The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1850-04-13
For thc Free Trader.
Slavery In the District Of Columbia.

ION Is not made IN these for n system of slavery
III every portion Of the United States, then We
nave no such constitutional system existing, and
slavery has no other support in any portion If our
borders, than the united power of shareholders
And what is the fact in the case Does the con.
sti'uion make provision for slavcholding Even
Shareholders themselves do not pretend this
They acknowledge that the constitution does not
take away the right of men to the ownership Of
themselves. Then what does il dot They say
it secures TO them the right of holding their
slaves as property, and of securing to them their
peculiar institution. But what j. this institution
And where do We find any legal claim for its cx.
,tence! answer; Such claim does not cx.
'st--slarcry has never existed in the United
States, upon any constitutional grounds whatcv.
er. lthas no authority any where, but the slave.
holders power Before the revolution the chart.
crs given To the different colonies, contained all
their constitutional rights These charters EN-.
powered the colonies to make Laws, in accordance
with the law, Of England, and according to the de
cision Of chief justice Mansfield in lie. slavery
could not be sustained there but every slave be
came free by shipping on To their soil. Tho same
must be true in The English colonies of this c,un
try Slavery could not legally exist here, la,
every pretended slave was con'titutionally free
man And when slavery was finally introduced
it was no, pretended to be legal institution, and
no laws were introduced on the subject for long
time. But after a while, laws were found ncce.
Sary, and some were introduced In 1870 Nir
GINA passed the following act All servants, lo
are not christians. imported into this country, by
shipping. shall be slaves for life" Docs TN, act
legalize slavery' Who are these servants An.
they white or black No one can possibly tell
Another act was passed las. ".ill persons who
have been, or shall he imported into thi, country,
shall be slaves Al, both white and black by
this net, are made slaves. And shall We con.
Certainly no, yet for these laws have no consti.
tutonal authority They are the resgit, merely
of the united power OF the Shareholders
In ITO, South Carolina passed the following:
BE it enacted that all negroes. Indians, in am,
~ With this government, and negroes, molattocs,
aud meztizocs. who are now free excepted molnt.
toes and mcz:iz1es, who now are OF shall be here,
after in this province and all their issue born, OF
to be born, shall be- and are hereby declared to
be- and remain hereafter forever, absolute slaves,
and shall follow the condition of their mother
Here We see the commencement Of the author
IT., manifested by the slave power %! South Car.
DINA Their own will Is all the power they have
for passing the above law and the same is true
Of all the colonic, up to the revolution. After
this, all the several states, except Rhode Island
and Connecticut, adopted constitutions between
l77t, and 1888, an no, one OF them made any
provision Tor slavery. They adopted, then, the
same let alone principle for which they now con.
no legal constitutional basis, whatever. And
did the declaration Of independence do anything
for slavery Nothing at all must be the answer.
Blu, freedom to all, was clearly the subject Of
that instrument in the declaration. And this for
a season, was the supreme Law of the land The
confederation Of the states, was adop,el . year.
after this, in IFS, and nothing j, found in this
instrumen, to establish sustain slavery, but ey.
crything to sustain the freedom Of the people
The free inhabitants Of each Of the states, il
says, except paupcrs, vagabonds, and fug,ives
from Justice shall he cn''cd to all the privileges
and immunitics OF free citizens in the several
states, and the people Of each state shall have
free nsress and egrcs, to and from other states,
and shall enjoy there all the privileges, trade and
commerce, subject to the same duties, imposi.
tons AMI restrictions, as the inhabitants respect.
fully. Who then were these paupers, yagabonds
and fugi,ves from justice Not slaves certainly;
for the language does not denote such All 9th.
ere, were by this instrument made free citizens,
and OF course no legal slavery could exist at this
time IT, then, slavery does now legally exist in
these United States by any instrument Of govern.
ment, it must be found in the constitution Of the
people Of these states But here it is not found,
neither does it give any authority to the state
governments to establish slavery rs new ins,i.
tuition Even Shareholders themselves do not
claim this.
Then it follows conclusivcly, that rs the state
constitutions made no provision for slavery even
in their own states the people under them were
all legally free and the adoption Of the United
States constitution made them all citizens without
any distinction Of persons Thence the language
ia, I'VE the people Of these United States, in or.
der to form more perfect union, establish jus.
tiee, ensure domestic tranquility provide for the
common defence, promote the general welfare
and secure the blessings Of liberty to ourselves
and postcrity, do ordain and establish this con.
stitu.on for the United States of America and
after this solemn act II too late for the states
legally to pcrpetuatc slavery. Their constitution.
al power on this subject did not exist, and their
slave laws, had no constitutional support. But
they were all null and void by their own coLstitu.
ton. and the constitution Of the United States.
Congress. therefore, has no more right 10 make
and sustain q slave law, than to create monar.
chy. Such is truly the government Of those Uni.
ted States. But o how il is perverted. Tho
constitution itself will 10 noticed in our next
&C.
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MARRIED.--0n the Sist ult, at Newark. by
the Raw w Bitcheller NJ W., S..,.. -