The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1860-03-01
From ae " / Trignne.


Wv aAS sB sB&kNCNSUkk al COA.
This rather startling question must
force itself upon the mind Of every one
who notes discerningly the line OF argu-
ment of our pro-Slavcry contemporaries
with regard to the equality of Human
Rights.
Whoever chooses to look through the
files of what served for newspapers sixty
odd years ago, will iud frequently occur
ring therein the names of John Adams,
/ Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamil-
Iton-probaby the three best abuset; men
of their time Those journals will by
turns apprise you that Que or the other Of
these stafesmen-(true patriots and great
men all, though seyerally human, there
fore not faultlcss was 4 demagogue, a
monarchist, leveler, an infdel, q hyp-
ocrite, an intriguer, or something OF the
sort-(for partisan hostility was far bitter
or and more personal in those days than
in ours, but We doubt that the most in
temperate resiler of either Of these VOL
Ihies ever stigmatized him as a downright
idiot. The discovery that the great men
Of eur Revolutionary era were utter sim
plotons was reserved for the Sham De-
mocracy IN l85G-G0.
For Jefferson deliberately w,ote, and
Adams as dclibera ely concurred in affirm
ing, and Hamilson fought to establish, the
natural equality of mankind. All men
are created equal" proclaimed the Dccla-
ration cf Independence, AMI the cannon
Of Saratoga, Monmouth, and Yorktown
affirmed and emphasized the assertion.
In those days, no American-Tores, Of
course, xoeptea-openly dissented from
this fundamental base of American Free
dom and Nationality. 10 question it
would hardly have been safe elsewhere
than under the protection of British can
non.
But did Adams and Jefferson mean
that every man is equal to any other man
in wisdom, knowledge, physical strength,
endurance, or industrial efficiency l.
they did, they set their names to man
ifeSt imposture and lie. There is not a
child seven years old who does not know
5etteg-know that, SO far from all men
being equal in capacity or requirement,
diversity or disparity IN the universal law
that hardly any two persons are actssal
ly equal in natural gifts; and that, where
two are nearly equal, twenty are striking
Iy diverse. Ii Jefferson really asserted
what our modern conservatives deny, then
must he stand refuted and stultifcd By
the common sense Of mankind.
But Jefferson never affirmed, Adams
ana lInmitoa never ratified, any such
ridiculous declaration. Had Mr.. Jefer-
son been asked to exchange his stature
for that Of s. A. Douglas, or lis manners
and temper FOR those Of Toomha CT Senator
Mason, lie would undoubtedly have de
clinod, dcouiing the bargain proposed an
uuf2ir enc. Such a trade could only have
been made to his serious disadvantage.
What Mr. Jefferson did assert, what
Adams aud Hamilton affirmed, what tbs
Republicans of to-day stand for, is The
! equality of Human Rights, maugcr all
physica! or intellectual differences They
did not, and we Go not, oven aG5rus the
equal right Of all human beings to vote
aud lagialate, but their equal right to be
protected, cherished, benefited, by what
ever laws might be enacted, whatcve:
form Of government might be established
1t was this righteous aud natural equali-
ty-" the ina,ienable right Of all to life,
liberty, and the pursuit Of happiness :
that Jefferson proclaimed il: 1t was fol
this that Adams thUndered, Washington
fought and Mercer fell.
The right Of every man to his own limb.
and caruings-the right Of every parent
20 the society and the obedience Of his Oh
her own minor chlldrcu-tIle right of eacl
human being to full and equal protection
from the State in every innocent excrtiol
of his own faculties for the promotion o
his own happiness and that Of his family
the right Of each to produce, to enjoy
and to accumulate-suchi is the cquaIit,
affirmed by Jefferson in the Immortal Pre-
amb!e to our Declaration Of Independence
In this there is nothing absurd, fallacious
nor impracticaJle. Ifit were proved tha
.. no negro ever knew half so much as tn
siliia$t white man, the truth of human
d, equality would not thereby he affected
Why cannot our modern Tories cithc
meet it squarely or let it alone.
-s-->---1zs--~ 4>--
emancipation sEa tie DufCn
East Indies.
! 1t is no. less unwise and weak, accord
! lug to all the laws of Pllitical Economy
, for one portio1 of people to enslavc
- tl,r.ul.,- .t.arncn Ii III u