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diff --git a/27767.txt b/27767.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7c66e3e --- /dev/null +++ b/27767.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1257 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Slavery: What it was, what it has done, +what it intends to do, by Cydnor Bailey Tompkins + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Slavery: What it was, what it has done, what it intends to do + Speech of Hon. Cydnor B. Tompkins, of Ohio + +Author: Cydnor Bailey Tompkins + +Release Date: January 10, 2009 [EBook #27767] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVERY: WHAT IT WAS; HAS DONE *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + SLAVERY: WHAT IT WAS, WHAT IT HAS DONE, WHAT + IT INTENDS TO DO. + + + SPEECH + OF + HON. CYDNOR B. TOMPKINS, OF OHIO. + + + Delivered in the House of Representatives, April 24, 1860. + + + + +Mr. TOMPKINS said: + +Mr. CHAIRMAN: The charge is frequently made, that nothing but slavery +occupies the attention of the National Legislature. That this charge is +true to a great extent, that this subject is constantly kept before the +country, and that there is constant excitement about it, is not the +fault of the Republican party. In the first hour of the present session +of Congress, it was thrust upon the House by a member of the slavery +party; for two months a discussion was continued upon that subject, and +almost exclusively by that party--a discussion unparalleled in point of +violence and virulence in the history of Parliamentary debate. Charges +the most aggravated were unscrupulously and shamelessly made against the +best and purest men of the country, and honorable members on this floor. +Calumny and vituperation held high carnival in the legislative halls of +this great nation. The columns of the _Daily Globe_ teemed with fierce +and fiery denunciations of all who would not bow to the behests of +pro-slavery power. Depraved, corrupt, and polluted presses exerted +themselves to the utmost in the work of slander and detraction; hireling +scribblers for worse than hireling presses glutted themselves and _made +their meals on good men's names_. These spacious galleries were filled +with disloyal men, ready to applaud to the echo every threat uttered +against the Government, and every disloyal sentiment heard from this +floor. + +If the Republicans here shall feel it to be their duty to discuss this +subject now; to lay bare its weakness and its wickedness; to expose the +madness and the folly of those who sustain, support, and cherish it; if +the great interests of the country have to be neglected for a time; if +ordinary legislation must be put aside, no complaint can be made against +the Republican party. That party, its principles, its men, and its +measures, have been misrepresented, and most unjustly assailed. It is +our privilege, it is our duty, to repel those assaults, that the world +may know that when the advanced guard of freedom is attacked, "our feet +shall be always in the arena, and our shields shall hang always in the +lists." + +I intend to review this question for the time allowed me. I hope to do +so with fairness and candor, and not with the passion and excitement +that have characterized many speeches made this session by pro-slavery +members. I shall endeavor to show that the fathers of this Republic, +both of the North and South, were more thoroughly anti-slavery than any +political party now in the country; and that, for more than forty years +after its organization, a large majority of our prominent men were +strongly opposed to the extension of that "_patriarchal_ institution." + +The debates in the Federal Convention show that the Constitution was +framed, adopted, and ratified, by anti-slavery men; that they regarded +it as an evil, yet were ashamed to acknowledge its existence in +words--thus virtually refusing to recognise property in many +Resolutions, addresses, and speeches, now to be found, establish this +very important fact, as I will show by quotations from them. + +At a general meeting in Prince George county, Virginia, it was + +"_Resolved_, That the African slave trade is injurious to this colony, +obstructs the population of it by free men, and prevents manufacturers +from Europe from settling among us." + +At a meeting in Culpeper county, Virginia, it was + +"_Resolved_, That the importation of slaves obstructs the population +with free white men and useful manufacturers." + +At a meeting in Nansemond county, Virginia, it was + +"_Resolved_, That the African slave trade is injurious to this colony, +obstructs the population by free men, and prevents manufacturers from +settling amongst us." + +Resolutions to the same effect were adopted in Surrey county, Caroline +county; and at a meeting in Fairfax county, over which George Washington +presided, resolutions of like import were adopted. + +At a very full meeting of delegates from the different counties of the +Colony and Dominion of Virginia, at Williamsburg, on the 1st day of +August, 1774, it was + +"_Resolved_, that the abolition of domestic slavery is the greatest +object of desire in these colonies, where it was improperly introduced +in their infant state." + +This is the language of the good and wise men of the Old Dominion in +1774; "the _abolition_ of domestic slavery was the greatest object of +their desire." Not merely to limit it, to prevent its extension, but +wholly to overthrow it. What would be said if a body of men, equally +wise, good, and patriotic, should _now_ meet in the Old Dominion, and +attempt to pass such resolutions? They would be scourged, driven by +violence from the State, and might be considered fortunate should they +escape with their lives. At a meeting in New Bern, North Carolina, +August, 1774, numerously attended by the most distinguished men of that +region, it was resolved that they would not import any slave or slaves, +or purchase any slave or slaves imported or brought into that province +by others from any part of the world. Such was the sentiment of North +Carolina in 1774, as to the evil and great wrong of slavery. + +The Continental Congress, in October, 1774, resolved that they would +neither import, nor purchase any slave imported, after December of the +same year; they agreed and resolved that they would have no trade, +commerce, dealings, or intercourse whatsoever, with any colony or +province in North America which should not accede to, or should violate, +this resolve, but would hold them as unworthy the rights of freemen and +inimical to the liberties of this country. + +But what is now the attitude of slaveholders? They will hold no +intercourse, they will have no dealings, with any person or State that +does not approve of slavery, and yield to its intolerant and despotic +demands; if any man, not thus approving and yielding, chances to travel +through the slave States, and there to express his sentiments, he is +subjected to the degradation and cruelty of the lash, and is driven from +the State. + +October 21, 1774, the Continental Congress, in an address to the people +of Great Britain, said: + +"When a nation, led to greatness by the hand of liberty, and possessed +of all the glory that heroism, munificence, and humanity, can bestow, +descends to the ungrateful task of forging chains for her friends and +children, and, instead of giving support to freedom, turns advocate for +slavery and oppression, there is reason to suspect that she has either +ceased to be virtuous, or is extremely negligent in the appointment of +her rulers." + +Is not this the situation and condition of this country now? Is not a +great party now engaged in the ungrateful task of forging chains for a +large portion of the people of this country? Instead of supporting +freedom, does it not advocate slavery and oppression? Have we not reason +to suspect that too many of our countrymen have ceased to be virtuous? + +By the Darien committee, Georgia, January, 1775, it was declared: + +"To show the world that we are not influenced by any contracted and +interested motives, but a general philanthropy for all mankind, of +whatever language or complexion, we hereby declare our disapprobation +and abhorrence of the unnatural practice of slavery in America--a +practice founded in injustice and cruelty, and highly dangerous to our +liberties." + +I cannot quote at greater length from the proceedings of this committee. +Their philanthropy was without regard to complexion; they abhorred +slavery, as based on injustice and cruelty; and more, as dangerous to +our liberties. If it were founded in injustice and cruelty in 1775, it +is the same in 1860. It was dangerous to liberty _then_; no man _now_ +apprehends any danger to liberty, unless from the same source. It is +daily threatened by men who are interested in slavery. Liberty cannot be +very secure where four million human beings are held in hopeless +bondage--where human blood, bone, muscle, and, I might almost say, +immortal souls, are articles of merchandise. + +The historical quotations I have made bring me to the Revolution. I will +cite the opinions of some of the great actors in that great drama. +George Washington said, in his will: + +"Upon the decease of my wife, it is my desire that the slaves whom I +hold _in my own right_ should receive their freedom." + +Again, he said: + +"I never mean, unless some particular circumstance should compel me, to +possess another slave by purchase, it being my first wish to see some +plan adopted by which slavery in this country may be abolished by law." + +La Fayette, while in the prison of Magdeburg, said: + +"I know not what disposition has been made of my plantation at Cayenne; +but I hope Madame de La Fayette will take care that the negroes who +cultivate it shall preserve their liberties." + +Washington wrote to Robert Morris: + +"It will not be conceived, from these observations, that it is my wish +to hold these unhappy people (negroes) in slavery. I can only say that +there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a +plan adopted for the abolition of it." + +Again, he writes to La Fayette: + +"The benevolence of your heart, my dear Marquis, is so conspicuous on +all occasions, that I never wonder at any fresh proof of it; but your +late purchase of an estate in the colony of Cayenne, with a view of +emancipating the slaves on it, is a generous and noble proof of your +humanity. Would to God a like spirit might diffuse itself generally into +the people of this country!" + +Washington hoped for some plan by which slavery might be legally +abolished. Washington lauded the humanity of La Fayette in purchasing an +estate for the purpose of emancipating the negroes. I will leave it to +gentlemen on the other side to draw the comparison between the chivalry +of the South _then_ and _now_; between the licentious assumption of +thought and utterance permitted _then_, and the course of conviction and +conversion esteemed necessary and equitable _now_, towards hapless +offenders in the footsteps of predecessors so illustrious. + +Patrick Henry said: + +"Slavery is detested; we feel its fatal effects; we deplore it with all +the pity of humanity. I repeat again, that it would rejoice my very +soul that every one of my fellow beings were emancipated. We ought to +lament and deplore the necessity of holding our fellow men in bondage." + +Charles Pinckney, Governor of South Carolina, said: + +"I must say that I lament the decision of your Legislature upon the +question of the importation of slaves after March, 1793. I was in hopes +that motives of policy, as well as other good reasons, supported by the +direful effects of slavery which at this moment are presented, would +have operated to produce a total prohibition of the importation of +slaves, whenever the question came to be agitated in any State that +might be interested in the measure." + +Such were the sentiments of the most enlightened, the most virtuous men +of our country in its heroic age. George Mason, of Virginia, stigmatized +the slave trade as an "infernal traffic!" He said that "slavery +discouraged manufactures; that it produced the most pernicious