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 University of Illinois Library 
 
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 } 1950. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 L161 — H41 
 
3-i \a 
 
 FOUR FETTERS 
 
 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THE 
 
 WORKING MEN IF AMERDOA. 
 
 “ Error of opinion may safely be tolerated , where reason is left free to combat it- * 
 
 In times like the present, when the working men of the country hold 
 its destinies in their hands, to wield them for good or ill, and when all 
 men, even bankers, brokers, speculators and non-producers of every 
 description, claim to be the exclusive friends of the laborer, it behoves 
 them to look about with enquiring eyes, and after proving all things, to 
 decide for themselves, who are their real and who their pretended friends. 
 To aid them in this work we publish the following letters from prominent 
 and distinguished men; and, that there may be no misapprehension of the 
 first, we give also that to which it is a reply. 
 
 Philadelphia, Aug. 20, 1840. 
 
 To the Hon. M. Van Buren, President of the United States : 
 
 Dear Sir — The undersigned, a portion of your fellow-citizens, request 
 your answers to the following queries — 
 
 Are you in favor of a Protective Tariff? 
 
 Did you vote for, or support a property qualification for voters in the 
 q Convention of New York? 
 
 o Are you in favor of reducing the standard of Wages ? 
 
 Whether you are in favor of the Secretary of War’s plan for organizing 
 I the Militia ? 
 
 These questions are not made for the purpose of unfriendly criticism, 
 <pbut only from a sincere wish to have your own views on these subjects. 
 
 Your Fellow Citizens, 
 
 ISAAC LIPPINCOTT, 
 
 WM. R. POTTS, 
 
 G. HAINES, 
 
 N. B. EVANS, 
 
 A. S. FERMAN, 
 
 JOSEPH FRAYER. 
 
 Direct to Isaac Lippincott, No. 210 Callowhill street. 
 
 Washington, Sept. 14th, 1840. 
 
 Gentlemen : — I have received your letter propounding to me several* 
 questions upon public subjects, and assuring me that they are not put for 
 the purpose of unfriendly criticism, but from a sincere desire to have my 
 own views on the subjects referred to. 
 
 In reply to your first and last questions, I send you a copy of a letter 
 
 :'0 
 
2 
 
 recently addressed to several citizens of Elizabeth City County, Va., in 
 which you will find the information you desire. 
 
 In answer to your second question, I send you a statement of my entire 
 course in the New York Convention upon the subject of the elective 
 franchise. It was prepared by my friends at Albany, having access to the 
 best means of information, of their own accord, without previous commu- 
 nication with me, and published there under their own signatures. Upon 
 a careful examination of this document, I find it contains a true and fair 
 exposition of my course in the Convention upon the subject referred to, 
 and I send it to you as such. 
 
 Your remaining question is whether I “am in favor of reducing the 
 standard of wages.” 
 
 Not comprehending precisely the idea you desire to convey by the term 
 “ the standard of wages,” it will be necessary in order to meet your 
 wishes fully, that I should give my general views on this branch of your 
 enquiry. 
 
 The labor of an industrious man is in my judgment only adequately 
 rewarded, when his wages, together with the assistance of those members 
 of his family, from whom assistance may reasonably be required, will 
 enable him to provide comfortably for himself and them, to educate his 
 children, and lay up sufficient for the casualties of life and the wants of 
 advanced age. 
 
 To accomplish these objects it is necessary that the pay of the laborer 
 should bear a just proportion to the prices of the necessaries and comforts 
 of life ; and all attempts to depress them below this equitable standard, are 
 in my opinion, at war as well with the dictates of humanity, as with a 
 sound and rational policy. Left to itself, and free from the blighting 
 influence of partial legislation, monopolies, congregated wealth and 
 interested combinations, the compensation of labor will always preserve 
 this salutary relation. It is only when the natural order of society is 
 disturbed by one or other of these causes, that the wages of labor become 
 inadequate. 
 
 The people of the United States may be truly denominated a nation of 
 laborers. — A vast proportion of them live by the sweat of their brow, and 
 the continued exercise of a persevering industry. It was with a proper 
 regard to this condition, that the system of Government under which they 
 live was originally devised. It should therefore, in my opinion, be always 
 so administered, as to insure to them, as far as possible, a just and adequate 
 reward for their exertions, as well as a full enjoyment of the fruits of their 
 industry. 
 
