Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-01-26

sanstant working has beea steady progress toWsr
the PRACTICAL EoUAL1fY OF ALL MEN
Let past differences as nothing be; and Wit
steady eye on The real issue, let us re-inaugsrat
the good old central ideas Of the Republic. We ca
do it. The human heart is with us; God is with Us
We sEsR again be abla not to declare, that all tn
States, States, equal nor yet that all citizens
as citizens, are equal but renew that broader bet
ter declarstion including both these and much more
that all men are created equal
\ IL what have dsDe cannot claim TO have scteC
from any peculiar consideration Of the coIoreS
people separate and distinct class in the coumu
nifty bnt from the simple conviction that all the in
dividuals of that class are members of the comnu
nifty, and in virtue of their manhood entitled Il
EVERY ORIGINAL RIGHT ENJOYED BY ANY
1 OTHER MEMBER We feel therefore that an
LEGAL DISTINCTION between individuals Of ths
same immunity, founded in any such circumstance
as COLOR origin. and the Eze, hostile TO The geni1n
Of ar Installations, and Incompatible with the true
history of American liberty. SLAVERY and oppres
s'on mast CEASE, or American liberty must perish.
In Massachusetts, and IN most, if not ALL the
New England States, the colored man and the white
are absolutely equal before the law
In New York the colored man is restricted as tc
the right of suffrage by property qualification In
I other respects the same equality prevails.
T. embrace with pleasure this opportunity Of de-
claring my DISAPPROBATION of hat clause of tke
Constitution schich din 10 portion of coorsd
i
True Democracy makes no INQUIRY a5out The eoloy
Of the skin, place of nativity or any other similar
| CIRCUMSTANCE Of condition. regard thereforeths
EXCLUSION Of the cotored people as a body from the
etectsUe franchise as INCOMPATIBLE tcith the true
| Democratic principle.
On the 9Th Of April 1859, in replyto an invita-
tion to attend, in Boston. festival in honor of
Jefersons birthday anniversary, be used the fol-
lowing language in relation to tAe self-evident
truths" stated in the Dec aration Of Independence
'One would state with great confidence that he
could convince any sane child that the simpler pro-
positions, Of Euclid are true; but, nevecthsless he
would fall with one whs should deny the de6pitiops
and axioms. The principles of Jefferson are the
definitions and sxioms of free society. And yet
they are denied and eYaded, with no small show of
success. One dashingly calls them fglittering
generalities" Another hlantly styles them ''self-
evident lies" And others insidiously argue that
4 they apply only to "superi9r races"
These expressions differing in form, are identi-
cal in object and sect-the supplsntng the princi-
| pies Of free government, and restoring those of
classification, caste, and legitimacy. They would
delight q convocstion of crowned heads plotting
against the people. They are the vanguards the
sappers and miners of returning despetism. We
must repulse them, or they will snbjugase u.s. iz-a
] This is g world Of compensation; and he who
would be no slave must consentto Hacs no slave.
Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not
fer themselves, and under a-just God, cannot long
| rstsin it.
All honor to Jefferson-to the man who, under a
concrete pressure Of struggle for nationsl indie
| pendence by single people, had the cooIness
forecast, and capacity, to introduce into merely
revolutionary document, en- abstract truth applics-
BILE to all men and at all times and so to embalm il
there, that o-dsy and in all coming days it shall be
areb1ke and stunbling-block to the harbingers
| of fe-sppeariug tyranny and oppression." ~ %
Mr.. Lincoln not only refuses to yield obedience to
| the decision of the Supreme Court, but says he
will disregard it. In his Chicago speech, July TO-
1858, he says: c1I-s~ .-c- 81. l.. r-.--.-.. ~ e
"f Ivers in Congress, and vote should GENE
up on the question whether slavery should be PROF
hibited in Territory IN spite of the bred Scot
decision, I ,oould vote that il should
We are Informed that VIM. II. Seward is to be
Lncolns Secretary Of Stste. l need rot multiply
| extracts to show what his opinions are, they are
known to be the exact counterpart of those enter
tanned and advocsted by the President elect. A
few examples will suffice. - .-.
in the Senate, 1850, Mr.. Seward said:
The law of n4ture, written in The hearts Of free
men, repudiates the fugitive slave cause We can
not be true Christians if impose on another the
chain"
At Chicago, since the nomination of Mr.. Lincoln,
Seward said:
can men shall have the ballot or none, all
men shall have the bullet or none, euery man shall
own the soil he tills, and the head and hands he
works"
Mr.. Seward says to,ths South: "You can have
Union, and the gradual EN- ancipation of slaves-or
you shall have disunion, civil war, and immediate
emancipation"
Hear how the bred Scott decision is ssssiled.
