Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-12-08
The Rlgh,. OF sIavcholder..

Tho Rights of Shareholders.
Southern shareholders are removing from
Virginia, Missouri, and Kentucky; and, ar
carrying their slaves into the territories. Now.
the question comes up -" Can they legally
hold those slaves in the territories :" The
cannot do SO, except under the direct snnctiot
of the Constitution of the United States and,
the Constitution does not grant to an, man,
power to hold slaves; neither does it grant
Congress any power, right, or authority, t.
support slavery in any of the territories, an
more than it gives it the right to support it
the States. "Those rights which God an
nature have established and are therefore call
ed natural rights-such as life and liberty
need not the aid of human laws to be nor
effectually invested in every man than the
are;" but it requires an unjust, criminal ex
ercise of power to deprive men of their mai
ural rights. The Constitution of the Unite
States neither sanctions, sustains, nor sup
ports any such outrage upon humanity
slavery is. Every person in the territories
black, white, or red, is therefore free. TheI
il no so-called, law to hold any one in bond
age in the territories; because, slavery is loo
and is only "legar' in the states where it
established by special enactment. Wheneve
a STAKEHOLDER goes, with his slaves, beyon
the boundary of the states, in which SLAYER
has legislative sanction, and enters the ter
ritory of the United States, both lie and hi
slave leave behind them the local laws Of tn
state in which one was a serf and the oth6
master; and, both are equal under the Con
stitution. The freeman of the North, whe
he goes to new territory, carries no local La
with him. He carries in his manhood tn
God-given, universal law of liberty; an
society developes, under the protection of hi
suspicious principles, withoutinjustice or VIC
lence. The Virginian or Missourian, when h .
carries his slaves from Virginia or Missouri t :
Kanzas or Neosho does not, and cannot, carr
the local laws of either of those States wit
him for the protection of Slavery. The slav >
returns to himself, freeman, whenever b =
puts his foot beyond the precincts Of Local
legalised slavedom. The master, no longe
supported by the forms and attributes of loca /
law, cannot again claim him as his bonds
man.
The clause in the territorial bill of Senate
johnson of Arkansas, providing for the sup
port of slavery in Neosho, is not only uncon
stitutional; but an outrage upon every North
ern man s rights the idea that the slave law
of Virginia or Missouri can extend to kama
AID hold men in bondage is equally outrage
ols and insulting to the North. In the terri
tories all men are equal before the Constitu-
ton.
Now, 1t may happen that many persons III
these territories do not know these things.
Colored Virgiuians and colored Missourians
may be ignorant of their equality of rights,
out of the slave States, with the white or red
men who have held them, formerly, as slaves.
They should therefore, be taught these facts
and, the men who would impose foreign
yoke upon them should be compelled to do so
at their own personal peril. Let Northern
men inform the colored laborers who are in
Kanzas, &c. that they are their own masters.
Let them be informed that the natural right,
to life and liberty are still unabridged-stil
inviolate-in the territories, until laws
another character supersede them ; and, if tn,
shareholders attempt to abridge those rights by
violence, they must do SO at their own person
al risk.
In the settlement of the territories we mus
demand a strict Interpretation of the Constitu.
ton. The barbarous customs and usages
the Indians must not be sustained by Con-
gress, in contravention of the Constitution,
and by gross usurpation of power and, the
local laws of Virginia should not be supported
in territory which belongs to the United States.
If slaves are carried into the territories let
them know their rights. If anti-slavery men
had only half of the persistent zeal which the
propaganda have, there would be little danger
of slavery usurping the control of those beau
titul plains and forests of the West which God
made for freemen and not for tyrants and
slaves.