The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1857-06-27

10 State governments or that OF the Unite
States, in violation of this fundamental pri
ciple of negro equality with white men,
le not only cruel, inhuman and Infamous, b.
IN is subversive of the foundations Of the g
, vernment ITSELF and therefore ought not ,
= be respected or obeyed by any good citzel
" Ii we grant the truth of their premises
,. would be vain to resist the force of thei
J. reasoning or the correctness of their conclu
,. sions. Indeed, we would be compelled, a
honest men, to acknowledge and adopt tn
: principle and carry it out in good faith in a
our political action, by modifying or repeal
d ing any legal and constitutional provision il
i conflict with that principle. Let us examin
and see what changes this principle woul'
require In the constitution and laws of thi
State as well as of the United States. o
course it would instantly ernancipate and Sc
, at liberty every slave in any State of thi.
Union, and In every other place under thu
American flag, and within the jurisdiction o
the federal constitution. Slavery being thu:
abolished, the same principle would compe
US TO strike from the constitution of Illinois
the clause which denies to negro, whethc,
free or slave, the right to come and live
among US, and in leiu Of it to open the door
for the three millions of emancipated slaves
to enter and become citizens on an equality
with ourselves. The principle would compel
US to strike the word "white" out Of our
constitution, and allow the negro to vote on
an equality with white men-and of course
outvote US at the polls when they become a
| majority. The same principle would compel
us to change the constitution so as to render
negro eligible to the legislature, to the
bench, to the governorship, TO Congress, to
the Presidency, and to all other places Of
hon r,
with white men. When all these things
shall have been done, and the principle of
negro equality shall have been fully carried
out to this extent, still the requirements Of
/ the Declaration of Independence will not
have been satisfied, if it really means what
| the Republican or Abolition party assert it
does mean in declaring that negro was ere
ated by the Almighty equal to a white man.
/ If their Interpretation of the Declaration Of
Independence be correct, and the principle
OF negro equality be true, as supposed by
the opponents of the Dred Scott decision,
we shall certainly be compelled, as consci-
entious and just men, to go one step further
repeal all laws making any distinction
whatever on account Of race and color, and
authorize negroes to marry white women on
an equality with white men. Immense
cheering.l
When the Republican or Abolition party
shall have done all these things, and thus
have carried into practical operation the De-
claration of Independence as they under
stand it, they will have laid the foundation
for their organized opposition 10 SO much of
the decision of the Dred Scott case as de-
clares that a negro is not citizen Of the
United States. Great applausc.l
If on the contrary the opponents Of the
Dred Scott decision shall refuse TO carry out
their views of the Declaration Of lndepend-
ence and negro citizenship, by conferring
upon the African race all the rights, priv
leges and immuniiies of citizenship the same
as they are now or should be enjoyed by the
white, how will they vindicate the integrity
Of their motives and The sincerity Of their
profession: II the negro is the equal Of the
white man and was thus created Uy the Al
mighty, what right have they or We to re-
duce him to condition of inequality, by
denying to him the privilege of voting, hold /,
ing office, marryin, ;hc woman of his choice, /
in short, Withholding from him all political (.
rights and cons;gning him to political slave .
ry? Percciving the in onsstency between .
their professions and their past action OH
this point, the leaders Of the Rel ubican or .
Abolition party in the legislature of New .
York, and some Of the New England states,
and indeed, in Wisconsin and such other
states as they think public sentiment is pre-
pared for the measure, nave recently taken .
the preliminary steps TO amend the ConSll- 7
tuition of their respective States SO as to al .
low negres 10 vote and hold Office, and enjoy
all the rights and privileges Of citizenship on .
an equal footing with white men. These
movements have been initiated in those
States and will soon follow in others, upon
the ground that the Republican party was
bound and pledged by its creed and its pro-
fessions as proclaimed from the pulpit, from
the stump and through the newspaper press,
to carry out the Declaration of Independence
as they profess to understand it, by placing
the negro on an equality with the white man
in all those States where they carried the
presidential election last fall, and secured
the absolute control of all the departments
of the state government. 1t is not to be
presumed that any step for changing the
Constitution Of Illinois so as to confer the
rights and privileges of citizenship upon ne
groes will be taken until after the next cleo
ton, nor will any such purpose be openly
avowed, but, on the contrary, in che central
and southern portions of the State it will be
stoutly denied, at the same time that all their
orators, lecturers, and papers will con inue
to quote the Declaration Of Independence to
prove that the Almighty created negro
equal to a white man, and consequently he
has divine right to enjoy all the rights and
privileges of the white man, and that all
human laws in conflict with that divine right
must yield and give place to the higher
law" The time has not arrived when it is
deemed prudent by the leaders of the Re
publican party in this State to make frank
and honest confession of faith and proclaim
1t to the world in tones that can be heard
and language that can be understood to mean
the same thing in all portions of the State.
But so long as they quote the Declaration of
independence to prove that negro was Gre
ated equal to a white man, We have no eX-
cuse for closing our eyes and protesting ig
norance of what they intend TO do, SO soon
as they get the power.
To show how shallow is the pretense that
the Declaration of Independence had refer
ence to, or included the negro race when it
declared all men created equal, it is only ne.
cessary to refer to few historical facts, re-
corded in our school books, and familiar to
our children.
On the 4th of July, 1916, when the De-
claration Of Independence was promulgated
to the world, African slavery existed in each
one of the thirteen colonies. Every signer
of the Declaration of Independence was
elected by, and represented slaveholding
constituency. Every battle of the revolu-
tion, from Lexington and Bunker Hill to
Kings Mountain and Yorktown, was fought
in slaveholding state.
The treaty Of peace acknowledging and
confirming the independence of the United
States was made and signed on behalf of
Great Britain of the one part and of the
thirteen slaveholding states on the other.
The Constitution of the United States un-
der which we now live so happily and haye
grown SO great and powerful, and which we
all profess to cherish and venerate, was FORM
ed, adopted and put in operation by the peo-
pie of twelve slaveholding states and one