Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1866-01-19
NO. 43.

amendment TO the Constitution, forev-
CIR aboiisting slavery aud involuntary
servituIio within the United States.---
-AA*--er s--c, hg-s., roftHa1
by the requisite number of States, hHvU
become a part oftho federal constitution,
forever, as it may be hoped, divorcinv
our land and people from this national
sin. let us trust in the infinite God
that slavery, with its manifold crimes,
has been consigned to the sleep which
shall know no waking. An era Of honor.
of peace and unity, has dawned upon
our land. As our fathers witnessed the
birth OF freedom amid the thunders of
war; so it has been baptized at holier
fount in the blood of their children
The conflict of years was finally mar
rowed To the sublime struggle of an hour,
and in that hour after years Of grief
was the triumph of the bondmen--thc
consumatiOn of perfect liberty. Hone.
ful of the future, and projected by law,
the American slave may now tread tho
land of his nativity in all the conscious
pride OF a freeman, realizing the fuli-
ness of the sublime truth that "all men
are created equal, and endowed by their
Creator with the na!icnable rights Of
life, liberty, and the pursuit of hnpDi-
moss" No more shall he be driven by
the masters whip from the home of his
childhood and The graves of his kindred,
hunted fugitive seeking the boon ~
liberty beneath the shining stars of tho
North. ...
THAT starry flag no longer waves
IN splCHdtd m Ocl<cry o'er ~ land OF slaves"
These resolutions having been adopt
ed by Congress since the last General
Assembly wac in session, their ratifica-
ton by this State has necessarily been
delayed until now. 10 make this tri-
umph of freedom more emphatic and
glorious, let us hasten to place Iowa In
the column of ratifying States. Though
late mt the altar, our offering will help
10 swell the funeral pyrc OF slavery
These mcasurcs-Em Emancipation and En-
franchiscmcnt--rad with the hope
ofmillionS, anddictatod like by wisdom
and justice, should together receive our
cordial sanction. They are intimately
related as concurrent rights, and we
cannot consistently grant the one and
withhold the other.
Fellow citizens of the General Assem-
bly,, let me irnplore you to meet this
great crisis like men and patriots, fear
less in the discharge of duty. This Of
fering of freedom should not be MI
empty uiHg--a mere iormalty. Lay
aside your prejudice against the slays
! when you LIT the IRON from his Eeek,
aud make him man. Our 50 900 bay
oncts have made wall between YOU
and the wrongs of slavery, while ten
thousand Iowa graves scattered from
hcssbanks of the Des Moines to the At
lantic scahoard, are silent, yet eloquent
advocates for those who have 30 nobly
earned the rights of manhood at the
price of valor aud blood.
! As the unfading line Of history
stretches baclS from this nge to tho
thunder5 of Sinai, to the sea and the
guided the dclivCrers of Israel, 50 may
il not rcac! forward to that golden era
when this enfranchised race shall point
to the children Of statesmen now living,
and say, Their fathers delivered our
/ fathers from the house Of bondage and
the land Of oppression"
WILLIAM NJ. STONE.