The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1860-03-22


good, or Il nioral, Social and political evil
This is the Slavery question at home.
/ Bat there is lAitual bond of unity and
/ brotherhood between man and man
Throughout the #orld Nations examine
freely the, political systems. Of each other,
and Of all preceding times, and accord,
iugl7 as, they approve or dlsapprove Of
F, the tNo systems OF capital aad labor re-
speetively, they sanction and prcsecq e,
or condemn and prohibit comnercc. in
men. Thus ia one way or in another,
Z the Slavery questlqn which SO many
among US. who are more wiling to rule
than patient in studying the conditions of
! society, think Is a meEe'y, accidental or
unnecessary question that might and
ought to be settled and dismissed at once,
is, on the contrary, worldwide and en-
during subject Of political consideration
and civil administration. Men, States
and nations entertain it, not voluntarily,
but because the progress of society con-
tinually brings it into their way. They
divide upon it, not perversely, but be-
cause owing to differences of constitution,
condition, OF circumstances, they cannot
Iagree.
The fathers of the Republic encouu-
tered it. They even adjusted it SO that
it might have given US much less than
our present disquiet, had not circum-
stances afterward occurred which they,
! wise as they were. had lot clearly fore
seen. Although they had Inherited, yet
they geueralIy condemned the practice Of
Slavery, and hoped for its discontiuuance.
They expressed this, when they asserted
in the Declaration Of Independence, as a
fundamental principle Of American socie-
.lty, that all men are created equal, and
have inalienable rights to life, liberty, and
i the pursuit Of happiness
Each State. however, reserved to Itself
exclusive political power over the subject
of Slavery within its own borders New
erthelcss, it uuavodably presented itself
in their consultations On bond Of Fed
erai Union. The new government was
to be a representative one. Slaves were
capital in some States, in others capital
had no investment in labor. Should
i those slaves be represented as capital OF
) as persons, taxed as capital or as persons,
or should they not be represented or tax
Cd at ali =? The fathers disagreed, dcbat,
cd long, and compromised at last. Eueh
i State, they determined, Shall have Two
+ Senators in Congress Three ffths Of the
slaves shall be elsewhere represented and
be taxed as persons. What should be
done if the slave should escape into la
Dor State? Should that State confess
him to be chattel, and restore linn as
such, or might it regard him as person,
and harbor and protect him as a man
They compromised again, and decided
that 40 per, on held to labor or service In
one State by the laws thereof, escaping
into another, shall By any law or regula-
tion of that State, be discharged from
! slch labor or service, but shall be deIiv.
cred up on claim to the person to whom
such labor or service shall be due. Free
aborers would immigrate, and slaves
might be Imported into the States
II c fathers agreed that Congress may
establish uniform laws of naturalization,
ard it might prohibit the importation Of
! persons after 1908 Communities in the
Southwest, detached from the Southern
States, were growing up in the practice
Iof Slavery, to be capital States. New
States would soon grow up in the north
west, while as yet capital stood aloof, ard
labor had not lifted the ak to begin there
/ its endless but benefcent task The ia
/ theirs authorized Congress to make all
needful rules and regulations concerning
the management and dis position of the
public lands, and to admit new States.
! So the Constitution, while it does not dis
! turb or affect the system of capital in
slaves, exiStingin any State under its own
! laws, does, at the same time, recognize
every human being when within any ex.
elusive sphere of Federal jurisdiction,
not as capital, but as person. What
was the action of the fathers in Congress +?
| They admitted the new States of the
southwest as capital States, because ii
was practically impossible to do other
wise, and by the ordinance Of 1887, con-
frmcd IN 1889, they provided for the Or
ganization and admission of only labor
States in the north west. They directed
fucitives faom service to be restored not
as chattels, but as persous. They award /
ed naturalization 10 immigrant free labor
ers, and they prohibited the trade in Af
rican labor. This dispositions of the whole
subject was in harmony with the condi-
ton Of society, aad, in the main, with
the spirit Of the age, The seven north
ern States contentedly became labor States
by their own acts. Fhc six southern
States with equal tranquility, and by their
own discrimination. remained eapital |