Glass JL4M 
 Book 
 

 SPEECH ^ ^^ 
 
 77^ 
 
 MR. .PICKENS, OF SOUTH CAI^01.INA, 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 JANUARY 21, 1836, 
 
 ABOL.ITION a^JE.STION. 
 
 POBLIEHEB TKOM THE XOTKS OF HENRY GODFRKT WHEEL :2R, rfEVISED AND CORRECTEB 
 
 BT THE AUTHOR. 
 
 WASHINGTON ; 
 
 PHrSTED BT GAJ.ES 8c SEi.rO». 
 
 1836. 
 
.\\: V\ 
 
 
SPEECH 
 
 The resolulion of Mr. Wise, declaring thut Congress Iiiis no power luukr liis CoaslituUoa 
 to abolisli Slavery in the District of Columbia, &.C., being under considtration — 
 
 Mr. PICKENS rose, and observed tniit he regretted exceedingly the 
 necessity that induced him to say any thing on the interesting and deep- 
 ly exciting topics before the House. Sir, when 1 had occasion, some 
 weeks since, to make a'few remarks on this subject, !, as well as the 
 party I have the honor to be associated with, were then denounced as 
 attempting to raise a discussion and excitement for party purposes. It 
 was said that, like the Hartford-convention men and the abolitionists, 
 ive were put down and sunk in the country, and that we desired some 
 sectional excitement to raise us from our weak position, &c. I would 
 disdain to notice this, if the charge had oiiginated from, and been con- 
 fined to, a miserable whipster editor, who has been hired to hunt dowr 
 all that is virtuous and intellectual in the country — who has fed upon 
 calumny and fattens upon slander, and upon whose countenance envy 
 and malignity hold their cadaverous union — I would loathe to touch this 
 pitifid thing^ihiit lives by licking the spittle of men, if it were not that it 
 is understood to represent the Executive branch of this Governmejit, and 
 is the organ of the dominant party that now rules the destinies of this 
 republic. This being the fact, I call upon every honest and virtuous 
 man to brand it with the indignation that its falsehood and infamy de- 
 serve. Let no man suppose that, because I belong to a comparatively 
 small party, persecuted and misrepresented, my voice is ever to be 
 silenced upon this floor, when the honor or the interests of those I stand 
 here to represent n)ay be involved, directly or indirectly. No earthly 
 coiisideration shall deter me from uttering the sentiments of my heart on 
 this subject. Let no man make it a question for partisan warfare, or 
 for party triumph. It rises above all jiarties, and is identified with the 
 dearest and paramount interests of every Southern State in this confed- 
 eracy. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I have seen enough to convince mo that there is an un- 
 sound state of feeling here and elsewhere, totally at v/ar with our rights 
 and our institutions. I have not read passing events for the s;ist year to 
 be now deceived at what I sec. i agree with gentlemen, when ihcy 
 say the abolition societies and their open partisans are at present, com- 
 pared with other great parties, small, so far as numbers arc concerned. 
 But, to ascertain their real strength, we inust examine the peculiar divi- 
 
 y^ 
 
sioii -of parties tliat exists in the non-slaveholding States. Take, for 
 instance, Ivew York, and we lind there the anti-masonic party, the 
 whip; party, and the party i believe called the " regency party." From 
 the division of these parties, the abolitionists become important and pow- 
 erful, as holding the balance of power ; hence it is, that all other parties, 
 desiring their strength, acquiesce, to a certain extent, in their measures 
 and movements. There is a high game playing for political power, and 
 those who would seem to be weak from numbers become strong from 
 position. Their strength consists in fanaticism — in painting scenes of 
 imaginary evil — in appealing to the passions of the lieart, and, as the 
 gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr, Adams) says, to their religion. 
 -Ind when was fanaticism arrested ? Look at its history all over the 
 world. In its first commencement, it is seen like a speck in the distant 
 horizon — but mark it as it rises — it spreads and widens and grows black- 
 er and blacker, until it sweeps with the fury of the rushing tornado, des- 
 olating the earth ; and the good and the wise stand as if stricken with 
 dumbness, while the bold and the strong quake and tremble like un- 
 weaned infants under the trumpet's blast. 
 
 In its first struggles, it is despised for its weakness, but at length, 
 "cresciteundo," until it v^^alks erect in its giant strength and power, and, 
 with the muscular action of a madman, tramples into the dust and earth 
 those w^ho at fust felt pity for its delusion, and contempt for its impotence. 
 The only w-ay to contend with it is to meet it and strangle it in its in- 
 fancy. 
 
 What has been t'le history of the last summer ? We have seen the 
 whole country excited and agitated to the highest degree. There has 
 not been a State, nor county, nor town, from one end of this Union to 
 the other, that has not been tremblingly alive to the "general welfare." 
 Societies upon societies have been formed — thousands upon thousands 
 have been raised for the avowed object of producing a change, a deep 
 and vital change in the domestic institutions ol" the Southern States. There 
 is scarcely a common newspaper, a magazine, or review that comes 
 from the North, but what brings something of prejudice and denunciation 
 against us. There is not a school book, not a common geography, 
 which does not contain sjomething, by inuendo or insinuation, calculated 
 to train up our children to believe that the inheritance of their fathers is 
 full of evil and iniquity. The prejudices, opinions, and moral power of 
 the whole non-slaveholding States are directly and openly against us on 
 the subject of domestic servitude. And well may the gentleman from 
 Massachusetts (Mr. Adams) declare that every member's speech on 
 this subject from north of Mason and Dixon's line, would be an incen- 
 diary pamphlet.^ and if they pursued a certain course here, they would be 
 swept from 4heir seats. 
 