effect on +manners." Without intending to be personal or offensive, I think I can +pause here and properly remark, that if the effects of slavery are +changed in every other respect, the effect on manners is the same now +that it was in the last century. The epithets used by men on this floor, +their arrogant bearing towards their peers, is abundant proof that there +is no change in that respect. We have frequently heard members, this +session, speak of a great party in this country as the Black Republican +party. Legislative bodies in the slave States have so far forgotten what +should be due to the standing and dignity of a Legislature, as to call a +certain party, in their official proceedings, the "Black Republican +party." Why are men betrayed into such violations of the proprieties of +life? There can be no other reason than the one given by George Mason +eighty years ago: slavery produces a most pernicious effect upon +manners. I know it is claimed, by men in the slave States, that slavery +is necessary to the highest development of human society; but I think +the experience of members of Congress is, that slavery does not always +produce this beneficial result. + +I revert to my Southern authorities upon the peculiar institution. Mr. +Iredell, of North Carolina, thus expresses himself: + +"When the entire abolition of slavery takes place, it will be an event +which must be most pleasing to every generous mind, and to every friend +of human nature." + +Thomas Jefferson writes: + +"The spirit of the master is abating: that of the slave rising from the +dust; his condition mollifying; the way, I hope, preparing, under the +auspices of Heaven, for a total emancipation." + +He continues, in his plan for a Constitution for Virginia: + +"Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate, than that these +people are to be free." + +In a letter to Dr. Gordon, on Lord Cornwallis's invasion of Virginia, +Mr. Jefferson says: + +"He carried off also about thirty slaves, (Jefferson's.) Had this been +to give them freedom, he would have done right; but it was to consign +them to inevitable death from small-pox and putrid fever then raging in +his camp." + +I conclude here my citations from the united voices of some of the best +men of the country, before and after the Revolution, against slavery as +an evil, and a great national sin, not that I have exhausted their +utterances, but that my time admits of no more. + +The Republican party proclaims no doctrine so _ultra_ as theirs, uses no +language so strong as that of those Southern statesmen from whom it +gains so much information, and whose views, to a great extent, it +conscientiously accepts. We desire only to confine it within its present +limits; we ask that it shall not pollute territory now free; we know the +utter folly of appealing to the morality or humanity of a pro-slavery +party, where the rights of a black man are involved; but when you insist +on taking slaves into a free Territory, and smiting the land with this +blighting, withering curse, we plant ourselves on our constitutional +rights, and say, _thus far shall you go, and no further_. + +The learned gentleman from Alabama, [Mr. CURRY,] in alluding to the +opinion of the fathers of the Republic, said: + +"These, however, were but mere speculations." + +Was it a mere speculation when Madison said, "we have seen a mere +distinction of color made the ground of the most oppressive dominion of +man over man?" Was it as a mere speculation that Jefferson wrote, that +Cornwallis would have been right, had he carried away his (Jefferson's) +slaves to free them? Was it a mere speculation, a wild fancy, that the +framers of the Constitution would not admit that there could be such a +thing as property in man? A mere speculation, was it, of Patrick Henry, +when he said "that slavery is detested; we feel its fatal effects; we +deplore it?" when he declared it would "rejoice his very soul, were all +his fellow beings emancipated?" Was it a mere speculation when Jefferson +wrote, and his colleagues signed, "we hold these truths to be +self-evident, that all men are created equal?" No one then doubted the +truth of this declaration. More than a generation passed away before any +man dared raise his voice against it. No, sir; this was no mere +speculation, but the acknowledgment of a great "humanitarian fact." True +then, it is true now; and must remain indisputable and eternal--a pillar +of fire by night, a cloud by day, to guide and guard nations yet unborn +in the path of honor, of safety, of moral and political grandeur. + +But the learned gentleman does not pause upon these "speculations." He +proceeds to tell us that circumstances are changed; that there was then +little more than half a million slaves, and scarce a pound of cotton +exported. Does the gentleman believe, or does he but attempt to lead +_us_ to believe, that the ethics of those men "without fear and without +reproach" had no sounder foundation than this: that while slaves were +few and cotton scarce, slavery might be a wrong, but with four million +slaves and four million two hundred thousand bales of cotton, it +becomes just, humane, moral?--that while negroes and cotton fill one +side of the scales, Christian truth must kick the beam on the other, and +slavery thus becomes a great "humanitarian fact?" + +The right and wrong of the thing, about which there has been so much +discussion, is now easily solved. The gentleman has found an infallible +rule; it is simply to make a chemical analysis of your soil; if it will +produce cotton, you can purchase slaves and work them without violating +the laws of God or man. + +We may also infer, or be induced to believe, from the honorable +gentleman's speech, that if nothing is raised but indigo and rice, the +propriety and morality of holding men in bondage is doubtful. Not such, +sir, were the "_speculations_" of the fathers of the Republic. + +Lucid as is the gentleman's speech in general, there is a want of +clearness in the last point I have cited; but this is owing entirely to +the materials used in the