The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1860-09-20
sTRoUDsBURG, MONROE COUNTY, PA SEPTEMBER 90 1860.

man struck of; almost everywhere th
way prepared for gradual emancipation
mo recognition of the right of propert
in mani says Madison. "Let SLAYER
be abolished by lawl" says Washington
Not only the supremacy of Old Euglau,
is to be shaken off, but a new organize
tion of society is to be built up, on the
basis of liberty and equality. That i
the Declaration of Independencel Tha
is the Amcricsn Revolution. All mel
free and equal Not even the broad de
sert of the Atlantic ocean stops the tri
umphant shout. Behold, the nations OF
the Old World are rushing to arms
Bastiles arc blown into the dust as by The
trum2ets of Jericho, and, ike pillar ot
fire by night and pillar of cloud by day
the great watch Sord of the American
Revolution shows forever the way to
struggling humanity. Long continued
applause. All men are created free and
equal' Whence the supernatural power
in these seven wordsi
Turn your eyes away from the sublime
spectacle o! 1916, from that glorious gal
axy of men whose hearts were large e.
Dough for all mankind, aud let me recall
you to the sober year of 1857. There is
Springfield, the capital of Illinois. one of
those States which owe their greatness to
an ordinance originally framed by the
same man whose hand wrote the Declara-
ton of Independence. In the II all of the
Assembly, there stands Mr.. Dou glas, who
initiates an eager crowd into the myste-
ries of popular sovereignty" He will
tell you what it meant, when the men of
l776 said that "sIl men are created free
and equal" He says:
mo man can vindicate the character, the
motives, ann the conduct of the singers of
the Declaration of Independence, except up
no the hypothesis that they referred to the
white race alone, and not to the African,
when they declared all men to have been
created free and equal-that they Uere speak
ing Of British >m5jects on this continent be-
ing eqiqt to British subjects born and re-
siding ia Great BritajR-lhat they were en-
titled to the same inalienabe rights, and a.
mong them were enumerated life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. The Declara-
tion OF independence was adopted merely for
the purpose of justifying the colonists in the
eyes of the civilized world in withdrawing
their allegiance from the British Crown, and
dissolving their connection with the mother
county,"
What Is that ALI Is that little heap of
quick sand the whole substructure on which
a new organization of society was to b.
built'-the whole foundation upon which
the proud and ponderous edifice of the
United States rests! They did, then, not
mean az uen, when they SAID all men,
They intended. perhaps. even to disfraU-
chi-e those free blacks Hho in five Of the
original thirteen colonies enjoyed the
right of voting. Theg meant but the
white race. Oh. no. By DO means, the
ach0le white race; not the Germans, not
the French, Dot the Scsndinasians; they
meant but British ajects. British sub,
jects on this continent being equal to
British subjects born and residing on the
other side of the great waterl" Laugh
ter aud applause.
There is your Declaration OF Iudepend-
ence, diplomatic dodge, adopted mere
ly for the purpose Of ezcusing the rebel
lious colonies in the eyes Of civilized u an
kind There is Jour Declaration of In,
dependence, DO longer the sacred code oi
the rights Of man, but au hypocritical
piece of special pleading, drawn up by a
batch of artful petiifoggers, who, when
speaking OF the rights of u an, meant but
the privileges of set of aristocratic slave
holders, cut styled it "the rights of nan,
in order to throw dust into the eyes of
the world, aud to inveigle noble hearted
fools into leDdiDg them aid and assistance
[ Applause. These are your boasted
Revolutionary sires. no longer heroes and
sages, but accomplished bumbuggers and
bypocrites, who said one thing and mean
another; who passed counterfeit senti
meuts as genuine, and obtained arms and
money and sssistsnce and sympathy OF
false pretencesl There is your great A
merican Revelation, 40 longer the great
champion of universal principles, but I
mean Yankee trick bursts of applause
and laughter "a wooden nutmeg-Lre
newed cheers the n ost inpudent inpo
sition ever prscticed upon the wbolt
worIdl Applause.
This is the way Mr.. Douglas wants yol
to read and understand the proudest pa
ges of American historyl That is th
kind Of history with which be finds it ne
cessary to prop bis mongrel doctrine o
popular sovereignty! That is what b
calls viudicating the character and th
motives and the conduct of the singers 0
the Declaration of Independence. Thu
be did not blush to slander Jefferson. who
when speaking of bis country, meant tb'
world, and. when speaking of bis fellow
citizens, meant mankind; and Franklin
in whose clear head theory aud practic
we're the same, and who, having declare
"all men to be created free and equal,
became the FIRST President of the frs
great Abolition Society; and John Adams
the representative of thst State which a
bolished slavery within its Limits with on