 Sir, under these circumstances, is it astonishing that we should be ex- 
 cited here .'' But it is not in our own country only that we have to en- 
 counter prejudice. England has emancipated her West Ind^a isl.mds. 
 France is also moving in the same direction — herpress, too, is calling upthe 
 prejudices of the nation against this institution. And in England there 
 is no Review, from the polished and talented Edinburg, down to the Jere- 
 my Bentham levelling Westminster, that does not open its battery and 
 
denunciation upon us. Even, too, that prince of modern demagogues^ 
 Mr. O'Connell, in the plentitude of his arrou;ance and vanity, must think 
 fit to strike the vilest and basest notes, to call up the passions and pre- 
 judices of the ignoble and low, against institutions, the true nature of 
 which his ignorance forbade him to understand, and against a gallant 
 people, whose virtues his natural vulgarity could never appreciate. He 
 talk about equal rights and public truth., when he lives upon a splendid 
 income raised by "grinding the face of the poor," by drawing the last 
 farthing from a starving and devoted people ! And here I regret, deeply 
 regret, that a gentleman on this side of the Atlantic, distinguished for his 
 learning and elegant diction, has recently thought proper to echo back 
 these notes, and play a second part to this Irish demagogue, by publish- 
 ing sentiments and a tissue of visionary declamation, calculated to have 
 no other effect than to excite feelings, sympathies, and prejudices at war 
 with the harmony of the Union, and the forbearing principles of the 
 constitution, which he, as well as every other good citizen, has tacitly 
 sworn to support. I allude to Dr. Channing, and I ailude to him with 
 pain and regret. Instead of standing on his palmy eminence, with the 
 benevolence and charity of an enlightened christian, to pour out " oil 
 upon the troubled waters," we find him inculcating sentiments and 
 spreading doctrines calculated to alienate the affections and sympathies 
 of the people of this Union from different sections. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, we cannot mistake all these things. The truth is, the 
 moral power of the world is against us. It is idle to disguise it. We 
 must, sooner or later, meet the great issue that is to be made upon this 
 subject;. Deeply connected with this, is the movement to be made in the 
 District of Columbia. If the power be asserted in Congress to interfere 
 .here, or any approach be made towards that end, it will give a shock to 
 our institutions and the country, the consequences of which no man can 
 foretell. Sir, as well might you grapple your iron grasp into the very 
 heart and vitals of South Carolina, as to touch this subject here. Georgia 
 has perceived this, and felt its full force. She, under these views, has 
 recently passed a resolution declaring it unconstitutional for Congress to 
 touch this matter here, and met the whole subject as became her and her 
 interests. Under these circumstances, I was astonished to hear the gen- 
 tleman from Georgia (Mr, Holsey) intimate that he was willing, for the 
 present, to give this resolution the go-hy. [Here Mr. Holsey explained 
 that he was willing to meet the question when it came up at the proper 
 time, in a distinct and independent resolution, &c.] Mr. P. then pro- 
 ceeded, and said that he would not press these circumstances at present. 
 
 Virginia has but the other day passed a resolution to the same purport. 
 She, alive to the deep stake she has in the question, has approached near 
 to unanimity on it. The resolution denying to Congress any constitu- 
 tional power over the subject in this District, was passed by a vote of 1 15 
 to 9 in her House of Delegates. There, there is one subject at least upon 
 which all parties can unite. I was deeply gratified to see that noble State 
 speaking as became her ancient character. That prOud StOite, justly proud, 
 from having enrolled on the scroll of fame her hundred patriots, has felt her 
 vital interests and honor concerned, and moved with a unanimity and spirit 
 that became the land of Richard Henry Lee, George Mason, and Patrick 
 
Henry. I trust no son of hershere wiii fall below the position she has cho- 
 sen to occupy. Before she can waver or falter on this su'DJect, directly or 
 indirectly, you must iirst break up the foundations of all her institutions ; you 
 must make a nevv' race of people in her bosom, who must forget the glory 
 of the past ; whose hearts must beat with impulses and emotions of a new 
 and degenerate nature ; v.hose mothers must quicken with a new and un- 
 natural offspring. 
 
 Sir, I deprecate all party ties and party feelings in this matter. It is 
 too solemn a subject for this. If there be any man here who has any mis- 
 givings or trembling as to the future on this subject, let me say to hira, 
 this is no place for him. If there be any representative here from any 
 part or portion of the slaveholding race, whose heart is so bowed down 
 in subserviency and servility to party discipline and party organization, 
 as to be drawn off on this question for the vile purpose of partisan as- 
 cendency and political triumph in the miserable conflicts of the day, let 
 me say to him, this is no place for him, unless he is prepared to cover 
 himself with prostitution. If there be any gentleman here from the same 
 region, whose aspirations are to please the dominant interests of this con- 
 federacy by sycophancy and flattery, for the purpose of clothing himself 
 in the livery and trappings of office, this is no place for him, unless he is 
 prepared to abandon the inheritance of his fathers, and cover his children 
 with degradation and ruin. 
 
