ratify the Constitution, and thereby become members of the
new Union — the one until after the lapse of nine months, and the
other until after more than a year from the dissolution of the Con
federation. The Constitution closes with these words, viz : " Done in Conven
tion by the unanimous consent of the Slates present, on the 17th Sep
tember, 1787." Now there were three delegates from North Caro
lina to the Convention which framed the Constitution, and they each
signed that instrument. But the State of North Carolina did not
consent to that Constitution, nor did she ratify the Constitution
until it had been amended, while it appears that Rhode Island look
no part in the formation of the Constitution.

56 CONCEENIISG THE CONSTITUTION.
The Articles of Confederation were to have been " inviolably ob
served by every State," nor was there any alteration to be made in
any of them unless agreed to in Congress and confirmed by every
State ; and the Delegates from the several Slates, who signed the
articles of Confederation, solemnly pledged and engaged the faith of
their respective constituents, that the articles thereof should be invio
lably observed by the States which they respectively represented.
So much for the "solemnly plighted faith" in regard to the Articles
of Confederation. Now turn to the consideration of the implied faith
in regard to the formation of the Constitution.
What were the views of the people and prominent men of that
time in regard to this instrument designed for the protection and
preservation of all that they held most dear. There was a general,
if not a universal idea of its deficiencies. Yet the promise of
amendments, held oiit by the instrument itself, induced Members of
the Convention that framed it, and Members of the Convention that
ratified it, to accept it as it was.
Here is the voice of Virginia on the Constitution, " In the very
moment of adoption, and co-evil with the ratification of the new
plan of government ; the general voice of the Convention of this
State pointed to objects not less interesting to the people we repre
sent, and equally entitled to our attention. At the same time, that,
from motives of affection for our sister States, the Convention yielded
their assent to the ratification, they gave the most unequivocal
proofs, that they dreaded its operation, under the present form. In
acceding to the government, under this impression, painful must
havs been the prospect, had they not derived consolation from a full
expectation of its imperfections being speedily amended. * * * We
deem it unnecessary to enter into a particular detail of its defects
which they consider as involving all the grent and inalienable rights
of freemen." Such was the opinion of the people of Virginia as
expressed through their General Assembly, November 14, 1788.
Mr. White, a member of the first Congress, said : — « I think a
majority of the people, who have ratified the Constitution, did it
under the expectation that Congress would at some convenient time

CONOEENING THE CONSTITUTION. 57
examine its texture and point out where it was defective, in order
that it might be judiciously amended."
Mr, Madison, a member of the first Congress, said : — "It cannot
be a secret to the gentlemen of this House, that notwithstanding the
ratification of this system of government by eleven of the thirteen
United States, in some cases unanimously, in others by large ma
jorities; yet still there is a great number of our constituents who are
dissatisfied with it:' And so on, throughout the debate in Congress
on the amendment of the Constitution, are the same sentiments of
its deficiencies, and apprehension of its effects expressed by numerous
representatives to that body, nearly all acknowledge the necessity of
amendments ; but there was a difference of opinion, in regard to the
order and time of them. Among the reasons advanced for making
immediate amendment, was to induce the States of Rhode Island and
North Carolina to enter into the Union ; thus showing the influence
of these States upon the passage of the amendments that were
adopted. Mr. Gerry, from Massachusetts, said : — " I am not, Sir, one of
those blind admirers of this system, who think it all perfections ; nor
am I so blind as not to see its beauties. The truth is, it partakes of
humanity ; in it is blended virtue and vice, errors and excellence."
" Whatever might have been my sentiments of the ratification of the
Constitution, without amendments, my sense now is that the salva
tion of America depends upon the establishment of this government,
whether amended or not. If the Constitution, which is now ratified,
should not be supported, I despair of ever having a government of
these Uuited States." "The ratification of the Constitution, in
several States, would never have taken place had they not been
assured that the objeclioHs would have been duly attended to by
Congress. And I believe many members of these Conventions would
never have voted for it, if they had not been persuaded that Con
gress would notice them with that candor and attention which their
importance requires."
Mr, Sherman, from Connecticut, said, in speaking of the Consti
tution : — " It is a wonder that there has been such unanimity in

58 CONOEENING THE CONSTITUTION.
adopting it, considering the ordeal it had to undergo, and tlie unan
imity which prevailed at its formation is equally astonishing ; amidst
all the members from twelve States present at the Federal Conven
tion there were only three who did not sign the instrument to attest
their opinion of its goodness. Of the eleven States who have re
ceived it, the majority have ratified it without proposing a single
amendment. This circumstance leads me to suppose that we shall
not be able to propose any alterations that are likely to be adopted by
nine States:' I give this quotation from Mr. Sherman's speech,
because he was one of the framers of the Constitution, the whole of
these remarks of Mr. Sherman are explained by the previous and
following quotation from the speech of Elbridge Gerry, and all go
to evince the anxiety and difficulty that existed in framing and
adopting the Constitution.
Mr, Gerry said : — " He wished gentiemen to consider the situation
of the States ; seven out of thirteen had thought the Constitution
very defective, yet, five of them have adopted it with a perfect
reliance in Congress for its improvement. The indelicacy of treat
ing the application of five States in a manner different from other
important subjects will give no small occasion for diso-ust. * * *
The members from Massachusetts were particulariy instructed to
press the amendments recommended by the Convention of that
Stale, at all times, until they had been maturely considered by Con
gress; the same duties were made incumbent on the members from
some other Slates."
Mr. Page: " Was positive the people would never support this gov.
ernment unless their anxiety was removed. He begged gentlemen
to consider tiic importance of the number of citizens who were
anxious for amendments ; if these had been added to those-viho openly
opposed the Constitution it possibly might have met a different fate."
Mr.Smith: " Read extracts from the amendments proposed by several
of the States Conventions, at the time they ratified the Constitution,
from which he said it appeared they were generally of opinion that
the phraseology of the Constitution ought to be altered."

CONCEENING TIIE CONSTITUTION. 59
Mr. Gerry : "The Constitution of the United States was proposed
by a Convention, met at Philadelphia ; but with all its importance,
it did not possess as high authority as the President, Senate, and
House of Representatives of the Union, For that Convention was
not convened in consequence of any express will of the people, but
an implied one through their members in the State Legislatures
The Constitution derived no authority from the first Convention ; it
was concurred in by Conventions of the people, and that concurrence
armed it with power, and invested it with dignity,''
Mr, Sumter said : " The people have already complained that the
adoption of the Constitution was done in too hasty a manner. What
will they say of us if we press the amendments with so much haste ?'
Mr. Tucker : " My idea, relative to this Constitution while it was
de])endent upon the assent ot the several States, was, that it re
quired amendment; and that the proper time for amendment was
previous to the ratification. My reason was, that I can conceive it
difficult, if not impossible, to obtain essential amendments, by the
way pointed out in the Constitution, nor have I been mistaken in
these suspiciems,"
Mr. Burk: " Begged permission to make an observation or two ; the
first was on the assertion that had been repeated more than once in
this house, ' That this revolution or adoption of the new Constitution
was agreeable to the public mind, and those who opposed it at first
ai'e now satisfied with it,' I believe. Sir, that many of those gentle
men who agreed to the ratification, without amendments, did it
from principles of patriotism, but they knew, at the same time, that
they parted with their liberties ; yet they had such rehance on the
virtue of a future Congress, that they did not hesitate, expecting
that they would be restored to them unimpaired, as soon as the gov
ernment commenced its operations, conformably to what was mutu
ally understood at the sealing and delivering up of these instruments:^
These were the sentiments of members of a body possessed of
higher authority than the Convention that framed the Constitution ;
of persons elected by the people, whose embodiment they represented,
and whose sentiments they expressed.

