Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1865-02-02
The Constitutional Amendment.
Name goes off shalt kockt."

acterizes some OF our legislative bodies
than the recent act Of the legislature OF
the state of Maine on the Constitutional
Amendment question. That body has
passed resolutions in favor ofan amend
ment to the Constitution abolishing
slavery This is about as wise as IL
would have been in Martin Luther TO |
propose to "amend" the New Tesla |
ment in order to abolish the sale OF |
indulgences. Slavery is no more part |
of our Constitution than the lnquisition
was of the Bible. The only article IN |
the Constitution that could by any pos
sibilitv be construed as supporting |
slavery is the clause directing the de-
livering up fugitive from service or
labor. This clause applied to appren-
tees and redemptioners as well as II ala
to slaves; but both these two classes
of persons held to service" have viz
tually disappeared from among US, and
still the Constitution has not been
broken thereby. One is no more obliged
to protect slavery because Of delivering
up fugitive from labor than he Is to
protect rebellion because of delivering
up rebel prisoners Of war
Slavery existed during the first thirty
wears of our government only by lndul-
peLce; and during the last sixty years 1t
has been fastened upon the country by
political imposition. 1t is our leg!sIa-
ton and our politics that require
amendment and not our Constitution.
The first thing that the rebels did,
after their sublime act Of secession, was
to amend" the Constitution in order
that it should protect slavery; and now,
the Legislature Of Maine proposes to
amend" it so that it should not pro-
tect slavery. The best way is not to
NEEDLE with the Constitution at ALL but
to destroy slavery and thus let the Con-
stitution live.
The Constitution has no where defined
slavery, and what is not defined in
bond cannot be exacted. No one we
presume, not even in Maine, is such a
states-right man as to allow one State
to define to all others in the Union what
constitutes slavery. There is certainly
no need Of amending" the Constitu-
ton to get rid Of the following definition
of slavery which comes from Georgia;
In the case Of Neal rs. Farmer, % Geor-
Ola Reports the court decided that II
there was no statute prohibiting 1t, 1t
was not a crime to kill.
Licensed to hold slave property, the
Georgia planter held the slave as CHAT
tel: and whence did he derive title :
Either directly from the Slave trader, or
from those who held under him, and he
from the slave captor in Africa. The
property in the slave in the planter be-
came, thus, lust the property Of the
original cantor. In the absence Of any
statutory limitation on that property,
: he holds it as unqualifiedly as the first
| proprietor held it, and his title and the
. extent of his property were sanctioned
| by the usage OF nations which had grown
into law, There is no sensible account
to be given of property in slaves here
but this What were, then, the rights
| of the African chief in the slave which
, he had captured in war The sEave s0a
+ his to sell, or to give, or to kM."
: There is about as much necessity o
amending the Constitution to prohibit
, slavery, as there is to prohibit polyga
= nv, and no more. Both are equally
abhorent to the fundamental laws o
christian society. A Mormon nigh
claim his wives as persons held to ser
l. vice under our constitution, with a
: much show Of reason as the STAKEHOLDER
: at the present day, can claim his run
l. away slaves.
q If we consent to amend u the Con
! stitution for the purpose OF abollshlnt
% slavery then, by so doing, we ADM
# that the Shareholders have had JUS
# cause for their iniquitous rebellion, an'
that thew ought to be remunerated 10
the loss of their property. What tn
at North have a right to claim is this
r that slavery shall be utterly destroyed
ly in the shortest possible time, and tha
q the Constitution: that noble charter
IT. human rights, shall not be desecra't
al by having the word slavery inserted
rt it. That instrument may REQUIRE
al amendment, but not for the mere pu
pose Of abolishing slavery.
The State of Maine has not been slo'
rk we believe among the New Englai
.at States. IN leading US into the. scrape
Ter 1yotectinq slavery, but we in Vernon
en shall be Gerry slow, we trust, IN toiio'
vo ing her advice as to the best way
ad E1EuTHERos
M