Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-05-03
SLAVERY AND THE contribution.


SLAVERY AND THE contribution.
On our first page will be found Mr.. Granger
speech in the House Of Representatives, taking th'
unusual ground for Tat place, that there is no sla
very in the Federal Constitution. Mr.. Garrison
in the last LiberGtor reviews and criticises the doc
trine Of tho speech in the following article:
SLAVERY AND THE CONSTITUTION.
In the U. S. House Of Representatives, on thu
l4th inst, the Hon. A.. p. Granger, of Western
New York, made q speech, in which he took The
ground, that slavery in the United States is un
constitutional, and therefore unlawfuP-repeating
almost word for word, the arguments () in sup
port of that position advanced by Mcssrs. Smith,
Goodell, and others. Soaring on the wings OF his
imagination, lie exclaimed. Sir, if this glorious
republican Constitution of .his glorious land vi
liberty, ~ the asylum Of the oppressed, GU this
home of the brave and this land of the free, C!D
taxi s sides with slavery, then | confess | do not
understand it. Sir, the Constitution, both in spir-
1t and express terms, repudiates slavery, and posi-
lively bars its existence No one appears to have
deemed it worth while to reply to this speech, its
historical a~bsurdity being SO transparent, and its
verbal criticism SO superficial and contradictory.
But, conceding its assumption to be the true rem
dering Of that instrument, let us see what Will be
among the consequences that will follow:-,
/. There has never been a constitutional Con-
gress, and all laws passed at the present, or at any
preceding session of the spurious couclave, cor
vened annually at Washington, arc illegal, null,
and void.
2. As Gen. Granger is not entitled to q seat in
any unconstitationa House Of Representatives, by
recognizing the present Congress as valid, he eth
err puts his foot upon his own theory, as utterly I'M
tcnable, or else connives at the overthrow of the
instrument he has sworn to maintain; for there are
nprnr1s nf tvvnnty rnOrpSantntivpS IN CONGRESS
from the slave States, representing three-ifths OF
the slave population-constituting an oligarchy
more to be abhorred and dreaded than any order
of nobility in Europe. at is claimed he said,
that the three-ffths Of all other persons means
slaves. Then, why not say SOP Our reply to tins
verbal trifing is, if the clause referred to does not
mean slaves, why does Gen. Granger retain his
seat in q body unknown to the Constitution
8. All judicial decisions upon the acts OF the
various Congresses, from the adoption OF the Con-
stitution to the present time, recognizing them as
legal, and all executive proceedings, are, like those
acts, of no binding force whatever.
4. The Government of the United States yet re-
mains to be organized! Uc are ruled by con$pt-
rators and usu1perS!
s.. Washington. jefferson, Madison, Monroe,
Pincknoy, Wythe, Marshall, Carroll OF Carrollton,
and their slayeholding associates, were q lawless
band, lost to all shame, and anarchists in the guise
of patriotism, in first framing and adopting'an an
t~i.slavery Constitution, and then continuing to
hold half a million of slaves (now numbering four
millions) in hopeless bondage-impudently talking
of pro slavery compromises that(according TO Gen.
Granger) were never made Why we're they not
arrested, and brought to %justice2
G. From 1850 to 1856, the people of this country
have never understood their own Constitution !
They have persisted in interpreting it, on the sub
ject of slavery, Numerically opposite to what
they intended from the beginning! They have
understood bla'k to mean white, and white to
blackl They allowed the foreign slave trade to
be prosecuted for n score Of years under the ma
tional flag, blunderingly supposing that was a part
Of the compact! They have consented uniformly,
and always, to allow the stakeholder to recover his
fugitive slave in any part of the compact! They
have consented uniformly, and always, to allow
the stakeholder to recover his fugitive slave in any
part of the Union, forgetting that they utterly
abolished slavery in 1889, on the adoption Of their
glorious Constitution! They have believed that
the South is entitled, by that instrument, to a
threc-Gfth slave representation in Congress, when
they never dreamed of making any such arrange
ment Such wholesale and ong-continueds tulti-
fcation, on the part Of a people claiming to be in
~telligent, the world has never seen before-Gen-
Granger being witness
For all these incredible absurdities legitimately
follow the declaration, that slavery in the United
States is unconstitutional, and therefore unlawful.
To OUTAGE a nation in this manner is the coolest
thing Observation-Disclosures only by the Romish
dogma, that because Jesus said, Take, eat-this
IS my body'-therefore the literal body Of the Sa-
vior is devoured, after the manner OF canniballsm,
instead of bread!
Gen. Granger effectually answered himself by
his contradictions before he finished his speech
Referring to the article in the Constitution re-
%specting the manner in which representatives and
direct taxes shall be apportioned among the sever
al States, he said, Suppose this relates to slaves: 1t
was merely a compromise ruth Stdrery, IN winch,
ILL Ill ,1Io, oonopropoisoS with clayarv frae6On,
gets cheated. With an understanding that the
public burdens would be borne, or taxes paid by
the slave States, in proportion to their representa-,
ton in Congress, the slave States Obtained, and
now possess, the unfair advantage of some twenty
one members Of Congress, and an equal number
of presidential electors more than a fair share,
while they have long since ceased to furnish q dol
lar in consideration of the arrangement And SO
the;anti-slavery Constitution is blown to atoms :
Suppose it relates to slaves':-but how can such q
compromise be admitted, without refuting the as
sertion that slavery is demonstrations and illegal!
'Merelu q compromise':-but what said John Quin'
CIV Adams respecting it?-'It was the exaction, FL
tai to the principle Of popular representation; of q
representation for slayes-for articles of merchan'
die, under the name of persons; thereby tc
mako the preservation, propagation and perpetua
ton Of slavery .he vital and arimating spirit Of the
national government Gen. Granger says, "ThC
slave States meet us at every Presidential election
with some IW6nIy-OD0 tAlTd OleCIOIdl fOtee, U III
which they pay not q farthing Of the stipulated
consideration Here he admits that a bargain
was made, in lhe formation of the Constitution
by which the slave States were to be allowed q
representation for their slaves, for a pecuniary con
sideration. But how could this be, if slavery was
annihilated by the Constitution The contradic
ton is palpable.
Acknowledging to Sec. 8, Art. /, The migra
ton or importation Of such persons as any of thu
States now existing shall think proper to admit
shall not be prohibited prior to lS0s,' he says
without making any denial, This is claimed BY
some to be a recognition of the slave trade. If i
was, it was a recognition with a vengeance; it wa
to put an end to it, Not to put an end to it, how
ever, until the expiration OF twenty years; no
even then, if Congress should not feel disposed t.
pass a prohibitory law. But how preposterous i
is to insist that the Constitution, on Its adoption
made slavery illegal, and yet admit that it provi
ded for the prosecution Of the foreign slave trad
until the year 1908!
or - -. II. l. NJ xa.zAz LII A.