The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1860-02-02

gradual emancipation. No recognition of the
right of property in mani" says Madison Is Let
slavery be abolished by lawi" says Washing
ton. Not only the supremacy of Old England is to
be shaken of, but new organization of society
is to be built up, on the basis of liberty and
equality. That is the Declaration of Independ-
encel That is the American Revolution. All
men free and equal Not even the broad des-
ert of the Atlantic ocean stops the triumphant
shout. Behold, the nations of the Old World
are rushing to arms. Bastiles are blown into
the dust as by the trumpets of Jericho, and,
like pillar of fire by night and pillar of cloud
by day, the great watchword 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 spec
tacle of 1875, from that glorious galaxy of men
whose hearts were large enough for all man
kind, and let me recall you to the sober year OF
1857. There is Springfield, the capital of Hi
nois one of those States which owe their great.
ness to an ordinance originally framed by the
same man whose hand wrote the Declaration
of Independence. In the Hall of the Assembly
there stands Mr.. Douglass who initiates an
eager crowd into the mysteries of popular
sovereignty" He will tell you what it meant,
when the men of l776 said that all men are
created free and equal" He says:
"No man can vindicate the character, the
motives, and the conduct of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence, except upon
the hypothesis that they referred to the white
race alone, and not to the African, when they
declared all men to have been created free and
equal-that they were speaking Of British sub
jects on this continent being equal to British sft6-
h,,. I'm, Rrifn hot
they were entitled to the same inalienable
rights, and among them were enumerated life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Dec
laration of Independence was adopted merely
for the purpose of justifying the colonists in
the eyes of the civilized world in withdrawing
their allegiance from the British Crown, and
dissolying their connection with the mother
country"
What? Is that all /? Is that little heap of
quicksand the whole substructure on which a
new organization of society was to be built
The whole foundation upon which the proud
and ponderous edifce of the United States
rests They did, then, not mean all men, when
they said all men. They intended, perhaps,
even to disfranchise 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 aohOte
white race; not the Germans, not the French,
not the Scandnavians they meant but British
subjects " British subjects on this continent
being equal to British subjects born and resi-
ding on the other side of the great water /"
Laughter and applause.
There is your Declaration of Independence,
a diplomatic dodge, adopted merely for the
purpose of excusing the rebellious colonies in
the eyes of civilized mankind. There is your
Declaration of Independence, no longer the
sacred code of the rights of man. but an hypo-
critical piece of special pleading, drawn up by
a batch of arttul pettifoggers, who, when speak
ing of the rights of man, meant but the privi-
leges Of a set of aristocratic shareholders, but
styled it " the rights Of man" in order to throw
dust into 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,
but accomplished humbuggers and hypocrites,
who said one thing and meant another; who
passed counterfeit sentiments as genuine, and
obtained arms and 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 laugh
terl-a wooden nutmeg renewed cheers =
the most impudent imposition ever practiced
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
mongrel doctrine of popular sovereignty That
is what he calls indicating the character and
the motives and the conduct of the signers of
the Declaration of Independence. Thus he did
not blush to SANDER Jefferson, who, when
speaking of his country, meant the world, and,
when speaking of his felow-citizens meant man.
kind; and Franklin in whose clear head theory
and practice were the same, and who having de-
clared all men to be created free and equal"
became the first President of the first great
Abolition Society; and John Adams, the rep
resentative of that State which abolished slave
ry within its limits with one great stroke of leg
islation; and Washington, who declared it to be
I" his fondest wish to see slavery abolished by.
law" and affixed to the Declaration of indie
pendence 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 it finally, blot
ted out from the extradition clause the word
" servitude," dcO1oedty because 1t Sig,sifed the
condition Of sldOe, and substituted the word
condition Of a freeman. Thus Mr. Douglas
dares TO speak of all those true men, who after
having proclaimed their principles in the Dec
laration, endeavored to introduce them into
practical life in almost every State, in the way
of gradual emancipation That they have
failed in this, is it fault of theirs? 1t shows
not that they were less great and sincere, but
that subsequent generations were hardly wor-
thy of so noble an ancestry! Applause.
There is Mr.. Douglass version of your his
tory. He despairs of converting you without
slandering your fathers. His present doctrines
cannot thrive, unless planted in calumny on
the past. lie vindicate the signers of the Dec
laration of independence Indeed, they need
1t sadly. see the illustrious committee of five
rise from their graves, at their head Thomas
Jefferson, his lips curled with the smile of con-
tempt, and | hear him say to Mr.. Douglas
" Sir, you may abuse us as much as you please,
but have the goodness to spare us with your
indications OF our character and motiyesD
Great laughter and applause.
1t is a common thing that men of a coarse
cast of mind so lose themselves in the mean
pursuit of selfish ends, as to become insepsible
to the grand aud sublime. Measuring every
character and every event in history by the low
standard of their own Municipalities, applying
to everything the narrow rule of their own mo-
tives, incapable of grasping broad and generous
ideas, they will belittle every great thing they
cannot deny, and drag down every struggle Of
principles to the sordid arena of aspiring
selfshness, or of small competing interests
Eighteen hundred years ago, there were men
who saw nothing in incipient Christianity but a
mere wrangle between Jewish theologians, got
up by carpenters boy, and carried on by
few crazy fishermen. Three hundred years
ago, there were men who saw in the great re-
formatory movement of the sixteenth century,