Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-11-18
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| suits.
Shall tell you what this collision means
They who think that it is accidental, unneces-
sary, the work of interested or lanatical agita-
tors, and therefore ephemeral, mistake the case
altogether. 1t is an irrepressible conflict be-
tween opposing and enduring forces, and it
means that the United States must and ,ciH,
sooner or later, become entirely slaueholdinq
nation or entirely a free labor nation Either
the cotton and rice fields Of South Carolina and
the sugar plantations of Louisiana will ulti-
mately be titled by free labor, and Charleston
New Orleans becomes marts for legitimate mer-
chandise alone, or else the rye fields and wheat
fields of Massachusetts, and New York must
again be surrendered by their farmers to slave
culture and to the production of slaves, and
Boston and New York become once more mar
kets for trade in the bodies and souls of men.
It's the failure to apprehend this great truth
that induces so many unsuccessful attempts at
final compromise between the slave and free
States, ane it is the existence of this great
fact that renders all such pretended comprom-
Use, when made, vain and cphemeral, Start
ling as this saying may appear to you fellow
citizens, it is by no means an original or even
a modern one. Our forefathers knew it to be
true and unanimously acted upon it, when they
framed the constitution of the United States.
They regarded the existence of the serve sys-
TEN in 50 many of the States with sorrow and
shame, which they openly confessed, and they
looked upon the collision between them, which
was then just revealing itself, and which we
are accustomed to deplore, with favor and hope
They knew that either the one or the other sys.
ten must exclusively prevail.
Unlike to many of those who in modern
time, invoke their authority, they had a choice
between the two. They preferred the system
of free labor, and they determined so to organ
ize the government, and SO direct its activity
that the system should surely and certainly pre-
vail. Eor this purpose, and no other, they
based the whole structure of government,
broadly on the principle that all men
are created equal, and therefore. free--litto
dreaming that within the short period of one
hundred years their descendants would bear to
be told by any orator, however popular, that
the utterance of that principle was merely a
rhetorical rhapsody ; or by any judge, howev-
er venerated, that it was attended by mental
reservations, which rendered it hypocritical and
false. By the Ordinance of 1857, they dedlca-
ted all of the national domain not yet polluted
by slavery, to free labor Immediately. thence
forth and forever, while, by the Constitu-
tion and laws, they invited foreign free labor
from all lands under the sun. and interdicted
the importation Of African slave labor at all
times, in all places and under all circumstances
whatsoever. Is IS true that they necessarily and
wisely modified this policy of freedom, by
leaving 1t to the several States, affected as they
were by differing circumstances, to abolish slave
ry in their own way and at their own pleasure,
instead of confding that duty to Congress, and
that they secured to the slave State while vet
.,,,,,,o AI.a e II q
Representations OF slaves in the Federal Govern
ment, until they should find themselves able to
relinquish it with safety. But the very nature
of these notifications fortifes my positions that
the fathers knew that the two systems could
not endure within the Union, and expected
that within short period slavery would dis
appear forever. Moreover, in order that these
notifications might not altogether defeat their
grand design of II Republic maintaining univer-
sal equality, they provided that two-thirds of
the States might amend the Constitution
1t remains to say on this point only one
.. word to guard against misapprehension II
these States are again to become universally
! slaveholdlng do not pretend to say with what
, violations of the Constitution that end shall be
accomplished On the other hand, while do
confidently believe and hope that my country
will yet become a land Of universal freedom.
do not erpect that it wiH be made other,vse than
through the action of the several States, co oper-
ating NTH the Federal government, and all act
ing in strict conformity Nth their respective
Constitutions.
The strife and contentious concerning slavery
,, which gently disposed persons habitually dep.
recate, is nothing more than the ripening of the
conflict which the Fathers themselves not only
thus regarded with favor, but which they NAV
be said to have instituted
| 1t not to be denied, however, that thus ia,
the course of that contest has not been accord
9 ing to their humane anticipations and wishes
in the field of Federal politics. slavery, deriving
n unlookedfor advantages from commercial
: changes and energies, and unforeseen from the
i faculties of combination between members o.
n the slaveholding class and between thai
s class and other property classes early rallied
c and has at length made stand, not merely t
+ retain its original defensive position, but to ex
tend its sway throughout the whole Union
: is certain that the slaveholdiug class of Amer
e lean citizens indulge this high ambition, an,
e that they derive encouragement for it from TIN
l. rapid and effective political success which the,
i have already obtained. The plan of operation
d is this By continued appliances of patronage
IL and threats of disunion, they will keep a ma
10 where each State has an equal representation
l. Through that majority they will defeat, as the,
IT best can, the admission of free States, and Sc
l. cure the admission of slave States Under tn
% protection of the Judiciary they will, on tn
T. principle of the Dred Scott case, carry SLAYER
es into all the Territories of the United State
,f now existing and hereafter to be organized
t. By the action of the President and the Senate
ID using the treaty-making power, they will an
D. mex foreign slaveholding States. In a favora
I'd BILE coniuncture they will induce Congress I
IN repeal the Act of 1908, which prohibits tn
rs foreign slave trade, and so they will impol
j. from Africa, at the cost of only twenty dollar
H. a head, slaves enough to fill up the continent
ID Thus relatively increasing the number of slav
a. States, they will allow no amendment to tt
III Constitution preudcial to their interest, an
W so, having permanently established their power
or they expect the federal Judiciary to nulify al
ct State laws which shall interfere with interna
as or foreign commerce in slaves. When the FIRE
he States shall be sufficiently demoralized to to-
r. crate these designs, they reasonably conclud
in that slavery will be excepted by those Statt
ne themselves. l shall not stop to show how speed
st or how complete would b. the ruin with I'll
IS, accomplishment of those slaveholding schem,
r would bring upon the country, For one
ng should not remain in the country to test Il
be sad experiment. Having spent my manhoo'
he through not my whole life, in free State, r
w arstocracy of any kind, much less an aristo
racy of slave holders, shall ever make the Law
in Of the land in which shall be content to liv
he Having seen the society around me universal
se engaged in agriculture, manufactures ar
ut trade, which were innocent and benifcent,
te shall never be a denizen of State where m,
ch and women are reared as cattle, and bougl
s, and sold as merchandise When that evil ds
o. shall come, and all further effort at resistan
Nj shall be impossible, then, if there shall be
e. better hope for redemption than can nc