The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-02-11

formation of new States within our Tsr,;..@e
is clear; for unless the Constitution fraraoSs
the people of Territory be affirmed anS "
proved by Congress, no State is orpapizsJ
the Constitution 80 framed does not ha,'No
law. Your Kansas-Nebraska act recoor:as
this principle to the fullest extent. Il d.
that the people of the Territory are left ar'a
fectly free to form and regulate their dor,.Ppsa
institutions in their own way, subject onI1 y.
the Constitution of the United States, "
Who is to judge whether the ipst;,n,;.
formed by the people of Territory copfo-r. 'a y
the Constitution of the United States NJ
festly Congress, inasmuch as Congress- al
can admit or reject the proposed State ~.
the right OF the people of Territory To forr"
republican Constitution, which in its prov;s..a
does not contravene natural justice or The -
preme law OF the land; and when they, bav..
sumclens numbers to sustain State Cove
ment, DO frame such Constitution, i, is II.
DUTY OF congress to admit them under il inv
the Union. No higher or more important Sa,O
tnan the admission of new States into \.
Union Is imposed upon the Congress Of H.
United States. If, therefore, the Lecompta'
constitution had emanated from the people n
Asnsas IL 1t had been the expression of tbs
Will IT it had been republican, and not incor
sls'ent with or repugnant to the Constitution =,
the 7 nited States, it would have been clear,
our duty to have approved it, aud to have give!
70 II the authority OF law, by admitting KSnsa,
under it into the Union as State.
have already said, and it has been c,rc.
ded on this floor, that this Constitution doc. ~.
enanate from the people of Kansas, and does NJ,
express their will. For that reason it ia opr ds,"
to reject it but if the whole people Of Kan!
had solemnly ratified and adopted this instr,
ment, at either of their recent elections. af,r,
that it would still be our duty to reject il !,
would be our duty to reject it, because il con'
travenes the plainest principles of the Consttr,
ton of the United States because it legsl;,s,
the wanton and continued violation of ,Ss
rights of life and liberty and property; becan,s
it is Constitution not fit to be made. and snI
as no people or State can of right make.
because 1t is Constitution which could oblv
originate in base conspiracy against the hi.
critics OF the country and the sacred rights Of
human nature. Consider this What do va
sanction by affirming this Lecompton Constitu.
ton? First, the wild and guilty fantasy Of
property In man (; the coarse and brutal atroci.
ty OF merchandise in human souls. The frs,
section of the seventh article contains these
words: The right of property to
slave and its increase is before
and higher than any constitutional sanction
The American Congress to sanction this
The American Congress to declare that the
right to hold men, toonaen, and children, as
property, and to sell them as chattels, is invio
liable, and before and higher than any constitu
tional ssnctionl
submit, if by any fiction you can convert q
child into property, it is fact before and
higher than any human law or Constitution
that the property of the child is in lis parents
to the exclusion of the stranger. By enacing
this Leconpton Constitution, you would re-
verse this great fact of nature, or rather violate
this right of nature, and declare it lawful to
steal from the parent his child. If you will BY
law degrade one portion of the human family
into chattels, for Gods sake do not by law re-
duce another portion to the still lower level Of
thieves. After you shall have enacted your
statute, will not the law of the stone table still
stand, "Thou shalt not steal?" After you
shall have enacted your statute, declaring
lawful to send little children to the auction
block for sale, will they not still be as SACRED,
whether an African or an Indian, q Europesr
or an American sun first burned upon them,
as they were in that day when the Nazarere,
whose intense holiness shed majesty over the
manger and the straw, said: "Suffer little
children, and forbid them not to come unto me,
for of such is the kingdom of heaven2"
In keeping, Sir, with the atrocious provision
of this Lecompton Constitution, declaring prop.
erty in man, is the further provision, which de-
cares "that all FREEMEN, phen they form
social compact, are equal in rights" By
adopting this, we are asked to say, that the
selfevident truth of the Declaration, that
ALL AEN ARE CREATED EQUAL" is q selfevi.
ia oil rho
flourish, unconstitutional and undemocraue'
that the selfevident truth now in these latter
days is, that men are not created, but, like
Topsy, they grow; and THEY are equal in
rights only when they are free, and form
social compact" Allow me to ask the sdvo-
Gates and supporters of this Lecompton bill Of
rights-this new declaration of selfevident
truths-what rights men have before they are
free, and before they form a social compact Are
they then, by endowment of their Creator possess.
ed of the rights of life and liberty? Or, outside
of your social compact, is there an inferior
class of human beings, "who," as the majority
of the Supreme Court said in the bred Scott
decision, have NO RIGHTS or privileges but
such as those who hold the power and Govern.
ment may choose to grant them?" This is
the precise principle, the bald and atheistic
averment, of this Lecompton Constitution; and
we, by affirming it, are only to become the
avowed upholders of the stupendous lie, thst
one class of men have no rights which another
are bound to respect; and hence, the partial
and exclusive provision of this instrument
That no freeman shall be taken, imprisoned,
or disselzed of his freehold, liberties, privileges or
ouilawed or sKied or in any manner destroyed or de-
prved of his life, liberty, properly, but By the Jutg
ment of his peers or the law Of the land"
"No FREEMAN: the words of necessity i'm.
port that any person not a freeman, any slave,
any human chattel, may be taken and i'm.
prisoned, disseized of his freehold, liberties, ard
privileges, outlawed, exiled, and murdered,
without the judgment of his peers and without
the protection of law. That this instrument
may want in no feature of horrid cruelty it's
further therein provided, that I" free negroes
shall not be permitted TO lipe in this State under
any circumstances" Sir, they are mere "vls,
ionary theorists" who suppose that this world
was not made for Caesar, but for man-thatl
belongs only to the common Father of all, and
is for the use and sustensnce of all his children
By our of affirmance of this instrument, we
are to say to certain human beings in the Ter
ritory of Kansas, though you were born in this
Territory, and born of free parents, though you
are human beings, and no chattels, yet you are
not free to live here upon your native heath
you must be disseized of your freehold, Liberties,
and privileges, without the judgment OF your
peers and without the protection of law. Though
born here, you shall not, under any circum.
stances, be permitted to live here. You must
suffer exile or desth-you cannot and shall no!
live here. That sky which you first saw and
TO which weary men look up for hope and con-
beautiful sky which bends above
your humble home like the arms of benehcence
clasping in its embrace the evil and the good,
HE just and the unjust-that sky was not made
for you; you shsll not live under it. This land,
this goodly land with its fertile fields, and que!
waters, and rustic homes, where you first learn
ed to lisp the hallowed name of father, sister,
brother, and where sleeps in humble hope the
aocrad dpat of vonr moor dead mother-ths land