The state journal. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1883-1885, 1884-01-05
CHAPTER II.
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

We now come to the period, at which
the two great forces of the new civiliza-
ton should have separated; the one to
light the world TO better conditions than
it had dreamed Of the other to go down
into the darkness and fOrgettulness its
savagery deserved. But it was not to be.
As so often before and since, and even
now, the destinies of men are controlled
by selfish interest rather than by the
light of truth directed by reason, the in
terests of the traders were permitted to
override the wisdom of true statesman
ship and the new Government was
founded in compromise between totally
antipodal forces. between freedom clear
bepefcent as Gods truth, and slavery
black and dismal as the caverns Of the
damned. 1t is not within the province
Of this work to review the circumstances
of the quarrel with England, which led
to the Revolutionary war, nor the pro
gress Of that war TO its successful issue in
our establishment as an Independent peO-
pie. The articles of confederation which
were agreed to between the American
colonies under the title of United States
under which the congress of delegates
carried on The war, remained in force I'M
iii 179S, Then, it having became patent
that the confederation was too cumbr0us
and weak to secure stability, and Congress
having called convention to form amore
perfect Union" the Constitution of
1893 was made and confirmed by the
States.
1t was in this convention that the
seeds of the great Rebellion were sown-
not by the will of the great men North
or South, who directed it in its wise pro
visions, but by the selfish greed of bust
ness interests that welded sufficient in
fluence to prevent its acceptance by some
of the States, unless provisions should be
inserted to protect those private interests.
Neither was it the Southern delegates in
the convention that forced those mis-
chievous compromises upon the conven-
ton, but Northern delegates, who repre-
sented the slave trading interests of Mas
sachusetts and New England.
| wish to emphasize this fact, for the
reason that the stories which follow will
lose their chief significance if this is not
made plain. The slavery that existed
then was very different thing from the
villainous compound of rapacity and
cruelty that sprang up afterward, and
spread and strengthened itself under the
shadow of those compromises until it
corrupted and jrutalized the finest race of
men the sun ever shone upon, and used
them to attempt the destruction of the
Government and Union their fathers
founded in justice, except for these com
promises.
At that time any man was as safe to
speak or write against slavery in South
Carolina as he was in Pennsylvania,
Connecticut or Massachusetts. The
Ouakers bore their annual testimony
at their yearly meetings against the sin
of slavery as freely in North Carolina as
they did in Philadelphia, New Jersey, or
New York. No minister pretending to
preach thu Gospel of Christ had then
fOuled his pulpit by attempting to jus
tify the crime of slavery from the scrip
lures. No church North or South, had
then Withdrawn the right hand OF fellow
ship from any brother because he refused
to recognize the right Of slavery to exist.
All of those denominations were to come
afterward, when the compromises insisted
upon by the shipping interests of New
England had perfected their work.
In 1857 the State of Virginia, to enable
Congress to create system for the gov
eminent of the unorganiZed territories
passed an ordinance transferring its 1u-
risdiction over what was known as the
northwest territory, which was acknowl-
edged to vest in her, to the