demonstration--rice and indigo will not do; +nothing will serve but cotton; cotton ever, cotton only. + +If slave labor, then, is profitable, slaveholding is equitable. Thus it +is decided, that whatever is profitable is also equitable: justice and +injustice are mere matters of profit and loss; the morality or +immorality of slavery a mere question of soil and climate. + +The great authorities cited as to the evil effects of slavery on the +white race, should satisfy the most incredulous. But, says the learned +gentleman from Alabama, there were few slaves at that time, and scarce a +pound of cotton for exportation. Let us, then, pass from that period, to +one when the few slaves had become millions, and the bales of cotton +exported were estimated in like manner. In 1832, Thomas Marshall, of +Virginia, said of slavery: + +"It is ruinous to the whites; retards improvement; roots out an +industrious population; banishes the yeomanry of the country; deprives +the spinner, the weaver, the smith, the shoemaker, the carpenter, of +employment and support. Labor of every species is disreputable, because +performed mostly by slaves; the general aspect of the country marks the +curse of a wasteful, idle, reckless population, who have no interest in +the soil, and care not how much it is impoverished." + +Mr. Berry, of Virginia, spoke thus: + +"I believe that no cancer on the physical body was ever more certain, +steady, and fatal, in its progress, than is the cancer of slavery on the +political body of the State of Virginia. It is eating into her very +vitals." + +The records of Southern statesmanship, sir, abound in such and stronger +expressions. Slavery had then existed in this country more than two +hundred years, yet scarce a man could be then found so bold and so +reckless as to proclaim it just and righteous, a humane, a Christian +institution. Nearly the whole civilized world united in its +condemnation; the ministers of our holy religion in the slave States +declaimed against it; their solemn petitions ascended to the throne of +God, that the country might be rid of these "bonds." But, slave labor +has become profitable in some parts of the South; the _mania_ for wealth +has seized the slaveholder's avarice, has dried up the fountain of +humanity. The lust of power and dominion deadens their consciences; a +million bales of cotton can blind their eyes alike to the flames of +perdition and the glories of Paradise. They make to themselves friends +of the Mammon of unrighteousness; they become full, and deny their +Maker, and say, who is the Lord! Concerning oppression, they speak +loftily. But they are set in slippery places; they will be cast down +unto destruction. + +The gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. LAMAR] said, a few days since: + +"I tell you, Mr. Chairman, that God's sun does not shine upon a nobler, +prouder, more prosperous, and elevated class of people, than the +non-slaveholders of the South." + +This, I think, will be news to many non-slaveholders in the gentleman's +district. Thomas Jefferson tells us that man is an imitative animal; +therefore, if the assertion of the gentleman from Mississippi be +correct, we must wonder why slaveholders do not relieve themselves of +their negroes, that they may become equally noble, proud, prosperous, +and elevated, with the non-slaveholder. Who can compare with them on +this side of Paradise? With them, the millennium can be no object of +desire, since + + "Not a wave of trouble rolls + Across their peaceful breasts." + +Still there must be some malice in their hearts, for the honorable +gentleman states that they (the non-slaveholders) hold slavery in the +hollow of their hands; surely, were they benevolent, they would close +their hands and crush out the "institution," that their slaveholding +fellow-citizens might become as prosperous and as happy as themselves. + +The assertion is frequently made, that white men cannot work in the hot +latitudes of the South, and this is offered as a reason why there should +be black slaves there. The gentleman knocks one of the strongest props +from under the institution. He tells us white men work, and raise not +only cotton, but corn and potatoes. He also informs us that after the +cotton, corn, and potatoes, are raised, the strong, brave man drives the +plow through the fallow ground. It will be seen that work during the +summer has not produced the lassitude and enervation that it has been +claimed is produced in white men by labor. We are still further +informed, that the fallow ground turned up by the strong, brave man, +discloses something more valuable than the gold of California--"'Tis the +sparkles of liberty!" We have heard of the sparkles of liberty that are +made manifest to the non-slaveholders of the South. The poor laboring +man at Columbia, South Carolina, when streams of blood issued from the +furrows plowed in his naked back by a cow-hide in the hands of a negro, +saw some of the sparkles of liberty, when, bleeding, exhausted, +besmeared with tar, and covered with feathers, he was thrust into the +cars, and left to perish in the cold. He had, no doubt, a vivid idea of +the liberty that is enjoyed by non-slaveholders in the South, when he +remembered that these cruelties and barbarities were inflicted on him +for expressing a rational and honest opinion relative to this "peculiar +institution." + +The statements, and doubtless convictions, of the honorable member from +Mississippi, differ singularly from those of Senator CLAY, of Alabama, +who tells us that, in his State, "we may behold numerous fine houses, +once the abode of intelligent freemen, now occupied by slaves, or else +tenantless and dilapidated; that we may see fields, once fertile, +covered with foxtail and broom-sedge--moss growing on the walls of once +thrifty villages, and may find that 'one only master grasps the whole +domain' which once furnished homes for a dozen white families." + +Hear, also, Senator HAMMOND, of South Carolina, who says of the +non-slaveholders of his State: + +"They obtain a precarious subsistence by occasional jobs, by