60 CONCERNING THE CONSTITUTION.
Intelligent and impartial readers, in considering the quotations
given from the speeches of prominent members of the first Congress,
can learn much of the manner of the framing of the Constitution,
the motives, the artifices, the designs of the framers, and amenders ;
much of the wishes, the expectations, the disappointments and appre
hensions of the people ; much of State policy and of public senti
ment. Some quotations will now be given, showing the manner in which
amendments were entertained in Congress :
Mr. Page said that he hoped every amendment to the Constitution
would be considered separately in the manner this was proposed, but
he wished them considered fully ; it ought to have been referred to
the Committee of eleven,' reported upon, and then to the Committee of
the whole. This was the manner in which the House had decided
upon all those already agreed to, and this ought to be the manner
in which this should be decided ; he should be sorry to delay what
was so nearly completed, on any account.
Mr. Burk : "I do not mean to insist particularly upon this
amendment, but I am very well satisfied that those that are reported
and likely to be adopted by this House, are very far from giving
satisfaction to our constituents ; they are not those solid and substan
tial amendments which the people expect; they are little better than
the whipped syllabub, frothy, and full of wind, formed only to please
the palate ; or they are like a tub thrown out to a whale, to secure
the freight of the ship, and its peacable voyage. In my judgment,
the people will not be gratified by the mode we have pursued in
bringing them forward. There was a Committee of eleven appointed,
and out of the number, I think there were five who were Members
of the Convention that formed the Constitution ; such gentlemen
having already given their opinion, with respect to the perfection of
the work, may be thought improper agents to bring forward amend,
ments." " He never entertained any idea of charging gentlemen
with the want of candor ; but he would appeal to any men of sense
and candor, whether the amendments contained in the report, were
anything like the amendments required by the States of New York

CONOEENING THE CONSTlTtTTION. 61
Virginia, New Hampshire and North Carolina ; and having the
amendments in his band, he turned to them to show the difference,
concluding that all the important amendments were omitted in the
report." Mr. Gerry : " Gentiemen seem in a great hurry to get this busi
ness through. I think it requires a further discussion ; for my part
I had rather do less business, and do it yie\\,^&n precipitate business
before they are fully understood. The honorable gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Madison) stated that if the proposed amendments are
defeated, it will be by the delay attending the discussion of doubtful
propositions, and he declares this to partake of that quality. It is
natural. Sir, for us to be fond of our own work. We do not like to
see it disfigured by other hands. That honorable gentleman brought
forward a string of propositions, among them was the clause now pro
posed to be amended ; he is no doubt ready for the question, and
determined not to admit what we think an improvement. The gen
tlemen who were on the Committee, and brought in the report, Jiave
considered the subject, and are also ripe for a decision. But other
gentiemen may crave a like indulgence. Is not the report before us
for dehberation and discussion, and to obtain the sense of the
House upon it, and will not gentlemen allow us a day or two for
those purposes, after they have forced us to proceed upon them at
this time ? I appeal to their candor and good sense on the occasion,
and am sure not to be refused ; and I must inform them now, that
they may not be surprised hereafter, that I wish all the amendments
proposed by the respective States to be considered. Gentlemen say it
is necessary to finish the subject, in order to reconcile a number of
our fellow citizens to the government. If this is their principle, they
ought to consider the wishes and intentions which the Convention
has expressed for them ; if they do this, they will find that they
expect, and wish for the declaration proposed by the honorable gen-
tieman over the way (Mr. Tucker) and, of consequence, they ought
to agree to it ; and why it with others, recommended in the tame way,
were not reported, I cannot pretend to say. The Committee knew
this best themselves.

62 CONOEENING THE CONSTITUTION.
Mr, Vining : " If there appears on one side too great an urgency,
to dispatch this business, there appears, on the other, an unnecessary
delay and procrastination equally improper and unpardonable, j
think this business has been already well considered by the House,
and every gentleman |in it ; however, I am not for unseemly expedi-
tion. The gentleman last up has insinuated a reflection upon the
Committee for not reporting all the amendments proposed by some
of the State Conventions. I can assign a reason for this. The
Committee conceived some of them superfluous or dangerous, and
found many of them so contradictory that it was impossible to make
any thing of them." Such are the reasons given by Mr. Vining, why
the Committee did not report the proposed amendments. Examine
them. Mr. Ames says : " America has as great a proportion of men of
sense and judgment as any nation on earth." The Conventions,
which presented their proposed amendments, were composed of the
bestand wisest men that America could produce, and what were the
fruits of their labors of wisdom and patriotism ? Why, according
to Mr, Vining and the Committee, " some of them superfluous or
dangerous," " many of them so contradictory that it was impossible
to make any thing of them." Did the Committee consider them
selves wiser than the House, and therefore thought it improper to
report the amendments ; lest the House should form an opinion of
them different from, or opposite to its own ? Or did they fear the
wisdom of the House would adopt amendments, indicative of the
wishes of the people, which would charge what the public senti
ment was opposed to in the Constitution, and thus materially alter
the work, which five of the eleven of which the Committee consisted
had helped to frame in the Convention that produced the Consti
til tion ?

CONCERNING NATURALIZATION.

The first clause of the Bill first proposed establishing an uniform
rule of Naturahzation, enacted that all free white persons who have
or shall emigrate to the United States, and shall give satisfactory
proof, before a magistrate, by oath, that they intend to reside there
in ; and shall take an oath of allegiance ; and shall have resided in
the United States for one whole year, shall be entitled to all the
rights of citizenship, except being capable of holding an office under
the State or General Government, which capacity they are to acquire
after a residence of two years more.
Mr. Sherman, " Thought that the interests of the State, where
the emigrant intended to reside, ought to be consulted, as well as
the interests of the General Government. He presumed it was in_
tended by the Convention which framed the Constitution, that Con
gress should have the power of naturahzation, in order to prevent
partictdar States receiving citizens, and forcing them upon others
who would not have received them in any other manner. It was
therefore meant to guard against an improper mode of naturaliza
tion, rather than foreigners should be received upon easier terms
than those adopted by the several States. Now, the regulation pro
vided for in this Bill, entitles all free white persons, which includes
emigrants, and even those who are likely to become chargeable. It
certainly never would be undertaken by Congress, to compel the
States to receive and support this class of persons ; it would, there
fore, be necessary that some clause should be added to the Bill to
counteract such a general proposition."
Mr. Lawrence said, " The reason of admitting foreigners to the
right of citizenship among us, is the encouragement of emigration,
as we have a large tract of country to people."

