The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-05-31
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Abolition of slavery.


considerable number of our people
seriously thought Of
Freeing the Slaves
by direct legislative enactment. But
1t was deemed entirely COM
petent to exclude it from the
territories. prevent its further eX-
tension and thus limit an evil which
could not be entirely destroyed.
In the southern portion Of the coun-
try the belief was well nigh universal
that slavery was a wise and beneil-
cent institution. It is idle for US to
claim that this belief was not a sin
cere one-that no man could honestly
think he had a right TO make a slave
of another and I've upon his unre-
Quilted toll. Unfortunately the whole
history of the world proves that the
sincerity of mems beliefs seldom de-
ponds upon the moral aspect of the
question. For almost countless ages
st was deemed entirely right for a
strong nation to subjugate and virtu-
ally enslaYe a weak one. Until WITHIN
q comparatively recent period, in the
most advanced nations, men and
women were burned al the stake for
a mere difference in religious belief.
Our English ancestors could see moth
ing Wing in hanging man for steal
ing e. sixpence. The Massachusetts
Puritan OF the seventeenth century
could look with pious exhaltation upon
the burning of a poor harmless crea-
Fure believed to be a, witch.
The finger which points to the dial
plate of time need be turned back but
a short distance to bring us face TO
face with the existence of slavery IN
every state then constituting al pa
of the American union. We are all OF
US in a great measure the creatures
OF. circumstances and our bellets ana
disfasiefs are very largely controlled
by our surroundings. Had slavery
been profitable in the north, there
would probably have been no extern
eive anti-slavery agitation in that sec
ton and consequently no slave hold
ers' rebellion in 1861. But soil, eli
mate and every natural CONDITION
were opposed to it. Gradually 1t died
out, and the people were left free to
view the question from the standpoint
of morality and sentiment.
Slavery in the South
In the nth, on the other hand,
Ale system was highly lucrative, and
natural conditions favored its growth.
Bt came to the people of that section
as a heritage from colonial times,
fHpary and respectable with age. It
con tributed to their wealth and their
personal ease. They knew that the
negro had been snatcFed from barbar-
ism in Africa, and they believed that
even as a slave he was infinitely bet
ter off than in the savage freedom OF
the land from which he or his an
cestors had come. Seeing him at all
zines in a position of inferiOrity, it
was easy for them to imbibe the idea
That he was by nature an inferior be-
ing, and that slavery was his normal
and proper condition. It was taught
through the columns of their press,
St was part of the instruction OF their
schools. it was even proclaimed from
the fsplpit that slavery had the divine
''n' slavery Wrong,
But whatever their belief, and how
ever earnest it may have been, it is
not open to discussion that slavery is
naturally and tntrinsically wrong, and
that no man has a moral right to
6eny 10 another the same measure of
personal freedom that he demands for
himself.
In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected
president of the United States. This dld
not men "abolitionism' as the term
was used, but it did mean that in the
judgment of the American people
slavery was sectional and
Freedom National.
It meant that slavery should be con-
fined to the states III which it then
had a Judgment, and that the strong
arm of the general government should
no longer be used to aid in its extern
sion/ft meant that thenceforth every
additional star placed in the blue lied
of our national ensign should blaze as
an emblem of freedom in the purest
and truest sense, its brightness I'M
dimmed by the tears of a slave.
dor,,
wings from ocean to ocean, and from
the shores of Lake Superior to tie
head waters of the Rio Grande, it wa
apparent - the statesmen OF the
south that the days Of slavery were
numbered. With no means of creating
another slave state they were not GER
tain of being able to permanently
maintain it where it then had foot
hold. Looking at it as the most inlpor-
tant political consideration before
them and the one most closely con-
1Ascted with their social life, separation
seemed the only hope. The principle OF
estate sovereignty was again in
-oked. AS in 1882. South Carolina took
the initiative, but this time she was
foined by ten of her fiery sisters.
FORGETTING all the blessings Of the
Inks. forgetting that 1t was only by
the p7int efforts of all the states that
their own independence had been
achieved, they laid everything upon
the shrine of slavery and appealed to
the arbitrament of war.
Thus while the slavery question was
the immediate provocative cause of the
outbreak. behind it and Of overshadow-
ing Importance, stood the baleful doc
trine of state sovereignty at all times
Portending the Destruction
of the Union. Had this doctrine never
been conceived, the war of the rebel
lion as it actually occurred would nave
been a political impossibility.
Trouble there might have been, iso-
lated revolts against national author
ity might have taken place. But a
giant rebellion by one-third of the ma
fion comprising eleven thoroughly
united and perfectly organized states,
could never have been consummated
sac upon the idea that each state is |
sovereign and supreme. 1t is well
known fact that many Of the strongest
minds of the south-notably among !
them Robert L. Lee and Alexander II.
Stephens-doUbted the wisdom, the eX-
pediency and the justification OF Sc
cession; but when their states had
spoken through their duly constituted
authorities, they felt bound to yield /
70 the decree-with them loyalty to the
state was stronger than loyalty to the
nation. But had there been no such |
Sdnciple as state sovereignty there /
lid have been no divided allegiance.
Kerry man would have acted simply I
: 9Sn individ lal, and rebellion would |
have been treason with nothing to ex-