 It is of no avail to close our eyes to passing events around us, in this 
 country and in Europe. Every thing proclaims that, sooner or later, we 
 shall have to meet the strong and the powerful, and contend over the 
 tombs of our fathers for our consecrated hearth-stones and household 
 gods, or abandon our country to become a black colony, and seek for our- 
 selves a refuge in the wilderness of the West. It is in vain to avoid the 
 contest. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : As to the constitutional power of this Govei nnlent to 
 toucli the subject in any shape or form, within the States of this Union, 
 I disdain to argue that point. If the dominant interests of this nation 
 should ever become so bold and jeckless as to touch the matter, or exer- 
 cise such a power, di.^ectly or indirectly, then, if we hold our seats on 
 this floor, we shall become the slaves of slaves, and deserve our infamous 
 destiny. If ever we shoiild be forced to hold up the noble but mutilated 
 parchment of the constitution as a shield between us and the Goths and 
 the Vandals who may have come in to desecrate and desolate all that is 
 venerable and fair in the institutions of our country, then indeed shall 
 we have lived to see the day when conflagration shall sweep through the 
 land and scath its living monuments — when the scattered fragments of 
 a broken and dismembered empire shall exist here and there, only to 
 mark where the republic once was. 
 
 While I can never consent to discuss the constitutional power of this 
 Government as relates to the States, yet it becomes us to examine the 
 powers under the constitution given in this District. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: Before we proceed on this point, it w'ould be well for 
 us to call to our minds the circumstances and causes that induced the acts 
 of cession granting jurisdiction in this District. When Congress was 
 n session at Philadelphia, a mob created great disturbance, and they found 
 
themselves unable, for want of authority, to protect themselves and their 
 officers. Hence it became important that they should have some territo- 
 ry with exclusive jurisdiction over it. The object and sole desire of 
 Congress, was to be able to protect itself, its officers, and its publie 
 buildings, and make such other municipal regulations as might be deemed 
 necessary for the harmony, quiet, and independence of the Government. 
 When we look at these circumstances, and then compare the clause in 
 the constitution conferring legislative power, we can come to but one con- 
 clusion as to the great leading objects of the trust. The words are, that 
 Congress " shall exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever 
 over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession 
 of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of 
 Government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all 
 places purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the States in which 
 the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock 
 yards, and other needful buildings." 
 
 " Exclusive legislation" here cannot mean absolute and unlimited 
 legislation. This Government cannot legally exist in any position with- 
 out all the restraints of the constitution binding upon it. It is created by 
 the constitution, and cannot act in any sphere except under its specifie 
 grants: and to contend that it has all the powers here that the States 
 can exercise within their territories, is a solecism in constitutional law, 
 for the States can exercise all the powers not prohibited by the principles 
 and spirit of their own constitutions, or the constitution of the United 
 States, while this Government can exercise no power not specifically 
 granted by the constitution, or absolutely necessary to carry into eifect 
 some specific grant. Exclusive legislation means that no other Govern- 
 ment shall have concurrent legislation. Congress shall exercise "like 
 authority" over all places purchased for forts, arsenals, &c. The legis- 
 lation and authority exercised in this District, in like manner, shall be 
 exercised over places purchased for forts, &;c. If, then. Congress is un- 
 limited here, then it is unlimited in those other places where publie 
 works are, and if slavery can be abolished here, then, in like manner, 
 can it be abolished in all those places in the heart of a State where there 
 may be public works, &c. All the power intended to be given was to 
 enable this Government to protect and preserve its public works and 
 improvements, and " like authority" was intended to be given in this 
 District, authority that might be essential to carry out the legitimate ob- 
 jects of the original trust, and no more. Any exercise of pov/er beyond 
 the obvious meaning and plain intentions of the grant of power at the 
 time it was given, is a violation of its spirit and perversion of its pur- 
 poses. 
 
 Again : The ninth section expressly excludes Congress from prohibiting 
 the importation of slaves until 1808. If the clause giving "exclusive 
 legislation" embraces the power to abolish slavery, then it was created 
 without limitation at the date of the instrument. But if Congress had, 
 before 1808, attempted to prohibit the importation of slaves, here or else- 
 where, it v,ould have been directly against the letter of the constitution. 
 There has been no new acquirement of power since the date of that in- 
 strument, nor enlargement of the provisions of the clause granting " ex- 
 
8 
 
 elusive legislation." We cannot do that indirectly which we cannot do 
 directly: and if Congress had abolished slavery here prior to 1808, it 
 would have been the most effectual measure to prohibit their importation, 
 and this they w^ere clearly and expressly prohibited from doing. I do 
 not refer to this so much as being perfectly conclusive, as to show that it 
 was the whole spirit and intention of the constitution that this Govern- 
 ment should have no power to disturb this delicate and exciting subject. 
 We all know the extreme jealousy that existed amongst the States on 
 this matter at the formation of the constitution — so much so, that it was 
 one of the principal difliculties in forming a "more perfect union." 
 
 Is it to be supposed that Virginia, sensitive and jealous as she w'as at 
 that time on the subject of slavery, would have ceded a portion of her 
 territory and citizens, if she had, for one moment, conceived that, under 
 the clause in the constitution conferring legislative powers, they were to 
 be thrown at the mercy of other interests, and other sections, antagonist 
 to herself on this vital point ? 
 
