Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1859-02-24
TIE ISSUE---ITS HISTORY
SPEECH
HON. J. R. GIDDINGS,
tn THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
JANUARY IL. 1859.

two DAYS since, my friend from Maine, MIR
WAsHBuRNl took occasion to call attention
TO the great issue which now divides tn
people of these States. | listened to hin
with unusual pleasure. fully accorded will
his views. 1t is certain that one of our po
litical organizations holds that State o
Territory, when forming State Consti
tuition, and acting within our Federal pow
ers. may authorize its people to enslave |
poftioa Of mankind, doom them to live~ith
on, know ledge, to grope their way ts physi
cal aidesth .am id the darkness of moral and in
tellectuslnight! TIE other party emph atica'
ly denies those doctrines, declaring that hu
man Governments are limited in thei r jus
powers BY the law of eternal right & wrong
ard can impart to no man authority or mora
right to rob, snslave, or murder his fellow
beings; that the object and duty of Govern
ments are to protect every human soul in
the enjoyment of life, liberty, and hap2i
ness.
These positions are sntagonistic. The
gulf that separates :he republican ane
Democratic parties is broad and deep; one
reasoning and acting for Freedom. the Other
for Slavery, it becomes impossible for them
to agree on any collateral question.
The President, in his message, has spo.
ken for his party. In the irst paragraph
he recognizes The dogma that human souls
msy be enslsved and transformed into pro.
,erty; and the entire message constitutes
an argument for extending the curse of hu-
man bundage If his predicate be correct,
his efforts to scqui7e Cuba, and parts OF
Mexico, end Central America. cannot be
wrong. Indeed, his laburs in behalf of the
foreign and domestic slave trade are based
upon The doctrines of h parry; & those men
who are now engaged in bringing African
slaves into Georgia and other Southern
States must stand or fall with the party
whose doctrines they support; for if Slavery
be right, the slave trade canno, be wrong.
have often spoken on this subject, and
do not intend to enlarge upoR it Al this time.
ve..defined the issue thus briefly for the
purpose of calling attention TO some incl
dents in that train of events which devel-
nped this issue, with the same moral GER
tainty with which effect always follows
carse.
Ian led to The discharge of this duty
Iron the consideration that have long par
cipsted ia those incidents, and have been
,omewhnt familiar with some of the meas
nrrs which Eave conduced to the bringing
oi this great question before the county
am also inGucrd 20 do this from the con-
sidera,ion that msny honest men are desir-
Gus shat K. R.pntlica1s shall modify,
chang. or ubandI dIn their doctrines.
II is certain that odr principles were pro-
h.uIsuted in the Declaration of Independ-
race; that the signers of that first charter
of. American liberty declared that all men
alienable, the abstract right to enjoy life,
liberty, and happiness; and that tire trainers
otthe Constitution. recognizing this primal
doctrine, ordained ",hat no person shall be
deprived of life, liberty, or property without
Cue p psocess Of law" Our doctrine seems to
have M t with universal approval,e except by
T. the Tories of that day.up to the year l79 /;
the 6rst denial of it by any Wing was pub
lished by Thomas Paine, in his essay upon
"the Rights oil Man," wherein he declares
that awha.ever q whole nation chooses to
do, it has a right 10 do" No person can
fail 10 See the identity Of this doctrine with
that new procisimed Ly the Democratic
party, alleging that the people of Terri
tory, In framing a Constitution. may with
out injustice authorize Slavery, if they
choose. The doctrines of Paine and of the
Democratic party are Identical in DENYING
that human governments are limited by the
law Of eternal right and wrong. They agfee
that the people of nation or State may, if
they choose, au horize murder, robbery, and
piracy; for all these are embraced in the
term "S.ssety."
But the doctrine OF Paine would probably
have passed unEoticea by the statesmen o.
that age, except for tacit approval by Mr.
jefferson, who carelessly expressed desire
that the work might be reprinted. The
approval, however, referred to the work at
y whole, and not to this particular dogma
But this circumstance called out John
Quincy Adams, at that time young lswy e.
OF Boston, who, in a series Of well-consd
cred articles, exposed the error of Paine
and clearly demonstra red the limited powe
Of human Governments--showed their ina
bility to change the natural or innate char
acter Of sny act; that murder, or piracy, o
robbery, is inherently wicked and criminal
rendered SO by the Creator, by the immuta
bic law of right and wrong. and must retsi
their inherent wickedness, though tel
thousand human statutes pronounce theT
lust, and authorize the ir commission; tha
the legitimate powers OF government ar
limited to the protection, and do not ea
lend to the destruction, of mans ina lien
able rights. This vindicaton OF the sci
evident truths promulgated in the Declars
fion Of Independence, and fepeatei in lh
Conslit Ition, WIS published while most
the signers of that great charter of Lberl
and most of the trainers of the Constitute
were living. 1t emanated from the son
one of the most distinguished of those p
friots. 1t attracted the attention of Ge
Washington, then President of the Unite
States, who soon after rendered to your
Adams a foreign mission. Every perst
will see the perfect identity of the view
proclaimed by Mr.. Adams and those avow
by the Republican party.
The institution of Slavery was then q
knowledged to be wrong. In the lsngua
Of Henry Clay, it was "ooked upon as
surse-a curse 10 the slave, and a grievo
curse to the MASTER" crime which tn