64 dONCEENING NATUEALIZATION.
Mr. Madison said: "When we are considering the advantages
that may result from an easy mode of naturalization, we ought also
to consider the caution necessary to guard against abuses. It is, no
doubt, very desirable that we should hold out as many inducements
as possible, for the worthy part of mankind to come and settie among
us, and throw their fortunes into a common lot with ours. But why
is this desirable? not merely to swell the catalogue of people, No sir,
it is to increase the wealth and strength of the community ; and
those who acquire the rights of citizenship without adding to the
strength or wealth of the community, are not the people we are in
want of."
Mr, Jackson : " Conceived the present subject to be of high im
portance to the respectability and character of the American name.
The veneration he had for, and the attachment he had to this coun
try, made him extremely anxious to preserve its good fame from
injury. He hoped to see the title of a citizen of America as highly
venerated and respected as was that of a citizen of old Rome. I am
clearly of opinion that, rather than have the common class of va
grants, paupers and other outcasts of Europe, we had better be as
we are, and trust to the natural increase of our population for in
habitants." Mr. Sherman : " He said the unappropriated lands in the Western
Territory was a great fund of wea.lth, and which, if properly disposed
of, might extinguish the national debt, and be peopled by a valuable
class of citizens; but if from a mistaken policy it was thrown away
upon foreign adventurers, or speculators, the public would get noth
ing for it, as had been the case heretofore in the sale of large dis
tricts where the expense attending the surveys, &c., left very little
profit to the United States. It is true, such measures may induce a
number of foreigners to come among us, but then it ought to be
remembered that such are generally persons of different education,
manners and customs, from the citizens of the Union, and not likely
to harmonize in a Republican Government, as might be wished ; con
sequently any considerable accession of this class of settlers might
tend to disturb the harmony and tranquility, and embarrass the

CONCEENING 1TATUEALIZA.TION. 66
operations of Government. He thought it was worthy of inquiry,
whether America stood in need of emigrants to people her territory-
He supposed ihe notorious rapid population of the present inhabit- •
ants was, of itself, sufficient for the purpose. But nevertheless, he
was willing to let foreigners come in gradually, and in the same way
he was incHned to dispose of the lands."
Mr. Page : " "Was of opinion that the policy of European nations and
States did not apply to the situation of the United Stales. Bigotry
and superstition, or a deep-rooted prejudice against the government,
laios, religion, or manners of neighboring nations had a weight in
that poUcy, which cannot exist here, where a more liberal system
ought to prevail. I think we shall be inconsistentjto ourselves, if,
after having opened an astlom for the opphessed of all nations,
and established a government which is the admiration of the
WORLD, we make the terms of admission to the full enjoyment of
that asylum, so hard as is now proposed. It is nothing to us
whether Jews or Roman Cathohcs settle among us ; whether subjects
of Kings, or citizens of free States wish to reside in the United
States. They will find it their interest to be good citizens, and
neither their religious nor political opinions can injure us if we have
good, laws well executed." Mr. Page is a real Knight-errant on
the subject of universal liberty, universal suffrage, universal
benevolence, and universal philanthropy ; but strange to say, he
has not lugged in the negro, though the bill specifies '¦'¦free white
persons." Mr. Page would have it believed that a foreigner on emi
grating to America could shuffle off his bigotry, superstition, deep-
rooted prejudices against government, laws, religion, and manners, as
a beggar would his fflthy, tattered clothes for a new suit. The
American oeople were certainly very magnanimous to take under
their especial charge, care, and protection, the oppressed of all naticms,
and fight during seven years to give them an asylum. If such were
their motive, if such were their design, it might be very appropriate^
ly styled an insane asylum, both in regard to its founders, its in
mates, and its principles. But the Declaration of Independence and
the Constitution of the United States tell a very different story.

66 CONCEENING NATUEALIZATION,
Whether they, or Mr, Page, and his modern followers, in this res
pect, are correct, is for common sense and impartial judgment to
decide. The Declaration says : — " When a long train of abuses, and
usurpations pursuing invariably the same object evincei a design to
reduce them (mankind) under absolute despotism it is their right,
it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new
guards for their future security. Such has been the patient suffer
ing of these Colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains
them to alter their former system of government," The preamble to
the Constitution says: — " We, the people of the United States, in
order to, &c., &c., and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America.'' This crasy philanthropy which sacri
fices the particular interests of a nation, to the general welfare of the
whole world and whole human race, has ever been injurious, in its
eft'ect, to the best intferest of humanity, and has, in its ascendency,
ever overthrown institutions founded on wisdom and experience;
subverted the foundations of Government and religion ; and substi
tuted in their place, anarchj, infidelity and ruin. But to proceed in
showing the sentiments of the men who made and organized this
Government, at the time of its construction.
Mr. Lawrence said : " Nor do I believe. Sir, there is any just
ground of apprehension that people will come to this city, from
Nova Scotia, or any other part of the world in bodies of three or four
thousand to turn our elections or interfere in oiir politics, and while
I am free from these apprehensions, and suppose that the true policy
of this country is to make the terms of admission easy, in order to
people our country, I shall be against every measure which has a
tendency to throw obstacles in the way."
Mr. Burk : " Thought it of importance to fill the country with
useful men, such as farmers, mechanics, and manufacturers, and
therefore would hold out every encouragement to them to emigrate
to America. This class he would receive on liberal terms- and he
was satisfied there would be room enough for them and for their
posta-ity for five hundred years to come. There was another class

CONCEENING NATUEALIZATION 67
of men whom he did not think useful, and did not care what im
pediments were thrown in the way, such as your European Mer
chants and factors of Merchants who come with a view of remaining
so long as will enable them to acquire a fortune, and then they will
leave the country and carry off all their properly with them. /
look upon the privilege of an Amei-ican citizen to be an honorable one,
and it ought not to be thrown away upon such people. There is an
other class also that I would interdict, that is the convicts and crimi
nals which they pour out of British jails, I wish sincerely some mode
could be adopted to prevent the importations of such, but that, per
haps, is not in our power ; the introduction of them ought to be
considered as a high misdemeanor."
Mr. Sedgwick: "Was against the indiscriminate admission oj.
foreigners, to the highest rights of human nature, upon terms so in
competent to secure the society from being overrun with the outcasts
of Europe ; besides the policy of settling the vacaut territory by emi
gration, is of a doubtful nature. He believed, in the United Slates,
the human specie might be multiplied by a more eligible, and con
venient mode than what seemed to be contemplated by the motion
now before the Committee. He was well satisfied for himself, that
there existed no absolute necessity of peopling it in this way ; and
if there was no absolute necessity, he thought Congress might use
their discretion, and admit none but respectable and worthy charac
ters ; such only were fit J^or the society into which they were blended.
The citizens of America preferred this country, because it is to be
preferred ; the hke principle he wished, might be held by every man
who came from Europe to reside here ; but there were at least some
grounds to fear the contrary ; their sensations impregnated with pre
judices of education, acquired under monarchial and aristocratical
government, may deprive them of that zeal for pure Republicanism,
which is necessary, in order to taste its beneficence with that grati
tude which we feel on the occasion,"
Mr. Stone said : — " I think a term of four or seven years ought
to be required. ' A foreigner, who comes here, is not desirous of in
terfering immediately with our politics ; nor is it proper that he

68 CONOEENING NATUEALIZATION.
should. His emigration is governed by a different principle / he is
desirous of obtaining and holding property. I should have no ob
jections to his doing this from the first moment he sets his foot on
shore in America ; but it appears to me that we ought to be cautious
how we admit emigrants to the other privileges of citizenship, and
that for a reason not yet mentioned ; perhaps it mat allude to the
NEXT generation moTc than to this, because the present inhabi
tants, or most of them, have been engaged in a long, hazardous,
and expensive war. They have been active in rearing up the pre
sent government ; and feel perhaps a laudable vanity in having
efl'ected what the most sanguine hardly dared to contemplate, ITiere
is no danger of these people losing what they so greatly esteem ; but
the admission of a great number of foreigners to all the places of
government may tincture the system with the dregs of their former
habits and corrupt what we believe the most pure of all human in
stitutions." In considering these remarks, it is necessary to bear in mind
that the subject under consideration was the naturalization of
'¦'free white persons;" that population, strength, wealth, and the
settlement of the Territory of the United States are prominent
among the ideas advanced ; and that these settlements more par
ticularly related to the territory possessed by the general government
of the United States, from the sales of which it was anticipated a
sufficient revenue would be raised to defray the expenses of the gov
ernment and liquidate the whole national debt. It was believed that
there would be room in that territory for emigrants and their pos
terity for "¦five hundred years to come." It was not beheved that
emigrants would come in numbers of two and three thousand at a
time. They had no idea of a modern steamship rushing across the
Atiantic in 12 or 15 days with 500 emigrants at a trip, or of nearly
half a milhon of foreigners landing on our shores within a single
year. They had not conceived of the wonderful revolution of steam,
nor of the mighty tides of foreign emigration that were to flow from
the nations of Europe over the fertile praries of the West to the
base of the Rocky Mountains, and through their passes, to the