 The fifth amendment declares that " private property shall not be 
 taken for public use, without just compensation." Much less can it 
 be taken for private use. It cannot be taken except for public use. 
 It becomes then important to ascertain whether slaves are private 
 pioperty. And here let it be observed that there is a loose idea 
 abroad, that we hold our riglits to that species of property under the 
 compromises of the constitution. W^e hold them as original rights, be- 
 fore and aboA'e the constitution, coming from the States in their se- 
 parate existence. The compromises of the constitution relate entirely 
 to the relative representation that the States, as political communities, 
 shall have upon this floor ; but this is not the source of rights to us in 
 this or any other private property. The constitution recognises them as 
 private property : the second section, apportioning our representation, 
 the clause enabling the owner to recover his fugitive slave, and the 
 clause sanctioning their importation until 1808, all show that the constitu- 
 tion recognises them as property, as things, other than persons. The 
 judicial tribunals of the non-slaveholding as well as the slaveholding 
 States, have all settled this principle. Then they cannot be taken ex- 
 cept for public uses. What is public use ?. If they were w^anted on our 
 public works, if they were needed in a great emergency, then might 
 they be taken on just compensation. But if there be aiij' one thing 
 dearer than another, it is, that abolition was not the public use contem- 
 plated in the constitution. They cannot be taken without just compen- 
 sation even for public use. How can money be drawn from the public 
 treasury, except through appropriation by law .'' There can be no legal 
 appropriation, except to carry into effect some specific power granted in 
 the constitution, or clearly implied as absolutely necessary to carry into 
 effect some specific grant. There is no specific power to abolish slavery, 
 and it being itself a high exercise of substantive power, cannot be im- 
 plied as absolutely necessary to carry into effect any other power. As 
 well migiit we pass appropriations to pay the people of this District for 
 their cattle and horses, to give them the blessed privilege of running 
 free and unrestrained over the barren hills and waste commons around 
 this capitol. As to principle and power, it is the same. 
 
9 
 
 But it is said, all the States may emancipate, and this District be 
 left without the means of changing its condition. This is certainly any 
 thing hut a constitutional argument, for I answer, that even if this were 
 to be the case, it is the constitution, and will be so until it is changed by 
 the proper authorities. There is really no difficulty on this point, as 
 those who choose can now emancipate by deed or will. In connexion 
 with the constitution, let us for a moment examine the act of ces- 
 sion from Virginia. The proviso declares " that, nothing herein con- 
 tained shall be construed to vest in the United States any right of pro- 
 perty in the soil, or to affect the rights of individuals therein^ otherwise 
 than the same shall or may be transferred by such individuals to the 
 United States." Let it be understood that this follows immediately af- 
 ter the clause describing the tract of country and particular extent of 
 territory ceded. I admit the terms are somewhat equivocal at first. If 
 the words " the rights of individuals therein" refer only back to control 
 the property in the soil, then they were of no use ; for, under the consti- 
 tution alone. Congress could not have interfered in the freehold. One 
 of the first principles of the magna charta is, that no freeman shall be 
 deseized of his freehold without the judgment of his peers. If those 
 words were meant only to limit the power of the Government over the 
 freehold of a citizen, then they were useless V/erbiage. Those who in- 
 serted them must have meant something more. When we look at the 
 sensitivenes of Virginia on the interesting and vital subject of the pe- 
 culiar property of her citizens she was about to cede, we are led to be- 
 lieve that she must have meant, in the words " rights of individuals 
 therein," other rights than those of " soil." Connect this with the 
 clauses in the constitution, and no man can refrain from admitting that it 
 is, to say the least of it, a doubtful power, which every patriot in a lim- 
 ited Government would refrain from claiming as under the constitution. 
 
 But, Mr. Speaker, I take higher ground than this, and contend that, 
 according to the bill of rights of Maryland, and the constitution of Vir- 
 ginia, those States, themselves, could not have ceded absolute and unre- 
 strained power over private property of any kind in this District. The 
 citizens of this District had peculiar rights secured in their property by 
 the constitutions of their own States ; and if Virginia and Maryland had 
 attempted to cede absolute power over this subject, they would have 
 violated the rights of their own citizens, and would have committed, not 
 a legal act, but an act oi force. Next to life and liberty, these citizens 
 had, under the paramount laws of the two adjoining States, the rights of 
 property secured in the most solemn and unqualified manner ; and as 
 well might Virginia now divorce from herself any portion of her ireemen, 
 and transfer them, bound hand and foot, to the jurisdiction of New York, 
 as to have thrown the citizens of this District, in their rights to a pecu- 
 liar property, upon the unrestrained and tender mercy of this Government. 
 
