THE PRACTICE OF THE GOVERNMENT.
The practice of the government, under the constitution, has not altered
the legal meaning of the instrument. It means now what it did before it
was ratified, when it was first offered to the people for their adoption
or rejection. One of the advantages of a written constitution is, that
it enables the people to see what its character is before they adopt it;
and another is, that it enables them to see, after they have adopted it,
whether the government adheres to it, or departs from it. Both these
advantages, each of which is indispensable to liberty, would be entirely
forfeited, if the legal meaning of a written constitution were one thing
when the instrument was offered to the people for their adoption, and
could then be made another thing by the government after the people had
adopted it.
It is of no consequence, therefore, what meaning the government _have_
placed upon the instrument; but only what meaning they were _bound to
place upon it_ from the beginning.
The only question, then, to be decided, is, what was the meaning of the
constitution, _as a legal instrument_, when it was first drawn up, and
presented to the people, and before it was adopted by them?
To this question there certainly can be but one answer.--There is not
room for a doubt or an argument, on that point, in favor of slavery. The
instrument itself is palpably a free one throughout, in its language,
its principles, and all its provisions. As a legal instrument, there is
no trace of slavery in it. It not only does not sanction slavery, but it
does not even recognize its existence. More than this, it is palpably
and wholly incompatible with slavery. It is also the supreme law of the
land, in contempt of any state constitution or law that should attempt
to establish slavery.
Such was the character of the constitution when it was offered to the
people, and before it was adopted. And if such was its character then,
such is its character still. It cannot have been changed by all the
errors and perversions, intentional or unintentional, of which the
government may have since been guilty.