"I am in favor of a tariff for revenue, such a one as will yield
a sufficient amount to the treasury to defray the expenses of
the government, economically administered. In adjusting the
details of a revenue tariff, I have heretofore sanctioned such
moderate discriminating duties as would produce the amount of
revenue needed, and at the same time afford reasonable incidental
protection to our home industry. I am opposed to a tariff for
protection merely, and not for revenue."--_Letter to John K. Kane,
June 19, 1844._
Friends and enemies of the Tariff are to be found, more or less, in
both the old organizations. From opposite quarters we are admonished
that it is not a proper question for the strife of party. Mr. Webster,
from the Whigs, and Mr. Robert J. Walker, from the Democrats, both
plead for its withdrawal from the list of political issues, that the
industry of the country may not be entangled in constantly recurring
contests. And why have they thus far pleaded in vain? It is feared no
better reason can be given than that certain political leaders wish
to use the Tariff as a battle-horse by which to rally their followers
in desperate warfare for office. The debt entailed by the Mexican War
comes to aid the admonitions of wisdom, and to disappoint the plots
of partisans, by imposing upon the country the necessity for such
large taxation as to make the protection thus incidentally afforded
satisfactory to judicious minds.
* * * * *
_The Great Issue._--And now, instead of these superseded questions,
connected for the most part only with the material interests of the
country, and, though not unimportant in their time, all having the
odor of the dollar, you are called to consider a cause connected with
all that is divine in Religion, pure in Morals, and truly practical in
Politics. Unlike the other questions, it is not temporary or local in
character. It belongs to all times and to all countries. It is part
of the great movement under whose strong pulsations all Christendom
now shakes from side to side. It is a cause which, though long kept
in check throughout our country, as also in Europe, now confronts the
people and their rulers, demanding to be heard. It can no longer be
avoided or silenced. To every man in the land it now says, with clear,
penetrating voice, "Are you for Freedom, or are you for Slavery?" And
every man in the land must answer this question, when he votes.
The devices of party can no longer stave it off. The subterfuges of the
politician cannot escape it. The tricks of the office-seeker cannot
dodge it. Wherever an election occurs, there this question will arise.
Wherever men assemble to speak of public affairs, there again it will
be. In the city and in the village, in the field and in the workshop,
everywhere will this question be sounded in the ears: "Are you for
Freedom, or are you for Slavery?"
* * * * *
_The AntiSlavery Sentiments of the Founders of the Republic._--A plain
recital of facts will show the urgency of this question. At the period
of the Declaration of Independence there were upwards of half a million
colored persons held as slaves in the United States. These unhappy
people were originally stolen from Africa, or were the children of
those stolen, and, though distributed through the whole country, were
to be found mostly in the Southern States. But the spirit of Freedom
was then abroad in the land. The fathers of the Republic, leaders in
the War of Independence, were struck with the impious inconsistency of
an appeal for their own liberties, while holding fellow-men in bondage.
Out of ample illustrations, I select one which specially reveals this
conviction, and possesses a local interest in this community. It is a
deed of manumission, made after our struggles had begun, and preserved
in the Probate Records of the County of Suffolk.[1] Here it is.
"Know all men by these presents, that I, JONATHAN JACKSON, of
Newburyport, in the County of Essex, gentleman, _in consideration
of the impropriety I feel, and have long felt, in holding any
person in constant bondage, more especially at a time when my
country is so warmly contending for the liberty every man ought to
enjoy_, and having sometime since promised my negro man, POMP, that
I would give him his freedom, and in further consideration of five
shillings paid me by said POMP, I do hereby liberate, manumit, and
set him free; and I do hereby remise and release unto said POMP all
demands of whatever nature I have against POMP. In witness whereof
I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 19th of June, 1776.
"JONATHAN JACKSON. [Seal.]
"_Witness_, MARY COBURN,
"WILLIAM NOYES."
[1] Printed, since this Address, in the History of Newton, by
Francis Jackson, (Boston, 1854,) p. 336.
The same conviction animated the hearts of the people, whether at the
North or South. In a town-meeting at Danbury, Connecticut, held on the
12th of December, 1774, the following declaration was made.
