Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-06-08
Our Cause,

Our cause ia one of the noblest that freemen
were ever called on to espoUse 1t involves all that
we hold dear on earth, in the present and in the
future Can Tennesseans be induced % submit TO
the rnle of usurpers, who would crush out free
thought free speech and the institutions Of
fathers and demand of passive obedience to the
edicts of those who have received tribute from US
for scores of years, and who now would force u.s.
at the point of the bayonet do obeisance to them
under the false sentiment of wOrshpping piece of
bunting? Shall the doctrine of the Declaration of
independence and of the Tennessee bill of rights,
that Governments were instituted for the good
of the people and that when they be-
come destructive of this end, it is their
right to alter or abolish them, be denied and tram
pied down
Shall the Executive of the United States raise
troops, incur a debt of hundreds of millions, de-
clare war, blockade ports, suspend the writ of
habeas corpus invade and subjugate States, employ
rufians and mercenaries to shoot down men, women
and children Unfortunately, take possession of
private corporations seize private property search
dwellings, and fill the land with armies and spies,
without the authority of the Legislature and shall
the people of free Tennessee bow down and pay
homage to such military despotism, which is a
more abominable one than Austrian despOtism, or
that of King BoNBA, which the heroic CARL
BALDI cast off, or shall we rise up like
the chivalrous sons of gallant sires, and assert
our independence and freedom Of this despicabe
usurpation if every rich vein in the State is made
TO bleed? Shall we transmit to our children free
dom or slavery, honor or dishonor, independence
or sectional domination, history, illustrated by
glorious deeds or the black anpals of servitude and
submission to wrong, outrage, insult. and usurpa-
non! Shall we be subjugated, as Maryland now
is, and be compelled to speak with balted
breath of insoent usurpers, who are inferior
to us in every quality of freemen, in every
attribute of craftsmanship, in every essential
of manhood, ard of free race, or, speaking
boldly our sentiments, subject ourselves to be
tried by military law and executed without trial
by jury of peers and without confronting wit
nesses, or shall we grasp the sword and carve, by
manly combat, that independence which is denied
u.s.
Shall we have foreign mercenaries quartered in
our houses, marching over our fields, eating out our
substance aad insulting our families, or shall we
meet the ruffians at the border with our brGyest
and best and drive them with brand and sword
back to the deus from which they come?
Shall we live proudly, conscious of our manhood
and enjoying our own respect, or dying, leave be
hind a deathless name, or shall we crouch at the
footstool Of power first stolen from the people
and then held with highwsymsn's grasp?
These the tremendous issues, men of Tennes
see, that you have TO decide this day. The sun WI
go down upon your glorious disenihrallment from
corrupt and infamous tyranny, or iG will set upon
war degradation. Your resolve, whatever 1t may
pe viii be maintained. You have only to will it,
and heneeforth you are either free or ssves. Your
decision will exert also a mighty influence on the
fortunes Of this great contest II you resolve to be
free the States Of the South will eNult in the con-
sciousness of a new strength and an elastic and
buoyant prospect of victory while your determine
ton will strike terror and dsmay into the hearts
of your insolent Oppressors.
Sustain then your gallant legions, who are already
in the field. prepared TO win the victories that you
may decree, and to expel the hordes of vandss that
are ready to march upon your soil BE freemen
be the legitimate descendants of the pioneers that
won this genial soil from the savage foe and that
have driven back in disgrace every invader who has
ever dared TO desecrate cur loved land with hos
tile tread. Be men worthy of such ancestors lie
the true custodians Of the bones of JACEs0S sDd Polk
add of other heroes and sages that sleep beneath
our fewery sod, BE TElJNESSEANSi