The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-09-13

L
TO the Friends Of american Liberty:
Such are the supposed historical facts on &C
count of which all the well-known and estab
lished rules of legal Interpretation are system
! atically set aside, IN favor of the ProSlavery
construction of the Constitution against which
| 4 am contending.
Now, am prepared to prove by indisputablt
| and documentary evidence that not one of these
| seven assumed historical facts is deserving o.
the least credit Nay, more: Their absolute
falsity is as demonstrable as any other conceiv
able falsifcations of history could possibly be.
| Not only was there no legalized Slavery in
the country at the time the Constitution was
drafted and adopted, but the Convention that
| drafted 1t was perfectly aware of that fact, and
took care to shape the document in accordance
| with it.
| Not only was there no compromise made on
the slave question-there was no disputed point
| before the Convention, concerning Slavery, to be
compromised; and there were no two distinct
parties in that Convention, by whom such a
compromise couH hare been made.
Not only was there no understanding that
| the Constitution favored Slavery-Or that the
Federal Government was never to intermeddle
with the existence of Slavery in the States, and
put end to it-but there was very distinct
| and publicly expressed understanding to the
contrary.
Not only was there no need of compro-
mise on the part of the North, in order to
bring the South into "the Unon,' but the
South and the North were both in the Union
long before the present Constitution was form
ed !; and the question whether or no any portion
OF the States were to remain III the Union, was
never before the Convention or the country, at
all.
Not only is it untrue, that achen the Union acds
formed, il was formed on the basis of conces-
sions and compromises IN faoor of Slavery, but
1t is historically certain that the Union which
has never since been abolished or suspended)
was distinctly formed on the basis of uncompro-
missing opposition to Slavery-an opposition
quite as deeply seated at the South as at the
North, and quite earnestly expressed by
leading Southern minds as by Northern Ones
| am aware that these statements may star
tie some persons, but l am prepared fully to
substantiate them. l am aware, too, that the
main conclusions reached in my previous letters
can be substantially maintained, without taking
the positions of THIS letter. Among my readers,
| know there are some who have perceived this,
though they had been more or less embarrass-
Ell by the impressions and assumptions of which
| have been speaking. a letter is now before
me, from one of the best-disciplined minds in
the country, gentleman of high literary ac-
qulrements, from which, without naming him,
! may take the liberty to extract the following:
:" have carefully read your writings, and am
confident that all the friends of Freedom must
come, substantially, to your grounds. l say
aaadtty-because, while l agree with you
that the Constitution, as a whole, honestly inter
preted, is sufficient to bring Slavery to an end,
and will do so when administered by brave and
| bot hos
who made it did not have in view something of
tie nature Of compromise. Still, as we are
bound to interpret law by its general spirit
and the fair import of its language, in all its
connections, and not be turned aside from the
meaning by what we may suppose to have been
the thoughts and motives of the trainers, so
believe our Federal Constitution. thus expound-
ed and administered, will take Off every yoke"
While hold, with my friend, that the ground
he takes is perfectly tenable one, and that cul-
tivated minds will readily see it to be so, l am,
at the same time, persuaded that truth and good
policy demand that we should take the still
more just and complete ground ofvindicating the
| memory of our fathers from the unworthy as
pensions that have been cast upon them, and
which even the most guarded concessions are
calculated to encourage. | believe, too, that the
,chole truth on this particular point, more than
| almost anything else, is needed to awaken in
| the mass of the people the same patriotic zeal
for Liberty, and corresponding hatred to Slavery,
| that their illustrious sires cherished.
While, therefore, | contend las do Spooner
| and others) that we need not 60 outside of the
Constitution to find its true meaning, and that
the received rules Of legal Interpretation do not
permit us to do so, for any purpose at variance
with natural rights, would not las some seem
to do) discard or discourage historical inquiry
in respect to the intentions of our fathers.
Wherever those intentions are properly under
stood, the meaning of the words they used and
the spirit OF the instrument will be found to be
in harmony with those intentions, and the filial
duty of doing all in our power to carry out and
to render effective their virtuous intentions be-
comes most powerful incentive to right action
If the people of this country are ever to be rous
ed to assert the claims of human nature, it will
be done-not by vilifying their revolutionary
fathers base hypocrites, with professions Of
Liberty on their lips, while they riveted the fet
tiers Of Slavery-but rather by indicating theil
just fame, and holding up the light of their ex
ample, as true lovers of Freedom, whom their
sons should honor and initiate, though avoiding
their errors. In my next | hope to exhibi,
something of their character and "intentions."
WILLIAM GOoDELL.