The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-08-19
1.-THE RIGHTS OF NAEn

sibility, but fearlessly discharge the duty of
good citizens.
"THK RIGHTS OF MAN.
is q phrase which, since the era of the Ameri.
can Revolution at least, has had NO novel sound
nay, there is scarcely another, more perfectly
stereotyped in the minds and hearts of the
American people. Formerly it was supposed
to possess q meaning, and that one of no ordi-
nary significance. 1t was believed to denote
something of value inestimable, which pertain.
ed alike to all the individuals of the race, no
matter of what complexion, lineage, or geo.
graphical location. Parallel phrases, such as
"natural rights, "humsn rights" &C., equally
significant, are no less familiar, and-until
very recent date-have been regarded, by the
people Of this country at least, as denoting an
inheritance universal, invaluable, and unalsn-
able. They are universal, because they pertain
to rs in virtue of our common humanity; invalu
able, because, when deprived of them, every
other object becomes comparatively worthless
and unalienable, for since by their loss other
objects become worthless, we can receive for
them no adequate compensation. Need we add,
that to deprive a man of his valuable and law.
full possessions without some adequate compen.
sation-to say nothing of his free consents
the very definition of injustice. If, then hu-
man rights be not an empty name, "vox, ct
preteres nihil IF any rights pertain to men
in virtue of the place which their Creator has
assigned them in the scale of being, it will be
pertinent to inquire what some at least of those
rights are.
Some eighty years since, an assembly of wise
and yirtuous men, whose fame it has been at
once the pride and the passion of succeeding
ages to celebrate, after long and grave deliber-
alton upon the condition of this then infant ma
ton, and the expressions as they were regard.
ed-of the Mother Country, solemnly enuncia.
ted, and, at the hazard of |" hfe fortune, and ga.
cred honor" boldly recorded their determination
to become free and independent people, and
thus to assume and vindicate their rank among
the nations of the earth. They then laid the
foundation of our country's liberty upon the
following declaration of Human Rights as q
cornerstone, never doubling that it was an i'm.
movable rock:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident-
that all men are created equal; that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalien.
able rights that among these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure
these rights, Governments are instituted among
men, deriving their just powers from the con-
sent of the governed that whenever any form
of Government becomes destructive of these
ends, it is the right of the people to alter or
abolish it, and to institute new Government,
laying its foundation on such principles, and
organizing its pswers in such form, as to them
shall seem most likely to effect their safety and
happiness"
This foundation of our national liberty re-.
manned not only mistaken, but unassailed, for
more than half century. When the storm of
the Revolution, sweeping in blood and fire over
the land, had passed by, the sky seemed clear
and the heavens serene. In the distant South.
ern horizon was seen to be sure small black
cloud, but it was no bigger than mans hand,
and nobody feared that it was bearing slowly
onward and upward the elements of a destruc-
tive tempest. But eve live in an age of pro.
gress," and time and tide" are not the only
things which tarry not for human bidding. If
the banners of Liberty are borne aloft, and her
- ----s I0I 4" - ~~-~-
sion to remember also that the rod of oppres-
sion is not broken, nor are her sentnels
asleep.
This foundation rock, on which reposes the
Acropolis of our country's freedom, is at last
boldly sssailed. And its assailants are no
contemplate foe. The politician, the priest,
and the jurist, are all among the leaders of the
host. When the politician first assured us
that Thomas Jefferson, the immortal author of
our Declaration of Independence, penned not
the noble sentiments quoted above as sober
truth, but merely as "a flourish of rhetoric"
we could not but admire the ingenious device
with which he could 80 quickly slide round a
citadel of Liberty, which no power of logic
could subdue. But little did we then expe ct
ever to see the day-now fully come-when
the minister of the Christian religion should
march boldly up to storm its battlements, OF
/
one bold stroke, practically denolish its ram.
parts. But these events, once so incredible,
now stare US in the face. The Supreme Court
has at last risen to the sublime judicial an
nouncement, that one unfortunate portion OF
our countrymen, amounting to nearly one.
sixth, possess no rights which the remaining
portion are bound to respect. And thus the
highest Judicial tribunal in our land, which
ought to be the sure palladium of our liberties
at one fell blow has demolished, so far as it could
the foundation principle on which they rest
Yet even this high Court, in making the an
nouncement-so shocking to the friends of Hu
man Rights-relies solely for its authority upor
the assumed fact, (since proved to be a base
less 6ction,) that this outraged portion of the
human family had endured the oppression unit
some two hundred years of" (robbery) "haG
sanctioned and sancti6ed" the iniquity, anc
all the nation had given it the most unqualified
and unquestioned acquiescence. Still, becraze6
as that country was by its devotion to the in
terests of Slavery, it seems not to have designed
to overturn the foundation of the sshite man.
liberty. 1t only desired to submerge so much
of the rock as furnished standing place for the
foot Of the colored man. 1t seemed to forge,
that that rock was living principle, which
knew no distinction of races and that wher
the tide of oppression, yet sleeping harmlessly
at its base, should once begin to rise, no i'm
potent Canute might arrest the progress of it.
surging pillows with his hitherto shall "
come, but no further"
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