"It is with singular pleasure we note the second article of
the Association, in which it is agreed to import no more negro
slaves,--as we cannot but think it a palpable absurdity so loudly
to complain of attempts to enslave _us_, while we are actually
enslaving _others_."[2]
The South responded in similar strain. At a meeting in Darien, Georgia,
January 12th, 1775, the following important resolution speaks, in tones
worthy of freemen, the sentiments of the time.
"We, therefore, the Representatives of the extensive District of
Darien, in the Colony of Georgia, being now assembled in Congress,
by the authority and free choice of the inhabitants of the said
District, now freed from their fetters, do _Resolve_, ... To
show the world that we are not influenced by any contracted or
interested motives, but a general philanthropy for all mankind, of
whatever climate, language, or complexion, _we hereby declare our
disapprobation and abhorrence of the unnatural practice of Slavery
in America_, (however the uncultivated state of our country, _or
other specious arguments, may plead for it_,) a practice founded
in injustice and cruelty, and highly dangerous to our liberties,
(as well as lives,) debasing part of our fellow-creatures below
men, and corrupting the virtue and morals of the rest, and is
laying the basis of that liberty we contend for (and which we pray
the Almighty to continue to the latest posterity) upon a very
wrong foundation. We therefore resolve at all times to use our
utmost endeavors for the manumission of our slaves in this Colony,
upon the most safe and equitable footing for the masters and
themselves."[3]
[2] American Archives, 4th Series, Vol. I. col. 1038.
[3] American Archives, 4th Series, Vol. I. coll. 1135, 1136.
Would that such a voice were heard once again from Georgia!
The soul of Virginia, at this period, found eloquent utterance through
Jefferson, who, by precocious and immortal words, enrolled himself
among the earliest Abolitionists of the country. In a paper presented
to the Virginia Convention of 1774, in reference to the grievances
by which the Colonies were then agitated, he openly avowed, while
vindicating American rights, that "the abolition of domestic slavery
is the greatest object of desire in those Colonies, _where it was
unhappily introduced in their infant state_."[4] And then again in
the Declaration of Independence he embodied sentiments, which, when
practically applied, will give freedom to every slave throughout the
land. "We hold these truths to be self-evident," said the country,
speaking by his voice: "that all men are created equal; that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that
among these are life, _liberty_, and the pursuit of happiness." And
again, in the Congress of the Confederation, he brought forward, as
early as 1784, a resolution to exclude Slavery from all the territory
"ceded or _to be ceded_" by the States to the Federal Government, and
including the territory now covered by Tennessee, Mississippi, and
Alabama. Lost at first by the failure of the two-thirds vote required,
this measure was substantially renewed at a subsequent day by a son of
Massachusetts, and in 1787 was finally confirmed, in the Ordinance of
the Northwestern Territory, by a unanimous vote of the States, with
only a single dissentient among the delegates.
[4] A Summary View of the Rights of British America: American
Archives, 4th Series, Vol. I. col. 696. Memoir, Correspondence, and
Miscellanies of Jefferson, Vol. I. p. 111; Writings, Vol. I. p. 135.
Thus early and distinctly do we discern the Antislavery character of
the founders, and their determination to place the National Government
openly, actively, and perpetually on the side of Freedom.
The National Constitution was adopted in 1788. And here we discern
the same spirit. Express provision was made for the abolition of
the slave-trade. The discreditable words _Slave_ and _Slavery_ were
not allowed to find place in the instrument, while a clause was
subsequently added, by way of amendment, and therefore, according to
received rules of interpretation, specially revealing the sentiments
of the founders, which is calculated, like the Declaration of
Independence, if practically applied, to carry freedom everywhere
within the sphere of its influence. It was specifically declared, that
"no person shall be deprived of life, _liberty_, or property, without
due process of law."