 In the distribution of wealth resulting from the union of labor and 
 capital, it is too often the case that an undue proportion falls to the share of 
 the latter. The discontinuance of partial legislation, which I have always 
 advocated, would be an important step towards correcting this inequality. 
 
 It has ever been my design to keep these objects constantly in view. 
 So far from being in favor of reducing the wages of labor, or attempting to 
 render the services required disproportionate to the rewards received, it 
 cennot be unknown to vou that what is called the ten hour system. 
 
3 
 
 oiiginally devised by the mechanics and laborers themselves, has by my 
 directions been adopted, and uniformly carried out at all the public estab- 
 lishments, and that this mitigation of labor has been accompanljd by no 
 corresponding reduction of wages. 
 
 I also caused it to be distinctly intimated in the month of March last, to 
 the officers of such of these establishments, as might contemplate a reduc- 
 tion of wages, that in my opinion, the present peculiarly uncertain state of 
 things, which it is believed results from circumstances that cannot be per- 
 manent in their operation, does not present a just and proper basis for a 
 reduction of wages. 
 
 I am far from wishing to contribute in the slightest degree to the 
 embarrassment and depression of the laboring classes . It is on the contrary 
 my most earnest and constant desire that their industry should every 
 where and at all times be amply rewarded, and that the blessings of plenty 
 should be liberally diffused among those who contribute most to their 
 production. 
 
 I am, Gentlemen, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 M. VAN BUREN. 
 
 Messrs. Isaac Lippincott, Wm. R. Potts, G. Haines, N. B. Evans, 
 A. S. Ferman, Jos. Frayer. 
 
 The second is from Marcus Morton, the Democratic Governor of 
 Massachusetts, and the candidate with Mr. Van Buren for re-election. It 
 is an answer to a question propounded to him by the working men of 
 Charlestown. Distinct and to the point as it is, it needs neither explana- 
 tions or commendations. We say, therefore, read it laborers, and judge 
 for yourselves. 
 
 Tatjnton, Aug, 20, 1840. 
 
 Gentlemen ; 
 
 It gives me pleasure to comply with your request. I entirely agree 
 with you, “ that each individual who possesses the right of suffrage 
 should know the views of the persons presented for his suffrage, on all the 
 important topics which agitate the community.” And although I have 
 not received the final nomination, yet my name has been connected with 
 the highest office in the Commonwealth, by such authority and in such 
 form, that I consider myself standing in a relation to the people, which 
 entitles them to my opinions on any subject upon which the official action 
 of the Chief Magistrate may have an influence. 
 
 While it is the duty of every government, and of every officer of 
 government, to endeavor by all legitimate means, to encourage industry, 
 to secure the rights and the enjoyment of property, and to ensure to labor 
 the products of its own industry and an adequate remuneration for its 
 services, the latter requires and should receive its peculiar care and especial 
 vigilance ; because the laboring classes are the most numerous classes, 
 
4 
 
 because they are the most useful, and because they stand in the greatest 
 need of protection. From the nature of their employments, from their 
 dispersed condition over the country, and from the impossibility of concert 
 of action, they have very great difficulty in asserting their just rights and 
 maintaining their due influence. Is there an inflation of the currency, the 
 hard-handed laborers are the first to feel the consequent rise of prices, and 
 the last to gain an equivalent in the increase of wages. Is there a 
 contraction or depression, they are the first to be thrown out of employ, 
 or to have their wages reduced. Is there a suspension of specie payments, 
 they are sure to be the greatest losers by the depreciated paper. Is there 
 an explosion of Banks, they are the last to be informed of it, and therefore 
 the most likely to have the worthless promises expire in their hands. 
 Every fluctuation, while it may be made to turn to the profit of the specu- 
 lator, is sure both in its ascent and descent, to bring loss and distress upon 
 those whose attention is engrossed by the pursuits of honest industry. 
 The wisdom of our patriotic ancestors foresaw these evils and provided 
 against their recurrence, the strongest safeguard the sagacity of man could 
 invent, in that provision of our excellent constitution which makes gold and 
 silver the standard and the basis of our circulating medium. 
 
