Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-11-20

Representatives and direct taxes snail ne
apporlioned among the several States which
may be included within this Union, accord
ing 10 their respective numbers, which snail
he determined by adding TO the whole num-
her of free persons, including those bound to
sefgjee for a term of years, and excluding To-
dams NOT taxed, three-6Iths of ALL THE
PERSONS &c.-United States Constitution,
Art. |, See. :.
He would have seen that his quotation from
Madison only strengthened our side. II they
were so careful TO describe those b0und loser
circ far Il term IF years as free PERSONS who
were the OTHER persons? Being ofher
than Stree persons," and other than those
''bound for a term of years." they must be
the slaves.
The next subject considered is the legality
Of the State slave laws as compared with
State constitutions point irrelevant, and
one with which we have nothing now to do.
Mr.. Goodell concludes with his general
idea of ''Constitutional Law" His princl-
pie is, that no Government can rightfully eN-
iSt, in the sight of God, which does not pos
sess the authority TO put an end TO such a
wrong as slavery. Hence, the American
Constitution, rightly considered, does confer
that power. We subioin some extracts, lest
our readers should think us exaggeratlng, or
playing on their credulity, in asserting that
so able a man as Mr.. Goodell seriously ar
CUES that in human affairs a thing is, because
il ought TO be; that mankind aiiDcys do what
they OugM 10 do. Certainly his argument, in
this connection, can hardly he understood
otherwise, since the question at issue is not
what Constitution this nation ought 10 have
made, or whether the actual one is binling
on us, but what sort of one we have actually
established. But to our extracts:
"All this would be true, even upon the sup
position that any artificial compacts or writ
ten parchments, could possibly construct a
civil Government that should be a civil Co
vernment, and yet mol be vested with the
power of securing inalienable human rights ::
a proposition we shall not stop to discuss in
this place, though it may require attention
elsewhere."-p. 100.
"a right in the Government, to WELD pow
er for the ensIavement of any human being,
is a right that, in the nature Of things, can
never exist."-p. lIS.
"Does the pith and gist of the matter lie
in the paper-the parchment Or lies it in
something beyond, or back of the parchment,
or the paperl Have we found the thing,
when we have found the parchment, the pa
per, or have we found only what purports TO
be a statement, a description of the thing il
self!"-p. lac.
"What would be thought of the mathema.
tician who should identify the sciences oil
arithmetic, or geometry, or algebra, UiM his
6ooh, his approved and highly authoritative
GoOk on those subjects! Who should never
speak of 'arihmetic" with any higher mean
ing to the word than tie bO0k he holds in his
landss But such a village ~pedagogue, could
49, G.l -, .--a1I Ill H. l.
side the grave Senator, or the learned Judge
of the Supreme Court, who has no higher
meaning to the phrase, tile Constitution IF tile
United States than the written or printed
parchment or paper, agreed upon, and drawn
up by the Convention that assembled in 1887
-forgetful that a Constitution IF Government,
like a theorem in algebra, or a fact in chem
istry. or botany, or zoology, or astronomy, is
a palpable, veritable, existing fact, whether
any books or papers have described them cor
rectly, or undertaken to describe them at all"
p. l49.
''The Federal Convention, and I'VE the
people of the United States could no more
make a Constitution of civil government, out
of a cloth of our own fabric, and upon any
principles that might suit our own seIfshness
or caprice-a Constitution that should he "a
fb diu OtNutHGs lhuu M COiluS, anu an UNI
versity of Psychologists could make, at their
own within or pleasure, a constitution Of the
human body, that should be binding upon all
the anatomists and surgeons of a nation, or
on all who should have occasion 10 contract
their muscles, and move their limbs! In
both cases, it is God who has made the Con-
stltutions."-p l52.
"To the case in hand. Human beings can
no more construct a civil government, with
binding authority over human beings, yet
without the power TO execute judgment be-
tween a man and his neighbour than they
can construct a globe without the quality of
Toundness, or a cube without six sldes."-
p. l5i.
"A Constitution of civil government, there
fore, that t~olerates slavery, is an absurdity
that cannot exist."-p. l55.
"Man may discover, but cannot create
law."-p. 1853.
The reader will notice in these quotations
the evidence of that, the clergyman's frequent
error, Ito which we have before adverted,) OF
deceIving oneself with the ambiguity conceal
ed under the word 'law:" law, for instance,
in its first, broad meaning, standing for the
rule which God and nature point out and
sanction as proper and righttul land iaw,
secondly, the rule, which certain individuals,
constituting the majority, have arranged, shall
be the settled plan of their society. All the
principles, which we have quoted above from
Mr.. Goodell, would be opposite and in place,
if we were discussing the question whether
a wicked Constitution was binding on the cit
izen, or whether the individual would be JUS
tilted in supporting it. But w understand
him TO be seeking now to find out, not the
duty of individuals in relation to wicked laws,
not what sort of a Constitution the American
people ought to have framed, but what sort
Of one they have actually tried 10 sci up
When we ask for their actions, Mr.. Goodell
tells us what their dulles were. Alas, he is
too orthodox not to know that evidence Of
what a man ought to have done, goes but