Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-03-28

Before entering upon the discussion. | would
congratulate the country upon this development
of the real issue which has 50 long agitated the ma
ton. Conscious that this question Of lending sup
port by the federal government to slavery, involv-
ed the fundamental doctrines of our fathers, l
have long sought TO direct public attention to that
fact. Incidental questions and collateral issues
have been raised, discussed. and partizan feelings
excited, while the great truths which %uhderlle
those subjects have been passed over in silence
At Philadelphia N june last, a convention OF hlgh
moral and political character, proclaimed to the
country as its political platform the principles an
nounced in the Declaration of Independence.
That party advanced with strides more rapid
than any other ever formed in our nation. In
the short space of five months they carried eleven
States, comprising nearly two thirds OF the free
population of the Union. But the party opposed
to the doctrines dared take no distinct issue upon
them and | may be permitted to say, had your
recent decision been published in August last, the
present Executive would never have reached the
Presidency.
That election passed, and now those Judges Of
the Supreme Court, who owe their elevation to the
Democratic party, and speaking for 1t, have come
up boldly to the work, and meet the issue tender
ed them by the patriots Of l176, and repealed by
those OF 1886.
In pronounciug your opinion you say, 1.-The
Declaration of independence thon proceeds-we
hold these truths to be selt-evident-that all men
are created equal that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights, among
which are life liberty, and the pursuit OF happl-
ness that to secure these rights governments are
instituted among men deriving their Just powers
from the consent Of the governed" &c. You then
add, The words quoted would seem to embrace the
whole human family, and if used in q similar in
strumeut at this day would be so understood. -
But it is too clear for dispute, that the AFRICAN race
paS not intended 10 he included.
For eighty years the American people have be-
lieved that the illustrious patriots and statesmen,
who on that occasion laid down selfevident truths,
spoke what they believed, and believed what they
spoke. And never from the day those truths
were uttered, to the delivery of your opinion, has
any statesman or iurist, historian or linguist,
charged them with using language which they did
not hold. Southern men have charged them with
entertaining extreme opiuions'-said that the
Declaration itself was a rhetorical flourish, a Ian
faronade Of nonsense Others have denied lis
doctrines but none l believe, ever charged the
signers with expressing doctrines which they did
not intend to declare.
But here rests the issue. 1t involves the essen
tial elements of our government. If the doc.
trines of our fathers be sustained in the letter and
spirit in which they were put FORTH our govern
ment would be free. If your charge, that "they
uttered language which they did not understand"
} be sustained, it will a slave-holding, slave-ex-
tending oligarchy. If it be a question, it is one
of vast i'm ~portance. The interests of the present
! generation, the honor of the nation, the memory
= OF our latnerS, tne destiny Vi uHDuIu Hihnoh' III
r concentrated upon it and | tremble when l reflect
upon the responsibility OF our public men, From
, your decision ! appeal to that tribunal which holds
T cognizance over the action of the Judicial, and
executive branches of government. The PEG
pie must ratify, or repudiate, the Judgment you
have rendered. Their decision will be hnal-con-
elusive upon us oil.
The enquiry into the views of those who framed
the Declaration of independence, is more proper
y a matter of history than of law and it is the
duty not only of statesmen, but of every %eiector,
to be familiar with it. Every intelligent citizen OF
the free States has been intimately acquainted
with it from his childhood. From the day on
which these important doctrines were proclaimed,
they have been taught in our schools. repeated In
| stories at the freside by our revolutionary sires.
We have read them and repeated that reading
l during our winter evenings and and on Sabbath
DAYS. To argue to our people that, j Jefferson, and
D Hancock, and Franklin, the Adamses. and Their CO
g patriots, believed that all men, including the whole
family of man, are endowed by their Creator with
the inalienable right to life, liberty and happiness
would be as superfuous as to argue the existence
of a sun in the heavens. Yet proceed to exam
inc the proofs on which you charge those great
and good men with the use of language convey
ing ideas which they did not intend to express
In approaching the subject you promise as fol
3 lows:
1T becomes necessary, therefore, to determine
q who we're citizens of the several States, when tn
Constitution was adopted. In order to do this W
must recur to the Colonies when they separated
A from Great Britain, formed new communities, an,
took their places among the family Of nations the
who were recognized az citizens of States declai
ed their independence of Great Britain, and de
Tended ii by force of arms"
With this proposition I agree. 1t is importan
that we should start from Il correct point. VIII
E were they that separated from Great Britain ? VIII
\. declared their independence who defended it b
fuoa &c o,ne . | pSNya that pnAar tho louc q
every colony, the free colored man held the sam
,e rights, enjoyed the same legal privileges whic
10 the free whites enjoyed and such is to this day
AMI ever has been the character of English laws
j. Those laws never have had relation to complexio
or color. either in the kingdom Or the colonies {
Great Britain. From the day on which the Magn
Charter, was extorted from King John to the pre-
,e ent time, the laws of England has drawn distint
ton between classes, but never has regarded colo
or complexion. Kings, Dukes, Earls, Lords, BaI
ons, Free People, and Serfs, held positions, eac
enjoying their own peculiar rights; but never di
to the question OF color or OF race, enter into the Lee
~islation of England.
: At the time of promulgating the Declaration c
Independence, the free colored men owed the sam
allegiance to the British crown which the whit
men owned. The same act committed by a ire
- colored man constituted treason, as much q
though committed by a white man he WAS hel
amenable, oriminally, for the same acts and pur
ished in the same way. He contracted and wa
contracted with sued white men aud was sue
- by them, and enjoyed precisely the same prote'
e ton of government and suffered the same burtt
!, ems with the white men, In every sense and I
every purpose, they were free subjects of the Bri
= : ish crown, and citizens of the colonies, precisel
; as the whites were.
In each of the colonies they had from the CON
y Increment of the agitation which preceded hos
tilities, deeply sympathized and participated ii
y the discussion of the rights of the colonies. an
o one of the martyrs sacrificed in the cause of liber
r ~ on the memorable flth!of March, l77O, was
0 black man. Black men entered the continental
army at it's first formation. They fought as brave
! ly, they died as freely as the white men, and a
! the time the Declaration Of Independence wa,
proclaimed, colored men who had "decended from
African slaves" were serving in the troops OF eve
ry colony.
On the 4th of July, 1777, the signers of the
Declaration Appealing to the Supreme Judge OF
the world for the rectitude" of their intentions,
in the name and by the authority of the good peO-