Washington sentinel., 1854-06-04
THREE PERIODS IN OUR HISTORY.


There have been three notable periods in
the history Of slavery in the United States. 1t
behooves all thoughtful and all patriotic men
to weigh them well. One period was when
the sovereign States comprising this Union
were appendages to the British crown-when
they were colonies. The colonists were COM
posed of three diversities of men. They were
either pious men who claimed the privilege of
worshipping God in their own way, political
malcontents, who could not live happily in the
countries from which they came, or enterpris-
ing adventures whose dreams of ambition and
of wealth tempted them to the shores of the
new world. All of them concurred in one
thing. The psalm-singing puritan, the haugh.
ty cavalier, the aspiring politician, and the rest
less adventurer, all agreed in holding slaves.
They had no scruples in regard to it. Cargoes
of Africans were brought over; and brought
over by northern men and English traders.
Saints and sinners owned them. Barbarians
and brutal savages were thus transferred into
civilized beings. Useless creatures, who were
scarcely higher in the scale of being than
ourang-outangs and monkeys, were at once
transformed into useful, serviceable, faithful,
and intelligent servants. They loved their
masters, and their masters loved them. II
Time passed. Some of those who owned
them sold them because the soil and climate
of the region in which they dwelt made them
rather an incumbrance than help Some
were manumitted; but the great result, in
the course of time, was, that the slaves found
their way to the sections that were best suited
10 them.
Here we may say, and we believe we can
say truly, that far fewer slaves have been manu-
u,itted in the northern than in the southern
section of this country.
The second period was when the colonies
determined to be free, and published to the
world their Declaration of Independence.
In that Declaration of Independence, which
was united in by all the colonies, now States
all Of them slave colonies then, some of them
free States now-this memorable assertion was
made: that "all men are created equal"
We will not pause to scrutinise critically this
declaration. 1t is clear, however, they did not
mean to assert that lunatics and idiotsare "crea-
led' with the capability governing themselves
or others. The whole meaning of the instrument
they made, and that won them SO much re-
nown, was that any people who are capable of
selfgovernment are entitled to selfgovernment
That they did not mean slaves is clear; for they
saw slaves all around them. They knew them
to be incapable of selfgovernment; besides,
that declaration is no code of laws, nor was it
designed to uproot the existing rights of proper
ty. Moreover, whether they thought the black
race created capable or not of ofselfgovernment,
they knew it was impossible to merge them in
one great political brotherhood with the whites,
or erect them into separate and independent
government right intheir own midst. They gave
to that declaration the strongest of all inter
pretations; and that was practical interpre.
tation. They held slaves at the time of it, and
continued to hold them afterwards.
They fed them, they clothed them, and they
made them work. If fperadventure there were
some colonies that did not hold slaves, those
colonies united voluntarily, and with the fact of
slavery staring them in the face, in this decla-
ration.
But now, in these latter times, when the
| slaves that they owned have been sold, and the
| money for which they were sold has been spent,
the sons Of those men who owned those slaves
rise up, and in loud denunciations condemn
their puritan fathers, declare the Declaration
of Independence to be lie, and start the cry
Of black and white, of African and Anglo-Sax.
On equality
The third period was when the independence
Of the colonies was achieved, and the Constitu
tion of the United States was made. That Con
,titution recognized slaves; it protected slaves
That Constitution was designed as perpetual
bond of union. The wise and good men who
framed it knew that it could not be perpetual
unless it was just, and that it could not be just
unless it protected the property of all. Hence
they made it shield and protection. They
intended that it should protect property, and
the full value of property. Property in its full
value cannot be protected unless that Consti.
ritories destined to become States. The Consti-
tuition extends over both. Its provisions cannot
be partial. It's guarantees cannot be discrim,
mating. They must be general They must
be universal, in order that they may be just
The States oil united in making that Consti
tuition, and the States are all equally bound to
maintain it.
Now, we have briefly adverted to three pc
rods in our history, three critical periods, three
periods at which our institutions were framed
and founded, and we will defy any man who
values truth to deny what we have stated in re-
gard to the events that then transpired. SLA.
VERY WAS INSTITUTED, AND SLAVES AS PRO.
PERTY WERE PROTECTED JUsTLY-THAT is, TO
THEIR FULL VALUE.
But fourth period has arrived. Latter-day
saints have.arisen, who dispute the Bible, the
Constitution, and slavery. They are wiser than
their fathers. The ancient Jews saw with their
own eyes the miracles that were performed.
i Ln1.a Il. Il