The daily Gate City., 1856-03-11


To the People Of the United States
Having met in Convention of the city Of
Pittsburgh, in the State Of Pennsylvania,
this 22d of February, 1856, as the represen-
tat!ves Of the people in various sections Of
the Union, to consult upon the political evils
by which the country is menaced and the po-
liucal action by which those evils may be
ayerted, we address to you this Declaration
of our Principles and the Purposes which we
seek to promote.
We declare, in the first place, our fixed and
unalterable devotion to the Constitution Of
the United States-to the ends for which it
was established, and TO the means whick 1t
provided for their attainment. We accept
the solemn protestation Of the people of the
United States that they ordained it, Sin
order 10 form more perfect Union, estab
lsh justice, ensure domestic tranquility, pro-
vide for the common defense, promote the
general welfare, and secure the blessings Of
liberty to themselves and their posterlty."
We believe that the powers which it confers
upon the government Of the United States
are ample for the accomplishment of these
objects and that if these powers are exer-
clsed In the spirit of the Constitution itself,
they cannot lead to any other result. We
tt7 pew bApsS SlIat IiAhbc NHlCH bit tOlisll-
tuition declares to be inviolable, Freedom of
Speech and Of the Press, the free exercise of
Religious Belief and the right of the people
peaceably to assemble and to petition Gov
ernment for "a Redress of Grievances. We
would preserve those great safeguards of civ
il freedom, the hdbeaS corpus, the right Of
trial BY jury, and the right of personal lib
erty unless deprived thereof by crime by due
process of law. We declare our purpose to
obey, in ali things, the requirements of the
Constitution and of the laws enacted in pur-
suance thereof. We cherish q profound
reverence for the wis9 and patriotic men By
whom it was framed, lively sense of the
blessings it has conferred upon our country
and mankind throughout the world. In ev-
cry crisis Of difficulty and Of danger, we
shall invoke its spirit and proclaim the su-
premacy Of its authority.
In the next place, We declare our ardent
and unshaken attachment to this Union of
American States, which the Constitution GRE
ated and has thus far preserved. We ereceive
il as the purchase Of the blood Of our fore
fathers, as the condition of our national re-
nown, and as guardian and guarantee Of
that liberty which the Constitution was de-
signed to secure. We will defend and pro-
tect against all its enemies. We will rec
ognlze no geographical divisions, no local in
terests, no narrow or sectional preludices, IN
our endeayors to preserve the Union Of the
States against foreign agression and domes
tic strife. What we claim for ourselves we
claim for all. The rights, privileges and lib
critics which we demand as our inheritance
we concedc as their inheritance to all the cit
izens of this Republic.
Holding these opinions, and animated by
these sentiments, we declare our conviction
that the Government Of the United States is
not administered in accordance with the Con
stltution, or for the preservation and pros
peritv Of the American Gnion--hut that its
powers are Systematically welded for the
PROMOTION AND EXTENSION or THE INTERESTS
OF SLAVERY, in direct hostility 10 the letter
and spirit of the Constitution, in fragrant
disregard OF other great interests of the
country, ana IN open contempt Of the pub
hc sentiment Of the American people and of
the Christian world. We proclaim our belief
that the policy which has for years past been
adoptedin the administration of the General
Government, tends TO the utter subyersion OF
each of the great ends for which the Const-
tuition was established-and that, unless it
shall be arrested by the prompt interposition
Of the People, the hold Of the Union upon
the domestic tranquility will be disturbed,
and all constitutional securities for the
blessings of liberty to ourselves and our pos
terity, will be destroyed. The Slayeholding
interest cannot be made permanently para
mount in the General Government, without
involving consequences fatal to free institu-
tons. We acknowledge that it is large and
powerful that in the States where it exists
IT is entitled, under the Constitution, like all
other local interests, 10 immunity from the
interference Of the General Government,
aud that it must necessarily exercise through
It's representatives, considerable share OF
political power But there is nothing in It's
position, as there is certainly nothing in It's
character, to sustain the supremacy which it
seeks to establish. There is not State in
the Union IN which the Shareholders number
one-teJsh part of the free white population
nor Ia the aggregate do they number one
fifteenth part OF the white population of the
United States. The annual productions OF
the other classes Of the Union, ir exceed the
total value of all the slaves. To say moth
ing, therefore, of the questions Of natural
justice, and OF political economy which Slay-
cry involves, neither the magnitude nor the
numbers Of those by whom it is rep
resented, cntitle it to one-tenih part OF the
political powers conferred upon the Federal
Government by the Constitution. Yet We see
it seeking, and at this moment welding, all
the functions Of the Goyernment-executye
legislative ana judicial and using them for
the augmentation of its powers and the es-
adjustment Of its asccndancy.
From this ascendency the principles Of the
Constitution, the rights Of the several States
the safety of the Union, and the welfare or
the people of the United States, demand that
II should be dislodged.
( HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF THE PROGRESS OF SLAVE
RY towards AsCENDgSCY IN THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT
II is not necessary for us to rehearse ia de-
TAI the successive steps by which the slave
holding interest has secured the influence it
now exerts in the General Government