 Again : No State, from the Potomac to the Mississippi, under its con- 
 stitution as it now stands, has any right to abolish slavery without the 
 consent of the individual owners. I assert this upon that great prin- 
 ciple of English liberty which is incorporated into every constitution, 
 that no freeman shall be deprived of his property but by the judgment 
 of his peers or the laws of the land. The constitutions are the para- 
 
10 
 
 mount laws of the land, which the action of no Government, constituted 
 under them, can legally subvert. States may do unlawful acts which 
 their citizens may assent to or acquiesce in, but this does not constitute 
 legal authority. Those States that hold slaves as property might, if they 
 desired, assemble in their conventions, representing the sovereign power 
 of the community, for the specific object of abolishing that property, and 
 the people might choose their delegates for that alone. But this would 
 be a re -organization of the body politic, above the constitution. And 
 even in convention, they would do it under tlie unwritten and organic 
 law that govern? all simple consolidated communities, and which exists 
 from the necessity of the case, that the majority must govern. This 
 exists only in a consolidated community, when it is thrown into its sim- 
 ple and original elements. And even then, the minority acquiesces more 
 irom a calculation of expediency than obligation. 
 
 Sir, if this view be true of the great principles that regulate even the 
 power of the States on this subject, how^ futile and shallow is that argu- 
 ment which claims for this Government all the legislative powers here, 
 that the States have within their territories. But it is stronger than 
 this. The Government of the United States can acquire no legal power 
 even by consent of citizens. It has no existence beyond the express 
 grants of the constitution, and no power can be acquired for it by the 
 action or acquiescence of the people, as people or citizens : this must 
 be given by the States that made it, and who alone can alter it. 
 
 There is a wide mistake and loose notion on the subject of the power 
 of Government over private property. Gentlemen draw their ideas on 
 this subject from the history of European governments and the juiispru- 
 dence of Great Britain. If there be any one principle that has distin- 
 guished our Revolution from all others, it is this, that w^e have succeeded 
 in limiting and restricting the powder of Government over private property 
 and more elfectually securing the rights of citizens thereto. If this was 
 not the great principle of the American Revolution, then it has none. 
 The line that separates the power of Government from private property, 
 is the line that defines the limits of liberty, in all countries. I know, sir, 
 that the British Government, under the claims of omnipotence in Par- 
 liament, has again and again trampled over the great principles of the 
 magna charta, and it is not there that we are to look for examples to de- 
 fine our notions of power in Government over the property of a free 
 people. Under the plea of state necessity and the high prerogatives of 
 police power^ a country may be protected and a people regulated, but the 
 Government may be a despotism. But in this country, with our consti- 
 tutions and limitations defined, I deny the right to interfere with private 
 property except by " due process of lav/," through the verdict of a jury 
 of freemen. 
 
 It is however suggested that, although you cannot pass an act to 
 abolish slavery at present, yet you may pass it to take effect in future, 
 upon the post nati principle. Let us examine this. If the rights of ci- 
 tizens be secured unqualifiedly at present under the constitution, how 
 can you directly or indirectly interfere in the future ? If I have a per- 
 fect right to my stock, I have a right to its proceeds, and the Government 
 that attempts to cut off the right of proceeds, is as absolute and despotic 
 
11 
 
 as that which would take the property itself. A free Government may 
 regulate and shape " descents^'''' to preserve and piotect them for the 
 benefit of its citizens, but no Government is free that, instead of a whole- 
 some and judicious exercise of this power, usurps to cut them off entirely. 
 If Government have no right to destroy the existing property itself, it has 
 nx) right to destroy its proceeds. The principle and the power are the 
 same in the one case as the other. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, allow me to suggest to our Northern friends the pro- 
 priety, if they can, of taking these constitutional grounds. I respectfully 
 suggest v.hether it would not be better for them to raise the constitutional 
 restrictions as a shield between themselves and popular fanaticism, than to 
 rely upon the grounds oi expediency . If they intend to save the institutions 
 of this country, let them raise the constitutional powers against the move- 
 ments for abolition in this District ; let them go home with the constitution 
 in their hands to show that it precludes any interference. I entreat them 
 to take this ground now, and make the issue with this abolition spirit, 
 when the good and the virtuous have some power and control. Put 
 them down now, by this and strong acts of local legislation, or you will 
 be compelled to come here and cry aloud to save this Union, after it shall 
 be too late, when the beacon-fires of an indignant people shall blaze 
 over a thousand hills, and the swords of a hundred thousand freeman 
 shall gleam on high to avenge our wrongs and vindicate our rights. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: It has been said that slavery is a "foul blot upon our 
 national escutcheon" — " an evil"— that " all men are created equal," &c- 
 Let us examine these propositions for a moment. " All men are created 
 equal." What, sir, was the meaning that the author of the Declaration 
 attached to this proposition ?. Was it meant that all men are created 
 equally strong and of equal size ? Surely not. Was it meant that all men 
 were born free .' From the child in the bulrushes up to those of the pre- 
 sent day, there never was an infant wrapt in " swaddling clothes" that was 
 born free. Was it meant *that all: men were born v.'ith equal rights to an 
 equal destiny? From the time it was declared that the iniquities of some 
 should be "visited unto the third and fourth generations" — from the days 
 of Moses and the Children of Israel — the history of mankind proclaims 
 that there is " an elect and chosen few," made the peculiar receptacles 
 of the favors and blessings of an all-wise and all-pervading Providence, 
 This is the world as we find it, and it rs not for us to war upon destiny. 
 
