True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1856-09-03
SLAVE REPRESENTATION,

1t quoles from the Piaindedler. wish its
own endorsement, the following atrocious
declaration
The South loses by the three fifth
reI resentaIion, twelve Congressman be-
cause in making up the representation,
two tiflhs of the slaves are thrown out,
1t takes 93,7l3 inhabitants North and
South, to make Congressman, In the
North, whites, blacks, women, children,
idiuts-all who are persons are counted,
In the South all are counted except two
flihs of the saves,--Thus two fifths
are dead loss to the South IN their
count.
When we read such sentiments as those
with deductions so entirely perverslve Of
trnlh, we are ready to eXclalm--
"To what base uses may We come"
Laborng men Of tie Free States, it is to
you we speak. The plea is made for the
South that two flthS of her people are
counted out While at the North, all
our poor trash all our coal beavers, our
miners, our white slaves, as the gentilty
Of the South call u.s. are taken into the
account in our ratio of representation,
lwo-ftlhs of their people ale uncounted.
Yea, even our women and idios," are
counted, as if exclaim these hypocrites,
" our women at the North were any bet
ter than the wenches who are owned and
worked at tue South Yes indeed
Our wives and daughters have represen
tatives in Congress and why should not
all the negro women at the South have
theirs % Is it possible that these men
whom we have been quoting, can find the
face to turn around and call US "nigger
worshippers, when they are filling the
columns of their pagers with pleas for a
representation in Congress for the whole
number of slaves at the South /!
Now we ask you laborers of the North,
we ask you seriously TO consider with us
one moment, the shameless sophislry
with which you are sought to be blinded,
u" In the North, say they, all are coun-
ted for representative purposes in the
South, all but two hlths of the Slaves.
See now how simple question will sill.
ence these sophistS In the North, ye
blind leaders, do we count our laborers
for purl oses of representation, and then
put them on the block for sale! The
complaint of our contemporary is, that
the South does not claim representation
for ali lis slave property instead Of but
for three-fIlhs + Surely" says our
Democratic organ, if you count all your
trash, even to the women, your wives and
daughters, at the North, in justice to your
Southern brethren, you ought to count all
their people !" Don't you see, say
they, you laboring folks of the North,
that your influence in Congress ought to
be no greater than that Of laboring' folk at
the South? The difference between You
is only nominal it consists simply in the
fact that your northern trash cannot under
our present laws be put upon tie block
for sale, and it is unjust 10 your coabor-
ers al the South, that FIVE Of them should
only be counted as good as three Of you
You white slaves, syou who labor in OIL
rolling mills. you who direct the cunning
machinery, your own cleation you who
draw from sunless depths the crude ore
!, which anon you will fashion TO some
shape of use or Of beauty, you who turn
out from beneath your cunning hands
those wondrous engines that whlrl US
cross the Alleghenles and propc our stea-
mers, you who build our ships and sprcat
| the sails that whten in every breeze o.
heaven, you who Lave made this glorious
! old commonwealth what ii is, who have
erected school houses and churches ir
: every cty and hamlet and Whose fireside
circle can be legally invaded by no rufliar
hand, what right have you to count your
selves in the ratio ofrepresentation as any
better than those swarthy sons Of toll
| your Southern brethren who labor under
] iaskmasters, who sweat for others, whose
letters clani in every city of the South
who in companies of five cast three votes
through their masters to day, aud to-mor
. row are put on the block, their limbs ex
amned, their PAGES tried, their digestion
inquired into, and they afterwards sole
! 10 the highest bidder! Is it not plair
that all iaborers should be weighed in tht
same balance and that the five bondmer
at the South should counterbaance five
} nominal lreemen at the North ! Doe!
not Mr. Buchanan's organ in Virginia
The Richmond Enquirer, put this mattel
5 on the right basis in the following"
" Make the laboring man lhe slave
Of one man, instead OF the slave of so
ciely, and he would be far better off,"
S 1.-Two hundred years of liberty hav,
S made white laborers pauper banditti.
"FIee society has failed, and that whicl
E is not free must be subsli uted."
, Free Society is mons,rous abortion
r and slavery the healthy, beautiful and nat
4 ural being which they are trying uncon
r sciously to adopt" s'% "Th
g slaves are governed far better than tn
: free laborers of the North are governed
o Our negroes are not only better off as t
n physical comfort than free laborers, bu
II their moral condition is better"
v "We do not adopt the theory that Har
o was the ancestor of the negro race. Th
e Jewish slaves were not negroes; and t
S confine the jurisdiction Of slavery to tha
:. race would be to weaken its Scriptur,
i authority, and 10 lose the whole weigh
e ofprofane authority, for We read Of n
l. negro slavery in ancient time. "Slayer "
G black or white, is necessary"
s Mature has made the weak in mind c
n body slaves.' "The wis