The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1858-09-16

- - 1ASN-lAI -1A,s3 NA1A AAluAD
The Declaration OF Independence
Was il for All, or fora Part Of the Hu
IHaisa M man Race.
Judge Douglas in his celebrated
speech at Springfield. contended that tn,
Declaration of Independence was not 70
all, but for a part of the human race
that where it says all men are createt
free and equal, it merely means the Angl,
Saxon man; that all other races, excep
the purely white, Caucasian, were exclu
ded from its benefits and blessings; tha
Africans aud defendants are especially
excluded. from all rights and privileges
secured or to be secured under the great
Magma Charta Of human rights. The
Dred Scott decision take substantially
the same ground. It declares that AT.
ricans are not men, and are not en- titled
to the rights and immunities of men,
They are cattle, to be bought and sold.
but not human beings to be elevated
here and prepared for higher state
hereafter.
1t is strange, however, that the men
who lived in the revolutionary times do
not believe in these latter day doctrines OF
Judge Douglas and his compeers. Even
Jefferson himself, who drew up the Dec
laration, was so far from believing in
them that he wrote as follows, which was
omitted in the engrossed draft. II comes
at the end of the enumerated causes of
war Il,
He has waged cruel war against hui
man nature itself, violating its most sa-
cred rights Of life and liberty in the per-
sons Of distant people who never often
ded him, captivating and carrying them
into slavery in another hemisphere, or to
incur miserable death in the transporta-
ton thither /; this piratical warfare. the
opprobrium of infdel powers, is the war
fare of the Christian king of Great Brit
am. Determined to keep open a market
where MEN should be bought and sold !;
he has prostituted his negative for sup
pressing every attempt to prohibit or to
restrain this execrab,e commerce, and
that this assemblage OF horrors. might
want no facts or distinguished die, he is
now exciting those very people to rise in
arms against us, aud to purchase that
liberty of which he has deprived them,
by numbering the people upon whom he
also intruded them, thus paying off for
mer crimes committed against the liber-
ties of one people, with crimes which he
urges them to commit against the lives
of another
IhA prigiaall 9ssii qf fAA JAlaiiGillaratjQp liiilla
and in it the word MEN ia written ia
capital (printed) letters as above. in JET
ferson's own hand thus emphatically
giving flat contradiction to the doc
trines of Judge Douglas and the decision
of the late Supreme Court in the Dred
Scott case. A fac simile of the original
draft may be seen in Harper's Weekly
paper Of last week, which will be found
at any of the newspaper depots. SIS
In reference to the above passage, Mr..
jefferson in his Minutes of Debates of
1776, on the Declaration of Independ-
ence,' says that the clause reprobating
and enslaving the inhabitants of Africa.
was struck out in compliance to South
Carolina and Georgia, who had never at
tempted to restrain the importation Of
slaves, and who, on the contrary, still
wished to continue it, Itwas not struck
out then because it called Africans men
in such emphatic language, but because
South Carolina and Georgia wished to
continue the importation Of slaves.
What commentary is this upon the
narrow views Of the statesmen Of the pres
ent day, who pirate Of popular sovereign
ty to the North, and mean that the South
should understand them as favoring the
extension of slavery; who talk about lib
erty and equality, but say it is good
enough for some men but not for others.
How would Jefferson look upon such alb
iect tools of despotism were he now alive?
With what whitening scorn would he no,
eye them, before he turned his back up
on them. rs worthy only Of his utter con-
tempt and scorn. In the light of the
presence Of the great Author Of our Dec
laration Of Independence. these dema-
gogues. like the moles and bats, would
sneak into their hiding places and cal
upon the rocks to cover Them Chicagt
| Dem.