Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1858-07-28


renee of the peculiar Institution was intense
and his conviction of its inhumanity so deep,
that he cbeerfnlly chose to sacrifice himself,
if, by so doing, he might emancipate the NAL
treated slave.
He availed himself Of every opportunity
for bearing testimony against the crueltics OF
human bondage. In letter TO distinguish
ed Frenchman, he wrote the following memoir
able words:
Scan the liberties of nation be thought
secure, when We have removed their only firm
basis-a conviction in the minds of the people
that these liberties are the gift of God that
they are not to be violated except with his
wrath Indeed l tremble for my country
| when reflect that God is just, that his justice
cannot sleep forever, that considering numbers
| and natural means only, revolution in the
wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is
among possible events; it may become proba-
BILE by supernatural Interference! : The AL
mighty has no attribute which can take side
with us in such a contest"
In the original draft of the Declaration of
Independence, as it came from Jeiferson's pen,
the following nervous passage occurs among
the charges there mad: against the king:
s.He has urged cruel war against human na-
ture itself, violating its most sacred rights of
life and liberty in the persons of a distant
people who never offended him, capturing and
carrying them into slavery in another hemis-
phere, to incur miserable death in their
transportation thither. This pratical warfare,
the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the war
fare of the Christian King of Great Britain.
Determined TO keep open market where men
should be bought aud sold, he has prostituted
his veto by suppressing every legislative at
tempt to prohibit This eXecrabie commerce.
In liIS Mr.. Jefferson prepared bill for the
abolition of the foreign slave trade, and by nm
firing assduity worked it through slave
holding Legislature.
He made another effort to abolish slavery in
1885. The Revised Statues came before the
Legislature for final action and he urged an
amendment, proposing the emancipation OF all
slaves born after the passage of that act. But
this wise amendment was lost, greatly to the
modification of its author. Atthe time of the
final vote he was absent as Minister TO France,
whence he wrote on the subject as follows:
s'What an lncomprehensibe machine is
man! who can endure toll, famine, stripes,
imprisonment, and death itself, in vindication
of his own liberty, aud the next moment in
hict on his fellow men bondage one hour of
which is fraught with more misery than ages
OF that which he rose in rebellion to oppose
But we must wait with patience the workings
of an over-ruling Providence. When the
measure of their tears shall be full, when their
groans shall have involved Heaven itself in
darkness, doubtless a God OF jnstice will a
Waken to their distress; and by ditfusing light
and liberaiiy among their oppressors, or at
length by his exterminating thunder, manifest
his attention to the things of this world, and
show that they are not left to a blind fatality''
In his 'sNotcS on Virginia. he speaks en-
phaticaily OF the unhappy influence of slavery.
He says:
ssThe whole commerce between master and
slave is perpetual exercise of the most boist-
erous passions, the most unremtting despot-
ism, on the one part, and degrading su omission
on the oIher Our children see this anu learn
TO initiate. The parent storms, the child looks
on, c'tchcs the lineaments OF wrath, puts on
the same airs in the smaller circles of slaves,
gives a vent to the worst passions, and thus
nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyran-
ny, cannot but be stamped by it with its odious
pcculiaTities.''
In 1874 Mr.. Jefferson, as chairman of COM
mittee for devising some plan for the govern
ment of the territories OF the United States,
reported bill in which the following proviso
was introduced "Proridcd, that after the
year 1900 of the Christian era, there shall be
neither slavery nor involuntary servitude IN
any of the states, otherwise than in punishment
of crimes whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted of being personally guilty.
This proviso was then lost; but, to the great
Joy OF its author, it was brought forward by
Nathan Dane, of Massachusetts,, in 1877, and
applied to the territories north of the Ohio, by
the unanimous vote Of the states then repre-
sented in Congress.
We pass on to the Revolution.
England commenced hostilitics. Patriot
blood was shed at Lexington. Preparations
for war were made on a large scale by Parlia-
ment. Nothing remained for the American
Congress, but to oppose bayonet to bayonet,
and cannon to cannon. They proceeded to
this task. Jefferson bore his full share of the
anxieties, tolls, and responsibilities of the
patriots. On his motion Congress resolved,
May 2S, 1776, ssthat an animated address be
published to impress the people with the me-
cessity of now stepping forward TO save their
country, their freedom, and property" JEFF
ferson wrote that address. And it was an an
mated one, conceived in his happiest manner.
with q power of expression and argument
which reached the popular heart.
In juno following he wrote the Declaration
of Independence, paper of unriyaled merit,
and of immense Importance in the Revolution.
1t is above all eulogy. This document is not
as it came from the pen of its author. Con-
gress critically revised it, omitting many
powerful paragraphs, and changing the Ian
guage in several instances. In our opinion
the original was much better than the revised
copy. The revised copy is, however, essen
TALLY Jefferson's.
This Declaration was received by the peo-
Pile with unbounded joy. 1t was read TO the
continentals then near New York, and was re-
ceived by those chivalrous sons of liberty with
delrious exultation. They filed the air with
shouts, and shook the earth with the thunders
of their artillery. The progress of the Decla-
ration through the land was like the triumphal
march OF a mighty deliverer.
In the autumn of 1776 he took his seat in
the Legislature, and at once commenced his
| work of reform. His first measure was the
| establishment of courts of justice. Three
grades of courts were created, County, Snpe-
rior, Supreme; the duties and limitations Of
each were defined, and the right of trial by jury
was guarded with extreme circumspecton
| He next brought forward his celebrated Bill
| for the Abolition of the Law of Entails, Law