Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1860-03-16

York is still slave State; for that reason
livery other State that discriminates between
the negro and the white man is slave State,
leaving but very few States in the Union
thai are free from his objection. Yet, not
withssanding the Senator is committed to
these doctrines. notwithstanding the leading
men OF his party are committed to them, he
argues that they have been accused of being
IN favor of negro equality. and says the tell
dency of their doctrine is the equality Of the
white man. lie introduces the objection,
and fails to answer it, He states the PROPOSE
tivn and lodges it, to leave the inference
that he does not endorse it. Sir, desire to
see these gentlemen carry out their prlnci-
Piles to their logical conclusion. Ifthey will
persist in the declaration that the negro is
made the equal Of the white man. and that
any inequality is in violation of the Divine
law, then let them carry it out in their leg
islation by comforting on the negroes all tie
rights of citizenship the same as on white
men. For one, l never held to any such
doctrine. / hold that the Declaration of In
dependence was only referring to the white
man-to the governing race of this country,
who were in conflict with Great Britain, and
had no reference to the negro race at all when
it declared that all men wern created equal
Sir, il the signers Of that declaration had
understood the instrument then as the SEN
ator from New York now construes it, were
they not bound on that day, at that very
hour, to emancipate all their slaves If Mr..
Jefferson had meant that his negro slaves
were created by the Almighty bis equals,
was he not bound to emancipate the slave on
the very day that he signed his name to the
Declaration of Independence Yet no one
of the signers OF that declaration emancipa-
ted his slaves. No one of the States on whose
behalf the declaration was signed ,emancipa-
ted its slaves until after the Revolution was
over. Every one of the original colonies,
every one Of the thirteen original States, sane
toned and legalized slavery until after the
Revolution was closed These facts show
conclusively that the Declaration of Inde-
pendence was never intended to bear the con-
struction placed upon it by the Senator from
New York, and by that enormous tribe of
lecturers that 60 through the country deliv.
erlng lectures in ceuntry-school houses and
easements of churches to Abolitionists, in
order to teach the children that the Almigh-
ty had put his seal of condemnation upon
any inequality between the white man and
the negro So
Mr.. President, am free to say here
what / have said over aud over again at
home -that,in my opinion this Government
was made By white men for the benefit of
white men and their posterity forever, and
should be administered by white men and
none other whatsoever M
Mr. Doolittle-I will ask the honorable
Senator, then. why not give the Territories
to white men?
Mr.. Douglas, Mr.. President, l am in
favor ofthrow.pg the Territories open to all
the hite meu, and all the negroes, too,
that choose to 60, and then allow the white
men to govern the Territory | would not
let one OF the negroes, free or slave, either
vote or hold Office anywhere. where / bad
the right, under the Constitution. TO pre-
vent it. am in favor Of each State and each
Territory of this Union tuking care of its
own negroes, free or slave. If they want
slavery let them have it; if they desire to
prohibit slavery, let them do it; it is their
business, not mine. We in Illinois tried sla-
very while We were Territory. and found
it was not profitable; and hence we turned
phian'hropists and abolished it, just as our
British friends across the ocean did They
established slavery IN all their colonies, and
when they found they could not make an,
more money out Of it. abolished it. hold
that the question of slavery is one of politi-
cal economy, governed by the laws Of eli
| mate, soil, productions, and svlf-interest,
and not by mere statutory provision. re-
pudiate the doctrine, that because free insti-
| tutions may be best in one climate. they are
necessarily, the best every where; Or that be
cause slavery may be indispensable in ore
locality therefore it is desirable everywhere
hold that wise statesman will always a
dapt his Legislation to the wants, interests,
condition. and necessities of the people to be
governed by it. One people will bear diff
terent institutions from another. One eli
mate demands different institutions from an
other | repeat, then, what | have often
had occasion to say. that | do thiak unitor-
nifty is either possible or desirable | wisl
to see no two States precisely alike in their
domestic institutions in this Union Our
system rests On the superstition that each
State has something in her condition or eli.
mate. or her circumstances, requiring laws
and Institutions different from every other
State of the Union. Hence | answer the
question of the Senator from Win cousin tina,
am willing that Territory settled by white
MEN shall have negroes, free or Save. just
as the white men shall determine, but not a.
the negro shall prescribe.
| The Senator from New York has coined q
new definition of the States of the Union
Labor States and Capital States. The CAPT
tai States, | believe, are the slavehoiding
States, the labor States are, the non slave
holding States. 1t has taken that Senator
good many years to coin that phrase and
bring it into use | have heard him discuss
these favorite theories of his for the last ten
years, | think, and never heard of capital
States and labor States before. It strikes
me that something has recently occurred up
in New England that makes it polite to get
up question between capital and labor. and
take the side Of the numbers against the few.
We have seen some accounts IN the news
papers of combinati ms and strikes among
the journeymen shoemaksrs in the towns