The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1854-09-22
LETTER ON THE NEBRASKA BILL.


DEAR SIR. Al the close of the conversation which had
the pleasure of enjoying with you few days since at your
residence the subject of slavery general and the Ne
braska bill in particular you kind enough to express
a desire that would write out CONNECTED and distinct
of the views then expressed and though some
what ndisposed to discuss immediate or party questions
like the Nebraska BILL there many points of contact
or there many considerations involved in that
that only be truly understood when contemplated
from my own sand-pono wit that so-called slavery is
the normal condition of the negrohat cheerully
ply with your wishes.
This republic made of thrtyoue sovereign States
united By rather than existing under federal head gem
eral government They accidentally made up of North
and South-of great halves great sections two
great communities-one homogeneous the other mixed
one composed of single of white only, the
other of two widely different of white and
groes-one of these sections free" the other slavehod
ing Their political systems akeare all democratci
their ideas political religious literary, alike, are ho-
mogeneous universal in short their civilization is
homogeneous and American such the world has never
before witnessed dreamed Of But their social and
industrial systems though in antagonstc are as
wide apart the poesare radically different the
white and negro | repeat though widely different
there is antagonist Industry production labor, agri-
cultural labor is the great dominant interest of both The
farmer of New York Ohio works horses oxen the
Virginia planter works negroes their interests the
sameaways the samehence they naturally political
II.
ago.
The founders of the federal Union made provision as
they supposed for all the contingencies necessities of these
diverse communities They even arranged for the semi
representation of the inferior of the South in the
tona legislature much the same as for women and children
and-except Massachusetts, which makes (egay) white
men of her negroes and thus in the national representa-
ton three Massachusetts, negroes worth five Virginia
arrangement is based sound principles and
fixed truths
They also provided Tor 'ugacious negroes, prompt
ed by instructive perception that time would
when British and monarchica enissaries would peryer
alone the sentiment Of loyalty to democracy IN Of
people but the natural instincts of the faithful and
subordinate negro and thus made ii legally and consttu
tionay, as it is morally and nauratt the duty of every
citizen send these mistaken and perverted negroes back
! to their homes
But the founders of the republic nbored only for the
sold Thirteen 2 they dreamed Of ocean
bound repubcof mighty confederacy stretching from
the Atlantic the Pacific from the Polar TO the burn
ing equator and they made provision whatever for
this extension of empire
Here then is the difficulty. Here is where all at
sea- with no constitution chart compass to guide
u.s. with nothing in short but manifest destiny to mpel
us onward General Cass is most assuredly right when
he rumphanty asks point out the clause in the const-
tuition that denies popular sovereignty to the inhabitants
of the Territories and yet sovereignty" of Territory is
4
shapeless adult child, stick with single end or,
finally that ilusory monstrosity of poor benghted alb
olitionsnl, black white man.
What then, should inquire, are the facts involved
what the necessities that govern this question: What does
the we-beng of twenty millions Of white men and three
millions of negroes demand should be done in the prem
ises2
have said have gone on multiplying States till we
have reached the Pacific ocean, and must go till
reach the equatorindeed our language our laws our
system our republican civilization must some day spread
themselves the whole continent
The process has been thus, and mast continue to be
thus the federal government purchases conquer at any
rate acquires territory The people of New York. of Ohio
and other ree States where the population is dense
over into this territory, establish laws, lay the foun
dations and make preparation for sovereign State and
finally reaching certain degree of development II is ad-
mitted State and popular sovereignty" becomes fixed
fact--an ndestructibe american institution
Well this is all very plain and easy, and straightforward,
as regards the homogeneous population of the North but
the South is made up of nired populatono white men
and negroes-of masters and slaves and northern men,
with their brains crammed full of British precedens and
Somerset decisions instead of common sense insist that
slavery the of local law and therefore cannot
legally in the Territories and moreover being wrong
and an "evil," il shall not be admitted in them
Without stopping to inquire into its legality, or wrong
fitness or snulness evi all of which is predicated
the lie that the negro negro but white with
dark complexion and therefore all these conclusions
necessarily false, it is sufficient TO look at the results that
must follow exclusion of southern population from the
tional territory to determine our action.
The same necessities that mpe the people of New York
to emigrae Territorieso wit density OF popua-
ton and worn-out sosof act upon Virginia and
the slave States. The planter of Virginia or Mary
land with exactly the motives and mpeed by the
same necessities as the of Vermont Massachusetts,
gathers up his household including of course his negroes
removes to Territories and fertile soils and as the
northern farmer finds his labor more productive, and
surrounds his wife and children with comforts in
their new homes the Virginia planter finding the labor
of his Slaves" producing infinitely than in Virginia,
surrounds his family with additional comforts and which
these negro Slaves from very necessity, participate in.
The direct unmistakabe unavoidable consequence then
of Stree labor "free son and ree men, is not alone
TO piure the STAKEHOLDER but the savenot alone to in
fct wrong on the white of Virginia but to doom
the poor "down-trodden negro to unrcquited toll and
semi-starvation the worn-out soils of the old slave
States
But free-sos says does not design to exclude from
the Territories either the white of Virginia the
groes that they may come in but shall not bring sa-
very with them; shall carry with them their present
reations-hat is they must come in "equaP WELL it so
happens or rather fact fixed by the hand of the
Eternal that they unequal y therefore amount OF
the part Of reesoilism make
them equal but what would be the result of this inns
condescension Of the advocates of free labor and
free men, in permitting the white of Virginia to settle
in the Territories the condition of leaving their negroes
| Lzi. holi,