The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-04-21

committee appointed TO DRAFT an orulnance ioi
the government of the Territories 1t fell 10
the share of Mr.. Jefferson to write the orui-
nance. and he failed not to incorporate In II ms
deep-seated repugnance to Slavery. 1t ProVi
ded for the organization of all the Territories OF
| the Union. @ceded and to be ceded, into
| States and forever excluded Slavery from them
all down to the thirty-frst parallel of latitude,
which then separated the Territories of the
Union from the Spanish province Of Florida.
The Anti-Slavery clause is as follows:
"After the year 1900 of the Christian era,
there shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary
servitude in any of the said States, otherwise
than in the punishment Of crimes whereof the
parties shall have been duly convicted to have
been personally guilty"
The Northern States represented on the oc-
casion all voted for the ordinance; Virginia
was divided, but the majority overruled Mr..
Jefferson, and cast the vote of the State against
the restrictive clause. Sixteen Of the twenty
three delegates present voted for excluding
Slavery. The measure failed for want of a
quorum, which, under the Articles of Confede-
ration, required that nine States should be pres
ent and vote by majority of their delegates.
This was near the close of busy session, and
the subject was not again taken up, or, at any
rate, not disposed of, until 1881 At that time
Mr.. Jefferson was in France, as the representa-
tive of his country; but the principle of his
Anti-Slavery proviso of 1884 was incorporated
into the ordinance adopted in 1887.
The sixth article of this Ordinance is as fol-
lows:
"There shall be neither Slavery nor nvolun-
tary servitude, otherwise than in the punish
ment of crimes, whereof the party shall have
been duly convicted; PrOUided, at.oays, That
| any person escaping into the same, from whom
| labor or service may be lawfully claimed in any
one of the original States, such fugitive may be
lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person
claiming his or her labor or service, as afore-
said"
This Anti-Slavery ordinance for the govern
ment of the territories northwest of the Ohio
was adopted by the vote of the entire South.
Kentucky, having become an integral part of
Virginia by the organization of counties, was
excepted from its operation; and the terrific
ries south of it, now embraced in the States of
Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, were in
like manner recognised as parts of North Car
DINA and Georgia.
The Anti-Slavery ordinance of 1887, there
fore, embraced all the territories over which
the Federal Government had control Slavery
was forever excluded from them, and their un-
paralleled prosperity is entirely owing to this
Jefferson ordinance.
| might illustrate the wisdom of this Jeffer
sonian policy Of excluding Slavery from the
Territories, by pointing you to the States of
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and contrasting
them with Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri
But it is unnecessary. Every schoolboy is
familiar with the subject, and can tell you Of
the magic growth of the free States, and of the
snairs pace of those which tolerate Slavery.
The Republican party has been denounced
as sectional and tyrannical towards the South
dhnrt, go g 4.
| will not now stop to defend it. My object on
the present occasion is not to defend Republi-
can policy, but to show its origin-its identity
with that instituted by Thomas Jefferson, and
which has resulted in peopling the new free
| States OF the West, whose career of prosperity
| is unparalleled in the worlds history
If L had the time and you the patience,
might read from scores of Mr.. Jefferson's let
| tiers, written at every period of his life, from
| early prime TO old age, in which his Anti-Sla-
very sentiments are expressed with that nervous
energy and beauty of language for which his
style was remarkable. | might quote his Notes
on Virginia, written or first published while he
resided in France. The denunciatons of Sla-
very contained in that work have never been
exceeded in severity, and | should be charged
with ultraism by many of my Republican
friends if | were to repeat them.
Before leaving the branch of my subject
which relates to Mr.. Jefferson's Anti-SlaYery
views | will call your attention to a letter in
which he advocates the policy of providing a
permanent home for the people of color, be-
yond the limits of the United States. In a
letter to Jared Sparks, Mr.. Jefferson sketches a
plan for the emancipation and deportation of
the slaves and free blacks. After expressing
| his qualification at the efforts then being made
to establish colonies on the coast of Africa.
mainly because it would be the means of diff
| fusing civilization over that benighted CONT
nent, he proceeds:
The second object, and the most interest
ing to us, as coming home to our physical and
moral characters, to our happiness and safety,
is to provide an asylum to which we can, by de-
| grees, send the whole of that population from
| among us, and establish them under our pat
| ronage and protection, as separate, free,
and independent people, in some country and
| climate friendly to human life and happiness.
That any place on the coast of Africa should
answer the latter purpose, have ever deemed
entirely impossible"
He thought St Domingo a suitable place for
| colonizing the negroes, and was in favor of
appropriating the public lands to defray the
expense of transporting them. His plan con-
templated the emancipation of all children born
after a specified date and, after they should
come to years of maturity, they were to be sent
to the proposed colony
| l have alluded to the fact that Republican
| members of each House of Congress have pre-.
scented propositions for the consideration of that
body, similar to this of Mr. jefferson, but fall
ing short of it in magnitude. They have only
proposed the colonization of the free people of
color in some tropical region, at the expense
of the Government, including with them such
slaves as may be emancipated by the people or
the States. The plans are, however, identical
10 spirit and the modern Republican scheme
is modelled on that of Mr.. jefferson.
| have thus shown the identity of the princi
pies of Mr.. Jefferson with those of the Republi.
can party of the present day, as it regards Sla-
very. Can it be necessary to show that these
principles are not in harmony with the "Demo-
cratic creed of the present day? Does that
party endorse the Jefferson policy of emancipa-
ton and deportation of the slaves {? Does II
tolerate the idea of applying the Jefferson Anti
Slavery Proviso to the Territories? These
questions need no answer. Every child of ten
years old can tell you that if the Democratic
party is distinguished for one quality above all
Others 1t is for its utter, thorough, and scornful
reputation of the cherished principles of Mr..
Jefferson. Its great strength and reliance is
those States IN which Slavery is most prevalent,
and which are most anxious to extend and ner.
/ Pe'uaVc tno SJStom' II "oulu ne IKE carrying
Goals to Newcastle to produce evidence of the
total abandonment by the Democratic party of
the principles of Jefferson.
The more candid champions of Slavery,
such as Mr.. Hammond of South Carolina and
the Charleston Mercury, have discarded the
authority of Jefferson, as well as that of Wash
ington. But the party still claims him as its
ffounder, and | therefore insist that they take
him as he was, as have here exhibited him
they must take him with his lifelong hostility tc