The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-04-19
To the Friends of American Liberty:

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, Az
THoRIZES AND DEMANDS A NATIONAL ADO
LITIoN OF SLAyERY-Concuded.
To the Friends of american Liberty:
(2.) "15 establish justice" If the Constitu
ton was ordained" to Establish Justice" il
was ordained to overthrow and prevent Slavery
which is the climax and perfection of injustice
Justice" is "equity, agreeableness to right.
1t "consists in giving to every one what is his
due. Injustice is "iniquity, wrong, any viola
ton of another's rights" All men know, intu
itively, that Slavery is injustice, and that tc
establish justice" in this country, would be to
suppress Slavery. All men know, therefore
intuitively, that if the Constitution was cor
dained" to Establish Justice" it was +" or
dained" to abolish Slavery; and that, rice cersa,
If the Constitution was not "ordained to
abolish Slavery, it was not "ordained" to "es.
tablsh justice" The proposition is too self
evident to admit of argument. 1t can only be
plainly stated, and addressed to mems con-
sciences; and if they are honest, and true to
their own convictions, they will acknowledge its
claims. Whether we go by the rule of " strict
construction" 1.-THE meaning of the words,) or
the rule Of the Supreme Court, that ~ the inten-
tion must be collected from the words" or
whether we go by the declared esprit and in
bcnG Vi the III CDHftS W
same thing, and affirms the power of the Con-
stitution, "ordained for the United States of
America" to overthrow American Slavery. If
it has not this power, it cannot be proved that
it has any power at ALL or is of any value.
81 "I0 insure domestic hdnquiNuy" Sla-
very is that peculiar domestic institution v
that renders domestic tranquility" impossi-
BILE! The statesman, the poet, or the iurist,
who would picture or define a state of society
from which domestic tranquility" was totally
banished, would have to define or describe
Slavery. "The whole commerce between mas
ter and slave" said Jefferson, Il is a perpetual
exercise of the most boisterous passions, the
most unremitting despotism on the one part,
and degrading submissions on the other"
:" Domestic tranquillity!" Where? On the
plantation, under the crack Of the drivers
whip? Where? In the masters bedchamber,
with his pistols under his pillow? Where? In
the streets, promenaded by the nightly patrol ?
Where? At the domestic freside, and in the
bosom of matronly beauty? ave, Southern
ladies'" said sister of James Madison to the
late Rev. George Bovine, care dignifed with
the title of aciUes, but are only mistresscs Of
serdgliOs." "Domestic tranquillityl" Where :?
AT the auction-block, where the screaming child
is torn from its frantic mother, and the despair
tic tranquility" Where the institution of
marriage and the family relation are blotted
out, or are left without any legal sanctity or
protection? How can the Constitution I" insure
domestic tranquility" without suppressing Sla-
very? How, without restoring and protecting
the domestic relations? Have God and Nature
made domestic tranquility" possible without
MeseP No! And consequently they have not
made it possible for Government that does
not suppress Slavery, to "insure domestic tran
quillity" nor for Constitution to confer the
power of doing the latter, without comforting
the power of doing the former. "Strict con-
struction, the meaning of the words-the
intention, as gathered from the words-the
esprit" scope, and power, of the paragraph,
are all at one, here.
a. "Propide for the common defence.r
Mark this, "the common defence" of "the
people of the United States :" not of the slave
holders exclusively or of the +" Free" or of the
iohites." The defence of the staces, then,
among others, is to be provided for. "De
fence against whom, and against ,chat-if
not defence against Slavery, the greatest of all
injuries?
But leaving this, how shall the common
defence" of the countryside rhie people,
the shareholders themselves-be provided for,
very? Two incidents of our history may in
struct us: Nat Turner's Southampton insur-
rection in 1884, and President Madison's Gil
pin-like flight to Bladensburg at the approach
of British detachment, with the burning of
the Capitol, in 1913. A servile war, foreign
invasion, or both combined, may leave the ma
ton defenceless, without the abolition of Sla-
very. John Quincy Adams clearly proved the
war power of Congress to abolish Slavery"
BY the same principle, Congress may prevent
war, or may prepare for it, by abolishing Sla-
very beforehand. Our weakness at that point
is coming to be felt and perceived. Our diplo-
macy with England, since the British abolition
of Slavery in the West Indies, has put on a
subdued tone A nation that permits Slavery
is always in a state of civil war; and though
for years that war may be prosecuted only on
one side, it is liable at any moment to put on
new forms. A population of slaves is a popu-
lation of natural enemies. "And with what
execration," said Jefferson, "should the states
man be loaded, who, permitting one-half of the
citizens thus to trample on the rights of the
other, tranforms those into depots and these into
enemies, destroys the morals of the one part,
and the amor patrie of the other" "Indeed,
tremble for my country, when | reflect that
God is just, and that his justice cannot sleep
lOTeVeT. Inc no
which can take sides with us in such con-
test"
The "execration" of jefferson rests on the
Federal Constitution, if it ought to be construed
as "permiHing" Slavery; and the same con-
struction of it enlists the Federal Government
in a war against Liberty, and against every
attribute. of the Almighty" Can such a
construe1sQf it be a prudent one? Neither
the lett the spirit Of the Constitution nor
the rule u The Supreme Court, require or al
low any such construction of it. The po,cer
to "prOvide for the common defence" IS the
pO,cer TO declare sodr and make peace to
make peace with the three millions of natural
enemies in our midst, with whom we have SO
long been at war. The Federal Government
cannot provide for the general defence without
providing for the abolition of Slavery.
TO- +" To promote the general ace!fare." This
is another declared object of the Constitution,
which cannot be attained without the abolition
of Slavery, which VIGOROUSLY and in various
ways obstructs the general welfare" 1t curses
the very soil where it is tolerated. 1t under
mines the national industry. 1t impoverishes
the whole South, diminishes the national reye.
nue., and throws the public burdens of the coun-
try on the free States. 1t demoralzes and
weakens the nation. A volume might be filed
with statistics showing how Slavery counteracts
public growth, prosperity, and welfare. South
ern statesmen admit this. No measure of DO
litical economy is so much needed in this
country, as the abolition of Slavery. There is
nothing that the Federal Government can do
that will insure national prosperity, while it
continues to tolerate Slavery. Finally.
(6.) "To secure the blessings Of lberty to oar-
selces and oar posterity." There is no evading
this. 1t needs no inference. 1t speaks direct
to the point, and in language which no one can
mistake. All men know that Liberty is the
opposite of Slavery, and that the existence of
the one is the absence of the other. tho same