Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1843-03-24
BY A WING a ONO.
NUMBER w.
Violation Of the Constitution for the sup
port of Slavery
NUMBER Nv.

stated that, by our Federal Constitution
the free States possessed ''the absolute ant
unqualified right of being exempt and en-
tirely free from the expense, the guilt anC
the disgrace of slavery and of the slave
trade" To establish this principle be-
yond all doubt or cavll, has been the object
of my second and third numbers Having
thus disposed of that part of my subject,
shall now proceed to call the attention oil
nv readers to some few Of the instances in
which the people of the free States have
been unconsttutionally involved in the ca
pemse of that institution; reserving, for a
future number, all reference to the guilt
and disgrace which has been forced upon
us. in order to sustain and encourage slave
nv. This practice of sustaining slavery at
the expense and inconvenience of the peo-
ple of the free States, had its origin in the
DAYS of our revolution. In l1SO, the au-
thorities of South Carolina sent confden-
tiaI AGENT to inform Congress that their State
could furnish no troops TO defend her terri
tory against the British forces, as 1t was
necessary tina: her men should all remain
at home TO defend their families and friends
against their sldUcs in case Of inSarectiOn.
wide secret Journal of Congress- Under
these circumstaces, troops were taken from
the northern States, to defend them against
the British, while they defended themselves
against their slaves, and compelled them to
labor for the benefit of their masters. in
this way southern plantations were render
ed productive, while those Of the north were
tv6 destitute Of laborore, and the burden of
supporting slavery was thrown almost en-
tirely upon the northern States. BY the
subsequent adoption of the Constitution
slavery was made strictly State iaStitu-
ton Its burdens TO be borne by such
States as continued them, while those States
who preferred to do so, had an equal right
TO be exempt from all its evils, by emanci-
pating their slaves. Yet the practice of
throwing the burden of supporting slavery
upon the nation at large, thereby involving
the free States in its expense, has continued
down to the present day. These burdens
have been cast upon the people Of the
free States Firstly, by appropriations
made by Congress for the direct and a
vowed purpose of sustaining slavery and
the slave trade. And secondly, by such |
action of the executive and legislative
branches of government, as was calculated,
eventually, to produce that effect, and, in
some instances, the refusal of Congress
and the Executive to act, lest such action
would relieve the people Of the free States
from this burden.
To the first branch of this proposition,
/ shall devote the present number
Our first treaty, formed with the Creek
Indians, was signed 9TH August, 1870. 1t
contained stipulation on the part Of the
Indians to surrender up all negroes then
tn their territory.
The same stipulation was contained in
nearly all our subsequent treaties with that
savage nation. | regret that the limits,
prescribed to myself will not admit of de-
tail, and will here state, that if any read
er shall call for details on any point embra-
ced in these essays, will most cheeriully
give them hereafter. This covenant of the
Indians to surrender up negroes, was con-
nected with stpulations to perform other
acts, and the amount paid for surrendering
negroes is therefore unknown. For the
violation of this clause of the treaty, we
compelled them to pay to the shareholders of
Georgia, at one time two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars think it fair estimate,
TO set down the sum paid to that nation, for
the purpose of inducing them to return flu
gitive slaves, at three hundred thousand dol
lars.--In our treaty with the Florida Indi-
ans, concluded at Camp Moultrie, in 1923,
we agreed to pay them six thousand dollars,
aud an annuity of five thousand dollars for
twenty years. The Indians, on their part,
"to be actiye and Digiidnt in
fugitioe SiovcS from passing
III Lo;r uI,u ,1nH an mn IoD n
and returning TO their masters such as should
seek an asylum among them. "--Oiicial
reports aud documents, now on file in
the War Department, show, beyond con-
tradictiou, that the Florida war was COM
menced and prosecuted for the purpose Of
regaining fugitive slaves, and to prevent
further escapes of that class of people.
The expense of this war is estimated at
forty millions of dollars.
After the close of the late war with Great
Britain, our Government demanded of that +
nation compensation, for the owners, of
such slaves as escaped to their army during
hostilites. The demand was resisted and :
years Of diplomatic effort were employed
in extorting from them the price of liberty !
Ihus gained by our fellow men. After much !
effort and expense VIC obtained fourteen HIM !
ircd thousand dollars for the shareholders :
but the people of the free States were taxed
10 defray the expense of obtaining and dis .
lributing the money. In 1925, and for many
years subsequent to that time, the efforts
Of our Government were put forth "tO pre- Y
vent the abolition of Slavery in the Island :
IF Cuba, lest the example might affect the a
institution in our southern States" And an r
,gent was sent there to prevent the e. :
Emancipation of slaves Our people of the 9
rec States were thus involved in the ex- i