Year: 1859

b good right in Carolina as ID Massachusetts--t0
It assail slavery with all the weapons of the moral
e armory have right to call upon the people Of
the South, in the Of justice and Christianity.
e in the name of humanity, in the name of sound
Q policy, in tho of good economy, to abolish
r the slave sysem have right to say that 1t is
unjust anti. Christian and inhuman, aod that il il
r EN- pha,icalIy uneconomical. / have a right to


show its waste Of the enetges Of the people, its
waste of the resources Of national wealth, its tio'


laion Of the essential fights Of buniah nature, its


opposition to the laws of God and the teachings OF
Christ. Can do it; Will Carolina let me do it I


1 go there with the Constitution spread all over


me as my shield Of protection, 20 there with my


legal rights piled up before me as an impregnable


fortress of Defence and one breath dissolves it in.


to nothingness, and crumbles the parchment into


thin particles Of impalpable vapor. Where is my


constitutional protection if dare to speak for hu-


manity, for truth, for justice in court Of justice


If dare to undertake the application of Christian.


iiy to the daily life of Carolina If even dare to


quote Poor Richards Almanac in application TO


the wasteful and desoIatng system of slavery, do


it at the peril Of my life and the very best fate


can hope is the privilege of going into instant BAN


ishment from the territory of the sovereign empire


OF Carolina. Well come home to Massachusetts,,


and the next day.-having been banished by Car


olina from her SOIL in defiance of the terms Of the


compact-I turn round and catch Anthony Burns


and tying him hands and feet, hurry him back in.


to Carolina bondagel Even waving the question


of the original immortality Of the compact, am


bound, having been robbed of the benefits that


were to accrue to me- still to bear all the burdens


tha. we're imposed upon me? tell you, no. 90
| l might 20 and recite particular after an
other in which the Constitution has been violated
by the Slave Power, not under the influence Of
passion, not in moments of high excitement, but
deliberately, systematically, on a precOncerted
plan, and with unanimity that speaks the Slave
Power so complete as to leave possible doubt Of
entire harmony Of sympathy and feeling, and conf
cert Of purpose and action. id


Now, who will tell me, in the face of these un'
deniable facts, that might be piled one upon anoth.
er-like Peon upon Ossa, until the whole land
should be shadowed by the very darkness which
would brood over it,-who will tell me that, ne,,
ertheless, We are bound to abide by the terms Of
the Constitution p sI


But, as said, the Constitution carries with 10
another obligation on the part of the proslavery
party, and that is not to attempt TO stretch its ap


plicason beyond the limits originally understoods
Yet the Slave Power has done that. 1t has carried
to Texas what meant only for the Atlantic
States; it has carried over to the territory of Lou'
siana, and the States carved and to be carved out
of it and it is trying to carry to Cuba and Nioar.
aqua, and Sonora, and know not how many other
provinces and islands of continent and sea, that
obligation which originally understood linn
tied within definite boundaries Now 1t has no
definite boundaries. The domain of slavery il
bound only by the possibility of savery-exehsion.
If you know where that limit is, then yeu can tell
me what is the limit to which the Slave Power
would carry the obligation to give back runaway
slaves, and to do whatever other pro'slavery work
il sees fit to exact from US. l deny the competen-
oy of one of the parties to compact to extend the
application of its terms in this manner. But il
you tell me that it is not extended simply by tho
action of one party, but by the consent of all par
ties if you tell me that, although Texas was adj
mitted unconstitutonaily, and Louisiana obtained
nconsttutionally, ESQ admitted by Jefferson him.
self, when he made the purchase,) yet the Nor:h
has made the act constitutional BY tacit consent,
by the ratification of acquescence, l answer, very
well grant it, for the sake of the argument, but
then what followsf Why, that are not living
under the Constitution fathers made in 1877 to
1889 that are not living under the Constitution
which Washington administered and jefferson vi
oated when he bought louisiana which, if it had
been in force Polk would have trampled under
foot when he admitted Texas, in defiance of the
Constitution, which confers the privilege of ad.
mitting new States upon Congress and not upon
the Executive. In these various acts to which al.
lusion has been made, the old Constitution Of the
fathers was clearly set aside, and either that Con.
sti,ution is binding now,-and if it is. all those
acts are unconstitutional and void,-or that old
Constitution is not binding now, by virtue of the
existence Of a new one, and then 1t follows. that
the obligations incurred by the old one do not rest
upon us now. l say. in strict truth, We are not
living under Constitution made in 1887 to '89;
say, when the Slave Power made demands which
the Constitution did not warrant. it virtually pro,
posed now Constitution, and when the North ac'
auissced in the proposition, it vrtually adopted q
new Constitution and so we have had one Constis
tuition made after another, each, perhaps. more
ample in its concessions to slavery, in certain d.
rections than the othtr, but certainly neither car.
rying any obligation which is dependent on the
original compact. Now, II any body does not
choose to accede to sny of the new terms, Of course
he is not bound to obey the new Constitution
When Louisiana was admitted to the Union, tho
North acquiesoed, and new Constitution was made.
That lasted until Missouri asked admission. Theirs
was nothing in the original Constitution that con-
templated the admission of territory west of the
Mississippi The single fact that the Constitution
did not confer the power on any department Of the
government to admit new territory is sof-
oient evidence that such admission was not in
the contemplation of the people and sho will
toll me that the people gave the power 70 do
that which they never contemplated doirg. and
gave it without assigning any repository that
should receive it: Who could acquire new terri
toryf Not the Executive. not the Judiciary. not
tho Leoislature-not all topether. There was no