The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-07-11
FOURTH OF JULY AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS.

ers and services forgetting for moment baltimore
and Philadelphis Conventions take their stand
beside Abolitonists on the platform Of the Decis-
ration Of 1915; and their presses, not excepting
the Washington Uaon, republish with great de-
votion the solemn affirmation hold these
truths to be selfeviden: that all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights; that among these
are life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
| That to secure these rights Governments are In
stituted among men, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed; that whenever
any form Of Government becomes destructive Of
these ends it is the right Of the people to alter or
abolish it, and to institute q new Government,
laying its foundations on such principles and or
gaining its powers in such form, as TO them shall
seem most likely to effect their safety and hsppi
nessn
On this Declaration, our fathers justified their
revolt from a Government which undertook TO tax
their property without allowing them represent
l.s;2G * S.'',sJ words, to treat them rs the sQG
jects Of absolute power. Seeking foundation for
their claim to govern themselves as an independ-
ent people, they could find none but the doctrine
that all men are created with the insliensble
rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit Of happi
ness This doctrine they were obliged to assert,
in its universally, SO that it might comprehend
their own case. A qualified deqGAstiOn would
have left the right or wrong of the ellion an
open question. A declaration tho rec men,
or all rhae men, or all Aag Sarons Re created
with such rights, would have excif derision
but when they asserted the equality b personal
rights of all n>n, they uttered tru4 to which
the heart of Humanity responded-4s to truth
vital to its dignity, its wel-beng and its eternal
progression.
In appealing TO the opinions of mankind for
the justification Of their course, they were
obliged to assert the rights Of mankind and
their assertion Of the rights Of mankind involved
the doctrine Of oorrelative duties II every man
by nature had an inalienable right to liberty, it
was the duty Of al to recognise that right. If
this doctrine Of natural equality gave them the
e..A- y. !,.s., .csnuen9 SI 6fear brrafn II AN.
posed upon Britain the duty Of recognising their
independence But, in asserting this doctrine,
they affirmed the right of the six hundred thou.
sand slaves in the colonies at that time to be free
and, by implication, their own duty to admit and
recognise the right.
In fact, the Declaration of Independence under
all the circumstances attending its PRONUNCIATION,
solemn pledge to the world that the political
systems Of the country that proclaimed it should
be conformed to its theory of the foundation, ends
and obligations, Of Government. IL was an anti
monsrchical, anti-arstocratic, anti-slavery cove
nsnt, and in entering into it, our fathers called
upon God to witness to their sincerity and the
rectitude Of their purposes. The spirit that gave
birth to the Declaration Of Independence pervaded
the colonies generally. The people clearly saw
the inconsistency between their theory of Human
Rights and their practice Of Humsn Oppression
and everywhere movements were instituted for
the abolition of the latter.
They met few years later in convention to
establish more perfect union, and the result of
their lsbors was q constitution formed to secuethe
blessings Of liberty; in which while certain conces-
sions were made to slavery as an existing insttu-
tion, impossible to DO removed at once the princi-
Piles of Human Freedom were again asserted !;
from which was studiously excluded the idea that
there could be property in man and which was SO
f...--A sA~A sia.s-v -isht cease by the operation
Of natural causes, without any amendment being
required.
Provision was made for the abolition of the
slave trade, the prevalent belief Of that period
being, that the prohibition Of the traffic would
lead to the abolition Of slavery itself) and the
only public domain then belonging to the Union
had been cOnssorsted to liberty by the Congress
of the Confederation.
"Fanaticism,o says the Union, had not then
raised her gorgon front, to scowl upon any of our
countrymen in consequence of their social habits
or their peculiar institutions Who led the armies
of liberty to victoryl Aslaveholder. Who framed
the Declaration Of our Nations Independence ?
A Stakeholder. What Legislature fret proposed
commissioners to meet to form constitution for
took the most active part in the Convention to
frame that noble monument 2 A slavebolderD
The Union presents partial and, therefore,
unjust view of the sentiment Of that period. Pub
lie opinion (fanstical or mott was against slavery !;
and every means consistent with jealous regard
for State sovereignty was adopted to prevent the
extension Of the evil All the States were slave
holding, but at least one half Of them had put in
operation measures Of emancipation, while in
nearly all the rest the subject was anxously con-
sidered Shareholders were not scowled upon,D
for, as class, they did not oppose emancipation,
and scarcely any we're found to advocate slavery
on principle. Washington was STAKEHOLDER, as
Al h,t L
supper. legal measures for the abolition of slavery
aud he died non-slaveholder, having given free
dom 10 his slaves. Thomas Jefferson, who framed
the Declaration Of Independence, was also slave
holder, but be earnestly advocated emancipation,
and was the author Of the original proviso which
domain Of the United States. Virginia slavehold-
ers were the first to propose commissioners to
meet to form constitution, but they were also the
most determined in their resistance to that provi-
sion Of the Constitution which suspended the power
of Congress to abolish the slave trade for twenty
years. And Madison, who e took the most active
part in the Convention to frame that noble mouu-
ment," though a STAKEHOLDER, thought it wrong to
admit in any Of its provisions the idea that there
could be property in man.
Public opinion continued sound for several years
after the Constitution. Louisiana was acquired,
not because it was slave territory bat despite that
objection, because 1t necessary to give safety
to our Southern frontier, and secure unrestricted
access to the Gulf Of Mexico. The Federal Gov
ernment while it unfortunately tolerated the con-
tinusnce Of slavery therein took pains to discour-
age its increase by prohibiting slave Importation
But the purchase Of so vast tract Of slave ter