The Washington union., 1857-05-26
THE WASHINGTON UNION,

~
in politics. which thought Of disputing sup
posed TO be open TO dispute IN every grade and
position in society daily and habitually acted upon il in
their private pursuits, well in matters of public
Germ, without doubling for moment the correctness of
this opinion.
And in no nation was this opinion more firmly fixed OF
more uniformly acted upon thin by the English govern
ment and English people They not only seized them ON
the coast of Africa and sold them held them in slave
y for their use, but they took them ordinary
ces OF merchandise to every country where they could
make profit on them, and far extensively
engaged in this than any other nation in the
world.
The opinion thus entertained and acted upon in Eng
land naturally impressed upon the colonies they
founded this side Of the Atlantic and accordingly
negro OF the African regarded by them
ce of property, and held and bought and sold such
in every Of the thirteen colonies which united in the
Declaration of Independence and afterwards formed the
constitution of the United States The slaves
less in the different colonies slave labor
found more or less profitable But to
have doubted the correctness of the prevailing opinion Of
the time
The legislation of the different colonies furnishes posi-
tive and indsputabie proof oil this fact
1t would be tedious in this opinion to enumerate the
various laws they passed upon this subject 1t will be
sufficient sample of the legislation which then gem
orally prevailed throughout the British colonies give
the laws Of two Of them being still large slave
holding State and the other the first State in which
slavery ceased to exist.
The province of Maryland, in l7l7, (ch. Is, s. 50
passed law declaring hat if any free negro muatto
ntermarry with any white woman, or If any white
shall inermarry with any negro mulatto woman such
negro mulato shall become slave during life except
ing nulattoes born OF white women who for such inter
marriage shall only become servants for years. to
be disposed of the justices of the county court where
such marriage happens shall think fit to be applied
by them towards the support Of public school within
the said county. And any white man white woman
who shall nterinarry aforesaid with any negro
atto, such white white shall become
wants during the term of years. and shall be dis
I.fL flNn ,,,I n,
the aforesaid.
The other colonial law to which refer passed by
Massachusetts, in 1905 CHAP 81 It is entitled An act
for the better preventing Of spurious and mixed ISSUE
&c. and 1t provides that III any negro muatto shall
presume to smite strike any person of the English
other Christian nation such negro muatto shall be
verely whipped at the discretion of the justices before
whom the offender shall be convicted. -
And 'that of her Majestys English or Scottish
subjects of any other Christian nation within this
PROVINCE shall contract matrinony with any negro
atto shall any person. duly authorized to solemnze
marriage presume TO join any such in marriage pain
Of foretng the of fifty pounds moety thereof
her Majesty for and towards the support of the govern
ment within this province, and the other moiety to him
them that shall inform and sue for the same in any Of
her Majesty courts Of record within the province by BILL
plant, or information y
We give both Of these laws in the words used by the
respective legislative bodies because the language in
which they framed well the provisions contain
ed in them show, too plainly to be misunderstood the
degraded condition Of this unhappy They still
in force when the revolution began and faithful in
dex to the state Of feeling towards the class of persons of
whom they speak, and of the position they occupied
throughout the thirteen colonies in the eyes and thoughts
Of the who framed the Declaration of Independence
and established the State constitutions and governments
They show that perpetual and impossible barrier
intended to be erected between the white and the
which they had reduced to slavery and governed sub
ects with absolute and despotc power and which they
then looked upon far below them in the scale Of
led beings that ntermariages between white per-
SONS and or mulattoes regarded
raj and immoral and punished crimes, not only in the
parties, but in the person who joined them in marriage
and distinction in this respect made between the
free negro muatto and the slave but this stigma, of
the deepest degradation fixed upon the whole
We refer to these historical facts for the purpose of
showing the fixed opinions concerning that race, upon
which the statesmen Of that day spoke and acted 1t is
necessary do this in order to determine whether the
general terms used in the constitution Of the United
States to the rights of and the rights of the peo
pie, intended to include them, or to give to them
their posterty the benefit of any OF its provisions.
The language of the Declaration of Independence is
equally conclusive:
II begins by declaring that swhen in the course of
human events becomes necessary for one people to dis
solve the political bands which have connected them with
another, and to among the powers of the earth
the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature
and Natures God ente them decent respect for the
opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the
causes which impel them TO the separation
1t then proceeds to say We hold these truths to be
seevdent that all men created equal that they
endowed by their Creator with certain naienabe rights
that among them is life liberty and the pursuit of hap
pness that to these rights insti
tuted deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed.
The general words above quoted would seem to en-
brace the whole human family and if they were used in
similar instrument at this day would be understood
But it is clear for dispute that the enslaved African
not intended to he included, and formed part
of the people who framed and adopted this declaration
for ii the language understood in that day, would
brace them the conduct of the distinguished men who
framed the Declaration of Independence would have been
utterly and agranty inconsistent with the principles
they asserted and instead of the sympathy of mankind
to which they confidently appealed, they would have
deserved and received universal rcbuke and reprobaon
Yet the men who framed this declaration were great
menhigh in literary requirements high in their sense
of honor and incapable of asserting principles ncosst
ent with those which they acting They perfect
y understood the meaning of the language they used
and how it would be understood by others; and they
knew that 1T would not in any part of the civilized world
be supposed to embrace the negro which, by
consent had been excluded from civilized government
and the family of nations and doomed to slavery They
spoke and acted according To the then established doc
rnes and principles and in the ordinary language of the
day, and one misunderstood them. The unhappy
black separated from the white by ndelibe
Marks and laws long before established and were never
thought of spoken Of except property and when the
claims of the the profit of the trader sup
posed to need protection
This state Of public opinion had undergone change
when the constitution adopted, is equally evil
dent from its provisions and language
The brief preamble sets forth by whom IL was formed
for what purposes, and for whose benefit and protection
declares that is formed by the people of the United