Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1860-06-22
Fremont journal.
TIE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM,
tf AS ExPoUNDED BY Et
HON. ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
In Speech dslipered before the Cooper
Kastitste, february 2T, 1860.

together large aud highly intellectual as
semblage on the evening Of February 9th,
1860. Ex-Gov. King and other distin-
guished Republicans were on the platform.
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, editor Of the
Evening Post, presided. On taking the
Chair, Mr. BRYANT spoke as follows:
at is a grateful office that perform in
introducing TO you an eminent citizen Of the
West, hitherto known only to you by repu-
tation, who has consented to address New
York assembly this evening. A powerful
auxiliary, my friends, is the great West in
that battle which we are fighting in behalf
of freedom against slavery, and in behalf Of
civilization against barbarism, for the occu-
patton Of some Of the fairest regions of our
continent now open to colonization. APP
plause. recognize an agency higher and
wiser than that Of man in causing the broad
and fertile region which forms the northern
part of the valley Of the Mississippi to be
filled with population of hardy freemen,
who till their own acres with their own
hands, and who would be ashamed to sub
sist by the labor of slaves Applause. -
These children of the West form living
bulwark against the advance of slavery, and
from them is recruited the vanguard of the
armies of liberty. Loud applause. One
of them Ipresent to you this evening, a
gallant soldier of the political campaign of
1856, [applause, in which he rendered
good service to the Republican cause, and
the great champion of that cause in Illi-
nois two years later, when be and his friends
would have won the victory but for the un-
just apportionment law, by which minori-
ty of the population are allowed to elect a
majority of the Legislature. need only
to pronounce the name of Abraham Lin
coin, of Illinois-[Ioud cheers have only
to pronounce his name, to secure your pro-
foundest attention"
ADDRESS BY HON. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
When the prolonged applause which
greeted Mr.. LINCOLN had subsidized he said !:
Mr.. PRESIDENT AND FELLOW CITIZENS
OF New York The facts with which l
shall deal this evening are mainly old and
familiar; nor is there anything new in the
general use l shall make of them. If there
shall be any novelty, it will be in the mode
of presenting the facts, and the inference
and observations following the presentation.
To his speech last autumn, at Columbus,
Ohio as reported in the New York Times,
Senator Douglas said:
our fathers when they framed the government under
which live, understood this question: just WE'LL and
even better than we do now"
fully endorse this, and adopt it as my
text for this discourse. so adoptit because
it furnishes precise and an agreed start
ing point between Republicans and that
wing of the democracy headed by Senator
Douglas. 1t simply leaves the inquiry:
"What was the understanding those fathers
had of the question mentionedi"
What is the frame of government under
which we live9
The answer must be: ''The Constitution
of the United States" That Constitution
consists of the original framed in 1878,
land under which the present government
first vent into operation and twelve sub
quently framed amendments, the first ten
of which were framed in 1889.
Who we're our fathers that framed the
Constitution suppose the "thirty-nine"
who signed the original instrument may
be fairly called our fathers who framed that
part of our present government. 1t is al
most exactly true to say they framed it,
and it is altogether true to say they fairly
represented the opinion aud sentiment of
the whole nation at that time. Their names
being familiar to nearly all, aud accessible
to quite all, need not now be repeated.
l take these 'thirty-nine," for the present,
as being "our fathers who framed the gov
ernment under which we live"
What is the question which, according to
the text, those fathers understood Just as
well, and even better than we do now?
1t is this: Does the proper division of To-
cal from federal authority, or anything in
the constitution forbid our federal govern
ment to control as to slavery in our federal
territories?
DOUGLAS AND THE FATHERS.
Upon this Douglas holds the affirmative,
and Republicans the negative. The affirm
ative and denial form an issue; and this is
sue-this question-is precisely what the
text declares our fathers understood better
than we.
Let US now inquire whether the 'thirty-
nine" or any of them ever acted upon this
question; and if they did, how they acted
upon it-how they expressed that better
understanding.
In 17s4-three years before the consti-
tution--the United States then owning the
northwestern territory, and no other-the
Congress Of the Confederacy had before
them the question of prohibiting slavery in
that territory; and four of the ''thirty-nine'
who afterward framed the constitution were
in that Congress, and voted on that ques-
ton. OF these, Roger Sherman, Thomas
Mifln and Hugh Williamson, voted for the
prohibition--thus showing that, in their un-
derstanding, no line dividing local from fed
eral authority, nor anything else, properly
forbade the federal government to control
as TO slavery In federal territory. The 9th
er Of the four-James McHenry-Voted
against the prohibition, showing that, for
some cause, be thought it improper to vote
for it.
In 1887, still before the constitution, but
while tho convention was in session fram-
ing il, and while the northwestern territory
still was the only territory owned by the