hunting, by +fishing, by plundering fields or folds, or, too often, by what is far +worse in its effects, trading with slaves, and leading them to plunder +for their benefit." + +The opinions already quoted from many of the wise men of the South go +far to demonstrate that the gentleman from Mississippi is entirely +mistaken. There is, however, another test by which we can try the +accuracy of what the gentleman has said about the non-slaveholders of +the South. The census report of 1850 shows this important fact: that of +the white men in the slave States over twenty-one years of age, there is +about one in every twelve that cannot read and write; while in the free +States there is only one out of every forty-five. It must also be +remembered, that a very large number of those in the free States who +cannot read, came originally from the slave States. Take, for instance, +Massachusetts, where there are but very few persons from the slave +States, if any, and there is only one in seven hundred and seventy-eight +that cannot read and write. Take Indiana and Illinois--States that have +large populations from the slave States--Indiana, one in every fourteen +cannot read; in Illinois, one in every twenty-one and a half; and if any +one will take the trouble to examine, it will no doubt be found that +this ignorance exists almost entirely where the population from the +slave States largely predominates. I will venture the assertion, that +there can scarcely be a man found in the State of Ohio, that was born +there, who possesses intellect capable of cultivation, that cannot read; +while a very large portion of those ignorant men in the slave States +were "to the manor born." + +It must also be borne in mind that, in making the estimate of the free +States, the men that perform all the labor are included. In the slave +States, the men who do nearly all the work are not included. I do not +know that any great good can come of making these comparisons. But when +the gentleman tells us that the non-slaveholders in his State are the +most prosperous and the most elevated of mankind, the inquiry is at +once presented to the mind, how elevated in the scale of existence can a +man be who can neither read nor write? + +I have shown that slavery was regarded as a political, moral, and social +evil, by the founders of this Republic, and by able Southern statesmen +within thirty years; that their anxious query has been, "what is to be +done with it?" We are now asked to discredit those men, and give ear to +a modern creed, that slavery is not only necessary, but beneficent--a +divine ordinance--and that Southern non-slaveholders, even, are +prosperous and elevated just in proportion to the number of slaves owned +by their neighbors. + +Not such, sir, were the "speculations" of the fathers of the Republic; +nor is the world to be deceived by such assumptions. Decree and carry +out what non-intercourse you will; surround yourselves with barriers as +impassable as the Chinese wall, or the great gulf between Dives and +Lazarus, still the evidences of your condition will exist on the +imperishable pages of history, in the records left by the mighty and +venerated dead; and the attempt to establish the belief that slavery is +a universal blessing will be received but as an aggression upon the +credulity of mankind. + +Forty years ago, a slave Territory applied for admission to the Union as +a State. The friends of freedom objected that its reception would be +contrary to the policy of our Government. "Admit it," it was urged, +"with its present Constitution, and we will consent to a line of +demarkation, north of which slavery shall never pass." This was solemnly +agreed to before the whole world; and this compact, forced upon the +country by the slave power, was claimed by it as a great triumph of +slavery. Men at the North felt that this was a great aggression, a great +outrage upon freedom; yet, to give quiet and restore harmony, they +submitted, consoled by the national pledge that slavery should be +extended no further, and believing that the nation might joyously look +forward to long years of happiness and repose. But despotism is ever +restless and grasping; but twenty-five years rolled by--a very short +period in the life of a nation--ere Texas was admitted to the Union, +that slavery propagandists could have a wider field for their +operations. As everybody foresaw, war ensued; and the best blood of the +nation fattened the soil of Mexico. More than two hundred millions of +treasure were expended, and many thousand valuable lives sacrificed. All +over this land, "the sky was hung with blackness;" "mourning was spread +over the mountain tops." Territory enough was obtained to make four +large States, well adapted to the productive labor of human chattels, +and this territory was blackened over with slavery. Such a triumph ought +to have satisfied the most grasping of the friends of this "peculiar +institution;" but the world should have known that nothing short of +universal dominion would satisfy the slave owner and slave breeder. Less +than ten years after the annexation of Texas, it was discovered by +Southern men that there was a Territory west of Missouri, wherein the +peculiar institution of the South could be made profitable; but by a +solemn league and covenant this land had been, for more than a third of +a century, consecrated to freedom. This bond of national faith, this +pledge of national honor, stood in the road of their ambition. + +But men whose lives are but a series violations of the dearest rights +that God has bestowed on man cannot be expected to be bound by pledges +of national faith and national honor. This time-honored compact was +annulled, the barrier between freedom and slavery broken down. The whole +country was astounded at the perfidy of the act. + +But the climax was not reached. The Territory was overrun with +desperadoes; ruffians from adjoining States usurped the rights of actual +settlers, stuffed ballot-boxes with illegal votes, and elected members +of their own lawless bands to the Legislature, to enact laws by