 What, then, was the meaning ? It was intended to declare the abstract 
 truththat all men were born equally entitled to political privileges. Let 
 us look into this, as practical legislators. Throw man back into a state of 
 savage existence — proclaim his physical and brutal propensities trium- 
 phant, and himself lord of the recesses of the wilderness, and then this 
 abstract truth may have some practical bearing. But, let him accumu- 
 late property ; let his intellectual attributes triumph over his brutal na- 
 ture ; make him civilized ; and send him forth, erect in the image of his 
 Maker, with the light of reason and benevolence beaming from his coun- 
 tenance ; then his great characteristic is, that he becomes a social being. 
 Organize him into society, to act with his fellow-man, and then proclaim 
 the abstract truth that all men are equal, as a great fundamental doctrine 
 to be practically acted upon, and you do nothing more nor less than raise 
 
 \ 
 
12 
 
 his hand against every other man, and every other man's hand against 
 him ; and, instead of its becoming a doctrine lull of light and peace to a 
 world sleeping in darkness and bondage, it becomes a doctrine of uni- 
 versal discord, confusion, and ruin. True, it is an abstract truth ; but, 
 like all other mere abstractions, it can have no actual existence. True 
 and practical liberty, in my opinion, exists amongst a people who live 
 under a system of ascertained and well-regulated laiv^ that has grown up 
 from time immemorial out of the experience and absolute necessities of 
 the society that is framed under it ; and for one people, living in a totally 
 different region and under totally different circumstances, to attempt to 
 give a system of political libeity to another people, living under entirely 
 different wants and necessities, is one of the most stupid pieces of folly 
 that belongs to the age, and partakes deeply of that arrogance and pre- 
 sumption which would prompt a blind despotism to proclaim one uni- 
 versal and consolidated system for the government of mankind. 
 
 In the nineteenth century, when the great institutions of civilization 
 have their foundations laid deep in the wants and experience of accumu- 
 lated centuries, let no man, in the madness and folly of his zeal, be so 
 reckless' as to proclaim a mere abstract theoretical truth, for the purpose 
 of calling up the most envious and malignant passions of the human heart, 
 which must result in pulling down all that is settled and peaceful, and 
 spreading around anarchy and blood. Let no public man act upon a 
 great people by experimental theories. You may proclaim a truth and 
 form a system perfect in your own mind, but put it into practical opera- 
 tion, and you may bring misery and wretchedness upon a happy land. 
 
 Look to the French nation for the last half century, that great source 
 of lessons so full of practical wisdom. They commenced by declaring 
 that " all men were created equal." And the next great solemn act was 
 to decla;:e there was no God, and that the "Bible was a lie." What was 
 the result ? ' After they succeeded in transferring the property of the na- 
 tion from those who had accumulated it to those who had none, then 
 they chaunted hallelujahs to their imaginary system of equality, even 
 while the blood of virtue and of innocence flowed in wide-spread sluices 
 from the guillotine, under the hands of Robespierre and Danton. 
 The same sword that was raised on high at Lodi and Marengo, to vindi- 
 cate the equal rights of republican France, was soon, very soon, grasped 
 by the hand of a tyrant and despot, who waved it, dripping with blood, 
 over an enslaved and unhappy people. Let 'no man proclaim universal 
 equality as practically to be enforced in any society on earth, unless he is 
 prepared to appeal to universal revolution to sustain it. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : We are denounced before the world for holding a race 
 amongst us in domestic servitude. It is not my province, nor is this the 
 place, to expound the precepts of divine law: but I lay down this prop- 
 osition as universally true, that there is not, nor never w-as a society, or- 
 ganized under one political system for a period long enough to constitute 
 an era, where one class would not practically and substantially own an- 
 other class, in some shape or form. Let not gentlemen from the North 
 start at this truth. We are yet, as a people, in our infancy. Society has 
 not yet been pressed down into its classifications. • Let us live through 
 an em, and then we shall discover this great truth. All society settles 
 
13 
 
 doAvn into a classification of capitalists and laborers. The former will 
 own the latter, either collectively, through the Government, or individu- 
 iilly, in a state of domestic servitude, as exists in the Southern States of 
 this confederacy. The only contest in the world is between the two 
 systems. If laborers ever obtain the political power of a country, it is 
 in fact in a state of revolution, which must end in substantially transfer- 
 ing property to themselves, until they shall become capitalists, unless 
 those who have it shallappeal to the sword and a standing army toprot.'ct it. 
 This is the history of a!l civilized people. There is not a govern ii;ent 
 in chiistendoni thai does not rest upon this power, except our own, and. 
 here we have substituted for open force, constitutions, and the concen- 
 centrated public opinion of communities. But we have not yet lived 
 through experience, and it is yet to be seen whether bribery, corruption, 
 and fraud, shall not take the place, for the present, of the constitution and 
 public opinion, and finally force the old appeal to the sivord. 
 
 To illustrate this position, take one hundred men, and organize ihem 
 under one Government, and start them with your imaginary notion (vf all 
 being equal. What is the result ? The Creator has made some more 
 active, more economical, more industrious than others ; and in five years, 
 in all human probability, forty out of the hundred will accumulate pioier- 
 ty, while sixty will not. The political power must be supported by taxes 
 and revenue, and if all have equal power, the sixty will lay taxes upon 
 the forty, and distribute the revenue, not amongst the forty, but am.iagst 
 themselves. This will in time substantially transfer the property oi the 
 forty to the sixty, or the former must appeal to the sword, when twenty 
 out of the sixty will be paid to constitute a standing army, and form the 
 basis of power in the forty. Let it be understood, that in the poir.ical 
 action of classes, the restraints of public opinion and public responsiinlity 
 do not operate through a series of years, but that man, acting in hi:- col- 
 lective capacity, is essentially impelled by his appetites, his passions, and 
 his interests. It is only in his individual capacity that he becomes an in- 
 tellectual, moral, and virtuous being. 
 
