Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1860-11-02

the whole foundation upon which the proud
and ponderous edifice Of the United States
rests? They did, then, not mean all men,
when they said all men. They intended,
perhaps, even to disfranchise those fee blacks
who, in five of the original thirteen colonies,
enjoyed the right of voting. They meant but
ths white race. Oh, no, by no means the
whoA white race; not the French, not the
Scandnavians; they meant but British sub.
iects. British subjects on this continent
being equal to British subjects born and
residing on the other side Of the great water! !"
Laughter and applause.l
There is your Declaration of Independence,
a diplomatic dodge, adopted merely for the
purpose of excusing the rebellious colonies in
Declaration of Independence. no longer the
sacred code of the rights of man, but an
hypocritical piece of special pleading, drawn
up by batch of artful pettifoggers, who,
when speaking of the rights of men, meant
but the privileges of set of aristocratic
s. aveholders, but styled it "the rights ofman,"
in order to throw dust in the eyes Of the
world, and to inveigle noble. hearted fools into
lending them aid and assistance. [Applause.
These are your boosted Revolutionary sires,
no longer heroes and sages, bat accomplished
humbuggers and hypocrites, who said one
thing and meant another; who passed coun-
terfeit sentiments as genuine, and obtained
arms and money and assistance and sympathy
on false pretenses! There is your American
Revolution, no longer the great champion of
universal principles, but mean Yankee trick
bursts of applause and laughter "a wooden
nutmeg renewed cheers THE most impudent
imposition ever practiced upon the world !
Applause.
to read and understand the proudest pages
of american History. That is the kind of
history with which he finds it necessary to
prop his mongrel doctrine of popular Gov
ereignty That is what he calls indicating
the character and motives and the conduct
of the signers of the Declaration Of Indepen-
dence. Thus he did not blush to SANDER
Jefferson, who, when speaking of bis coun.
try, meant the world, and when speaking Of
his fellow citizens, meant mankind; and
Franklin, to whose clear head theory and
practice were the same, and who having
declared "all men free and equal" became
the first President of the great abolition
, society and John Adams, the representative
, Of that State which abolished slavery within
, its limits with one stroke of legislation and
Washington, who declared it to be his fond
est wish to see slavery abolished by law"
and affixed to the Declaration of Indepen.
dence the broad signature of his heroic
sword and Madison, who deemed it absurd
to admit the idea of property in man and
of the trainers of the Constitution, who took
, care not to disgrace that instrument with the
word slavery" and before adopting il
! finally blotted out from the extraditior
4 clause the word "servitude," avosoedly becaus.
+ IL signifed the condition Of a slaue, and sub
stituted the word SERVICE because it signi
a fed the condition Of Jreemen. Thus Mr.
/ Douglas dares to speak of these true men
who, after haying proclaimed their principles
q in the Declaration of Independence, endeav
1 ored to introduce them into practical life ir
almost every State in the way of gradua
i emancipation! That they failed in this, il
I it fault of theirs 1t shows not that they
& were less great and sincere, but that subse
= quent generations were hardly worthy of 81
v noble an ancestry. Applause,]
+ There is Mr.. Douglas version of your his
4 tory. He despairs of converting you withou
slandering your fathers. His present doc
: trines cannot thrive, unless planted in cal
- jimmy on the past. lie vindicate the signer
. of the Declaration Of Independence Indeed
= they need it sadly. l see the ilustrious com
!, mittee of five rise from their grave, at thei
= head Thomas Jefferon, and hear him sa,
9 to Mr.. Douglas "Sir, you may abuse US a
. much as you please, but have the g ,odness t.
!. spare us with your indications of our charac
!, ter and motives" Laughter and applause
1t is common thing that men of a coars
cast of mind, so lose themselves in the meal
:, pursuit of selfish ends, as to become insensi
- BILE to the great and sublime. Measuring
y y every character and every event in history b,
. the low standard of their own Municipalities
> applying to everything, the narrow rule o
3 their own motives, incapable Of graspin;
= broad and generous ideas, they will belittl
g g everything they cannot deny, aud drag dow
: every struggle of principles to the sordit
y arena of aspiring selfshness, or of small
y competing interests. Eighteen hundred
J years ago there were men who saw nothin,
. in incipient Christianity but mere struggl
between Jewish theologians, got up by
carpenters boy and carried on by few
crazy fishermen, Three hundred years ag,
> there were men who saw in the great reform
atory movement of the sixteenth century
not the emancipation Of individual conscien
: ces, but a mere muss kicked up by German
monk who wanted to get married Two
: hundred years ago there were men who saw
= !, in Hampden's refusal to pay the ship money
not bold vindication of constitutional liber
ty, but the crazy antics Of a man who wa
: mean enough to quarrel about a few shil
lings. And now, there are men who see ir
; the Declaration of Independence and thu
American Revolution, not the recognition
of human society upon the basis of liberty
and equality, but a dodge of some English
colonists, who were unwilling to pay theil
taxes. CONTINUED applause.
, But the dignity of great characters and
the glory of great events find their vindica
ton in the people [Cheers.] 1t is in vain
for demagogueism to raise its short arms
against the truth of history. The Declare,
ton of Independence stands there No can
did man ever read it without seeing and feel
ing that every word of it was dictated by
deep and earnest thought, and shat every
sentence of it bears the stamp of philosophy
cal generality, 1t is the summing up of the
result of the philosophical developments of
the age it is the practical embodimentof the
progressive ideas, which, very far from be-
ing confined to the narrow limits of the
English colonies, pervaded the very atmos
phere of all civilized countries. That code
of human rights has grown on the very
summit OF civilization, not in the miry soil
of South Carolina cotton field. He must
have dull mind or a disordered brain, who
msunderstands its principles but he must
have the heart of a villain who knowingly
misrepresents them Loud cheers.
Mr.. Douglas ambition might have been
satisfied with this ignominious exploit
But the necessities of the popular sovereign
ty doctrine do not stop there. After having
tried to explain away the fundamental princi-
Piles underlying this Republic, which are hos
tile to slavery and its extension, Mr.. Douglas
finds it extremely inconvenient to encounter
facts which prove, beyond a doubt, that