CONCEENING NATUEALIZATION, 69
golden shores of the Pacific. They were considering the settiemenl
of a comparatively small piece of land, nearly the whole of which is
now, after the lapse of—not five hundred years, but less than three
quarters of a century, owned by private individuals, and peopled by
niore than double the nijmber of the original population of the whole
original States, They were legislating to found a nation that would
continue to possess the Republican principles of its primitive purity ;
a nation that, in the moral and intellectiial excellence of its citizens,
would rank first among the most enlightened of Christian nations.
They were emulous of making the name of American citizen the
tahsman of security and respect, amopg the nations of the esjrth ; a
prouder, loftier title than that of " Roman Citizen," in the proudest
palmiest days of the Mistress of the Worid.
Throughout the debate in Congress no objection was made by the
founders of the government to " free lohite persons," no allusion to
the negro. Emigrants were expected from civilized, christianized,
Europe alone. They were not emulous of making tfieir country
a Botany Bay, an asylum for the political refugees and criminals
from "all nations," — the Mahometan, infidel, idolater, — the Chjiiese,
Hindoo, Hottentot 1 Their pride, their ambition, was like the em
blem of their nation, when he towers in sublimity above all sub
lunary things. It was for the Serpent Abolition, the offspring of
fanaticism, the bantling of a sect outside the pale of orthodox, Chris
tianity, a sect excentric in its dress, its language, its manners, and
its rehgion, a sect ultra and outre, that has dwindled from the con-
trolhng influence in the community in which it rviled, to the most
diminutive and insignificant proportions, while its crocodile egg has
hatched a monster of the most gigantic dimensions, It was for this
loathsome reptile, silently crawhng in the dark sinks of human de
gradation and depravity, to gather in its foul embrace the most
degraded of the human race ; to infect with its poisonous breath the
pohtical atmosphere of the nation, and infuse its venom into the
vitals of the Republic.
Among the chimerical ideas of crazy demagogues and politicians,
is that of the Utopian scheme of universal Republicanism, as though
the Republican form of government were " the admiration of the

70 CONCEENING NATUEALIZATION,
world," and proper for all classes and conditions of humanity ;
whereas, none but the most enlightened and virtuous are fit for the
forms of Republican Government, while the opposite extreme, the
most ignorant and debased, are fit only for the most absolute des
potism. Between these two extremes are the various modifications
of government, adapted to the circumstance and condition of a
people. That government is best for the people for which it is de
signed, that is best adapted to the condition of that people. Govern
ments after all are but governments ; their names neither make nor
alter them ; freedom may exist under a monarchy, and despotism
under a Republic. Is there less security to life and property, less
Intelligence and virtue, less prosperity and happiness in England, than
in the United Slates ? Is there less freedom, security, and intelli
gence in Austria, than in Mexico — in the Repubhcs of America, than
in the monarchies of Europe? The shameless demagogue that
would have the brazen affronlery to assert it, in contradiction to the
evidence of existing facts, is fit to be the idol and representative of
the ignorant and illiterate people that would have the credulity to
believe him.
When the condition of a people changes from that for which the
government was designed, they are no longer fit to be governed by
the principles of that government ; and when the principles of a
government are changed to adapt them to the condition of a people,
it is an evidence that the original condition of the people, for which
that government was designed, has changed ; and that the original
principles are no longer applicable to their condition. Thus springs
the necessity of change, or revolution in a government ; peaceable
or forcible, according to the circumstances of the case. Long resist
ance to necessary gradual changes, ultimately result in sudden and
violent ones ; sudden and violent, and gradual and secret efforts at
unnecessary changes of an estabhshed and beneficial policy, produces
the same result. The first is the resistance of the government to the
progress of the people, under the impression of enfeebling civil and
political restraints so essential to the preservation of peace and true
liberty. The second is the effort of the people, under the influence
of demagogues, to subvert an appropriate government, and substi-

GONDEENING NATUEALIZATION. 71
tute in its place, some Utopia of which no experience of past ages
presents an example, but which is wholly inconsisient with all wis
dom, all precedent, all experience.
The masses of mankind see only the objects around them, the
immediate cause and eflect, while the philosopher sees in the present,
the subordinate of a remote cause and effect, originating in other
worlds; and thus the comprehensive mind of the true Statesman
embraces the whole principles of government within the sphere of
their operation, and traces their origin, progress and effect, in ancient
systems, and through distant ages. — He is controlled by the in
fluence of wisdom and experience ; but charlitans and demagogues
consult present purposes, present interests ; pander 'to the passions
and the prejudices of the people ; encourage their hopes, with the
promise of future benefits ; and excite their fears with the apprehen
sion of future dangers ; and thus play upon their passions to the
consummation of their triumph, when they rise to pow^r, upon the
whirlwind they have raised, without the power to control, or the
wisdom to direct ; and leave the destruction of the government, and
the ruin of the people, as the monument of their folly, and the fruit
of their ambition.

CONCERNING SLAVERY.

The Constitution had been made and ratified by more Conventions
in the respective Stales than had been required by that instrument
to establish a government, which government was organized in re
gard to the legislative and executive departments on the 30th April,
1789 ; nine months from that date, 11th February, 1790, before the
organization of the subordinate departments, and the transaction of
business essential to the completion of all the machinery of govern
ment, in a word before the government was complete, Mr. Fitzsim-
mons, the representative from Pennsylvania, and a member of the
Convention, which made the Constitution, presented " the address of
the people, called Quakers, in their annual assembly convened at
Philadelphia, September 1789," "to the Senate and House of Re
presentatives of the United States,"
This instrument is a literary curiosity, and in striking contrast to
the affected simplicity and humility of the Quakers, being labored and
Pharisaical. In plain language the address was a petition to Con
gress, to use all its powers to their greatest extent for the aboli
tion of the Slave Trade.
The way they went about to make this simple request was thus :
"We find it indispensably incumbent on us as a religious body,
assuredly believing that both the true temporal interest of nations,
and eternal well being of individuals, depend on doing justly, loving
mercy and walking humbly before God, the Creator, the Preserver,
and Benefactor of men, thus to attempt to excite your attention to
the affecting subject, earnestly desiring that the infinite Father of
Spirits may so enrich your minds with his love and truth, and so
influence your understanding by that pure wisdom which is full of
mercy and good fruits, as that a sincere and impartial inquiry may take
place whether it be not an essential part of the duty of your exalted
station to exert upright endeavors to the full extent of your power

