True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1857-02-04

of new States. The Constitution pro-
vides, as we have seen, that no person
shall be deprived of life, liberty, or prop.
erly, without due process of law. Il
makes no distinction either on account Of
complexion or birth-it secures these
rights to all persons within its exclusive
jurisdiction. This is equality. 1t pro-
tecIs not only life aud liberty, but also
property, the product Of labor. 1t con-
templates that no man shall be wrong
fully deprived of the fruit Of his toll any
more than of his life. The Constitution
also provides that no title of nobility shall
be granted by the United States, nor by
any State of the Union. Why this re-
striction =! Was it not because all are
equal under the Constitution and that
no distinctions should be tolerated, except
those which merit originates, and no no.
biliy except that which springs from the
practice of virtue, or the honest, we'll
objected effort of head, or heart, or hand :
There is profound significance in this
restriction Of the Constitution. 1t is an
announcement Of the equality and BROTH
erhood Of the human race.
do but utter the spirit of the COnstitu'
tion when | say, that nobility cannot be
conferred by the empty titles Of mon
arch, however august or however debased,
bestowed upon his servIe par asiles, who
"bow at every nod, and simper at every
word." That is not nobility. though
Ihroned in power and "clothed in pur-
ple,' which crashes and enslaves the mil
lions who lift up their haggard faces, and
stretch forth their shriveIed hands, asking
for leave to eat of the crumbs which fall
from their masters table. But, sir, there
is nobility in that patient humble toll
which makes blade of grass to grow
where none grew before, thereby giving
drop Of nourishing milk to one Of Gods
creatures There is nobility in that cum
ming handicraft which converts he wool,
the cotton, the flax iuto beautiful fabrics,
with which the form of humanity is
clothed. There is nobility in that slur-
dy arm of intelligent industry, which
lets in the sun upon the fertile earth, which
plows its fields, scaiels the seed, gathers
in the harvest, and gives bread to the ma
tions---which hews from the forest and
the ROD the material. and builds the hab.
itations Of man. There is nobility in
that imperial exercise of the intellect
which enarges the measure of knowledge
and lessons the ills of life; which SUBJ
dues the elements of nature, and makes
them minister to the wants and comfort
of our race which gifts the lightning
with tongue, and makes it the swift
messenger of thought and intelligence !;
which controls the ocean, engirtling the
world with its winds and waves, and
makes it the peaceful Highway Of COM
merce and civilization. There is nobiI-
ity in that benifcent policy of State
which asserts the equality of all, and de-
tends the inborn rights f each, against
the combined power of all; which estab-
fishes justice maintains liberty, rewards
labor and protects property; which dots
The land all over with public schools, and
thereby gives to the people the power of
knowledge: which builds and fnsters
those institutions which shelter lhe poor
and houseess. and those other asylums
in which the blind are taught to see, the
deaf 10 hear, and the dumb to speak. -
This is the nobility--the ONLY nobility
which our free Constitution tolerates and
fosters and which the policy inauguraled
by its iilustrious founders developes.--
For evidence of this | point you 10 the six
free States of the North west, the of,
spring of that policy, with their seven mil
lions of freemen, with their free homes,
their free schools, their free thoughts,
their free press, their free la bor, and their
general and all-prevading intelligence. -
The President would strike down this
policy under the false pretexts that it is
violative of popular sovereignty and State
equality. AS representative of the
American people, cannot consent TO
that: it would be an act Of political sui
eide: ii would disturb the repose of the
dead and blast the hopes of the living.
would maintain that policy inviolate.
would extend it over all the national
Territories, until that vast belt of the
earlh's surface stretching from the con-
fines of Iowa to the golden gales of the
Pacific shall be filled with this new or.
der this mighty brotherhood Of human
virtue and human industry.