Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1860-02-03

discoveries.
Let your imagination carry you back to
the year l776 You stand in the hall of the
old colonial courthouse of Philadelphia
Through the open door you see the Continen-
tai Congress assembled; the moment of
great decision is drawing near. Look at
the earnest faces of the men assembled there,
and consider what you may expect of them.
The philosophy of the eighteenth century
counts many of them among its truest
adopts. They welcomed heartily in their
scattered towns and plantations the new ideas
brought forth by that sudden progress of
| humanity, and, meditatlng them IN the
dreamy solitude of virgin nature, they had
enlarged the compass of their thoughts
and peopled their imagnations with lofty
ideals. \ classical education (fOr most of
them are by no means illiterate men) has put
all the treasures of historical knowledge at
their disposal. and enabled them to apply the
experience of past centuries to the new prob
lem they attempt to solve. See others
there Of simple but strong cast of mind,
whom common sense would call its truest
representatives. Won't to grapple with the
dangers and difficulties of an early settlers
life, or, if inhabitants of young uprising
cities, won't to carry quick projects into
opGcuJ CAcCCtiOu. 1tlc ildNO bCCOulo
less of obstacles and used to strenuous activ-
ity.
The constant necessity to help themselves,
has developed stheir mental independence
and Injured to political strife by the contin-
ual defense of their colonial self-government,
they have at last become familiar with the
idea, TO introduce into practical existence
the principles, which their vigorous minds
bava ouietlv built nm into a tbaOrv
The first little impulses to the general up
heaving of the popular spirit, the tea-tax,
the stamp act, drop into insignifcance
they are almost forgotten the revolutona-
ry spirit has risen far above them. 1t dis
dains to justify itself with petty pleadings
1t spurns diplomatic equivocation +; it
places the claim to independence upon the
broad basis Of eternal rights, as self-evIdent
as tne sun, as broad as the world, as COM
mon as the air of heaven. The struggle of
the colonies against the usurping government
of Great Britain has risen to the proud di-
mensions Of "a struggle of man for liberty and
equality. Behold, five men are advancing
towards the table of the president. First,
Thomas Jefferson whose philosophical spirit
grdsps the generality Of things and events ;
then Benjamin Franklin, the great apostle of
common sense, the clear wisdom of real life
beaming in his serene eye then the un-
daunted John Adams and two others. Now
Jefferson reads the Declaration Of Indepen-
dence and loudly proclaims the fundamen-
tai principle upon which it rests " All
men are created free and equal - 1t is
said . history tells YOU what it meant. The
scept,r OF royalty is hpng back across the
ocean the prerogatyes Of nobility are
trodden into the DUST every man king, ev-
cry man a baron IN seven of the original
colonies the shackles Of the black man struck
off almost everywhere the way prepared
for gradual emancipation. " No recogni-
tion OF the right of property IN man - says
Madison Let slavery be abolished by
law SAYS Washington. Not only the su-
premacy of old England is to be shaken off,
but new organization of society is TO be
built up on the basis of liberty and equality.
That is the Declaration of Independence !
That Is the American Revolution. All men
free and equal Not even the broad desert
Of the Atlantic ocean stops the triumphant
shout. Behold. the nations of the old world
are rushing to arms. Bastiles are blown in
TO the dust as by the trumpets Of Jericho,
and ike pillar of fire by night and pillar
of cloud by day the great watc hword 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 words
Turn your eyes away from the sublime
spectacle of l776. from that glorious galaxy
OF men whose hearts We're large enough for
ell mankind, and let me recall you to the
sober year Of 1857. There is Springfield,
the capital Of Illinois, one of those states,
x-bi,ai, L.,
originally framed by the same man whose
hand wrote the Declaration Of Independence.
In the hall of the assembly there stands Mr..
Douglas, who Initiates an eager crowd into
the mysteries of - popular sovereignty. -
lie Will tell you what 1t meant, when the
man of l776 said that 90 all men are created
free and equal" He says:
&" No man can vindicate the character, the mo-
tives and the conduct of of the sgners of the Dec
laration of Independence, except upon the hypo-
thesis that they referred to the white alone
and not to the African-when they declared all
men to have been created free and equal-that
they speaking Of British subjects thus cont-
nent beng equal % British subjects born and residing
IN Great B1t1iH-that they were entitled to the |
same inalienable rights, and among them were en-
umerated life liberty and the pursuit Of happi- |
ness. The Declaration of Independence wa,
adopted merely for the purpose ofSustifying the !
OuiulstS III the eyes Civilized VIII
drawing their allegiance from the British crown,
and dissoving their connection with the mother |
country"
What Is that all Is that little heap Of
quick-sand the whole substructure on which |
organization of society was to be built? The
whole foundation upon which the proud and pom
derous edihce of the United States rests? They |
did then, not mean all men, when they said all
men. They intended, perhaps, even to disfran-
chise those free blacks, who in five of the original
thirteen colonies enjoyed the right of voting ?
They meant but the white race. Oh no. by no
means the wh0fe white race; not the Germans, not
the French, not the Scandinavians; they meant
but British subjects British subjects on this
continent equal to British subjects born and re-
siding on the ether side of the great water ; "
daughter and applause)
There is your Declaration of Independence a
diplomatic dodge, adopted merely for the uurpose
of excusing the rebelious colonies in the ewes of
civilized mankind There is your Declaration of
Independence, no longer the sacred code of the
rights of man, but an hypocritical piece of spe-
clal pleading drawn up by batch of artful petit
foggers who, when speaking of the rights of man
meant but the privileges of set Of aristocratic
shareholders, but styled sit the rights of man. in
order to throw dust into the eyes of the world and
to lnveigle noble-hearted fools into lending them
aid and assistance. (Applause.) These are your |
poasted revolutionary sres, no longer heroes and |
sages, but accomplished humbuggers and hypo- (
critics, who said one thing and meant another
who passed counterfeit sentiments as genuine and |
obtained arms AID money and assistance and |
sympathy on false pretences There is your |
great American Revolution, no longer the great |
champion of universal principles, but a mean /
Yankee trick-(bursts of applause and lau ghter) |
a wooden nutmeg-(renewed cheers1- the most |
impudent imposition ever practised upon the !
whole world (Applause)
That is the way Mr.. Douglas wants you to read |
and to understand the proudest pages of American |
history That is the kind of history with which |
he finds it necessary to prop his mongreI doctrine
Of popular sovereignty That is what he calls |
vindicating the character and the motives and the
conduct Of the signers of the Declaration of indie
pendence. Thus he did not blush to sIander Jeff
ferson, who, when speaking of his country meant
the world, and when speaking of his feilow-citi-
zens, meant mankind and Franklin, in whose
clear head theory and practice were the same, and
who having declared Z" all men to be created fraa |
a-.d sa,,aI ,, hssas,ss -.