 Let us analyze any government on earth: take, for instance, the B- tish 
 constitution. The House of Lords represents the landed capitals is of 
 Great Britain ; the House of Commons the commercial and manuficturing 
 capitalists; and both together represent the aggregate capitalists of the 
 country. The King is supported as a third power, to check and bal.uice 
 the two other equal powers, and give vigor to the system. I'ht • are 
 mutually interested in one thing only, and that is, to ascertain what the 
 labor of the nation will live on ; and all over and above that, they take 
 and divide amongst themselves and the interests tliey represent, by the 
 power of raising revenue, and in its distribution. This they do i the 
 ten thousand shapes and forms, which human ingenuiiy and wiclu . ies# 
 can invent; through a standing army and navy, the civil and dipio , atic 
 corps, and a half a million of pensioned protiigates, besides the v/uole 
 system of taxation, by which all the burdens shall indirectly fall on one 
 class, and the blessings on another. 
 
 And this would inevitably be the result in every non-hlavcho'ling 
 State of this Union, in the course of time, under a separate and imli'-uiu- 
 al existence. Ascertain as destiny, property would there change i: ids, 
 
 \ 
 
14 
 
 or those who have it would be compelled to appeal to the sword, or sink 
 into political degradation. In addition to our infancy as a society, and 
 the unparalleled superabundance of freehold, the Government here, 
 through its distributions, has, to a certain extent, satisfied the laborers of 
 the North, and diverted them from their capitalists at home. But nothing 
 but open agrarianism can much longer keep in peace and subjection an 
 excited and hungry multitude, who, under the cry of the " poor against 
 the rich," may be raised, to clamor for vengeance around the vaults of 
 hoarded wealth. 
 
 The capitalists north of Mason and Dixon's line have precisely the 
 same interest in the labor of the country that the capitalists of England 
 have in their labor. Hence it is that they want a strong Federal Gov- 
 ernment, through which they may more effectually control the labor of 
 the nation. But it is precisely the reverse with us. We already have 
 not only a right to the proceeds of our laborers, but we own a class of 
 laborers themselves. Hence it is that we want a strong Government at 
 home and a weak one here, except so far as concerns our foreign rela- 
 tions. And hence it is that no doctrine that makes this Government 
 controlled by the simple action of a majority of mere numbers, can be 
 more desolating and fatal in its efiects upon us. This, sir, is at the basis 
 of all difference between the slaveholding and non-slaveholding States 
 of this confederacy. But let me say to gentlemen who represent the 
 great class of capitalists in the North, Beware that you do not drive us 
 into a separate system, for if you do, as ceitain as the decrees of Heaven, 
 you will be compelled to appeal to the sword to maintain yourselves at 
 home. It may not come in your day, but your children's children will 
 be covered with the blood of domestic factions, and a plundering mob 
 contending iov power and conquest. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : Let us look for a moment into this modern crusade, rais- 
 ed all over the'world against domestic servitude. The British Govern- 
 ment violated the rights of property to emancipate a race in the West 
 Indies, only to throw them upon the world, strolling vagrants and vaga- 
 bonds. And it is remarkable that the same ininister who held in his 
 hand the act of emancipation to the black man abroad, rose in his seat to 
 congratulate the nation that he w^as enabled to withdraw troops from fo- 
 reign stations, and to "place them in the manufacturing districts" at 
 home, "to keep down insurrection and disturbance." While a mistaken 
 sympathy, and bigoted and fanatical religion, can prompt men to feel for 
 the imaginary evils of the black or red man of distant regions, there 
 seems to be no heart for the suffering and slavery of the white man at 
 home. The same Governmient that suffered itself to be forced to an act 
 of emancipation, through the influence of stupid fanaticism, aided by the 
 instigations of the British East India Company, for the purposes of gain 
 and monopoly, actually holds in political vassalage at home, Ireland — 
 the land of genius and eloquence. While seven millions of men around 
 them feel all the pressure of despotism and abject slavery, in want and 
 misery, they have the hardihood and shamelessness to proclaim em;inci- 
 pation abroad. While England holds in bondage one hundred vallions 
 of human beings in her East India possessions, where, if any native 
 should dare to raise a voice (even although that voice should be a. female 
 
15 
 
 princess) against British clemency or the British Government, immedi- 
 ately ,/z//;(/ thousand bayonets would spring up for plunder and murder; 
 yet, sir, while this is notoriously the case, she has the hypocrisy to preach 
 universal emancipation. 
 
