The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-09-20

has so well begun "
THE United States, at the very out.
set of its career as a nation, secured for
itself the admirng plaudts and the
fervent prayers of great and good men
throughout all Christendom. This it
did by its radical enuncation of the
doctrine of Human Equality as the basis
of its political existence. In its Declara-
tion of Independence it gave "a local
habitation and name" to that doctrine,
which had been until then only an "airy
nothing" in the dream of the poet or the
vision of the sage. For the sincerity of
their sfaith in the new tenet the fathers
of the republic pledged their lives, their
fortunes, and their sacred honor" and,
under the guidance Of Washington, they
braved the perils and privations of a
seven years strife in its maintenance
Heaven smiled upon these gallant sacri.
fees, and the result was that our coun-
try took its place, by general consent, in
the rank of nations.
As Americans, we certainly have rea
son to be proud of our country's origin.
And yet our pride must just as certainly
experience a check when we recall to
mind the fact that. even during the
period Of the revolutionary struggle
chattel slavery existed in each one Of
the thirteen original States, and that
for more than three quarters of a century
afterward that ba!eful institution grew
with the growth aud strengthened with
the strength OF the young republic
Each decade Of the nations life bore
testimony, in its carefully prepared cen.
sus, to the continued extension of its
territorial area; to the constant increase
of its manufa ,turing and agricultural
interests; to the ever.enlarging circle of
It's foreign aud domestic commerce; to
its steady growth in wealth and material
resources and, sad to state, to its wide
and ever wider deviation in parctce
from that equality which it had an
nounced as the profession of It's civic
and political faith
But let US not dwell upon the short
comings of the past. The census returns
of 1870 are not marred by the enumera
tion of a single slave; and the Fifteenth
Constitutional Amendment, proclaimed
in that same year to be part of the
law Of the land, is guaranty of rights
to thousands of native born Americans
who had, until then, been uniustly dis
franchised How gratifying is the fact
stated by the Hon. George f Hoar in
his recent speech at Worcester, Mass. ::
This is the first Presidential election
in which every grown man of the repub-
lie has been entitled to take part ="
Surely, in the light OF this statement,
every American has good reason to re-
joice that the Inconsistencies which once
disfgured our political institutions have
been swept away. thus the honor of
the nation has been fully vindicatcd !;
and for this vindlcation it is indebted to
the firm and persistent action of the Re
publican party.
Will any one pretend to deny this ?
The Republican party, first triumphant
in the arena of national politics by the
election o. Abraham Lincoln in 1860,
met and crushed the rebellious efforts
which sought to disrupt the Union and
to establish a coufederacy of which
slavery was avoweG to be the foundation
stone. Successful in that struggle, it
signalized its victory by the adoption OF
the Thirteenth Constitutional Amend
ment, which prohibited slavery within
the limits of the United States. Three
years later, by another amendment to
the fundamental law Of the land, it
guaranteed citizenship to all persons
born or naturalized in the United States,
and two years thereafter it evidenced
its full and entire adhesion to the faith
of the fathers by the constitutional dec
laraton that "the right Of the citizens
of the United Stats to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States,
or 10y any State, on account Of race col
Or, Or previous condition Of scrvitude.
Hence, since the Democratic party was
opposed to all Of these Constitutional
amendments. it can be ailirmal, without
lelr Of successful contradiction, that if
an American can now road the Dsclnri
tiru Of Independence and 20. blush while
So d0uz, hs thank, therefor are .uc to
f'Ip Ra,-r II faor r,1rtt- 4-l i1 fa4 p.