which +every friend of freedom might be driven from the country. + +Innocent and unoffending men were murdered in cold blood, houses were +consumed with fire, hamlets laid in smoking ruins, homeless and +houseless innocents, women and tender children, were driven forth, +exposed to the winds and storms of heaven. + +All these wrongs, all these outrages, all these crimes of blood and +deeds of horror, were committed to plant the accursed institution on the +soil that had been, by a great national act, dedicated to freedom. But +violence and arson, bloodshed and murder, failed. The black banner of +slavery is trailing in the dust. The stars and stripes wave triumphantly +over a free and joyous people. The heretofore invincible is conquered. I +have borrowed the word "aggression" to express the conduct of the South +toward the North. I do not intend to make the charge without the +specifications. + +1. I charge upon slavery, that the enforcement of the Missouri +compromise was an aggression upon the North. + +2. I charge the annexation of Texas, whereby the Mexican war was brought +upon the country, more than two hundred millions of money were spent, +and many thousand lives sacrificed, as an aggression. + +3. I charge that the adoption of the fugitive slave law, with many of +its odious and obnoxious provisions, was an aggression upon the people +of the North. + +4. I charge that the decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott +case was an aggression upon the North. It was a decision made for the +benefit of slavery, and to deprive the people of the free States of +their equal rights in the Territories. + +5. I charge that the repeal of the Missouri compromise line was an +outrageous aggression upon the rights of the North; disreputable to the +nation, and dishonorable to the party engaged in it; one that has +brought in its train innumerable woes, and created an excitement that +will not be allayed during the present generation. + +6. I charge that the murders, robberies, and arsons, in Kansas, were +aggressions of slavery. + +All these things I have charged as aggressions of slavery are national +aggressions, for which the slavery party, having control of the +administration of this Government, are responsible. I charge them as +direct, positive aggressions, on the rights of the free people of the +North. In addition to these great national aggressions, there are +numerous similar infringements upon the rights of individuals of the +North--of tarring and feathering, of whipping--acts of such barbarity +and cruelty, that it would chill a man's blood to hear them recited. + +Recently, a whole community of moral, peaceable citizens were driven +from their homes, compelled to abandon their property, and seek refuge +in a free State, from the violence of slaveholders. There are, no doubt, +many good and humane men in slave States, who deprecate these wrongs; +but they dare not utter a word--every mouth must be stopped, every lip +must be sealed, every voice must be hushed, all must be silent as the +grave--the most inexorable despotism reigns supreme. + +Having endeavored to show what slavery was, and what it has done, I now +propose to show what it intends to do. Its advocates claim that the +territory now belonging to the Government is the common property of all +the States, having been acquired by the common blood and treasure of +all; that, therefore, the inhabitants of the slave States have a right +to emigrate to the Territories, and take with them their slaves. I am +willing to admit that the inhabitants of one section of the country have +just the same rights in the Territories that the inhabitants of another +section have. I say it would be an act of injustice to deny one man any +right in the Territory that another man has, and would be just cause of +complaint. But I am not willing to give to a man from a slave State any +greater rights than to a man from a free State. And when I have admitted +that all have the same constitutional rights in the Territories, I have +by no means admitted that men from the South have a right to hold slaves +in the Territories. You may go, and take your slaves with you, if you +have a mind to run the risk; I say you shall not take your slave laws +with you. + +I say that slavery is but the creation of some local enactment, and that +no property can exist in a human being, unless it is made so by some +law. This opinion was entertained by the founders of this Republic, and +by nearly every statesman in this country, until very recently. We hear +much said about the constitutional rights of the South; it is thundered +in our ears from the beginning to the end of the session of Congress. +What is meant by this stereotyped expression, I do not exactly +comprehend; and, I presume, many who make use of the phrase do not +understand it. If you mean by this that the Constitution of the United +States gives you the right to go into the Territories belonging to the +people of this country, and take with you not only your human chattels, +but also your bloody slave laws, I say, you have no such constitutional +rights. The Constitution of the United States nowhere recognises slaves +as property. The Supreme Court of the United States has decided that +slaves are not property under the Constitution. The Constitution gives +you the right to reclaim your slaves, if they escape into any other +State; this is all the right it gives you, and all there is in the +Constitution that can by any possibility be construed to apply to +slaves. To contend that there is any power given in the Constitution +which enables the slaveholder to take his slaves with him into a +Territory, and not only his slaves, but his slave laws, and the slave +laws of all the slave States, is an assumption of power that I am not +willing to concede to him. It is claimed that if persons from the slave +States are not permitted to go into the Territories, and take with them +their slaves and slave laws, the rights of the slave States are +violated. This cannot be. If you claim to take into the Territories the +laws of the slave