Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-07-06
-- remember Ailo's end,
Wedqed in that Timber which he strOve

p '. -- remember MiIo's end,
Wedged in that Timber which be strove to rend
And here 1 close this branch of the argu-
ment, which l have treated less fully than
the first partly because time and strength
fail me, but chiefly because the barbarism of
slavery, when fully established, supercedes all
other inquiry. But enough has been done on
this head At the risk of repetition, l now
gather it together. The assumption that
slave-masters, under the Constitution, may
take their slaves into the Territories, and
continue to hold them as in the states, stands
on two pretensions, first chat man may hold
property in man, and secondly that this prop
erty is recognized in the Constitution. But
we have seen that the pretended property IN
man stands on no reason, while the TWO spe-
cial arguments by which it has been asserted,
first, an alleged inferiority Of race, and sec
ondly, the ancient curse of Ham, are grossly
in sufficient to uphold such pretension. And
we have next seen that this pretension has
as little support in the Constitution as in rea-
son; that slavery is of such an offensive
character, that it can find support only in
'positive" sanction, and words of 'frresist-
ible elearness :" that this benign rule, ques-
toned in the Senate, is consistent with the
principles of an advanced civilization; that
no such positive" sanction, in words Of cir
| resistible clearness, can be found in the Con-
stitution, while, in harmony with the Decla-
ration of Independence, and the Address of the
Continental Congress, the cOntemporaneous
/ declarations in the Convention, and especial
/ " the act of the convention in substituting
! service for "servitude,' on the ground that
| the latter expressed "the condition of slaves,
| all attest that the pretension that man can
| hold property in man was carefully, scrupu-
/ lously, and completely excluded from the
| Constitution, so that it has no semblence Of
! support in that sacred text nor is this pre-
tension which is unsupported in the Consti-
tuition, helped by the two arguments, one in
/ the name of State Equality, and the other in
the name Of Popular Sovereignty, both Of
which are properly put aside. -..t
Not questioning the right Of each State
whether South Carolina or Turkey, Virginia
or Russia, to order and control its own do
mestic institutions according to its own judg.
ment exclusively, the Convention there
assembled has explicitly announced freedom tc
be " the normal condition of all,the territory
of the United States, and has explicitly
denied I" the authority ofCongress, of Terri.
torial Legislature, or of any individuals, tC
give legal existence to slavery in the United
/ States
Sir, the true principle, which, reversing
the assumptions Of slave-masters, make,
freedom national, and slavery sectional, Will,
every just claim Of the slave States is har
monized with the irresistible predominancC
of Freedom under the Constitution, has beer
declared at Chicago. f|l-I -. D..
Such is the triumphant response by the
aroused millions of the North, alike to the
assumption of Blaye-masters that the Con.
stitntion, Of its own force, carries slavery int
the Territories, and also to the devics O
politicians, that the people of the Territories
/ 10 the exercise Of dishonest. Popular
Sovereignty, may plantslavery there.
This response is complete at all points
whether the Constitution acts upon tht
Territories before their organization, or onlJ
aiterward for, in the absence Of TerritoriR
Government, there can be no "positive" Law
in words Of Irresistible clsarness' for slavery
as thera can be no such law, when Territoria
Government, isOrganised undsrths Coustitu
tion,