CONOEENING SLAVEEY. 73
to remove every obstruction to public righteousness, which the 'in
fluence of artifice of particular persons governed by the narrow, mis
taken views of self-interest has occasioned, and whether, notwithstand-
ing such seeming impediments, it be not in reality within your power
to exercise justice and mercy, which if adhered to we cannot doubt
must produce the abolition of the Slave Trade."
But even before this, this sect, so deeply, so powerfully, so irresis-
tably impressed with " unfeigned righteousness," and, in the language
of their petition, "feeling their minds animated with the ennobling
principles of universal good-will to man, find a conscious dignity and
felicity in the harmony and success attending the exercise of a solid
uniform virtue ; short of which the warmest pretensions to public
spirit, zeal for our country and rights of men, are fallacious and il
lusive" presented to Congress in October, 1783, a petition of a simi
lar character to which they allude in this petition in the following
language : " Our religious society, in their annual assembly, on the
tenth month, 1783, addressed to the then Congress, who, through
the Christian rectitude of the concern, was, by the Delegates, gene
rally acknowledged, yet not being vested with the powers of Legisla
tion, they declined promoting any public remedy against the gross
national iniquity and trafficking in the persons of fellow men." The
concluding paragraph of this petition, is signed in behalf of the
yearly meeting for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the
Western parts ot Maryland and Virginia, held by adjournment from
the twenty-eighth day of the ninth month, to the third day of the
tenth month, inclusive, 1789, by Nicholas Wain, Clerk to the meet
ing this year."
From this it does not appear what was the number of the petition
ers, but it does appear that it was the petition of a particular and
pecuhar religious sect, whose just abhorrence of the African Slave
Trade, was the same as that of every lover of humanity, and not
more ; thousands and tens of thousands of American citizens had at
that time as great an abhorrence of the African Slave Trade as the
Quakers, but they had not, on this subject, the fanaticism and assu
rance of the Quakers; they did not consider themselves so much
wiser and better than the rest of their fellow citizens as to take upon

74 CONCEENING SLAVERY.
themselves the hberty of telhng "a body of men chosen as emi
nently distinguislmd for wisdom, as extensive information," — which
is the language of the Quakers to the Congress of the United States ;
a body chosen by the wisdom of the Legislatures of the several
Slates and by the judgment of the people' — the principles of religion
and Legislation, the influence of " unfeigned righteousness" and their
duties as men, Christians, and Legislators. The people of the North
were a million and a half of various religious denominations, the
Quaker sect constituting but a mite of that population. None of the
other sects found it " indispensably incumbent on them as a religious
body,'' to attempt to excite the attention of Congress to " the affect
ing subject." They knew that the '¦'¦affecting subject" had been con
sidered and settled in the Convention which framed tlie Constitutio
and that that settlement had been agreed to by the Convention, by
Congress, and by the People ; yet, notwithstanding this settlement
which was made a part of the Constitution, in Article 1, Section 9,
Clause 1. "The emigration or importation of such persons as any
of the Slates now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be
prohibited by the Congress, prior to the year 1808" — this sect so
wise, so religious, so humble, so consistent, finds it indispensably in
cumbent on them, as a religious body, to attempt to excite the at
tention of Congress to " the affecting subject," and as though con
scious of the injustice, and absurdity of their request, they do not
direcUy ask what they wish, but invoke "the infinite Father of
Spirits to so enrich their minds, as that a sincere and impartial in
quiry may lake place whether it be not a part of your exalted station
to remove every o6s<rMC<tore to public righteousness wi/ijc^ the artifice of
particular persons, governed by the narrow mistaken views of self interest
have occasioned, and whether, notwithstanding such seeming impedi
ments, it be not in reality within your power to exercise justice and
mercy, which if adhered to, we cannot doubt, must produce the
abolition of the Slave Trade." The plain truth is, the Quakers were
in their peculiar pharasaical way, requesting the Members of Con
gress, in violation of their official oath, in violation of the Constitu
tion, in violation of the agreement of the Convention which framed
the Constitutions, and of the Conventions which ratified it, and of

CONCEENING SLAVEEY. 75
the people who delegated the members of the State Conventions ; to
disregard this Clause of the Constitution "which the artifice of par
ticular persons, governed by narrow and mistaken views of self in
terest have occasioned" and do as they, the Quakers wished, and
prayed they should do.
Who were these "particular persons" of narrow mistaken views?'
and what was the assembly in which their " artifice" had such a con
trolling influence? These persons were Washington, Dickenson
Carrol, Madison, Blunt, Butier, Rutiedge, and the two Pinkneys.
these were the representatives of the South, these— according to the'
Quakers,-- were the "particular persons governed by the narrow
mistaken views of self interest !" And the assembly which their
" artifice" controlled,— according to Quakerdom— was the Conven
tion which framed the Constitution ! Rufus King, Sherman, Hamil
ton, Livingston, Dayton, Franklin, and the two Morriss', were the
feeble minded men whom their artifice controlled !
At the same time that the Philadelphia Quakers petition was pre
sented by Mr. Fitzsimmons, Mr. Lawrence presented an address from
the Society of friends, in the City of New York, in which they set
forth their desire of co-operating with their Southern brethren, in
their protest against the Slave Trade. The parade of Stales in the
first petition, and the introduction of Delaware, Maryland, and Vir
ginia, is explained by this second petition. The -Quakers of New
York could then come in and claim to co-operate with their Soutiiern
brethern, and make the appearance of an extensive, if not a national
desire for the abolition of slavery, and a parade of the number,
power and influence of the apparently widely disseminated sect of
Quakers. The present condition of Quakerdom speaks for itself.
The first petition called from some of the members of the House
very severe remarks.
Mr. Hartly : " Moved to refer the Address to a Committee ; he
thought it a mark of respect due to so numerous and respectable a
part of the community."
Mr, Smith : " However respectable the petitioners may be, I hope
gentiemen will consider that others equally respectable are opposed
to the object which is aimed at, and are entitied to an opportunity to

76 CONCEENING SLAVERY.
be heard before the question is determined. I flatter myself gentle
men will not press the point of commitment to-day, it being contrary
to our usual mode of procedure."
Mr. Jackson : " Wished to know why the second reading was
contended for to-day, when it was diverting the attention of mem
bers from the great object that was before the Committee of the
whole ? Is it because the feelings of the friends will be hurt to have
their affair conducted in the usual course of business ? Gentlemen
who advocate the second reading to-day should respect the feelings
of the members who represent that part of the Union, which
is principally affected by the measure. I believe, Sir, that the latter
class consists of as useful and as good citizens as the petitioners, men
equally the friends to the revolution, and equally susceptible of the
refined sensations of humanity and benevolence, Why then should
such particular attention be paid to them for bringing forward a
business of questionable policy ? If Congress are disposed to inter-
fqre in the importation of slaves they can take the subject up with
out advisers, because the Constitution expressly mentions all the
powers they can exercise on the subject."
Mr. Madison: "The Constitution secures to the individual States,
the right of admitting the importation of Slaves into their own terri
tory, for eighteen years, yet unexpired. The petition, if I mistake
not, speaks of artifices used by self interested persons to carry on this
trade ; and the petition from New York, states a case that may re
quire the consideration of Congress. It may be that foreigners take
the advantage of the liberty afforded them by the American trade,
to employ our shipping in the slave trade between Africa and the
West Indies, when they are restrained from employing their own by
restrictive laws of their nation."
Mr. Madison was mistaken : The petition did not speak of artifices
used by self interestoJ persons to carry on the slave trade. The
language of the petition is, " artifice of particular persons governed
by the narrow mistaken policy oi self interest, has occasioned" occa
sioned what? "obstructions." "Obstructions to what? "your power to
exercise justice and mercy." Mercy for what, " the abolition of
the Slave Trade." Would the prohibition of foreigners from

