The Kansas herald of freedom., 1854-10-21
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How comes il fha. Kansas IS the prom
ised land aud to whom IS the pro.Eises
On the 18th day Of July, 1881, the
Congress Of the United States passed .sa,l
ordinance for the government of the ter
riiozy ef The United States northwest Of
the river Ohio. This ordinance. after
prescribing the government, proceeds
saHd for extending the fundamental pfin-
ciples Of civil and religious liberty. which
forms the basis whereon these republics,
their laws and constitutions are erected !;
to fix and establish thoSe principles as the
basis of all laws, constitutions, and gov,
ernmenis, which forever hereafter shall be
formed in the said territory and ut is
hereby ordained and declared. By the au-
thority aforesaid, thai the following arii-
eles shall be considered IS articles Of com
pact, between the original States and the
people and States in the said territory, and
forever remain unalterable, ualess 5y COM
mon coassat."
Six articles then folloW-all of which,
with the Declaration of Independence. and
the 9Th section of the act admitting Mis-
sour into the Union, ought to appear in
every spelling book used in the schools Of
kansas-the sixth in these words -
sART. 6. There shall be neither slavery
nor Involuntary serritude in the said terri
tory, otherwise than in the punishment of
crime, whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted provided, always, that any
person escaping into the same, from whom
labor or service is lawfully claimed in any
one of the original States, such fugitive
may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed
to the person claiming his or her labor or
service as aforesaid .
The 9Th section of the act of 1920,
admitting Missouri, is word for word with
this 9th article of compact and in its
pronaise, comprehends Kansas and Nebras-
ka-.this promise being to non-slavehold-
els, and to all opposed to the principles of
slavery, who have for thirty-four years been
sojourning towards the land of promise; /;
the law all the while being to them ''by
day pillar of cloud to lead them on the
way, and by night pillar of fire to give
them light" until, all of a sudden, as by
some unseen hand, this light has been ex-
tinguished, leaving the children of prom
ise in utter darkness. But hark! they
hear voice proceeding from darkness;
it seems strangers, blandly saying, at
being the true intent and meaning Of this
act, not to legislate slavery into any terri
tory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom,
but leave the people thereof perfectly free
to form and regulate their domestic insti-
tutions in their Own way, subject only to
the Constitution of the United States"
This foreibly calls to mind the Devils adj
vent into Paradise-aYe shall not surely
die, for God doth know, that in the day ye
eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open
ed and We shall be as gods, knowing good
and evil" 1t sounds, too, very like the
VOICE that, for but one rote, offered all the.
kingdoms of the earth.
Slavery and freedom, '-good and evil, il
set before all who have ,sprinkled thsz
door-posts, and with their ioins girded,
shoes on their feet, and staff intheir hand,
are, like the lsraeiites of old, in haste for
Kansas; aud upon their own right arms
now depends the issue.