From a perusal of the debates on the National Constitution, it is
evident that Slavery, like the Slave-trade, was regarded as temporary;
and it seems to have been supposed by many that they would disappear
together. Nor do any words employed in our day denounce it with an
indignation more burning than that which glowed on the lips of the
fathers. Mr. Gouverneur Morris, of Pennsylvania, said in Convention,
that "he never would concur in upholding domestic slavery: it was a
nefarious institution."[5] In another mood, and with mild juridical
phrase, Mr. Madison "thought it wrong to admit in the Constitution
the idea that there could be property in men."[6] And Washington, in
a letter written near this period, says, with a frankness worthy of
imitation, "There is only one proper and effectual mode by which the
abolition of slavery can be accomplished, and that is by legislative
authority; _and this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall never be
wanting_."[7]
In this spirit was the National Constitution adopted. Glance now at
the earliest Congress assembled under this Constitution. Among the
petitions presented to that body was one from the Abolition Society of
Pennsylvania, signed by Benjamin Franklin, as President. This venerable
man, whose active life had been devoted to the welfare of mankind at
home and abroad, who as philosopher and statesman had arrested the
attention of the world,--who had ravished the lightning from the skies,
and the sceptre from a tyrant,--who, as member of the Continental
Congress, had set his name to the Declaration of Independence, and,
as member of the Convention, had again set his name to the National
Constitution,--in whom was embodied, more, perhaps, than in any other
person, the true spirit of American institutions, at once practical
and humane,--than whom no one could be more familiar with the purposes
and aspirations of the founders,--this veteran, eighty-four years of
age, within a few months only of his death, now appeared by petition
at the bar of that Congress whose powers he had helped to define and
establish. "Your memorialists," he says,--and this Convention now
repeats the words of Franklin,--"particularly engaged in attending to
the distresses arising from Slavery, believe it their indispensable
duty to present this subject to your notice. They have observed with
real satisfaction that many important and salutary powers are vested in
you for 'promoting the welfare and securing the blessings of Liberty
to the people of the United States'; and as they conceive that these
blessings ought rightfully to be administered, _without distinction
of color_, to all descriptions of people, _so they indulge themselves
in the pleasing expectation that nothing which can be done, for the
relief of the unhappy objects of their care will be either omitted or
delayed_." The memorialists conclude as follows,--and this Convention
adopts their weighty words as its own: "Under these impressions they
earnestly entreat your serious attention to the subject of Slavery;
_that you will be pleased to countenance the restoration of liberty to
those unhappy men, who alone, in this land of Freedom, are degraded
into perpetual bondage_, and who, amidst the general joy of surrounding
freemen, are groaning in servile subjection; that you will devise means
for removing this inconsistency from the character of the American
people; that you will promote mercy and justice towards this distressed
race; _and that you will step to the very verge_ _of the power vested
in you for DISCOURAGING every species of traffic in the persons of our
fellow-men_.
"BENJ. FRANKLIN, _President_."[8]
[5] Madison's Debates, p. 1263.
[6] Ibid. p. 1429.
[7] Letter to Robert Morris, April 12, 1786: Writings, ed. Sparks, Vol.
IX. p. 159.
Such a prayer, signed by Franklin as President of an Abolition Society,
not only shows the spirit of the times, but fixes forever the true
policy of the Republic.
Fellow-citizens, there are men in our day, who, while professing a
certain disinclination to Slavery, are careful to add that they are
not Abolitionists. Jefferson, Washington, and Franklin shrank from
no such designation. It is a part of their lives which the honest
historian commemorates with pride, that they were unhesitating, open,
avowed Abolitionists. By such men, and under the benign influence of
such sentiments, was the National Government inaugurated, and dedicated
to Freedom. At this time, nowhere under the National Government did
Slavery exist. Only in the States, skulking beneath the shelter of
local laws, was it allowed to remain.
* * * * *
_Change from Antislavery to Proslavery._--But the generous sentiments
which filled the souls of the early patriots, and impressed upon the
government they founded, as upon the very coin they circulated, the
image and superscription of LIBERTY, gradually lost their
power. The blessings of Freedom being already secured to themselves,
the freemen of the land grew indifferent to the freedom of others. They
ceased to think of the slaves. The slave-masters availed themselves
of this indifference, and, though few in number, compared with the
non-slaveholders, even in the Slave States, they were able, under the
impulse of an imagined self-interest, by the skilful tactics of party,
and especially by an unhesitating, persevering union among themselves,
swaying by turns both the great political parties, to obtain the
control of the National Government, which they have held through a
long succession of years, bending it to their purposes, compelling it
to do their will, and imposing upon it a policy friendly to Slavery,
offensive to Freedom only, and directly opposed to the sentiments
of its founders. Here was a fundamental change in the character of
the Government, to which may be referred much of the evil which has
perplexed the country.