CONCEENING SLAVEEY 77
employing American shipping in the Slave Trade between Africa
and the West Indias abolish the Slave Trade, while Americans
were permitted to carry it on ? The petition calls these obstruc.
lions " seeming impediments." What did they impede ? Why,
Congress from doing as they desired them to do. The fitting
out of ships in American ports for the Slave Trade, did '[not
impede Congress, and the carrying on of that horrid traffic did
not impede Congress. But Clause 1st, Sec. 9, Art. 1st of the Con
stitution of the United States, was not only an obstruction impedi
ment to the power of Congress, to abolish the Slave Trade before
the year 1808, but was a bond as strong as any, in that instrument,
that restrained the powers of Congress. No statesman doubled the
power of Congress to prohibit the Slave Trade after 1808. No
constitutional obstruction or impediment to the exercise of their
power to the prohibition of that traffic would then exist, and the
limit of the restraint to the exercise of that power to a definite
period, implied the right to its exercise after the expiration of that
period. It was not future or distant action, but action within the
period in which it was prohibited by the Constitution, that the
petition prayed for, as the face of the instrument itself shows.
Mr, Burk : The men in the gallery had come here to middle in
a business with which they had nothing to do ; they are volunteer
ing in the cause of others, who neither expect nor desire it."
Mr. Hartly : " It is intended to bring before this House a subject
of great importance to the cause of humanity; there are certain
facts to be inquired into, and the memorialists are ready to give all
the information in their power ; they are waiting at a great distance
from their homes and wish to return."
Mr. Jackson : " They may as well come forward to solicit Con
gress to interdict the West India trade because it is injurious to the
morals of mankind ; from thence we import rum, which has a de
basing influence upon the consumer. But Sir, is the whole morahty
of the United States confined to the Quakers, Are they the only
people whose feelings are to be consulted on this occasion I Is it to
them we owe our present happiness ? Was it they who formed the

78 CONCEENING SLAVEEY
present Constitution ? Did they by their arms or contributions es
tablish our independence ? I believe they were generally opposed
to that measure ; why then on their application should we injure men
who at the risk of their lives and fortunes secured to the community
their liberty and property ? If Congress pay any uncommon degree
of attention to their petition it will furnish just ground of alarm to
the Southern States,"
Mr, Smith : " It prays that we should lake measures for the
abolition of the Slave Trade, This is desiring an unconstitutional
act, because the Constitution secures that trade to the States inde
pendent of Congressional restrictions for a term of twenty-one years.
If, therefore, it prays for a violation of constitutional rights it ought
to be rejected as an attempt upon the virtue and patriotism of the
House." Mr. Stone : " Thought the business ought to be left to take its
usual course ; by ihe rules of the House it was expressly declared
that petitions, memorials, and other papers addressed to the House
should not be debated or decided on the day they were first read."
Mr. Baldwin: "Felt at a loss to account why precipitation was
used on this occasion contrary to the customary usage of the House.
He haji not heard a single reason advanced in favor of it. He was
afraid that there was really a little volunteering in this business, as
it had been termed by the gentleman from Georgia."
Mr. Tucker : " What is the purport of the memorial ? It is
plainly this, to reprobate a particular kind of commerce, in a moral
point of view, and to request the interposition of Congress to effect
its abrogation. But Congress has no authority under the Constitu
tion to do more than lay a duty of ten dollars upon each person
imported, and this is a political consideration not arising from either
religion or morality, and is the only principle upon which we can
proceed to take it up. But if they will endeavor to procure the
abohtion of the Slave Trade, let them prefer their petitions to the
State Legislatures, who alone have the power of forbidding the im
portation. I believe their application there would be improper ; but
if they are any where proper, it is there. I look upon the address

CONCEENING SLAVERY 79
then to be ill-judged, however good the intention of the framers."
Mr. Madison : " Thought the question before the Committee was
no otherwise important than as gentleman made it so by their serious
opposition. Had they permitted the commitment of the memorial,
as a matter of course, no notice would have been taken of it out of
doors ; it could never have been blown up into a decision of the
question respecting the discouragement of the African Slave Trade
nor alarm the owners with an apprehension that the general govern
ment were about to abolish slavery in all the States ; such things are
not contemplated by any gentleman."
The first petition for the abohtion of slavery had been that of a
religious sect. The very next day after the presentation of it, and
the New York City Quakers petition, a third petition in relation to
the same subject, and from the same place, Philadelphia, the then
city of Quakers, purporting to be by a number of her (Pennsylvania)
citizens of various religious demonstrations, styled the " Pennsyl
vania Society for promoting the abolition of slavery." This petition
was signed "Benj. Franklin, President, Philadelphia, February 3rd,
1790." The first petition concluded " in behalf of the yearly meet
ing for Pennsylvania, held by adjournment from 28lh September to
the 3rd of November, 1789." From this it would appear that the
first petition had been contemplated, and actually prepared six
months after the inauguration of the government, which took place
April 30th, 1789, and that in February 11th, 1790, three months
^fter its conception, it had been presented to Congress ; that while
the Quakers were attending in the galleries and awaiting its result,
this second petition, dated the same place, and only nine days pre
vious February 3rd, was presented just one day, February 12th,
after the introduction of the first, praying for the very same thing.
Such was the indecent haste of the Abolitionists to interfere in the
affairs of the government, even before the essential business of Con
gress had been attended to— in a word, before the government was
organized in its most important and essential departments. Whether
these facts are in the language of Mr. Lincoln, " evidences of de.sign
and concert of action among its chief architects from the beginning "

80 COlICEENING SLAVEEY
to violate the phghted faith of the nation, and destroy the Constitu
tion for the accomplishment of their purpose, I will not presume to
say ; but this I will say, these efforts have been continued from that
day, February 11th, 1790, to this May 22nd, 1862, when now the
government is in the power of, and controlled by, the partizans of a
party of the same avowed principles as those of the Abolitionists ot
1790, when the armies of the Northern or Free States, and the
armies of the Southern or Slave States, are arrayed in deadly hos
tilities to each other. When now for more than a year the devas
tated fields of a once peaceful and happy land have been ensan
guined with fraternal blood, and desolated with all the horrors of a
civil war.
After presentation of this third petition, Mr. Hartly called up the
first for a second reading ; there upon it was read a second time, and
moved to be committed.
Mr. Tucker : " Feared the commitment of it would be a very
alarming circumstance to the Southern States, for if the object was
to engage Congress in an unconstitutional measure it would be con
sidered as an interference with their rights, the people would become
very uneasy under the government and lament that they ever put
additional power into their hands. He was surprised to see another
memorial on tlie same sulject, and that signed by a man who ought
to have known theConstitution better. He thought it a mischievous
attempt as respected the persons in whose favor it was intended. It
would buoy them up with hopes without foundation, and as they
could not reason on the subject as more enlightened men would, they
might be lead to do what they would be punished for, and the owners
of them in their own defence would be compeUed to exercise over
them a severity they were not accustomed to. Do these men expect
a general emancipation of slaves by law ? Iliis would never be sub
mitted to by the Soutiiern States without a Civil War.''
It will be observed that in these debates on the subject of slavery, it
is the North pressing the South. Notice throughout, the danger is to?
and the defence by the Southern States. All allusions to the object of
these debates has reference to its effects upon Southern States,

