Year: 1860

nations IL perverted and corrupted the moral sensI
of mankind deeply and universally, and this perver
sion became a universal habit. Habits Of thought
become fixed principles. No American State has ye
delivered itself entirely from these habits We, in
New York, guilty of slavery still by Withholding
the right Of suffrage from the race we have omanci
pated You, in Ohio, guilty in the same way by
a system Of black laws still more arisocratic and
odious Ii is written in the constitution Of the Uni


ted States that FIVE slaves shall count equal to three
freemen n basis of representation and II is writ.
ten, also, in violation of Divine law, that we shall
surrender the fugitive slave who takes refuge at oui
iresde from his relentless pursuer"


There you find his doctrine clearly laid
down that the constitution of the United
States is in violation of the Divine law
and, therefore, is not to be obeyed. You
find the declaration that the clause relat,
ing to fugitive slaves, being in violation
of the Divine law, is not binding on man
kind. This has been the doctrine of the
Senator from New York for years |
have not heard it in the Senate to day for
the first time. have met in my own
State, for the last ten years, this same
doctriae, that the Declaration of indie
pendence recognized the negro and the
white man as equal that the negro and
white man are equal by Divine law, and
that every provision of our constitution
and laws which establishes inequality be-
tween the negro and the white man is
void, because contrary to the law of God.


The Senator from New York says, in
the very speech from which have quoted,
that New York is yet slave State
Why? Not that she has a slave within
her limits, but because the constitution of
New York does not allow negro to vote
on an equality with white man. For
that reason he says New York is still a
slave State; for that reason every other
State that discriminates between the ne
gro and the white man is slave State,
leasing but a very few States in the
Union that are free from his objection
Yet, Notwithstanding the Senator is com
mitted to these doctrines, Notwithstanding
the leading men of his party are commit
ted to them, heargues that they have
been accused of being in favor of negro
equality, and says the tendency of their
doctrine is the equality of the white man.
lie introduces the objection, and fails to
answer it. He states the proposition and
lodges it, to leave the inference that he
does not indorse it. Sir, | desire to see
these gentlemen carry out their principles
to their logical conclusion. If they will
persist in the declaration that the negro
is made the equal of the white man, and
that any inequality is in violation of the
n;y;no Loo ,bo, 10, tho,,, oox.,, =. 90. -,
their legislation by comforting on the ne
groes all the rights of citizenship the
same as on white men. For one, | never
held to any such doctrine. / hold that
the Declaration of Independence was
only referring to the white man-to the
governing race of this country, who were
in conflict with Great Britain, and had no
reference to the negro race at all, when it
declared that all men were created equal.


Sir, if the signers of that declaration
had understood the instrument then as
the Senator from New York now con-
strues it, were they not bound On that
day, and at that very hour, to emancipate
all their slaves? If Mr.. Jefferson had
meant that his negro slaves were created
by the Almighty his equals, was he not
bound to cmancipate the slaves on the
very day that he signed his name to the
Declaration of Independence? Yet no
one of the signers Of that declaration
emancipated his slaves. No one of the
States on whose behalf the declaration
was signed cmancipated its slaves until
after the Revolution was over. Every
one of the original colonies, every one Of
the thirteen original States, sanctioned
and legalizcd slavery until after the Rev.
olution was closed These facts show
conclusivcly that the Declaration of In
dependence was never intended to bear
the construction placed upon it by the
Senator from New York, and by that
enormous tribe of lecturers that 90
through the country delivering lectures
in country school-houses and Easements
of churches to abolitionists, in order to
teach the children that the Almighty had
put his seal of condemnation upon any
inequality between the white man and
the negro.


Mr.. President, am free to say here
what have said over and over again at
home-that, in my opinion, this govern
ment was made bywhite men, on the white
basis, for the benefit of white men and
their posterity forever, and should be ad-
ministercd by white men, and by none
other whatsoever.


Mr.. DooLITTLE. / will ask the honor
able Senator, then, why not give the Ter
ritories to white men?


Mr.. DOUGLAS. Mr.. President, ] am in
favor Of throwing the Territories open
to oil the white men, and all the negroes
too, that choose to go, and then allow the
white men to institute the government
and govern the Territory. i would not
let one of the negroes free or slave, either
vote or hold Office anywhere, where had
the right, under the constitution, to pre-
vent it. am in favor of each State and
each Territory of this Union taking care
of its own negroes, free or slave. If they
want slavery, let them have it; if they
desire to prohibit slavery, let them do it
it is their business, not mine. We in ii.
linois tried slavery while we were Terri.
tory, and found it was not profitable; and
hence we turned philanthropists and abol-
ished it, just as our British friends across
the ocean did. They established slavery
in all their colonies, and, when they found
they could not make any more money out