[8] Annals of Congress, 1st Cong. 2d Sess., 1197, 1198.
* * * * *
_Usurpations and Aggressions of the Slave Power._--Look at the
extent to which this malign influence has predominated. The Slave
States are far inferior to the Free States in population, wealth,
education, libraries, resources of all kinds, and yet they have
taken to themselves the lion's share of honor and profit under the
Constitution. They have held the Presidency for fifty-seven years,
while the Free States have held it for twelve years only. But without
pursuing this game of political sweepstakes, which the Slave Power has
perpetually played, we present what is more important, as indicative
of its spirit,--the aggressions and usurpations by which it has turned
the National Government from its original character of Freedom, and
prostituted it to Slavery. Here is a brief catalogue.
Early in this century, when the District of Columbia was finally
occupied as the National Capital, the Slave Power succeeded, in
defiance of the spirit of the Constitution, and even of the express
letter of one of its Amendments, in securing for Slavery, within the
District, the countenance of the National Government. Until then,
Slavery existed nowhere on the land within the reach and exclusive
jurisdiction of this Government.
It next secured for Slavery another recognition under the National
Government, in the broad Territory of Louisiana, purchased from France.
It next placed Slavery again under the sanction of the National
Government, in the Territory of Florida, purchased from Spain.
Waxing powerful, it was able, after a severe struggle, to impose terms
upon the National Government, compelling it to receive Missouri into
the Union with a Slaveholding Constitution.
It instigated and carried on a most expensive war in Florida, mainly to
recover fugitive slaves,--thus degrading the army of the United States
to slave-hunters.
It wrested from Mexico the Province of Texas, in order to extend
Slavery, and, triumphing over all opposition, finally secured its
admission into the Union with a Constitution making Slavery perpetual.
It next plunged the country into unjust war with Mexico, to gain new
lands for Slavery.
With the meanness as well as insolence of tyranny, it compelled
the National Government to abstain from acknowledging the neighbor
Republic of Hayti, where slaves have become freemen, and established an
independent nation.
It compelled the National Government to stoop ignobly, and in vain,
before the British queen, to secure compensation for slaves, who, in
the exercise of the natural rights of man, had asserted and achieved
their freedom on the Atlantic Ocean, and afterwards sought shelter in
Bermuda.
It compelled the National Government to seek the negotiation of
treaties for the surrender of fugitive slaves,--thus making the
Republic assert in foreign lands property in human flesh.
It joined in declaring the foreign slave-trade _piracy_, but insists
upon the coastwise slave-trade under the auspices of the National
Government.
It has rejected for years petitions to Congress against Slavery,--thus,
in order to shield Slavery, practically denying the right of petition.
It has imprisoned and sold into slavery colored citizens of
Massachusetts, entitled, under the Constitution of the United States,
to all the privileges of citizens.
It insulted and exiled from Charleston and New Orleans the honored
representatives of Massachusetts, who were sent to those places with
the commission of the Commonwealth, in order to throw the shield of the
Constitution over her colored citizens.
In formal despatches by the pen of Mr. Calhoun, as Secretary of State,
it has made the Republic stand before the nations of the earth as the
vindicator of Slavery.
It puts forth the hideous effrontery, that Slavery can go to all newly
acquired territories, and have the protection of the national flag.
In defiance of the desire declared by the Fathers to limit and
discourage Slavery, the Slave Power has successively introduced into
the Union Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama,
Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas, as Slaveholding States,--thus,
at each stage, fortifying its political power, and making the National
Government lend new sanction to Slavery.
Such are some of the usurpations and aggressions of the Slave Power.
By such steps the National Government is perverted from its original
purposes, its character changed, and its powers subjected to Slavery.
It is pitiful to see Freedom suffer at any time from any hands. It is
doubly pitiful, when she suffers from a government nursed by her into
strength, and quickened by her into those activities which are the
highest glory.