How Republicanism proposes to work. Mr.. Seward
in the Senate, 1858, said: ---
"The people of the United States never c.n, and
they never will, accept principles sbborrent. Let
the court reeede II not, we shall re-organizs the
court, and reform its sentiments"
In q speech in Boston he said:
SThe people have for their standsrd-bearsr
Abraham Lincoln, confessiug the obligations of the
Higher Law, and contending for veal or woe, for
life or DEATH in the irreprcssible conflict, between
freedom and slavery--Se are in the last stage Of
the conflict" -'
From these extracts it will be seen that we are to
have over men pledged to administer the govern
ment upon the principle that slavery is wrong-but
repudstng all constitutional obligations, they re-
cognizs higher law than the Constitution and de-
clare it to be their uEatersble purpose to legis
late IS to force yes sir force the emancipation Of
the slaves Now put the question to Senators, If
any people earth should be required to submit to
q government which comes into power pledged to a
war Of determination against the rights and prop
erty of the governed
1t has been said that there is class of men in
the South who have interest in this slave eues-
ton; such class may possibly exist, but only
be found among the outcasts of society. Every man
in the South deserving the name of man, is prac-
tically STAKEHOLDER. If a shoemaker. he works
for and is paid by the labor of the slave If black
smith or other mechanic, he prepares the imple
ments of husbandry machinery used by the
slave. If merchant, he clothes him. If law
yer, he defends the title of the If Doctor
he visits the slave in his sickness. If an under
taksr, he prepares the coffin in which he is buried
In short the slsve interest permestes all conditions
of life in the South, from the humblest w0od-chop
per to the Weslthiest cotton planter that can be
found. Northern men with Northern hearts may
suppose difference of interest exists in the South,
but the man Of the South who inculcstes such an
idea, is the enemy to Southern interests, and trail
tor to the land of his birth.
Bat the dominant party, with Lincoln and Sc
ward at is head, not only insist that slavery shall
cease, but explicitly declare that legal dis
tinctions should be abolished, leaving social rels
tious to be regulated by the taste Of the parties
concerned These men not only seek to strike the
shackles from the slave, but they ere for giving
him the privileges of the ballot box, introducing
the dark child of Africa into school rooms,
making him the neer of in the contest for
position, and the sutton of daughters if his in
clination so incline him. ask if there be man
in the South who loves his wife, his children or his
friends that feels prepared to submit psssvely to
the government of men who wculd degrade him and
them to the level of the African race-if such there
be, let him bow his neck to the yoke, and feel for
once that he is only fl! to be slave.
But we are told to wait for overt set! ask
il that act has not been committed over and over
again? What does this policy mean Did our
Fathers wait for such net, as we have already |
borne? They fought for asserted principle, and
the revolution itself was caused by amere preamble
l ask if psund of tea was ever sold, or q penny
of duties collected in the colonies? ask too, if
the tea drinkers were the only that fought the
battles Of independence But wsit lis the word
How long, ask, must We delsy? Must we Vait
till the midnight ass.sin drives his Jlade to our
hearts-must we wait till the torch of the incen-
diary is applied and wraps in 1snes the building
Of our neighbor, before giving the alarm and rous
ing his sleeping family? Or must we wait till the
chains already forged and clank:ng in our ears, are
riveted upon our limbs, and then, and then only,
strike for freedom? We are told that Lincoln and
Seward will enforce the fugitive slave law! What!
They enforce a law which is solemnly declared |
to be a nullity, and by means, too, Of Of
fcisls who believe that the escaped fugitive |
they are ordered TO arrest is their equal? Never,
neuer! ask if Seward can ever dare TO commit
the sbsurdity Of encouraging the arrest of slave
among people, whom he has so often exhorted to |