The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1860-07-13
power, as millions Of the white race had for
many centuries been held In slavery upon the
continent of Europe.

c0ntinent OF Europe.
|, They were held a. slaves at the formation
! Of the Coustitutiou, because they had been
brought here and forced upon our people
while they were yet the colonies Of 'Great
Britain. After their independence, they
could not beenfranchised at once; they could
not be placed In possession Of political power
In day or q year. But, sir, II there Is any
thing true In tho history of those times, the
men of tho revolution did not approve or
justify ths system. They felt 1t to be wrong,
cruelty, strangely wrong they regarded
their relations 10 these unfortunate beings rs
false and unnatural, and Il was their earnest
desire and full determination to change them,
o. In general terms I have already shown,
and % As will more fully provo heresftsr.L
That they or their snosstor regarded tho
mean Africans, a. such, and not slaves-is
dispruyed by the fact stated by Judge Cur
tis in his opinion, and supported by the au-
thoritis to which hc referred, that prior to
this time "all free native-born inhabitants Of
tho States of New Hampshire, Massachu.
setts, New York, New Jersey, and North
Carolina, though descended from African
siapes, were not only citizens Of those States.
but such Of them as had tho other necessary
qualifications possessed the franchise Of elect
ors on equal terms with other citizens"
That the Africans ut the time referred to
were "regdrded as so far inferior that they
had NO RIGHTS WHICH WHITE MEN WERE BOUND
TO RESPECT, and that The negro might JUSTLY
and id,etuiiy be reduced 10 slapery Jor his ben
eff;;" that "this opinion iras al that time
fired and UNIVERSAL in The eriiised portions q
The rhie :" that "h irds regarded as an
ariom in morals as ,reH as in politics, ,rhieh
NO ONE thought Of disputing, or supposed 10
be OPEN TO dispute" that "men In every grade
and position In society" never doubted .for
a moment the correctness Of this opinion'-
are asscyerations 50 strange and monstrous,
SO plainly, greatly, shockingly untrue, that
one hardly knows how TO meet them-he Is
staggered and confounded by their grossness
and audacity.
But these inventions wero necessary, to lay
foundation for the Dred Scott decision, and
indeed for its chief corner stone. How to-
tally unsupported they are by the history Of
those times, / shall show by testimony the
most direct and overwhelming. and Of which
one would suppose Chief Justice fancy could
not have been ignorant. That, ut the time
Of the adoption Of the Constitution, the
opinion in regard to negroes (Which the
Chief Justice says "was fixed and universal
in the civilized portions of the white race")
was not as he has stated 1t, but, on the other
hand, that il was considered that the black
man had "rights which white men were
bound to respect" and that he might not
"justly be reduced to slavery for the white
y. ~ hat 10 ,af N m a yinfn In
morals that ho might justly bc made slave;
that his truo and proper condition was not
that of slave, and therefore Of property,
but that of human, sentient, responsible,
immortal being, possessing the Same natural
frights with other men, appears from the pro-
cecJiDgs Of numerous public bodies, the wri-
tings and speeches Of eminent men, repre-
sentatves Of various interests and classes, OF
statesmen, politicians, lawyers, philosophers,
poets, diyines, in this country and In Europe,
whose opinions, with the members Of the Con-
ycntion which framed the Constitution, were
of the highest authority, and some Of whom,
indeed, werc themselves members of that
body. From this mas Of testimony will
make such selections as my time will per-
nit.
In tho year 1885, three years before the
adoption OF the Federal Constitution, q bill |
for the abolition Of slavery was passed by |
the Legislature of New York, to which Chan |
ccllor Livingston, eldrum ct renerabile nomen,
the magistrate who administered to George
Washington his first oath Of oiico as Prcsi-
dent OF the United States, objected, not that
II abolished slavery, but that IL did not go
farther, and elothe the negro uih all the rights
and privileges Of ,rhiie men. To his ottcc-
tions beg to call your particular attention;
they were as follows:
"l. Because the last clause Of the bill enacss
that no negro, mulatto, or mustee, shall have
q legal vote In any case whatsoever; which im-
plicatiyely excludes persons OF this description |
from air share In the Legislature, snd those OF:
fees IN which vote may be necessary, as we'll
rs from the important privilege Of electing
those by whom they are to be governed; the
bill having, In other instances, placed the chill
dren that shall be born OF slaves In the rank OF
citizens, agreeable both TO the spirit and letter
of the Constitution, they are, as such, entitled |
to oil the privileges Of citizens; nor can they |
be deprived OF these essential rights without |
shocking those principles ot equal liberty which |
every page In that Constitution labors TO en-. |
force.
"2. because II holds up doctrine which Is !
repugnant to the principles on which the UNI |
ted States justify their separation from Great
Britain, and either enacts what Is wrong or sup.
poses that those may rghtfully be charged
with the burdens Of Government who have no
representative share In imposing them.
''3. because this class Of disfmnchised and
disseminated citizens, who at some future peri
od may be both numerous and wealthy, may,
under the direction Of ambitious or factious
leaders, become dangerous to the State, and ef- |
feet the ruin Of Constitution whose benefits |
they are not permitted to enjoy.
~. Because the creation OF an order OF
citizens who are to have no legislatiyeo or repre-
sentative share in the Government, necessarily |
LAYS the foundation Of an aristoeraey " rae
most dangerous and maiignsniEina, Iendering
of those persons who deduce their origin thro'
white ancestors only; though these, at some
future perivd, should not amount to hftieth
part Of the people. That this Is not q chimeri-
cal supposition will be apparent to those who
reflect that the term musfet Is indefinite; that
the desire Of power will induce those who pos
sess Il 10 exclude competitors by extending u rs
far rs possible; that, supposing II to extend to
the seventeenth generation. every man will have
the blood OF many more than two hundred
thousand ancestors running In his veins, and
that, II any of these shall have been colored.
his posterity will, by the operation Of this law.
be disfranchiscd; 30 that, II only one-thons-
andth part Of the black inhabitants now In the
State should intermarry with the white. Their
posterity will amount 10 20 many millions that
Il will be difficult 10 suppose hnie'n part OF
the people born within this State Two hundred
years hence. who may be entitled 20 share In
the benefits which our excellent Constitution
intended to secure to every free inhabisaut Of
as I.c,u,e the last clause OF the bill, being
c.psral. depriyes those blacks, mulatto, and
Iu.,sc citizens, rho hare heretofore been snn.
lied 10 a rois. OF this essential privilege. and
their having been charged with any offence.
disfrsnchlses them. In direct violation Of the
established rules Of justice. against the letter
and spirit Of the Constitution, and tends to
support doctrine which Il inconsistent with
the most obvious principles Of government,
that the Legislature may arbitrarily dispose 81
the dearest rights Of their constituents"