Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1845-07-31

absolute subsection of one person to the control
and disposal of another person. by legalized
force We need not argue that no person can
be, righttaAy, compelled to submit to such con-
troll and disposal, All such subsection must
originate in force; and, private force not being
strong enough to accomplish the purpose, public
force in the form Of law must lend its aid The
government comes to the help of the individual
stakeholder, and Furnishes resistance to his will
and compes submission. The GOVERNMENT,
therefore, in the case Of eOcry individual sldue, is
THE REAL ENsLAvER, depriving each person en-
shaved of all liberty and all property, and all that
makes life dear, without imputation of crime or
any legal process whatsoever. This is precisely
what the government Of the United States is for
hidden to do by the constitution The govern
ment Of the United States, therefore, cannot
create or continue the relation of master and
slave. Nor can that relation be created or con-
tinued in any place, district or territory over
which the jurisdiction of the national govern
ment is exclusive; for slavery cannot subsist a
moment after the support of the public force has
been withdrawn.
We need not 60 further to prove that slave
holding in the States can have no rightfnl sane
ton or support from national authority, but must
depend wholly upon the State law for existence
and continuance.
We have thus proved, from the public acts of
the nation, that, up to the time ofthe adoption of
the constitution, the people of the United States
were an ant-slayery people; that the sanction of
the national appreciation was never given, and
never intended to be given, to slayeholding-
that, on the contrary, the government ofthe Unit
ed States was expressly forbidden to deprive any
person of liberty, without due legal process and
that the policy of excluding slavery from all ma
tlonal territory, and restricting it within the limits
of the original States, was early adopted and prac-
tically applied.
Permit us now, fellow citizens, to call your at
tention to the recorded opinions of the patri OTIS
and sages of the revolutionary era; from which
you will learn that many of them, so far from
desiring that the general government should
sanction slavery or extend its limits, were dis
pleased that it was not, in terms, empowered to
take action for its final extinction in the States,
and that almost all looked forward to its final
removal by State authority with expectation and
hope
The preamble the Abolition Act ofPennsy-
vania, of 1880, exhibits clearly the state ofmany
minds. "Weaned," says the General Assembly,
"by long course of experience from those mar
row prejudces and partialities we had imbibed,
we find our hearts enlarged with kindness and
benevolence towards men of all conditions and
nations; and we conceive ourselves, at this par
ticular PERIOD extraordinarily called upon by the
blessings we have received, to manifest the sim
certify of our professions and to give substantial
proof of our gratitude"
8 The sentiments of Mr.. Jefferson are too well
. known to justify large quotations from his writ
tings. We invite, however, your attention to TIVE
sentences and will observe, in passing, that his
: opinions were shared by almost every Virginian
r of distinguished patriotism or ability.
) In his Notes on Virginia, he said -" think a
| change already perceptbe since the origin Of the
present revolution, The spirit of the master is
abating; that of the slave is rising from the DUST
r his condition modifying; the way, hope prepar-
ing under the auspices of Heaven, for total e.
mancipation; and that is disposed, in the order Of
events, to be with the consent of the masters
: rather than by their extirpation."
r On another occasion he sad "nobody wishes
f more ardently than to see an abolition not ony
the trade, but of the condition of slavery; and
certainly no body will be more willing to encoun-
Y ter every sacrifice for that object"
In a letter to John F Mercer, George Wash
, ington said, " never mean, unless some partcu.
lar circumstances should compel me to it, to pos
sess another slave by purchase; it being among
} my first wishes to see some plan adopted by
J which slavery in this country may be abolished
t by law"
f In letter to Sir John Sinclair, assigning rea
= sons for the depreciation Of southern lands, he
said, There are in Pennsylvania laws for the
gradual abolition of slavery, which neither Vir.
f ginia nor Maryland have at present, but which
nothing is more certain than that they must have
and at period not remote"
o General Lee, ofVrgina in his " Memoirs O
: the Revolutionary War;" remarked, The con
l. stitution of the United States, adopted lately
s with SO much difficulty, has efectually provided
d against this evil, (the slave trade,) after few
e years, 1t is much to be lamented, that havin!
: done so much in this way, provision had no
e been made for the gradual abolition of slavery
IS Judge Tucker of Virginia, in letter to tn
e General Assembly of that State, in 1906 rec
d ommending the abolition ofsavery, and speaking
e of the slaves in Virginia, said, Should we no
< at the time of the revolution have loosed thei
is chains and broken their fetters or, if the diff
r cuties and dangers ofsuch an experiment pro
: hibited the attempt during the commissions of
L revolution, is it not our duty to embrace tn
IF first moment of constitutional health and vigor
s. effectuate so desirable an object and to remov
IS from US stigma with which our enemies vii
a. never fail to upbraid US, nor our consciences
reproach usl'
Of Luther Martin, ofMaryland, left the conven