Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1856-01-24
WHOLE NUMBER, 1866.

mehsot ouf country aefegulated and eontr0ll-
ed.
As man Is more than bis circumstances. A.
freedom is better than wealth. as rights are
more important than institutions, II becomes "a
to look well 10 the fundamental ideas whicA
determine the character Of Government and the
course Of its practical operation.
The basis Of American Institutions Il he
dem'crat principle Of equality auouc men.
They rest upon the solid foundation Of popular
consent The primary objects Of their eslab-
li'hmsnt are The defense aud protection 4
personal rights. II they ial to secure these
ends. 1t is the duty of the people who establish.
ed to amend or change them. To or0spiss
and administer government upon these priuei-
PIES is tie true work Of republican psO-
pie.
While the democratic idea thus constitutes
the basis Of American Institutions. vsrious
exceptions, under the pressure of real or sup.
posed sxigencies, have been admitted TO lts
universal application. Among these, Slavery.
the creature Of despOlism and the deadly Cd,
Posite Of democracy, claims baleful pre.emi.
nence.
When our country asserted herindspendenee
slavery existed IN all the States, Its evil
infences, social and political, were, however.
well understood, and its irreconcilable antag.
onism to the rights of human nature and the
principles of just government, was universally
acknowledged.
The founders of the Republic, in framing
our institutions, were careful to give no nauon-
al sanction TO this pOrtentous anomaly; but
they attempted no interfsrence With its exis-
tence in the States. Outside of State limits,
they allowed it no shelter. Within State lin
I's' they left 1t to the exclusive disposition Of
States Immediately concerned. No fact is bet
Ter established BY the sseords of the past, than
The prevalence, during the earlier period Of
cur history, of an almost universal expectation
that slavery, excluded, by positive prohibition.
from all national territory, would gradually
bat certainly, and at no distant day, under the
operation of the principles of the Declaration
Of Independence, and through the action OF
the State authorities, disappear wholly from
every State of the Onion. The foremost cham
piOns of freedom were citizens of slave States.
and occupied the highest stations in the State
and National Governments.
In 1884, Immediately after the partial ad-
Justment OF the conflict between the claims Of
the Union and the pretensions of the States
10 respect to the territory between the AlIe-
ghanies and the Mississippi, through the ces-
sion, by Virginia of the territory northweot Of
the ohlo' Jefferson proposed to provide forey-
er against the extension of slavery by posi-.
tive prohibition of its existence after 1900, in
any territory ceded or to be ceded, or in any
State to be created out of such territory
This proposed prohibition received tie votes of
sixteen out of twenty-three delegates, and of
SIX gu! Of nine States in the Congress of the
Confederation. 1t failed to become law BY
reason of that provision of the Articles of Con-
federation which made the concurrence Of at
least seven States necessary to an affirmative
decision of any question The great majority
in its favor indicates, however, the prevalent
sentiments of the time.
Three years later, the Ordinance of 1887
impressed upon the soil Of the territory north
west of the Ohio an indelible prohibition of Sla
very. That Ordinance was adopted by the
unanimous votes Of all the States in Congress.
It covered every inch of territory subject to the
exclusive regulation Of the General Govern
ment.
In the same year the National Consttution
was framed. Mr.. Madison declared it wrong
to admit in the Constitution the idea that there
could be properly in man. No such word as
slave or slavery found pl ace in any of lie pro-
visions, All recognition of the rightfulness of
saveholding, and all national sanction Of the
practice, was carefully excluded from the
instrument. In every clause which has been or
can BE- construed as referring to slavery, it is
regarded as the creature Of State Legislation,
and dependent, wholly upon State Legislation
for its existence and continuance. There is no
trace in the Constitution itself, or in the de-
bates of its trainers, of any expectation or ap4
prehensiOns Of the institution or maintenance CO
slavery by national law or in national territory.
No one anticipated its extension beyond ths
limits of the existing States.
But the people required additional security.
When, therefore, Virginia suggested an amend
ment ofthe Constitution, that no freeman ought
to be deprived of his life, libery. or properly.
but BY the law of the land Congress refused 10
sanction this restricted guaranty. but proposed.
for the adoption o. the States, an amenGmen.
embracing comprehensive and express inter-
diet against all invasion af parso,xal v;shta h.