The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1847-10-15
Th- Ne Clause.


stands SOLITARY and a.one,' III htr '-'iemp'
10 exclude, BY constitutional provision, a
portion of the human family from the en-
loymcnt of that great grant hich God madJ
10 air the seed Il Adain.--of the Whete Earth,
I, b,habit aud totin il. There may he IN
s,ns In which sclti,hness and narrow mind
cd prejudice have prevailed 50 fax as
ia prcchdc the negro, orthe jew, or Alaho-
me,an or Paran from the rightot ogeaer4,p
in tie sell; bat Illinois, we believe, monopo-
lies all thc disgrace Of serious attempt
10 cxcIttae all nations. tribes, and Kindred
all persua,ions, Jew, Mahomctan, Pagan.
or Christian from not only the right of or
nersip in tao soil, bnt also the right OF resting
n ,,ear foot ON it--on account Of COLOR !.
Uorsethievcs. eamblers. and murdererS,
with their ears cropped, their heads shaved,
tho marks Of the whipping post upoh them,
and loathsomo with the smell OF penlicniia-
ries. may come and live among us and en-
10Y equal right. with uS-wc even lceRSe de-
bauchery and sin, ami let men prepare their
fellows for crime by whoieSaleing and re-
failing to them the nectar of perdition-a and
in all this the "wise men" Of our stale
could sec no danger TO thc;public wealEat
least none so threatening as to call for con
s,itu.ional safeguards. II was reserved as
the ctefdaaure of their Wisdom and acute
ness 10 discover that twas III the poor, inoi-
fensive, Submissive, ignorant, and Cypress
ed pcgro only that Ny tie great danger
which we must Guard eoniust to SECURE the
porpetuly Of our free Institutions. The
negro, who, OF all mankind, has drunk deep
est of the bitter cup of oppression, and who,
degrade him as YOU viii, .'dry up to the ut
most the fountains of his feeling, the springs
ofhis thought; yoke him 10 yoar laboras an
OK, which liveia only to work and worketh
only to live; pnt him under any process
which will crush and debasc him as a ratio
nal being" sin chtrshcs. as the boon Of
priceless worth, ashis only hope and CON,
ISOLATION, thcideay that he is enc day 10 be
frec--he alone i the bastard that would
raise his impicvs hand to subvcrt the free
institutions ofthc state of Illinois
The negro population of our state may at
present amount to 5000. They are known
as peaceable, orderly, and unpretending.
Many Of them have families, own property,
and live in comfortable homes. Now sup
pose our people have adopted this ''negro
clalse,o and made it part of onr CONSULT
tuition, and the legislature have passed in
conformity with it their law excluding all
negroes from the state; and then suppose
some Of them should refnse to relnqush
their homes, and assert the common law
right of making their home their castle !;
we might then be RECALLED with the dig
nifed spectacle Of the state cxerting her
power to expel by force from Our borders
hundred or two Of negro families, whose
longer continuance among us has been al
judged dangerous 10 our free institutions ,
Historians and poets have exhausted the
powers Of language to eXecrate the cruel and
inhImaa expulsion of the Moors from Spain
"A crime that from ti,c day it vas commit
ted has blishted as with mildew the fair
est country on earth. Shall IlliloiS, in this
enlightened age, be guilty Of an act tina
would equal il in atrocity?
There is but one way in which we can
account for the adoption Of the negro clause
BY the convention as all article 10 be sub
mittod to the people. Out Of the $50 intel
ligent men who composed the constitutional
conventions, we doubt whether there is one
who would be willingto put his name on re-
cord as being in favor o. ENGRAVING such a
provision on the organic law of our state
But many Of them represent singular po-
pulation. We last week published an ari-
Gle from Louisville paper giving an account
of the "Sand- Killers" of North Carolina. a
large portion of the population of the south
ern counties Of this state is composed of jus,
such population. There may not be ma
ny Of them from North Carolina they are
mostly from Virginia, Kentucky, and Ten
nessee- and they may not be as ignorant as
the "Sand- Killers" are, but they are, Ike
them, the poorer population of the slave
states, who unable to hold slaves them
selves, have been driven out by the institu-
tion, from which they have imbibed all the
hatred OF the "Sand- Hillers'' for the negro,
and all their notions that labor is degrading.
Our way, then, of accounting for the adop.
ion oil this clause is, that it came from the
south, and was intendnd to humor this
"Sand-Hiller" feeling. Coming with this
object, we hope It will receive thot treat.
mcG. at the bands Of the people which it
deserves, and which was doubtless antici-
Yated for il by the convention.
Ifitis just to exclude the entire negro pc.
'Pulation from this state, It would be just to
exclude 1t from every other state or nation
in the world. The principle, IL carried out
to its full extent, cannot stop short of the ut.
ter determination Of the negro race from the
face of the earth, tn surh a nr;nc;nIe ,ve