CONOEENING SLAVEEY 81
observe in the above quotation the results and artifices of the Aboli
tion of seventy-two years ago, the same as those of the Abolition of
to-day, viz : — Create a necessary evil and then complain of it, and
use it as an argument against their adversaries. Force Southern
men in self defence to use rigid measures for the preservation of their
lives, their families, and their property, and then accuse them of
oppression and cruelty, and raise a hue and cry against the horrors
of slavery.
The following is a model of an Abolitionist seventy-two years
ago:— Mr, Scott : " / cannot entertain a dOubt but the memorial is
strictly agreeable to the Constitution, We can at present lay our
hands upon a small duty of ten dollars ; I would like this, and if it
is all that we can do, we must be content ; but I am sorry that the
framers of the Constitution did not go furtiier and enable us to in
terdict the traffic entirely ; for I look upon the Slave Trade to be one
of the most abominable things on earth,. and if there was neither
God nor Devil, I should oppose it upon the principles of humanity;
and the law of nations. / cannot for my part conceive how any per
son can be said to acquire a property in another. The petitioners
view the subject in a religious hght, but I do not stand in need of
rehgious motives to induce me to reprobate the traffic in human
flesh ; other considerations weigh with me to support the commit
ment of the memorial and to support every constitutional measure
likely to bring about its total abolition. Perhaps in our legislative
capacity we can go no further than to impose a duty of ten dollars ;
but I do not know how far I might go if I was one of the Judges of
tlie United States, and those people were to come before me and
claim their emancipation,"
Here follows a model of a Fire Eater of seventy- two years ago: —
Mr. Jackson: "Differed with, the gentleman last up, and sup
posed the master had a quahfied property in his slave. The contrary
doctrine would go to the destruction of every species of personal
service. The gentieman said he did not stand in need of rehgion to
induce him to reprobate slavery ; but if he is guided by that evi
dence upon which the Christian system is founded he will find that

8^ CONOEENING SLAVEEY.
religion is not against it. He will see from Genesis to Revelation
the current setting strong that way. There never was a government
on the face of the earth but what permitted slavery. The purest
sons of freedom in the Grecian Republics, the citizens of Athens and
Lacedemon, all held slaves. On this principle the nations of Europe
are associated ; it is the basis of the feudal system. But suppose all
this to have been wrong. Let me ask the gentleman if it is good
policy to bring forward a business at this moment, likely to light up
thefiame of civil discord, for tlie people of the Southern States will
resist one tyranny as soon as another. The other parts of the Conti
nent may bear them down by force of arms, but they will never suffer
themselves to be divested of their property without a struggle. The
gentleman says if he was a Federal Judge he does not know to what
length he would go in emancipating these people ; but I believe his
judgment would be of short duration in Georgia, even the existence
of such a Judge might be in danger,"
Mr, Smith, (S, C.) : " When we entered into this Confederacy we
did it from political, not from moral motives, and I think my con
stituents do not want to learn morals from the petitioner. I do not
believe they want improvement in their moral system ; if they do,
they can get it at home. The gentleman from Georgia has justly
stated the jealousies of the Southern States. On entering into this
government they apprehended that the other States not knowing the
necessity the citizens of the Southern States were under of holding
this species of property, would from motives of humanity and bene
volence be led to vote for a general emancipation ; and had they not
seen that the Constitution provided against the effect of such a dis
position, I may be bold to say they never would have adopted it.
And notwithstanding all the calmness with which some gentlemen
have viewed the subject, they will find that this discussion alone
will create a great alarm. We have been told if this would be the
case we ought to have avoided it by saying nothing ; but it was not
for that purpose that we were sent here. We look upon this measure
as an attack upon ihe palladium of the property of our country • it
is therefore our duty to oppose it by every mea»s in our power.
Gentlemen should consider that when we entered into a political con-

CONCISKNING SLAVEEY. 83
nection with the other States that this property was there ; it was
acquired under a former government, conformably to the laws and
Constitution, therefore any thing that will tend to deprive them of
that property must be an ex-post facto law, and as such is forbidden
by our pohtical compact. I said the States would never have
entered into the Confederacy unless their property had been guaran
teed to them, for such is the state of agriculture in that country that
without slaves it must be abandoned. Why will these people, then,
make use of arguments to induce the slave to turn his hand against
his master ? We labored under difficulties enough from the ravages
of the late war. A gentieman can hardly come from that country
with a servant or two, either to this place (New York) or Phila
delphia, but there are persons trying to seduce his servants to leave
him ; and when they have done this, the poor wretches are obliged
to rob their master, in order to obtain a subsistence ; all these, there
fore, who are concerned with this seduction are accessories to the
robbery." Notice that these cities where these robberies were com
mitted are the very places from which the Abolition petitions were
presented to Congress, and that the same kind of thieving, practiced
by Abolitionists seventy-two years ago, is still carried on in these
same places by Abolitionists of the present day.'
Mr. Baldwin, of Georgia, was a member of the Convention which
framed the Constitution, He says : " Gentlemen who had been pre
sent at the formation of the Constitution could not avoid the recollec
tion of the pain and difficulty which the subject caused in that body.
The MEMBERS FROM THE SOUTHERN StATES WERE SO TENDER UPON
THIS POINT THAT THEY HAD WELL NIGH BROKEN UP WITHOUT COMING
TO ANY DETERMINATION ; HOWEVER, FROM THE EXTREME DESIRE OF
PRESERVING THE UnION AND OBTAINING AN EFFICIKNT GOVERNMENT
THEY WERE INDUCBD MUTUALLY TO CONCEDE AND THE CONSTITUTION
JEALOUSLY GUARDED WHAT THEY AGREED TO. If gentlemen look
over the foot prints of that body they will find the greatest degree
of caution used to imprint them so as not to be easily eradicated ;
but the moment we go to jostle on that ground, I fear we shall feel it
tremble under our feet. Congress have no power to interfere with
the importation of slaves beyond what is given in the ninth Section

84 CONCEENING SLAVEEY,
of the 1st Article of the Constitution ; every thing else is inter
dicted to them in the strongest terms. If we examine the Constitu
tion we shall find the expressions relative to this subject cautiously
expressed and more punctihously guarded than any other part. " The
migration or importation of such persons shall not be prohibited by
Congress," But least this should not have secured the object suffi- i
cientiy, it is declared in the same Section, " that no capitation or
direct tax shall be laid unless in proportion to the Census ;" this was
intended to prevent Congress from laying any special tax upon negro
slaves, as they might in this way so burthen the possessers of them
as to induce a general emancipation. If we go on to the fifth Article
we shall find the first and fourth CLiuses of the ninth Section of the
first Article restrained from being altered before the year 1808.
Gentiemen have said that tliis petition does not pray for an abolition
of the Slave Trade. I think, Sir, it prays for nothing else, and there
fore we have no more to do with it than if it prayed us to establish
an order of nobility or a national religion."
Mr, Smitii, (S. C.) : "The Northern States knew that the South
ern States had slaves, before they confederated with them. If they
had such an abhorrence for. slavery why did they not cast us off and
reject our alliance ?. The truth was the best informed part of
THE CITIZENS OF THE NORTHERN .StATES KNEW THAT SLAVERY WAS
so ENGRAFTED INTO THE POLICY OF TIIE SOUTHERN StATES THAT IT
COULD NOT BE ERADICATED WITHOUT TEARING UP BY THE ROOTS THEIR
HAPPINESS, TRANQUILITY, AND PROSPERITY ; THAI IF IT WERE AN
EVIL, IT WAS ONE FOB WHICH THERE WAS NO REMEDY, AND THERE
FORE, LIKE WISE MEN THEY ACQUIESCED IT." We took each Other
with our mutual bad habits and respective evils, for better for worse.
The Northern States adopted us with our slaves and we adopted
them with their Quakers. There was then an implied compact be
tween the Northern and Southern people that no step should be
taken to injure the property of the latter, or to disturb their tran
quility. It was therefore with great pain he had viewed the anxiety
of some of the members to pay so uncommon respect to the mem
orialists, as even to set aside the common rules of proceeding, and
attempt to commit the memorials the very day they were presented
though the Southern members had solicited one day's delay,"