States, and not only the laws, but the Constitution of +a slave State, I claim, also, that I will take the Constitution of my +State, which says there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary +servitude; and if you do not permit this, the rights of my State are +violated, if your doctrine be true. + +The emigrants from every State in the Union, under the power claimed by +the slavery propagandists, would have a right to take with them all the +constitutions and all the laws of all the States. The confusion which +would follow would be worse than at the Tower of Babel. If a citizen of +any slave State leaves it, and goes into a free State or Territory to +reside, he takes with him none of the rights or powers with which his +State clothed him while he remained therein. He can take with him such +articles as, by the universal consent of mankind, are considered +property, and exercise ownership over them. When at home, I am a legal +voter; I can vote for any State or county officer, or President of the +United States. But if I cross the river, a distance of eighty rods, or +go out of my election district, or in any other direction, I have no +such privilege. The right of suffrage, which is the highest right that +ever can be exercised by a citizen, is controlled by the laws and +Constitution of each particular State. In the State of Ohio, a man need +not be a property holder to entitle him to the right of suffrage; if he +remove into a State where he must have a property qualification before +he can vote, are the rights of the State he left violated? I presume no +one will contend that they are. A man may have some power in the State +of Virginia, given by its Legislature--the right to issue paper money, +for instance; but if he remove to Ohio, he has not this right. No man +would pretend to claim that any of the rights of Virginia are infringed. + +Yet the man who would make this claim, would be just as reasonable as he +who should claim that the rights of Virginia are invaded because her +slaveholders are not permitted to take slaves into Kansas or Nebraska. + +I understand those Southern men, who talk so much about Southern rights, +claim not only the right to take slaves into the Territories, but they +claim the right to take slave laws and the habits and customs which are +practiced in the slave States. They claim to take laws by which four +million negroes are reduced to the condition of brutes. Six million +white men, women, and children, who have to obtain their living by +labor, are condemned to perpetual degradation and ignorance, by which +three hundred and fifty thousand slaveholders can govern and control the +destinies of the millions of people in the slave States; and not only of +those people, but of this great country of ours. They not only claim the +right to take their negroes into the Territories, but they claim to take +laws there that will deny to every man the freedom of speech and the +liberty of the press. They claim the right to seal every man's lips, and +stop every man's mouth, on questions of great national interest. They +claim to take with them the right to condemn as a felon the man who may +utter and maintain the Declaration of Independence, or the opinions of +the conscript fathers of the Republic. They claim to take with them the +right to condemn as a felon the man who dares proclaim the precepts of +our holy religion. They claim to take with them the right to strip naked +and cut into gashes the back of the man who utters opinions that do not +exactly "square and corner" with the interests of the aristocratic +slaveholders. + +A negro population is one by no means desirable, but a free white man +could live where there are negroes, and maintain his freedom; but no +white non-slaveholder can live where slave laws, customs, and habits, +pertain, and retain the rights that belong to free men in free States. + +A man may live in the swamps of the torrid zone, and escape the +crocodiles, alligators, and other slimy and creeping things, but he +cannot escape the miasma and poison of the atmosphere. + +If the slaveholder is permitted to go into the Territories, and take his +slave laws, habits, and customs, the people of the free States are to a +great extent excluded therefrom, and deprived of all rights therein. + +But slaveholders say they will go; they will take their slaves, and +their slave code; they will establish there such a despotism as reigns +in some of the slave States; they will poison the air that surrounds the +fertile plains of the West, until freedom shall sicken and die; and we +are constantly told, that if we do not yield to their unreasonable +demands, this Union shall be dissolved. + +But these threats do not move or alarm me, and for the best of all +possible reasons; I do not believe that the gentlemen who make these +threats intend to leave their places on this floor--nor, if they should, +would the country suffer any loss. The section they represent would +still remain under the Constitution and laws of the United States, and +our glorious flag would still wave over its fertile plains and lofty +mountains, its woody dells and shelving rocks, its gurgling fountains +and rippling rills. Good, loyal, and patriotic men would come here to +fill the vacant places, ready and able to discharge their duty to the +country, and to the whole country. + +Notwithstanding these threats of disunion from the Democratic party, we +hear much holy horror expressed in regard to a sectional party, and +much laudation of a national, conservative party. The nationality of the +Democratic party consists in devoting all the energies and power of the +Federal Government to advancing the interests, aims, and ends, of about +one hundred thousand men. Its conservatism consists in its avowed +determination to dissolve the Union, should a majority of our people, in +the exercise of their legal and constitutional rights, elect a President +not acceptable to that party. + +There are, I presume, not more than one hundred thousand men in this +country who feel any desire to extend the boundaries of