"So the struck eagle, stretched upon the plain,
No more through rolling clouds to soar again,
Viewed his own feather on the fatal dart,
And winged the shaft that quivered in his heart.
Keen were his pangs, but keener far to feel
He nursed the pinion which impelled the steel,
While the same plumage that had warmed his nest
Drank the last life-drop of his bleeding breast."
That we may fully estimate this system of conduct in its enormity,
we must call to mind the evils of Slavery, where it is allowed to
exist. And here language is inadequate to portray the infinite sum
of wretchedness, degradation, injustice, legalized by this unholy
relation. There is no offence against religion, against morals, against
humanity, which does not stalk, in the license of Slavery, "unwhipped
of justice." For the husband and wife there is no marriage. For the
mother there is no assurance that her infant will not be torn from
her breast. For all who bear the name of Slave there is nothing which
they can call their own. But the bondman is not the only sufferer.
He does not sit alone in his degradation. By his side is the master,
who, in the debasing influences on his own soul, is compelled to share
the degradation to which he dooms his fellow-men. "The man must be
a prodigy," says Jefferson, "who can retain his manners and morals
undepraved by such circumstances."[9] And this is not all. The whole
social fabric is disorganized; labor loses its dignity; industry
sickens; education finds no schools; religion finds no churches; and
all the land of Slavery is impoverished.
* * * * *
_Shall Slavery be extended?_--Now, at last, the Slave Power threatens
to carry Slavery into the vast regions of New Mexico and California,
existing territories of the United States, already purged of this evil
by express legislation of the Mexican government. It is the immediate
urgency of this question that has aroused the country to the successive
aggressions of the Slave Power, and to its undue influence over the
National Government. Without doubt, this is the most pressing form
in which the Great Issue is presented. Nor can it be exaggerated.
These territories, excluding Oregon, embrace upwards of five hundred
thousand square miles. The immensity of this tract may be partially
comprehended, when we consider that Massachusetts contains only 7,800
miles, all New England only 63,280, and all the original thirteen
States which declared Independence only 352,000. And the distinct
question is presented, whether the National Government shall carry into
this imperial region the curse of Slavery, with its monstrous brood of
ignorance, poverty, and degradation, or Freedom, with her attendant
train of blessings.
* * * * *
_A direct Prohibition by Congress necessary to prevent Extension of
Slavery._--An attempt is made to divert attention from this question
by denying the necessity of Congressional enactment to prevent the
extension of Slavery into California, on the ground that climate and
physical condition furnish natural obstacles to its existence there.
This is a weak device. It is well known that Slavery did exist there
for many years, until excluded by law,--that California lies in the
same range of latitude as the Slave States of the Union, and it may be
added, also, the Barbary States of Africa,--that the mineral wealth of
California creates a demand for slave labor, which would overcome any
physical obstacle to its introduction,--that Slavery has existed in
every country from which it was not excluded by the laws or religion
of the people; and still further, it is an undeniable fact, that
already slaves have been taken into California, and publicly sold there
at enormous prices, and thousands are now on their way thither from
the Southern States and from South America. In support of this last
statement numerous authorities might be adduced. A member of Congress
from Tennessee recently declared, that, within his own knowledge, there
would be taken to California, during the summer just past, from ten to
twelve thousand slaves. Another person states, from reliable evidence,
that whole families are moving with slaves from Tennessee, Arkansas,
and Missouri. Mr. Rowe, under date of May 13, at Independence,
Missouri, on his way to the Pacific, writes to the paper of which he
was recently the editor, the "Belfast Journal," Maine: "I have seen as
many as a dozen teams going along _with their families of slaves_." And
Mr. Boggs, once Governor of Missouri, now a resident of California, is
quoted as writing to a friend at home as follows: "If your sons will
bring out two or three negroes who can cook and attend at a hotel, your
brother will pay cash for them at a good profit, and take it as a great
favor."
[9] Notes on Virginia, Query XVIII.
After these things, to which many more might be added, it will not be
denied, that, in order to secure Freedom in the Territories, there must
be direct and early prohibition of Slavery by Act of Congress.