The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-11-13
WASHINGTON, ID. Z.
Reported for the National Era
SPEECH
OF
CASSIUS NJ. CLAY, AT LEXINGTON, KY.
p.,....-.l A,r,gf 1881
Delivered August !, 1851

fore YOU. candidate Tor the ONCE oil Governor
Of Kentucky
come not as nv rivals, Messrs. Dixon and
Powell, backed by great political parties.
stand against the ruling class in the State and
Nation the wealth-the social ban the
press-and the pulpit These are great odds
Yet standing here on the basis of Truth, JUS
tce, and Liberty, as humble in popularity and
ability rs the least appreciatiye of my friends
OF enemies would have me do not shrink from
the duties which every citizen Of Republic
owes to his country.
Nc man knows better than the deep-rooted
preiudices which have been studiOusy planted
in the minds of this people, from the begin
ming against me personally, and the cause
which advocate OF this | do not complain.
He who would change the organic laws of a
State ought to be prepared to meet hatred,
calumny, and viOlenco-for such has been the
fate of Patriots in all times and in all coun-
tries. pass all personal misrepresentation in
silence if | cannot live them down. vain is
the attempt to speak them down
Objections which have been made against
the party with whom have the honor 10 act |
deem worthy of notice
1t is urged that the question Of Slavery and
Emancipation has been once considered, and
decided against US, by the people Of Kentucky
and therefore it is faetious" again to re-
open it.
Now this objection. if true, has but little
weight, coming from the Democrats who have
been defeated for twenty years or more in this
State; yet now we find them arraycd once
more under their banners! So does it come
with equally bad grace from the Wings who
have been in the nation relatively about in the
same position as the Democrats have been in
the State
The objection. when stripped of its casuistry,
means simply that we are in a minority Now,
when 30 many men, even of first distinction,
are ready to float with the popular tide into
Office ! regard it as a subject OF pride that we
t:'.. a7g.. T.; H. '--'@'>''' 81 ,'@st 'F' con
oelvu lies ~ orro ~ueoEo ~ P.@tIs~..~, a.
safety to the State
But the allegation is untrue. The question
of emancipation never has been fairly discussed
before, or decided upon by the people of this
State. The forty men-who met in Frankfort
in 1913 all Shareholders but still protesting to
represent all parties in the State, Interested in
the Convention ACKNOWLEDGEMENT that, so
far as they were concerned, the then relations
OF slavery should not be disturbed And again,
when the Legislature met in the winter of that
year, resolution was passed that Siauery ought
not 10 be discussed
The same position was taken by nearly the
whole Wing and Democratic press. By such
weight of authority against us, the Emancipa-
ton Convention, which met ut Frankfort III
1Sl9 was induced to defer making the battle
upon the merits Of their cause, and only con-
tended for what is called the "Open clause in
the Constitution so that the question Of Eman
cipaton mighk be, as suggested by our oppo-
nents decided, Separately from all other intluen-
ces upon its merits And such was the position
taken by the orators upon the stump, and urg-
ed everywhere in private conversation
Now, when the Constitution is formed and
carried into execution--when parties are mar
rowed down to the same platform so nearly
that the matter of contest between Wing and
Democrat seems to be, whether there is really
any difference in princpes-when the public
mind is calm and ready for sound conclusions
and we at last come forward and urge Enamel
patton upon just and constitutional grounds
these same men, who all along were saying
the time had not yet come, now camOr that |
the time has passed-it is too late-thc ques-
ton has been decided against us
No with the Shareholders, the time has not |
and never will come for the consideration of |
Emancipation If left to them they would, |
like Sheridan with his creditors, put it off till
the day after Judgment
We, then, friends of Emancipation and vital
republicanism, must judge for ourselves of the
time and means Of throwing off this insttu-
ton, which wrongs the slave and threatens
our own liberty We are all equals-we We're
born iree-and while we allow to our opponents
all the privileges which we claim for ourselves,
we avow our purpose to yield to others none
which we will not iearlessy demand
] care nothing for party names 50 that they
designate principles The Wings are called
Bank Federalists the Democrats Loco
focos we call ourselves " Emancpationsts
Liberty and Union men, Our enemies call
us "Abclitionists" All we ask is the under
standing of our views upon them we are will
ing TO stand or TO fall
There are in the State Of-Kentucky, in round
numbers ten hundred thousand people Of
these two hundred thousand are African slaves
You all know what slaves are. BY the laws
of all the slave States, they can neither acquire
nor hold property in their own right "by the
sweat of the face or by gift, or devise, or
Inheritance To them is denied the family re-
lation. They know not the name of parent or
child 49, husband or wife-sister or brother
they are not secured in life, liberty, or prop
erty, or the pursuit of happiness In word,
they are subject in all these to the will of their
masters, in mind and in person. being rs goods
and chattcls or beasts of the field
In this nineteenth century, amidst civilized
and Christian people shall not discuss the
moral relation of such an institution az this |
appeal to reason, which is monstrous iargon if
this lie just to every unsullied conscience,
which is quick as n flash of light in reyusion
when self is thus threatened to the works of
nature, where by sea and shore each mute and
living thing of minutcst insgniiicance has al
lotted it by Providence an independent sphere
Of action and happiness-that not alone, of all
animated cxistences, is the poor African merged
in the will and happiness of others
Above ALL upon that eyer-tO-he-hed-s sacred
and glorious saying, Do unto others az You
would have others do unto YOU | rest the
question of the moral relation of slavery--to
reason, To conscience. to nature, to God | will
not add the weight of my ideas of the right
] am not here as u moralist. but politician. or,
if may aspire to the higher title, II statesman
and as "a statesman have discussed and still
propose to discuss this subject
Next in order are tho owners of these two
hundred thousand slaves. In 1915, they were
from the Auditors books aScertaincd 10 be about
thirty-one thousand-Say since then increased
TO thirty-thrce and third thousand The act
ual owners of slaves then in this State, are only
one IN every twenty-lour, including men, women,
and children, of the white race But allow
which islberal, two persons more to each actual
stakeholder, for those interested in these slaves
a. heirs or exPeotants 10y gift or devise, and we
have only one hundred thousand persons! Take
the two hundred thousand slaves and the one
hundred thousand masters from the ten hundred
thousand and You have remaining seven hun
dred thousand persons-scyen out of eight Of
IA oh ,f 4 h.,
in the Commonwealth" the people in the
language of politicians, who have no interest
in the ownership of these slaves
On iLn nnnirnr,. thnr n,nr,, L. lnrn.A n1,,;nl