The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1860-01-20
WHOLE NO., 523.

this State occupy no equivocal position
They reject the modern dogma, that sla-,
very is essential TO republics, that such sys-
tenn must fail without it, and that slavery
must be extended and perpetuated, TO ex-
tend the perpetuate our form Of govern
ment; but 10 opposition to it, they have
deliberately declared, that in their judg-
ment, slavery is pernicious wrong, and
that patriotism and humanity unite in de-
manding their resistance to its extension
into any free territory, now or that may
owned by the United States. They deny be
the binding authority OF The dictum of the
Supreme Court OF the United States, as.
serting right Of property in one man
over another, as fundamental principle,
and making the federal constitution the in.
strument Of rendering it universal, as not
limited to the reach Of the power which
created the relation Of master and slave;
but on the contrary, they declare that the
idea, there could be property in men, was
expressly excluded from the constitution,
which contains no such word as slave or
slavery in any Of its provisions, and which
in every clause, construed, or that can
be construed, as referring to slavery, re-
CARDS il as the creature Of State legisla-
ton, for its existence and continuance
They deny that the constitution guaran-
tees to the slaYeholding States, any other
than their local rights, in connection with
the institution Of slavery, but such as it
expressly declares; First, That the Foreign
slave trade should not be abolished before
1908; Second, That any law or regula-
ton which any State might establish in
favor Of freedom, should not impair the
legal remedy, supposed at the time Of the
adoption Of the constitution 10 exist by
common law, for the reception by legal
process, in such State, Of fugitives from
labor or service, escaping from other
States; and, Third, That three.fflhs Of all
slaves should be counted in settling the
basis of representation in the several
States. Beyond these, the trainers of tho
constitution intended to make no peculiar
concessions to the slaveholding States,
and these were made, because "they had
Union OF the States 10 create, and 10
their ardent and generous minds the vol
untary removal Of slavery by the action
OF the States themselves, without Federal
interference, seemed not only certain, but
close at hand" The people Of Ohio have
further declared, that, in their opinion,
the people Of territory have no power
under the constitution, or from any other
legal source, to establish slavery as one
Of their institutions, during their terrific.
rial existence; tina. the exercise Of such a
power would be manifest usurpation Of
the individual rights Of the citizens of the
territory, and utterly subversive of all true
popular sovereignty, which demands as
primary essential condition, the recogni-
tion OF inalienable personal rights. They
insist also, that coupled with the powcr,is
the duty ofCongress to prohibit by expess
enactment, the extension OF slavery, into
any free territory of the United States
that the exercise of this power has been
repeatedly approved by every department
of the State and National Government,
and to The universal acceptance Of the peo-
pie, and that Its recognition as a funda-
mental principle, to be hereafter exercis-
, cd, whenever occasion may be presented,
is Indispensable, to restore the simplicity
and purity OF the government, and to car
ry out the great purposes of the constitu-
tion, as declared in its preamble, "to form
more perfect union, 10 establish Justice,
insure domestic tranquility. promote the
general welfare and secure the blessings
of liberty to ourselves and our posterity."
,, Such are the judgments Of the people
OF Ohio. repeatedly expressed on the sub
Ject OF slavery, as social and political
question. But they do not conceal from
themselves. that the practices of the Fed
eral Government have long been opposed
! 10 their convictions on the subjects. They
know, that it has been administered for
many yeers in subserviency 10 the purpo-
ses of the slavery e1tensionsts Of the
slaveholding States. The war to extend
the boundary OF slavery to the Rio Grande
the violation OF the Missouri Compac
the war against Kansas, toextend slave
ry to the Pacific, are all sacrifices of the
public opinion, and the moral sonse ofthe
masses Of the country, by ambitions in
cumbents in the federal administration, to
that combination in the South, which
brings the vote Of fifteen Slave States in
phalanx to divide and conquer the Free,
and SO continue their triumphs in presi-
Dental elections. The combination has
long been absolute in its mastery over
nominations, elections, administrations,
and even Legislation, touching the main
tenance and expansion OF the institution Of
slavery, TO which it owes its political
, strength.
, What is the result: Is the combination
satisfied? Far from it. There is a grow
ing power impaired by free institutions in
+ the Ant.Slavery States-by their indus
trious economy-by their intellectual re-
sources, which gradually render abor:ive
all the acts Of intrigue that pervert the
, organs of the national will into instruments
Of a sectional oligarchy. The selfish
combination, in vain suborns northern as
pirants to its purposes, rendering all the
corrupt influence its consolidated force can
command, 10 seduce support in the north,
to carry the chief magistracy, and threat
enng in case of defeat, the overthrow Of
the Union, to coerce patriotism itself to
avert the greater mischief. In vain its
leaden scepter has stunned and sway
ed the national functionaries the
concilialing compacts of 1881 and 1850
and interpolated Slavery as part Of the
nations Constitution. The spontaneous
yipor of free labor oyerproWs and heals all