 Take, sir, a case nearer home. In the city of New York it is, that so- 
 cieties upon societies have been formed, and thousands upon thousands 
 raised to alleviate the evils of the far South, and to regenerate our coun- 
 try. Go into that city — visit " Five points," and there gaze, if you can, 
 upon the scenes of wretchedness, guilt, wo, and miser3\ Behold thous- 
 ands upon thousands, of all hues and complexions, dragging their starving 
 and emaciated forms from their dens and cellars into the light and 
 warmth of day, to support sinking nature. I believe there is more 
 want, more evil, and more sufiering, in that single city, than exists 
 from the Potomac to the Mississippi. It would take all the resources of 
 their societies to relieve those who suffer at home. Yet the stupidity, 
 bigotry, and fanaticism of modern days, which are sweeping through the 
 land, seem only to seek out distant objects, where the imagination ex- 
 aggerates evil, on which to exercise their blind and ignorant benevolence. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, as to the particular treatment of those we avow to hold 
 in bondage, and our peculiar rights in them, I scorn to vindicate either 
 the one or the other here. But let me say, sir, that our system of do- 
 mestic servitude, where all the sympathies and interests that can bind 
 individual capitalists and individual laborers together exist, is the same 
 patriarchal system that existed in the first ages of society. Our classifi- 
 cation is into blacks and whites, and w-e openly avow before the world 
 that we own the former, through both intellectual and physical force. 
 We have nothing to conceal or disguise. Ours is the ancient system of 
 society that existed amongst the Greeks and the Romans, and to a cer- 
 tain Qxtent, in the feudal serf system of the Gallic race. And here let 
 me refer, when the world supposes it full of intrinsic weakness and evil, 
 let me but refer to a single instance. I allude to Attica, where there 
 were 536,000 souls, and out of them only 122,000 free citizens. And 
 where does the world look for the highest specimens of art, and taste, 
 and refinement — where for the loftiest and purest strains of poetry and 
 eloquence — where for the noblest and most exalted examples of arms and 
 patriotism, but to Athens ? Ours is a frank and bold system, that sus- 
 tains itself by open and undisguised power. And, let me say, that here 
 consists the great difference between the ancients and the moderns ; the 
 former were more open, frank, and bold — the latter have more ingenui- 
 ty, dup.icity, and cunning. The modern system of ruling classes through 
 the Government, and party ascendency, rests upon duplicity, bribery, 
 and fr lud. 
 
 Hence it is that there has not been, for the last hundred years, a statute 
 passed in Great Britain, professing to give equal rights and privileges to 
 the great mass of the people, whose preamble is not full of falsehood and 
 hypoc isy. Public men are trained up from the institutions of modern 
 societv, to practise deception, du|)iicity, flattery, and fraud, that one half 
 of socioiy may rule the other half. 
 
 Lo<)!v for instance to the State of New York as things now exist there. 
 We find an arlful, profligate, and daring parly, leagued together by mo- 
 
16 
 
 neyed corporations, by the distribution of offices, and the power and 
 terror of perfect organization, for the open purpose of swaying the poli- 
 tical destinies of the country. Sir, I solemnly believe that, for baseness 
 of purpose and in degrading means, no party has ever risen in any civil- 
 ized country to equal it, since the Jacobinic clubs of France held their 
 midnight meetings ; when no man dare whisper the secrets of his heart, 
 even to the partner of his bosom, without being arraigned under their 
 terrible inquisition. I appeal to the minority from that State, on this 
 floor, to know if they do not live under a system of political vassalage, 
 in which the dominant party openly spread out upon their banners " boo- 
 ty — booty !" " the spoils of victory belong to the conquerors !" and under 
 this vile standard, call upon their mercenary bands to gather into the plun- 
 der of a sacked camp. Sir, they preach democracy and universal equali- 
 ty to us, and practise political despotism at home. This is the cant, 
 duplicity, and profligacy of modern times. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : I owe perhaps an apology to this House for speaking 
 so plain ; but, sir, I have been taught from my father's board to disguise 
 no sentiment I entertain. I know I have uttered sentiments little 
 calculated to please those interests that now hold the destinies of the 
 country in their hands. I know^ that what I have said is ill calculated for 
 popularity in this country, but I speak the truth as I believe it to exist, 
 and ask no favors of any man or set of men living, save my own consti- 
 tuents. 
 
 Sir, it may be said that what I have uttered tends to disunion. I did 
 not come here, demagogue like, to talk about the glories and the bless- 
 ings of this Union. These stand recorded in the history of the country, 
 and need no feeble voice of mine to hold them up to the admiration of 
 the world. But, let me here say to gentlemen from the slaveholding 
 race. Beware ! beware ! unless, in your generous and patriotic attachment 
 to this Union-, you should find yourselves finally dragged down, and kneel- 
 ing in idolatrous w-orship before some idol made by human hands of the 
 present day. 
 
 That Union which springs from ambition and fanaticism — an unnatural 
 ofl'spring, begotten in sin and iniquity, foul and loathsome from its lep- 
 rosy — bloodshotten and bloated, from revelling in spoils plundered from 
 others — I scorn to love. Raise not up this monster-god, and call upon 
 me to bow doAvn and worship at its unholy and unhallowed shiine. I 
 disdain to do it. Give me that Union which springs from truth and vir- 
 tue — fair and comely in its form — in a bending attitude, with an out- 
 stretched arm, to raise the feeble and protect the w^eak — dispensing equal 
 political favors, and imposing equal burdens on all sections. Give me the 
 Union under the constitution — give me the Union that has borne our 
 stars and ow stripes to the remotest quarters of the habitable globe — 
 give me the Union that our fathers gave us, and I will pledge the last 
 droop of blood in my veins to vindicate and defend it — but no other Union. 
 
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