 An all-wise Providence has created man with various capacities and 
 powers, mental and physical, admirably adapted, if rightly employed, to 
 supply the wants, to increase the comforts, and to promote the happiness 
 of all. It should be the highest aim of a good government to encourage 
 by every means within its province, the improvement of these faculties in 
 that way and to that degree, that will render them most useful ; and the 
 employment of all these powers in that sphere of action, to which they are 
 best adapted, and in which they will best contribute to the well-being of the 
 whole human family. For these ends, it should ever be the aim of 
 government to secure to each human being the fruits of his own toil, and 
 to make those fruits commensurate with the value of his contributions to 
 the common stock. 
 
 Knowledge is power. And there is always danger that those who 
 possess it, may add to it cunning, and take advantage of the less informed 
 and more confiding, to depress the value of their services, and to deprive 
 them of that proportion of the products of nature and art, to which by their 
 contributions they are justly entitled.— Wealth, not less than knowledge, 
 confers power. In this country, property, which should ever be held 
 sacred, draws to itself adventitious considerations and influence. It is to 
 its possessor, in too great a degree, a substitute for intelligence, virtue and 
 patriotism. Its functions, in ministering to the wants and promoting the 
 improvement of mankind, are highly important. But it may be used for 
 oppression as well as for improvement ; and when wealth and knowledge 
 and cunning are united, especially ifin hands not individually responsible for 
 their use, they possess a power dangerous to the rights of labor ; a power 
 too often used to destroy the freedom of mind, as well as to depreciate the 
 labors of the body ; a power stimulated by cupidity and made to minister 
 to ambition. To guard against the unrighteous exercise of such a power, 
 is a high duty of government, as difficult as it is important to exercise. 
 
5 
 
 Much cannot be done by direct action. It will evade laws and break 
 down barrier^ created for its restraint. The most wise and efficient mode 
 of checking its encroachments, is to raise by moral and intellectual 
 improvement the capacities of those upon whom its action is most unjust 
 and oppressive ; to enable them to resist or counteract its efforts. The 
 mind must be improved as well as the body. If the whole time is devoted 
 to the labors of the body, the cultivation of the mind will necessarily be 
 neglected. Encouragement therefore should be held out for the improve- 
 ment of our moral, intellectual and physical powers. — But this must depend 
 mainly upon the laborers themselves. Much, very much, may be expected 
 from their independence, their moral firmness, and their self-respect. 
 They must never forget the moral, religious and political equality of man- 
 kind ; nor the consequent obligation upon each individual to prepare him- 
 self to perform his equal part in the affairs of the world. They must 
 remember the responsibility which rests upon each one, to be governed 
 by the convictions of his own mind, undismayed by wealth or power, 
 uninfluenced by appeals to passion, or unmeaning parade. 
 
 But much may be done by government, and much by public sentiment, 
 to promote a proper tone of thought and action on these subjects. — Each 
 laborer is a freeman, and has a right to labor as many or as few days, and 
 as many or as few hours in each day, as he may judge right. And no 
 human power has a right to decide for him, how much or how little he 
 shall labor. This he must decide for himself, upon his responsibility to 
 his God. Government might, if it was expedient, determine how many 
 hours should be deemed a day-’s work, as well as determine how many 
 quarts shall be called a bushel, or how many pounds a ton. But it cannot 
 properly establish the price of a day’s work, or coerce individuals to 
 perform more or less than a day’s work in a day. 
 
 But while a great proportion of laborers should be left to regulate the 
 time of labor as well as the price, for themselves, as with their employers ; 
 there are certain branches of industry, and extensive and important ones, 
 too, where, from the number employed together, and the nature of the 
 business, there must be established regular hours of work, to which all 
 employed must consent to conform. In all such cases, by mutual consul- 
 tation between laborers and employers, such hours should be established, 
 having due regard to the interests of the employers, as will promote the 
 health, the comfort, and above all, the moral and intellectual improvement 
 of those who do the work. And I believe it is a great mistake to think, 
 that in this respect their interests oppose each other. Ten hours , with 
 fresh and vigorous muscles, and a clear and intelligent mind, will accom- 
 plish more and better work, than fourteen with a body languid and 
 exhausted by long continued efforts, and a mind rendered dull by the 
 lassitude of the body. If this be so, the employed might, even without 
 injury to their employers, have the residue of the day for reinvigorating the 
 system, for social enjoyment, and for the improvement of their mental and 
 moral powers. And probably ten hours labor a day is as much as the 
 human system is capable of, consistently with the proper preservation and 
 improvement of all its faculties. Where therefore the nature of the busi- 
 
