In behalf of the State Central Committee of the Free Democracy of
Massachusetts, it is my duty to call this body to order.
I do not know that it is my privilege, at this stage of your
proceedings, to add one other word to the words of form I have
already pronounced; but I cannot look at this large and generous
assembly without uttering from my heart one salutation of welcome
and encouragement. From widely scattered homes you have come to
bear testimony once more in that great cause containing country
with all its truest welfare and honor, and also the highest
aspirations of our souls. Others may prefer the old combinations of
party, stitched together by devices of expediency only. You have
chosen the better part, in coming to this alliance of principle.
In the labors before you there will be, I doubt not, that concord
which becomes earnest men, devoted to a good work. We all have but
one object in view,--the success of our cause. Turning neither to
the right nor to the left, moving ever onward, we adopt into our
ranks all who adopt our principles. These we offer freely to all
who will come and take them. These we can communicate to others
without losing them ourselves. These are gifts which, without
parting with, we can yet bestow, as from the burning candle other
candles may be lighted without diminishing the original flame.
It was the sentiment of Benjamin Franklin, that apostle of Freedom,
uttered during the trials of the Revolution, "Where Liberty is,
there is my country." I doubt not that each of you will be ready to
respond, in similar strain, "Where Liberty is, there is my party."
It now remains, Gentlemen of the Convention, that I should call
upon you to proceed with the business of the day.
THE FREE-SOIL PARTY EXPLAINED AND
VINDICATED.
ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF MASSACHUSETTS, REPORTED TO AND ADOPTED BY
THE FREE-SOIL STATE CONVENTION AT WORCESTER, SEPTEMBER 12, 1849.
The State Convention of the Free-Soil party at Worcester, 12th
September, was organized with the following officers: Hon. William
Jackson, of Newton, President; Bradford Sumner, of Boston, Daniel E.
Potter, of Salem, C.L. Knapp, of Lowell, J.T. Buckingham, of Cambridge,
John Milton Earle, of Worcester, D.S. Jones, of Greenfield, Edward F.
Ensign, of Sheffield, Benjamin V. French, of Braintree, Gershom B.
Weston, of Duxbury, and Job Coleman, of Nantucket, Vice-Presidents;
William F. Channing, of Boston, Samuel Fowler, of Westfield, Noah
Kimball, of Grafton, A.A. Leach, of Taunton, Secretaries.
On motion of Mr. Sumner, a committee of one from each county was
appointed to report an Address and Resolutions, consisting of Charles
Sumner, of Boston, John A. Bolles, of Woburn, J.G. Whittier, of
Amesbury, John M. Earle, of Worcester, Melvin Copeland, of Chester,
Erastus Hopkins, of Northampton, D.W. Alvord, of Greenfield, F.M.
Lowrey, of Lee, F.W. Bird, of Walpole, Jesse Perkins, of Bridgewater,
Joseph Brownell, of New Bedford, Nathaniel Hinckley, of Barnstable, and
E. W. Gardner, of Nantucket.
In the course of the proceedings, speeches were made by Anson
Burlingame, Esq., Hon. Charles F. Adams, Hon. Charles Allen, Hon.
Edward L. Keyes, and James A. Briggs, Esq., of Ohio. From the committee
of which he was chairman Mr. Sumner reported an Address to the People
of Massachusetts, explaining and vindicating the Free-Soil movement,
with a series of Resolutions, all of which were unanimously adopted
by the Convention. Of this Address, which became the authorized
declaration of the party, the _Daily Republican_ remarked: "The
Address, prepared by that gifted scholar and writer, Charles Sumner,
is an elaborate, complete, and unanswerable vindication of the
principles embodied in the Resolutions. Clear, logical, and triumphant
in argument, it glows with the warm and genial spirit of love for
humanity which distinguishes all the productions of its author."
Among the Resolutions was the following, which seems the prelude to the
debates of twenty years later.
"_Resolved_, That we adopt, as the only safe and stable basis of
our State, as well as our National policy, the great principles of
Equal Rights for All, guarantied and secured by Equal Laws."