The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1857-10-23

81 The American party, says the Frank
fort Commonwealth, has had more abuse
heaPed upon it than any other party that ev-
er had an existence, and has been denounced
for less cause than any other. And, as is
perfectly natural in such cases, its opponents
in different sections o. the country differ We
ry materially in their yitupera;iOns upon il,
and in their reasons for rejecting its princi-
Piles. The Black Republicans in the North
denounce the American party, and are oppos-
ed to the native American feature of the
American platform because it overthrows
their absurd and ridiculous theory of human
rights-that every man BY virtue Of his hu-
mainly has right to vote in this country
They are also opposed to this peculiar fea-
ture, because it prevents the alien from vo'
ting in the Territories and new States-the
aliens being, as they allege and as circum-
stances prove, the best friends of Free Soil,
and being hereditary and instinctively OPPos-
ed to domestic slavery. On the other hand,
the Southern Democracy denounce the
American party because, as they assert, the
Americans are leagued with the Black Re-
publicans and are opposed to the admission
of slavery into the new States-and this
charge is brought against them 10 the face of
the well known fact that the American vo-
tiers of the South own the majority of the
negroes These charges dsproye one ano-
lher, the witnesses disagree upon material
points and are entitled to no sort Of credit
Before long their testimony will be ruled out
of court. The American party is neither a
pre-slavery nor an anti-slayery organization,
but was founded on principle distinct from
that hobby and in no manner connected with
it. II recognizes the rights of the States in
which slavery exists 10 the possession of their
slaves, and il would enforce all existing laws
upon the subject. As regards slavery in the
Territories, it recognises the principle that
the citizens of the United States, residing in
these Territories, should settle the question
for themselves when they form State Con-
stitution. The true reason for the hostility
exhibited towards the American party by the
sectionalists, North and South, is, that 1t is
opposed to the agitation of the slavery ques.
ton. These parties live on the agitation Of
the subject of slavery, it is their meat and
drink, without it they cannot exist, and their
hate towards party which would deprive
them Of the means of subsistence is quite ma
tural. These sectionalists are disunionists,
and despise the American party for resisting
their insane attempts. In the South they
brand us as submissionists, and in the North
as dough faces. We certainly cannot be
both. The American party in the North are
anxious to inculcate friendly feeling TO-
wards their Southern brethren, and hence
they in,ur the displeasure of the Northern
fanatic; the Southern Americans denounce
the violence Of Brooks, Keitt, and the
hair-brained folly Of Toombs, and so encoun.
ter the wrath of Southern fire-eaters. The
following pithy paragraph, from the Terre
Haute Union, admirably Gets forth the posi-.
ton of the three parties:
"If you find a Southern paper contending
for revival of the slave trade or dssolu-
ton of the Union, it is Democratic. If you
find Northern paper contendng for the
abolishing Of slavery or n dissolution of the
Union, it is Republican. Wherever You find
an American paper. whaiher North or South,
you will find it repudiatng both these ideas
and standing by The Union at every hazard.
These are facts for serious reflection"