Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1858-09-02
Lincoln on the Declaration of Inde-
pendence.

pendence.
Mr.. Lincoln, of Illinois, in his speech .
Lewistown, said:
'The Declaration of independence
was formed by the Representatives
of American liberty from thirteen States o
the confederacy-twelve Of which wert
slaveholing communities. We need no:
discuss the way or the reason of their be-
coming s,aveholding communities. 1t is
sufficient for our purpose that all of them
greatly de plored the evil, & that they placed
provision in the Constitution which they
supposed would gradually remove the dis.
ease by cutting off its source This was
the abolition of the slave trade So gener-
al was the convictien-,he public determi-
nation-to abolish the African slave trade,
tn at the provision which have referred to
as being placed in the Const tuition, declar-
ed that il should not be abolished prior to
the year 1903. A constitutional provision
was necessary to prevent the people, through
Congress, from putting a stop to the traffic
Immediately al the close of the war. Now,
if slavery had been a good thing, would the
Fathers OF the Republic have taken step
calculated to diminish its beneficent inhu-
ences among themselves and snatch the
boon wholly from their posterity! These
communities, by their representatives in
old independence Hall, said to the whole
world of men: I'VE hold these truths to be
self evident; that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights; that among these
are life, liberty and the pursuit of happi-
ness" This was their majestic interpreta-
ton of the economy of the Universe. This
was their lofty and wise, and noble under
standing of the justice of the Creator to
His creatures. [Applause.l Yes, gentle
men, to all His creatures, to the whole great
family of men. In their enlightened be-
lief, nothing stamped with the Divine image
and likeness was sent into ithe world to be
trodden or, and degraded, and imbruted by
its fellows. They grasped not only the
whole race OF man then living, but they
reached forward and seized upon the farthest
posterity. They erected beacon to guide
their children and their chidren's children.
and the countless myriads who should inha5it
the earth in other ages. Wise Statesmen n
as they were, they knew the tendency of
prosperity to breed tyrants, and SO they
established these great self-evident truths, ),
that when in the distant future some man,
some faction, some interest, should set up
the doctrine that none bu, rich men, or none
but white men, were entitled to life, liberty
and the pursui. OF happiness, their posterity
might look up again to the Declaration of
Independence and take fcourage to renew
the battle which their fathers began-so
that uuth, and justice, and mercy, and all
the humane and Christian virtues might not
be extinguished from the land; so that no
man would hereafter dare to limit and cir
cumscribe the great principles on which the
temple Of liberty was being built. Loud
cheers.
"Now, my countrymen," Mr.. Lincoln
continued with great earnestness, "if YOU
have been taught doctrines conflicting with
the great landmarks Of the Declaration OF
Independence; if you have listened TO sug-
gestions which would take away from its
grandeur and mutiate the fair symmetry Of
its proportions; il you have been inclined
to believe that all men are not created equal
in those inalienable rights enumerated by
our chart OF liberty, let me entreat YOU to
come back Return TO the fountain whose
waters spring close by the blood of the
Revolution. Think nothing of me-take
no thought for the political .ate of any man