slavery, or who +would, had they the power, add one other slave State to the Union. Yet +the whole power of this Government is devoted to that one object; its +entire strength concentrated in one spasmodic effort to extend slavery. +The agricultural, the manufacturing, the great commercial interests of +this country, are entirely ignored, neglected, and forgotten, that the +interests of one hundred thousand slaveholders may be advanced. The +great pursuits by which twenty-five million people live, are not +considered worthy the attention of this Democratic party; while one +hundred thousand aristocrats require its entire services. Yet this is +the great national party! While so determined upon rule is it, that if a +majority of the people should decide against it, and discharge its +members from places of trust and honor, they threaten to destroy this +Government. Such is the conservative party commended to our most +favorable consideration. + +The slavery party is constantly complaining that the free States enact +personal-liberty laws, and that they do not fulfil their constitutional +obligations. Whatever acts may be passed by our Legislatures, so that +they do not interfere with the Constitution of the United States, you +have no right to complain. But if you think that Constitution violated, +you have your remedy. Send your attorneys into the free States; commence +your suits in the Federal courts, and try the validity of our statutes. +We pledge ourselves that your agents shall be kindly treated, and shall +have a fair hearing. We will not follow your example; we will not pass +laws in plain and palpable violation of your rights, and in palpable +violation of the Constitution, and then drive out, by threats or +violence, any man who may come into the State to test the validity of +such enactments. + +Before you complain of us, go home and seize and hang the pirates who +are hovering around your shores, engaged in the slave trade. You may say +a jury will not convict them. Why not? Because the community sustains +them in their unholy traffic and in their violation of the laws. But if +you really desired to punish those men, you could easily devise the ways +and means--a whipping on the bare back with a raw-hide, a coat of tar +and feathers, or some other corrective that you are in the habit of +using. I would not advise these punishments; in a free State they would +not be practicable; but in States where such things are in constant use, +it is rather surprising that some person has not thought of thus +applying them. Men who commit acts declared by the whole civilized world +to be piracy, you permit to escape, while you say you will hang the man +who circulates Helper's book. Before you complain of the free States, +arrest and punish the scoundrels who so cruelly treated the Irishman at +Columbia, South Carolina, for no offence but saying that slavery was +detrimental to free labor. + +Take from place and power the men whose hands and faces are reeking and +smoking with the blood of our people in Kansas, and put them to death. +Punish the thousands of others who have committed acts of violence +against free-State men, and are yet unwhipped of justice. These things +you must do, before you complain of us. I take no pleasure in these +criminations and recriminations. I know that all the States are a part +of my country; but when I hear of the wrongs and outrages perpetrated on +men merely because they will not subscribe to the doctrines you hold, +and hear you complain of us for not doing our duty as citizens, I will +let you know that you, too, "are made of penetrable stuff." I have + + "Learned to deride your fierce decree, + And break you on the wheel you meant for me." + +I do not mean to interfere with any man's legal or constitutional +rights. The people of the slave States have the right to continue +slavery there if they desire so to do. I have no right to interfere with +it. But I intend to maintain my own rights. + +To draw an impassable line around slavery, and confine it within its +present limits; an absolute abolition of the African slave trade; the +Territories to be kept free for homes for free men--these measures I +regard as absolutely essential to the perpetuation of this Government, +and to the highest development of the Anglo-Saxon race. I have +endeavored to show what slavery is, what it has done, and what it +intends to do. I have also endeavored to show what are the aims and +objects of the Republican party; and if they cannot be tolerated--if +such principles cannot be sustained by the people of any section of this +country--it is the misfortune of that people. They are the principles +that ought to be sustained by all people that are fitted for civil +liberty; they are the principles on which this Government was founded; +they were baptized in the best blood of this nation; they were cherished +by the greatest names that adorn the brightest pages of the history of +our country during its patriotic and virtuous and heroic age. They were +emblazoned on every banner that waved over our army in every +battle-field of the Revolution; during the storm and darkness, they were +the bright "signet on the bosom of the cloud," the rainbow of promise +and of hope. + + + _Published by the Republican Congressional Committee. + Price 50 cents per hundred._ + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Variant + spellings have been retained. Significant amendments to the original + text have been listed below: + + p. 2, 'Newbern' amended to _New Bern_; + '... meeting in New Bern, North Carolina ...' + + p. 6, 'Scot' amended to _Scott_; + '... in the Dred Scott case ...' + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Slavery: What it was, what it has +done, what it intends to do, by Cydnor Bailey Tompkins + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVERY: WHAT IT WAS; HAS DONE *** + +***** This file should be named 27767.txt or 27767.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/7/6/27767/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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