Gazette and sentinel., 1860-11-03
Correspondence of the Gazette & Sentinel.
Are Slaves Property?
ICoSTISCEDl.

Oe' -
men are created equal" could refer to the ne
proes then held in slavery? Certainly not. Such
an Interpretation would at once have freed
them, when this idea was entertained and
so it is 'the right of the people to alter or
abolish it and to institute new Government.
What peoplel The buck people or @h'te
people2 Individually, beyond the cavl oil
a doubt. the white people, Because the blacks
had no political rights whatever, bond or
free. No right to vote-norepresentatlon. lhey
were no where. They were ignored. But there
was q strong clause in the Declaration re-
s~pecting the slave trade.
II is well known who was the author
Of this paper. The Committee for drafting
il was John Adams, OF Massachusetts,; DIR.
Franklin. Of Pennsylvania; Roger Sherman,
Of Connecticut: Robert Livingston, of New
York. and Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia
fopr North. one South. The Committee
desired MIR. Jefferson to do it. No litter per-
,on conld have been chosen TO perform such
task. But thirty-two years of age; young
ardent and a Democrat by nature; alive TO
all the sufferings and indigniiies which had
been heaped upon the colonies, he entered IN
n the subject with his whole soul, and de-
picted the tyranny and oppression OF the
mother country; and in order to excite the
svmpsthies Of the world, not content with
holding up our own wrongs, he brought INTO
reGuisition the c~rueltieS practiced on another
people. 10 the following clause:
determined to keep open a market where
men should be bought ond sold, he has pros
,ituted her prerogative for surprising every
Legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain the
exrcrable commerce, &c. &C., thus paying on
the former crimes committed against the t.ter-
Ties of one people, with crimes which he urges
them TO commit against the lices OF another.
But this was stricken out, by whom we ere
left TO conjecture. The interlinestions and
erasures, intending 10 make it more concise
snd of less redundancy Of expression, are III
the hs,dyritings Of Dr.. Franklin and Mr..
Adams, both Northern men. The other mem
beers OF the Committee are not mentioned, sni
perhaps had little to do but assent to 1t. Could
il be by Mr.. Jefferson. Certainly not. lie vas
an Emancipationist, not an aboition'st, and
had framed It for purpose. Then We must
saw it was done by Franklin and Adams, two
Nor,hern men. And the Declaration OF hide
pendence stands forth TO the world as It stands
I to this das, the exposition of the expressions
aud wrongs Of the whites, and the claiming o.
the right 10 institute a new form of Goserp-
ment for the ~peopLe-the free white people o.
the United Colonies.
1t is difficult for us at this day, at 80 rsmot,
. period from our Revolution, to aprrrcist,
, the great hardships our forefathers had to
undera 20 in a seven years wal to achieve our
, Independence, and the various obstacles they
I, had to overcome in uniting and combining
thirteen distinct colonies, which, after their
severance from Great Britain, became thirteen
distinct sovereign States, with all the es-
~sentisls of sovereignty in their governments
y each having its own Legislature, Governor
9 and Judiciary, uncontrolled by another power
Il and differing in habits, produce, IN
and Internal police, from each other.
Not even the Congress which gave birth tc
the glorious Declaration Of Independence
i pretends to have any authority or contro
over the States. In fact We launched into
crusade Of freedom not for the black, but tn
white race, without an army, withouta navy
; without a government, and with nothing tC
lie bind US together in a common effort, for polit
ical existence as a nation but the cobesiv
h power of public danger. 1t was soon dis
n, covered that even this was too inefficient to b
p relied on in a cause in which was staked oul
d. lives, our liberties, and our sacred honors. A
~ project Of Confederation was preached il
1777. Congress adopted articles to that effect
a and submitted them to the States in thel
sovereign capacity for their ratification. LIE
:, us turn to their letter Of the 18th Of NoSeu
- Der, 1777, transmitted for the considerable
ng of the respective Legislatures, as o ''plsn
ny Confederacy for securing the freedom, sol
lst ereignty and independence Of the Unite
Ter States" not only to realize, if possible, the
difficulties, but in order to show the severely
IL ty Of the States.
OF WEST BATON ROUGE.
It's Continued in our next.