The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-09-06
IooPYRIsHT SECURED BY THE AuTHoR.l
For the National Era.
THE LEGAL TENURE OF SLAVERY.
LETTER xxxU.

LETTER XXXVI.
UNFOUNDED ASSUMPTIONS. AND HISTORICAL
REGULATIONS OF THEM.
To the Friends Of american Liberty:
So far as the principles of strict construction,
the rules of the Supreme Court, and the spirit
and intent of the Constitution as manifested in
its general scope and declared objects, are to
be recognised as our guides, we have sufficient
ly discussed the bearings of the Federal Consti-
tuition upon the legal tenure of Slavery. and the
relations of the Federal Government to the Slave
Question.
Accordingly, our Investigations might close
here were it not for the fact that the conclusions
We have reached, and in the use of all the known
laws of Interpretation known either to the courts
or to the legal profession, (co-incident, harmo
NOUS, and unavoidable, as we have found them
to BEL are nevertheless neutralized, nulli6ed,
and even set aside, in thousands of otherwise
intelligent and well-informed minds, on account
of mere vague impressions, of long standing,
indistinctly connected with supposed historical
| facts, which never had in reality any existence
| reposing on no basis but irrational conjecture
bald assumption, and interested traditions, that
| at most, can be traced no farther back in our
political literature than the date (l9l9-20) of
the Missouri struggle and compromise.
1t will be necessary to notice, distinctly, these
/ Impressions and then test their quality by COM
pairing them with the historical facts bearing
| upon them.
USFoUNDED ASSUMPTIONS.
i. We may mention, once more, the almost
universally assumed historical fact that Slavery
had legal existence in this country at the time
the Constitution was formed. My readers now
understand that all this is mere assumption,
without shadow of foundation. 1 need occupy
no further time here in respect to it, except to
| say that few persons, among the tens Of thou
sands who have lately learned to correct this
error, have ever yet been able fully to rid them
selves of the false impressions that it had made
upon them. If they have learned to reason in
remembrance of the real fact, las few of them
have, they have not unlearned the habit Of feel
ing as if the truth were otherwise.
| 2. And even where this false impression is
| overcome, there remains the idea, that notwith-
standing the fact that Slavery was illegal, it was
at the time universally supposed to be legal.
| And the fallacy is admitted, that on this account
| there must have been some compromise
| regulation, or understanding" in favor of the
g institution thus recognised as existing-and
that this " understanding" if not exactly bind
ing, entities the slaveholding States to some
| comfy or forbearance.
strong impression that in the Convention that
| drafted the Constitution there was q difficulty,
severe and longprotracted struggle, between
the Northern and Southern delegates, on this
vexatlous slave question, very similar TO the diff
hcultles that have since occurred; and,
4. That this difficulty could finally be ad-
listed in no way but by compromise" in
| which Slavery was allowed certain prerogatives,
| rights, and immunities, (such as the so-caled
| fugitiveslave clause, for example, without
which, as we are gravely told, the South would
never have come into the Union," and "the
Union never could have been formed" The
South, then, as in our own times, is supposed to
| have played the overseer; and the North, as now
had no alternative but to play the doughface,
| and submit to the dictation.
8. On these assumed grounds it is pleaded,
that although for sheer shame, our fathers
| avoided the use of the words siarery and Stare,
yetthey nevertheless consented to provide for the
existence and continuance of the things the words
| signify; that although the Constitution, accord
| ing TO the proper meaning of the words, goes in
favor of Liberty, and against Slavery, vet the
secret intention" was in a contrary direction
and So forsooth we must be bound by the Sc.
cret Intentions" and not by the public decla-
rat'ons, OF the trainers and adopters of the in
strumenti
6. And all this tottling dollhouse of assump-
uon reposes upon the still farther assumption,
that, at the time the Constitution was formed the
Northern States were all free States and the
Southern States were slave States; the North
ern States being in favor Of emancipation. and
The southern States then, at present, peril
naciously clinging to Slavery, and ready to fore
20 all the benefits Of the Union, all claim to a
share In common nationality SO recently ac-
CURED, rather than give up the patriarchal in
stItution, at once cherished as honorable and
lucrative, and venerated as republican and
christian. Thus it must of course have been,
or else the previously named assumptions must
be regarded as being but the shadow of a
| shade.
Z. And this is not ALL Another assumption
equally indispensable to the entire structure of
historical ProSlavery construction is that
precOusty and until the time when the present
Constitution was formed, there was no Union of
the States-that, up to that date (l787-9,) the
states were isolated from each other, exerci-
sing separately the full powers of independent
nations; that the problem, then for the first
time to be solved, was, whether these sovereign
States could be brought under one General Gov
eminent, or whether they should remain as they
were, standing alone.
SO essential TO the argument of those who ad-
here to the Evolutionary tale OF the compro-
mise OF the Constitution is this assumed histor-
lcal fact, that even the class of Abolitionists
who give credence to that theory, and condemn
the Constitution that account, consider it an
important link in the chain of their reasonings.
Witness the following extract from one of their
late publications.
Originally, the responsibility of Slavery rest
ed exclusively with the States in which it exist
ed. No State had, necessarily, any connection
with it In any other State; and if any of the
States chose, they might be entirely free from
the contamination. BIT, in the formation OF
oar present political Union, the relations of the
several States to Slavery became entirely chang
ed. The support of the institution, which had
hitherto devolved exclusively upon the States
in which it existed, was now assumed by the
Federal Government, and the responsibility
thereby thrown upon the whole country"
:" Prior to her adoption of the United States
Constitution, the soil of Massachusetts was free
The slave no sooner planted his feet upon it
than his chains fell off. She knew no difference
between the fugitive from Carolina and the flu
gitive from Hungary
ti-Slavery Tracts, No PIP. Sc, by the American
Anti-Slavery Society.
lREMAINDER OF LETTER xxxvI MKT WEEK
CUMBERLAND Co., ILL.,, Aug. Is, 1855.
l tn The E3;fo- N e al, N,y,o.,,J IT,