Weekly hawk-eye and telegraph. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1855-1857, 1856-04-30

and project
The millions Of hardy lahorers Of the North and
Northwest viii not live in slarehoiding commp-
nity need not answer "why A thousand /
reasons are on their tongues. To sou may /
seem to be the result Of sickiy scntimentalsrn.
To them their conclusions seem to be the result
Of The cIcarest reasoning sustained BY the stron-
'gsst sense Of moral duty. II, then, you establish |
Slavery IN the Territories, you erelHde them from
the enjoyment of this common heritage The !
thousands and tens Of thousands of men and
women, Of the free North who migrate to the |
West are laborers. Many Of them go to your
new Territories with no capital except industri-
Gus habits, strong arms, generous hearts and /
lofty purposes They go TO form new commani- |
ties and . new society, where labor Is honorable;
where he who is too proud to work is discarded,
where he who refuses, by his own toll, TO add
something to th solid capital of the country, Is
disgraced; where the industrious, the vigilant,
and the frugal, arc honored and promoted
where, in time, nearly all live in their own hou-
SEES, cultivate their own soil, and run their own
machinery. They live on q common platform Of
equality, because all are willing to labor for
living Such men will never so degrade them.
selves as to labor in the fields side by side, with
Southern slaves.
Establish Slavery in the common Territories,
and you exclude the working men Of the North;
prohibit Slavery in the Territories, and you ex-
cude shareholders. Which is the greater .ine-
quality p The white population of the United
States was reported by the officers of the Cow
eminent in 1850 at about twenty millions the
number of Shareholders, at less than one quarter
of a million. If this be true, the enactment of
laws excluding Slavery from the Territories wod
deprive less than a quarter of a million of the
citizens of the country of the right to hold
species Of property there, which nineteen mill
| lions seven hundred and fifty thousand of their
| fellow -countrymen discard. Nineteen and three
| fourths millions of the people of the United
States may still go to Kansas with their proper
| ty of every kind The quarter of a million may
| 90 on equal terms. To make room for the Slaves
Of the one quarter of million, you are required
| to exclude the free millions of the North for, by
establishing Slavery in the Territories, you prac-
tically exclude free laborers, who are too proud
| to become the companions of slaves. Is this
! right Is it just Is that constitutional equal
ityg
For myself, sir, am free to admit that am
one af the number practically excluded. / es-
TEEN it no disgrace to say, sir, in the Senate of
| the United States, that from childhood have
been taught to labor. The sweat of my brow hiss
been my only capital. have been required to
fulfill the edict pronounced by the Almighty, in
the original formation Of the human family ''that
by the sweat of his brow he shall earn his
bread.'
On platform of equality, have never been
disposed to shrink from an honorable compete
ton with the most favored in life's ever-re-
curing conflicts; but sir, never will, by act
or vote of mine, place myself in a condition
to struggle for position in social life with
those anhose Slaves are the companions of my
daily tolls. If ] would not thus stultify nv
self, will not thus wrong my child. l would
be equally pleased to see him compete, in the
Eschool-room, at the black board, in the lee
ture-room, on the rostruin, in the field, or in
the shop, with the son of the Southerner as
well as the son of the Northerner But sir,
never could feel fathers pride in witnessing
his struggles for position in the polite circles,
while had, by vote of mine, made him the COM
panion of slaves at his daily labor. Rather than
see him reduced to a practical inequality of this
kind, would prefer to see his eyes plucked out
and given to the eagles, and his heart snatched
out and given to the vultures. Palce him son a
platform of equality-let him labor in the same
sphere, with the same chances of success and
promotion-let the contest be exactly equal be-
tween him and others; and if in the conflict of
mind with mind, he should sink beneath the bill
low, let HIM perish!-but. by no vote or act of
mine will give him an unequal battle. If
could not thus wrong my own child, l will not,
as Sena.or, representing in part one of thu
4 States of this Union, by any official act of mne
| either exclude her free citizens from the enjoy
ment of our common territories or place them
in companionship with the feld-hands of South
ern planters.
In this claim of Southern statesmen to the use
| ofau the Territories for slaveholding cominuni-
ties, that is upheaving the elements of society,
and dissolving old parties, North and West The
4 cry of Black Republicansm, nor the threat to
/ dissolve the Union, willstay the swelling wave
The cry of abolitionism will be equally impotent
"Abotionist," with its original meaning, was
exceedingly odious in the North and West as well
as South. When it meant an officious informed
ding of the people of one State with the domes-
tic affairs of another-when it was said to mean
social equality and Amalgamation of the two
races, there were but few to approve it; and /,
sir, was never one of that number While I
saw no generic distinction between the two
| races, it has always seemed to me that some-
thing was due to the common instincts, affnities,
and decences of life; all Of which were so flag
rantly violated by the great Democratic party,
| in 1886, by elevating practical amalgamation-
ist to the second Office in the gift of the nation,
and again in 1910, by attemptingto repeat the
| outrage. never acted with such party; Iney-
4 err consulted them advised withssthem, nor voted
/ for them. have always defended the right of
the people of the Southern States Ito regulate
| their own domestic institutions in their own
| way" But, sir, claim an equal right for the
people OF the phoie country, by their Represent
1 atives in Congress, to regulate the domestic in
| situations of all the Territories belonging to
the United States. This is constitutional equality
/ as / Understand it. Let each State control its
own jurisdiction; and let Congress control the
| domestic affairs of the Nation, wherever her
sovereignty is unrestricted by an existing State
government. And shall not be deferred from
the defence of this position by the cry of abo-
| tionism.
( And now, Mr.. President, conclude these des-
! utory remarks by recapitulating the argument
conclude that the Congress Of the United States
| has power to prohibit Slavery in the Territories
| of the United States
!. Because Congress has exercised this power
| bv declaratory acts following the acquisition of
| the Northwest Territory, the Louisiana Trrrito.
ry, the State of Texas and Oregon
2. Because Congress has prohibited Slavery in
| the organization of Territorial Governments.
| and in the admission of States formed out of ali
territory where Slavery did not previously exist,
embracing all that vast country north of the
ONO river and 30 deg. so min. of north latitude
extending from the eastern line of Ohio to the
facine ocean-embrac.ng period of time COM
mencing with 1877, and reaching to 1850.
=. Because there is not on record, in all the
adjudication of all the courts of the country
State and National, extending from the founda
s'Oii VI VIC poSeTuHleuI 10 the present moment.
single adverse decision.
4 Because, in the acquisition of the Terrific
ries, the Government of the United States ac-
CURED full, complete, and exclusive sovereignty
over them as the successor of the soyereipns
from whom they were procured, of which She
cannot dives: herself until she transfers this SOW
ereignty to State Governments
5. Because this power is indirectly asserted in |
the kansas-Nebraska act, comforting on the peo-
pie OF the Territories the power to legislate on all
suitable subjects of legislation, and to regulate
their own domestic institutions in their own
way-snce power could never be tranferred. |
which was not previously held by Congress
Secondly conclude, that this power ought to |
be exercised in the organization of Territorial |
Governments, where Slavery did not previously
exist -
l. Because natural justice, as interpreted by
the fathers of the Republic, demands it.
2 Because the supposed or real inferiority of
the African race increases instead of diminishes
the obligation Of civil society to protect him
from !. the oppression Of the strong and power