CONCERNING SLAVEEY. 85
Mr, Smitii, (S, C) : " Another objection was, that the public
opinion was against slavery. How did that appear? Were there
any petitions on the subject, except that from the Pennsylvania So
ciety and a iew Quakers? And were they to judge for the whole
Continent ? Were tiie citizens of the Northern and Eastern States
to dictate to Congress on a measure in whicti the Southern States
were so deeply interested ? There were no petitions against slavery
from the Southern States, and they were the only proper judges of
what was for their interest,"
Tuesday, March 23, 1790. "It was moved that the House
should take up the report of the Committee of the whole, on
the report of the Committee, to whom was referred the memori
als of the people called Quakers, and of the Pennsylvania So
ciety, for promoting the abolition of Slavery. This motion was
opposed by Mr, Jackson, Mr. Smith, Mr. Burk, and Mr, Bland, they
severally observed that the discussion of the subject has already ex
cited a spirit ofdissention among the members of the House, and that
every principle of policy, and concern for the dignity of the House
and the peace and tranquility of the United States, concur to shew the
propriety of dropping the subject and letting it sleep where it is. On
the other hand, Mr. Vining, Mr. Hartiy, and Mr. Page, observed
that there was the same propriety in taking up the subject at the pre
sent moment, and bringing it to a conclusion, as there was for first
taking it up. The motion for taking up the report was warmly con
tested, in a lengthy debate, and finally passed in the affirmative by a
majority of one." That subject was not concluded to the satisfac
tion of the Abolitionists, and so the agitation was kept up by them
from that day to this, widening and deepening the breach between
the North and the South, and intensifying the sectional hatred and
hostility of each.
The Report of the Special Committee was, " First, That the
Generd Government is expressly restrained trom prohibiting the
importation of such persons, " as any of the States now existing
shall think proper to admit, until the year 1808. Secondly, That
Congress, by a fair construction of the Constitution, are equally re
strained from interfering in the emancipation of slaves, who already

86 CONCEENING SLAVEET.
are, or who may, within the period mentioned, be imported into, or
born within any of the said States. Thirdly, That Congress have
no authority to interfere in the internal regulations of particular
States, relative to the instruction of slaves in the principles of mo
rality and rehgion, * * * or to the seizure, transportation, or
sale of free negroes, but have the fullest confidence in the wisdom
and humanity of the legislatures of the several States, that they will
revise their laws from time to time, when necessary, and promote the
objects mentioned in the memorial, and every other measure that
may tend to tlie happiness of slaves."
Such were the sentiments of men clothed with greater authority
than those who framed the Constitution, and better qualified than
they to represent the opinions and the wishes of the people. Seve
ral of these men had been members of the Convention, which framed
the Constitution. Some of them had been not only members of
that Convention, but also signers of the Declaration of Independence,
and all of them were well acquainted with " the attendant history"
of those instruments, and of the formation of the Government, they
themselves constituting a part of it and being the first members of
Congress, assembled in conformity to the Constitution. Modern poli
ticians have lost sight of the original United States, it is there that
they must search for the reasons of the various articles of the Con
stitution. They must construe them in reference to those times,
those circumstances, that territory, and the views of the prominent
and public men of those times, as indicative of the pubhc sentiment.
The increase of the United States to four times its original dimen
sions, IS what has deranged the operation of the Constitution, the
ideas of the people and the speculations of the politicians, Rome,
bounded by the Adriatic and the Appenines, and Rome, the Mistress
of the World, was not more different in regard to the cir
cumstances and extent of territory ; than the United States, bound
ed by the Alleghanies, and the United States bounded by the Oceans.
No Constitution that human wisdom and ingenuity can frame will
be practicable forever. The existence of men and nations is limited,
and so are the works ; besides, everything human is mutable,
nothing remains permanently fixed in this world ; the changes in a peo-

CONOEENING SLAVEEY. 87
pie or in the circumstances of a nation, begets the necessity of changes
in the Government or in the policy of that people or that nation.
The founders of the American Government — the Constitution,flattered
themselves that by making the mode of amending the Constitution, a
part of that instrument, they had founded a government in which
necessary changes wovdd be made conformably to that mode ; and
that thus they had made a kind of perpetual government ; yet such
were the caution in the consideration of amendments by the House
and the apprehension of the results of such consideration, entertained
by members of the first Congress, that, in the language of Mr. Ames,
they feared " this public discussion would be like a dissection of the
Constitution; it would be defacing its symetry, laying bear its
sinews and tendons, ripping up the whole form and tearing out its
vitals ;" and the very first act of a portion of the people, and mem
bers of the first Congress, under the Constitution, was to violate it.
One of the most important changes produced by the enlargement of
the original area of the United States is the relation of the Northern
or Free States to the Southern or Slave States. The relation which
was considered permanent by the founders of the government, was
in the original area 14 Northern States to 10 Southern, a total of 24
States and 48 Senators ; two-thirds of the Senate would be 32 ; and
three-fourths of the States 18 ; so that neither the North nor the
South could propose or make any amendment, or carry any measure
of vital importance without the concurrence of the other. The in
creased number of States, from the enlarged area of the original
domain, has changed this relation, and will Qontinue to increase the
disparity between the Northern and Southern States, until soon the
Northern States will be able to propose and make amendments, and
carry any important measure without the concurrence of any of the
Southern States. To correctly comprehend what I have stated, it is
only necessary to understand that the principle of the Black Repub
lican party is to admit no more Slave States into the Union ; and
that there is territory enough for 28 more States of 50,000 square
miles each, allowing this dimension to the Free States that already
exist west of the Mississippi river ; tiius would the relation of the
two sections of the Union ultimately become 46 Free States to 15

88 CONCEENING SLAVEEY.
Slave States, even supposing that the present border Slave States
should remain such.
The United States have progressed in power, improvement, and
prosperity, unparallelled in the annals of mankind. The prevalence
of Black Republican principles has stopped that progress and im.
provement, and enfeebled that power, and the ultimate destiny of the
South, and of the Union, under the dominion of the Black Repub
lican dynasty, is apparent imminent and inevitable, for, where power
exists without either wisdom or virtue, all constitutional restrains are
but as mere cobwebs in the way of fanaticism and ambition ; and
the noblest pohtical edifice ever erected by the genius of man, ex
hausted of its wisdom, its virtue, and its patriotism, must crumble
into chaos, amid the career of cruelty, wickedness, folly, fanaticism,
ignorance, and imbecility.

EREATA.
Page 13, Line 23, resorted to accomplisli read resorted to, to accomplish.
" 15, " 17, demigog read demigod.
" 17, " 25, confirming read confining.
" 22, " 3, an read as.
" 25, " 24, and read not.
" 27, " 27, and the citizens read and of the citizens.
" 29, " 25, hand read band.
" 30, " 8, At read " At.
" 31, " 24, hence read whence.
" 31, " 26, demanded read demanded"
" 32, " 13, security read security."
" 36, " 28, Eepublic read Republican,
" 40, " 5, The sentence should be : Three of these States, one free
''i'w^? ^^"*' ^^^^ admitted during the administration
of Washington, who recommended the admission of
the first Slave State ever admitted into the Union ¦ the
remaining States, free and Slave, &c
42, " 13, impractability read impracticability.
" 42, " 17, practability read practicability.
" 43, " 6, them read their.
" 44, " 29, Northern read Southern.
" 45, " 17, these read those.
" 45, " 18, these read those.
" 45, " 31, Southern read Northern,
" 48, " 34, settling read setting.
" 50, " 2, in read on.
" 51, " 5, agreed read argued.

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