6 
 
 ness requires that uniform hours of labor should be estaonsneu, more than 
 ten hours a day would seem to be unreasonable. I must therefore say, 
 in answer to your direct inquiry in relation to “the introduction of the 
 ten-hour system” into the United States service, that it meets my entire 
 and cordial approbation. While it will be highly beneficial to the work- 
 man, it will not, in my opinion, be unfavorable to the interests of the United 
 States. 
 
 This system, as it acts upon a very inconsiderable portion of the laborers 
 of the country may be thought to be unimportant. But the establishment 
 of a standard measure of a days work may grow into a general usage and 
 extend over the country, so as to govern many kinds of labor. And a 
 usage, which would give to laborers several hours of each day, for innocent 
 recreation, for friendly intercourse, and for the cultivation of their moral 
 and intellectual faculties, would tend to improve the health, the social 
 feelings, the intelligence and virtue, and the general happiness and real 
 respectability, as well as the efficiency of the laboring classes. 
 
 1 am, Gentlemen, with great respect, 
 
 Your friend and fellow citizen, 
 
 MARCUS MORTON. 
 
 To Messrs. Oliver J. Conant, President; Wm. D. Butts, Vice 
 President; Albert M. Simpson, Secretary; Phillip B. Holmes, 
 Corresponding Secretary; of a meeting of the Mechanics and Working 
 men of Charlestown and the neighboring towns. 
 
 The third is from a source no less eminent. It comes from a mind free 
 from the influence of political ambition — from a man whose whole life has 
 been devoted to the promotion of peace on earth and good will among men. 
 Prominent in a body whose vocation is the advancement of “ peace and con- 
 cilation,” his friends invited him t to participate in a public festival, the 
 following is his reply. Those who are familiar with the productions of 
 Bishop England might recognize it, brief as it is, had he not affixed his 
 signature to it. 
 
 Columbus, July 25th, 1840. 
 
 Gentlemen, —1 have been honored by your invitation to attend, on 
 Tuesday next, at the feast to be given in honor of certain distinguished 
 citizens of Georgia and Alabama, by the Democratic citizens of Muscogee 
 county. 
 
 Generally speaking, I think it would be more prudent for me to unite 
 with my fellow citizens only at the ballot box, in using my right as a 
 member of the Republic, to approve or to censure the conduct of those to 
 whom we entrust the guardianship of our liberties. On the present occa- 
 sion I feel the additional force of a monition given by my brethren, at the 
 last council (a few months since) upon this very subject, in a pastoral 
 letter. I trust, then, that my respectfully declining your invitation will 
 not be considered as wanting in courtesy to you. The body to which I 
 
7 
 
 belong, professes to be one of peace and conciliation ; should its members 
 unite actively with political parties mutually opposed, while each declares 
 that it seeks only the prosperity of our Republic, their capacity to promote 
 peace and conciliation would be at an end. 
 
 You will feel that the influence of such a ministry of good will, would 
 in your present state of excitement, be useful if not necessary, and I am 
 sure you will approve of the determination by which I am bound. I think 
 however, I may venture to say that the best remedy for our present 
 unfortunate position, is to be found in preferring industry to speculation, 
 labor to cabal, economy to ostentation, patient and persevering frugality to 
 dissipation. I therefore consider that man who aids in making our lands 
 productive, to be our most useful citizen ; I regard the laborious, well 
 conducted mechanic, as preferable to the speculator in stocks, or to the 
 usurer. The former creates the wealth of a nation, the latter endeavors 
 to get it into his possession under the pretext of its management. I also 
 believe that our Federal Government has had as little influence in produc- 
 ing the present distress in our states, as I had in producing that which 
 afflicts Europe ; and that it has as little power to alleviate that distress as it 
 has constitutional right to interfere with its causes. 
 
