Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-02-07
SALEM co1UMBANA COUNTY OHIO

the spirt of the Constitution and impose such
statute restrictions uron tho institution of new
States therein rs will require the people thereof to
confirm their local institutions to the Constitution
and busc them upon the broad American. repuh-
lican principle of obsoutc equality; or whether, By
the sanction of Congressional cna, tment bv force
OF Qlc the pc oplo of the Territories
shall be perfectly free to organize their local gov
ernmeuts upon the narrow, prospective unequal
principle of absolute despotsm? The question is,
whether by your law people within the Terrific
reo shall 0e enabled to establish Slavery therein,
irrespective of race, sex, age, color, condition
The question ia. whether, in the Organiza ion and
admission of new States, the arm of industry
that arm in which sluinbers the nations strength
and the nations security-shaliibe fettered.
You NAV call the State which enslaves and
sells It's own children, and mauaces the hand
which feeds and cloths and shelters it, republicans
but truth, aud history, aud Gods eternal justice.
will call il despOtism-equally criminal and equal
ity OdiOus, whether sanctioned by one or many
by II single tyrant or by the million. l deny the
constitutional right OF any class of men, from any
State Tf the Union. or from any quarter Of the
glnb", to establish such government within the
National Territories, under and by force of the
National Constitution, because such government
! is subversve of the great objects for which that
1 Constitution was ordained, and violatve of its
spirit Who will say that it is within the spirit Of
the Constitution to establish and perpetuate with
in our Territories the hated rule Of tyrants, that
might gives right. thai the few may govern
the many, that the strong may justly rob and cp-
uress the weak And who, the representa-
tive of the people. and under his oath to the Con-
sttution, will sanction such tyranny by sol.
emn act Of admission into the Union?
II must be apparent that the absolute equality OF
ALL and the equal protection of each prnci
piles Of Constitution which ought to be observ-
ed and enforced in the organization and admission
] A. tlaa n
have seen that no person shall be deprived Of life
liberty, or property, without due process of law
Ii makes no distinction either on account OF COM
pexion or birth it these rights to all per
sons within its exclusive jurisdiction. This is
equality. 1t protects only life and liberty, hut
also property. the product OF labor. 1t contem-
plates that no man shall be wrongly deT rived OF
the fruit of his toll any more than Of his life
The Constitution also provides that no title OF mo-
hity shall be granted by the United States, MOI
hy any State in the Union. Why this restriction?
Was il not because all are equal under the Con
stituton and that distinctions sh, uld he tolerd
ted except those which merit originates and ne
nobility except that which springs from the prac
tice Of virtue OF the honest, wellGrected effort o
head or heart, or hand? There is profound
significance in this restriction of the Constitution
1t il AN announcement of the equality and broth
erhord of tue human race.
| do but utter the spirit OF the Constitution
when | say that nobility cannot he conferred by
the empty titles of monarch, however august o'
! however dahased, bestowed upon his seryile para
sites who bow ~ every nod, and simper at ever,
word Tha, is not nobility, though throned il
puwer and clothed in purple, which crushe'
and ansiaves the millions who lift up their hag
yard faces and stretch forth their shriveed hand,
asking for leave to eat of the crumbs which fall
from their masters table. But, Sir, there IL no
bjlity in that patient, humble toll which makes a
llade OF grass to grow where none grew before,
thereby giving "A drop of nourshing milk to one OF
Gods creatures. There is n nobility in that cum
ming haudcraft which converts the wool, the cot
ton the silk, and the flax into beautiful fabrics,
with which the form Of humanity is clothed.-
There is nobility in that sturdy arm of utegen,
industry. which let's in the sun upon the fertile
earth which plows it's fields, scatters the seed
gathers in the harvest and gives bread to the na
tions-which hews from the forest and the
rock the material. and builds the habitatlons ut
Imam There is nobility in that imperial exercise
of the intellect which enlarges The measure OF
knowledge and lessons the ills of life which sub
dues the elements of nature and makes them min
lister to the wants and comfort Of our race which
gifts the lightning with "A tongue and makes /
the swift messen ger of thought and intelligence
which controls the ocean, engirdling the worlC
with its winds and waves, and makes it the peace
full highway of commerce and civilization. There
is nobility in that benehcent policy of Stat
which asserts the equality of all and defends th
inburn rights of each against the combined pow
r. er of all which establishes justice, mdintalu
liberty rewards labor, and protects property
which dots the land all with public schools
and thereby give to the people the power OF kno"l
: edge which builds and fosters these institution
8 which shelter the poor and houseless, and thos
. other asylums in which the blind are taught t
see, the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak
;, This is the nobility, the only nobility which on
y Constitution tolerates and tosters, and which tn
policy inaugurated by its illustrous founders de
. velops. For evidence of this point you to tn
= six Free States of the North West-the uffsprin
y of that policy-with their millions OF fre.
men, with their free homes, their free shOols, thei
free thought their free press. their free labor, an
their general and all per vaGiug intelligence. fh
g President would strike down this policy under tn
II false preexts that it is violative of popular so
Is ereignty and State equality AS a represenativ
Vi of the American people cannot consent to that
n it wouli he an act of political suicide it woul
disturb the epose of the dead and blast the hope
j. of the living | would maintain that policy II
violate. l would extend it over all the natlJni
e Territories until that vast belt of the earths su
y face, stretching from the confines of Iowa to n
e golden gates Of the Pacific shall be filed with tn
n new ordsr--this mighty brotherhood Of huma
y virtue and human industry.