Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-12-08
The UniOn---The Constitution.

This is all we ask. The Temple of our
Constitutions Liberty, is sacred in our eyes.
II was reared by freemen's hands-cemented
by freemen's blood, and consecrateJ by free
mems prayers. 1t should be guarded by
jealous eyes. It's inner courts should not he
trodden by the unballowed feet Of those who
hold their fellow-men in bondage, and make
merchandise Of human souls-and the hands
that forge letters to manacle human limbs for
a Southern market, should never pollute its
sacred affairs"
So SAYS the editor Of the "True Demo-
crat 4" and if the constant reiteration Of a
poetic fiction could, by some hocuS pocuS con-
vert il into a plain common-sense fact, the
U. S. Constitution would be all the friends
of liberty could desire. Curiosity prompts
us to briefly examine this extract sentence
by sentence.
1--WE dc not want the U Mon dissolved"
Very likely, for men have been taught TO
regard it as sacred, as too holy to be destroy
ed in any contingency, and 10 consider as
traitors all who propose that means shall be
adopted to ascertain its true value.
d" 1t cost too much.''
No question about that. 1t cost far more
than it ever was or will be worth and there
fore the compact, instead of being renewed
year after year, should be repudiated.
ats price was blood"
True again-but whose blood ! Not the
white mans, but the negroes and the price
has to be paid in yearly instalments, each
year adding 10 the amount paid.
We want its true principles-the designs
and intentions of those who formed it, carried
out"
They have been. Its true principles are
the principles o: negro slavery, and the sys-
TEN has prospered under it. The design and
intention of its trainers was TO give SOLEMN
guarantees to the system, and upon these
guarantees it has lived. Can the editor of
the Democrat" controvert this position =
If he thinks so, we are ready with the facts.
"This is all we ask"
You have it. the election of Gen. lay
lor is a most happy illustration of the manner
in which the principles of the Constitution
are carried out and his administration will
without doubt be in strict accordance with
its letter and spirit.
"The Temple of our Constitutions Lii
berty is sacred in our eyes"
What about the negro's constitutional
liberty or has he no altar in that sacred
temple We fear he has Motive KNOW he
has not. The Constitutions compromi-
SEES =" which John @ Calhoun regards as sa-
cred. and which James X. Polk regards as
sacred, and which Martin Van Buren, regards
as sacred, have ever closed the doors of that
temple against his admission.
1t was reared by freemen's hands-ce-
mented by freemen's blood, and consecrated
by freemen's prayers"
A very p%oetical sentence, but how stand
the facts! The Constitution was formed by
the representatives of thirteen States, most
of which had legalized slavery within their
borders. A great portion of the delegates
were either Shareholders themselves, or the
advocates of slavery. Such were the Jreemen
by whose hands il was reared, and Is il not
meet that we bow down and worship the idol
they set up? AS TO the freemen's blood
with which it was cemented, we know not
whence it came, for the war of the ~revolu-
ton had been finished years before, the coun-
try was then at peace with all the world ex-
cept the Negroes and Indians, and the nation
had outlived one other form oil government
since its independence had been established
II is not cemented by freemen's blood, buI
by the blood of SLAVES! We confess we
have heard that the fathers did pray oveI
the Constitution, especially its pro-slavery
clauses, though 10 whom they prayed, WI
can only infer by the character of their deeds
SIT should be guarded by jealous eyes,"
That is just what the South say and wha
they want. Only let the North stand BY
the compromises Of the Constitution, and tn,
South will be able to get along without mucl
difficulty.
ats inner courts should not be trodden b,
the unhallowed feet of those who hold thei
, fellow men in bondage, and make merchan
-. die Of human souls-and the hands tina
forge letters to manacle human limbs for
|, Southern market, should never pollu.e il
sacred %altars."
Does the "Democrat" mean to say tina
George Washington ought never 10 hav
3 besn President, that Thomas Jefferson ha
-, no right IN the Executive chair and that h
r~ejOices that the See Of Ashland never OF
: tanned it: or is it only sch Shareholders a
James X. Polk and Gen. Tay.or mat nav
no business there The Constitution, is nc
e materially worse or better now than wheI
4 Washington, the first President, s@ore t
support it; slavery is the same now in prir
I ciple that it was thea; and il it is wrong fc
g the unhallowed feet of Gen. Taylor to trea
: its inner courts. because he is a slaveholde