 Some of our most eminent citizens have expressed deliberate opinions 
 widely differing from mine. I have given full consideration of their reas- 
 oning but cannot come into their conclusions. In one point, however, I 
 should hope we could all unite ; that laying aside unkind feelings, bitter- 
 ness, strife and mere partizan attachments, we should endeavor to bring 
 back our habits of good republican simplicity ; and zealous for our country’s 
 good, endeavor, by the peaceable process of the ballot box, to place in the 
 administration of our government those citizens, whom, in the presence of 
 God, we should conscientiously regard as the best qualified to promote the 
 general good, by the sacrifice of predilections, by preserving us in peace 
 and safety in our domestic relations, in our sacred homes, and maintaining 
 us in full possession of our rights, having our commerce untrammelled by 
 monopoly, by sectional preferences, or by facilities created by the use of 
 the public purse, and by sustaining us in our strength by having the bond 
 of our Union most firmly interwoven by our affections, so as to secure to 
 us the respect and confidence of the world abroad. It is the good of our 
 country which requires that we should endeavor to unite all our fellow 
 citizens for this desirable object. Let us endeavor, by affectionate inter- 
 change of views to effect it. 
 
 Believe me to be, with sentiments of high esteem, your obliged fellow 
 citizen, 
 
 t JOHN, Bishop of Charleston. 
 
 To John H. Howard, Esq., Chairman, and the other members of the 
 Committee of Democratic Citizens, Muscogee County. 
 
 The fourth, and last, comes to us as a voice from the mighty dead. 
 It was written by the father of our country, George Washington, to 
 Thomas Stone, a Senator in the legislature of Maryland, and as truth is 
 
8 
 
 eternal, knowing neither change nor the shadow of change, its maxims 
 apply as well to paper mpney and its baneful influences at this time, as 
 they did in 1787. The letter will be found on page 231 of the 9th volume 
 of Spark’s life of Washington. 
 
 Mount Vernon, Va, 16 February, 1787. 
 
 Dear Sir : — Your favor of the 30th ult. came duly to hand. To give an 
 opinion in a cause of so much importance as that which has warmly 
 agitated the two branches of your legislature, and- which from the appeal 
 that is made, is likely to create great and perhaps dangerous divisions, is 
 rather a delicate matter , but as this diversity of opinion is on a subject 
 which has, I believe, occupied the minds of most men, and as my senti- 
 ments thereon have been fully and decidedly- expressed long before the 
 Assembly either of Maryland or this State was convened, I do not scruple 
 to declare, that, if I had a voice in your Legislature, it would have been 
 given decidedly against a paper emission upon the general principles of 
 its utility as a representative, and the necessity of it as a medium. 
 
 To assign reasons for this opinion, would be as unnecessary as tedious. 
 The ground has been so often trod that a place hardly remains untouched. 
 In a w r ord, the necessity arising from a want of specie is represented as 
 greater than it really is. I contend that it is by the substance, not with a 
 shadow of a thing, we are to be benefitted. The wisdom of man, in 
 my humble opinion, cannot at this time devise a plan by which the credit 
 of paper money would be long supported, consequently, depreciation 
 keeps pace with the quantity of the emission, and articles for which it is 
 exchanged rise in a greater ratio than the sinking value of the money. 
 Wherein, then, is the farmer, the planter, the artisan, benefitted. The 
 debtor may be, because, as I have observed, he gives the shadow in lieu 
 of the substance, and in proportion to his gain, the creditor or the body 
 politic suffers. Whether it be a legal tender or not, it will, as has been 
 observed very truly, leave no alternative. It must be that or nothing. 
 An evil equally great is, the door it immediately opens for speculation, by 
 which the least designing, and perhaps most valuable part of the commu- 
 nity, are preyed upon by the more knowing and crafty speculators. 
 
 But contrary to my intention and declaration, I am offering reasons in 
 support of my opinions ; reasons too, which of all others are least pleasing 
 to the advocate of paper money. I shall therefore only observe generally, 
 that so many people have suffered by former emissions, that, like a burnt 
 child who dreads the fire, no person will touch it who can possibly avoid 
 it. The natural consequence of which will be, that the specie, which 
 remains unexported, will be instantly locked up. 
 
 With great esteem and regard, 
 
 I am, dear sir, &c., 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Democratic Union Tracts No. 11.