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revolutionary struggle, (and these are but few out of many,) can it be possible that these men, when they came to provide for the administration of justice, and the general welfare of the country, which they had rescued from the hands of an oppressor, could have guaranteed to any portion of this country that they would maintain within its borders a system that would be in violation of every principle they had heretofore professed, that they would guarantee an institution which many among their number had already denounced as one of the evils against which they had struggled, and the means by which that system was perpetuated has been termed by our government piracy? It cannot be ! We would renounce the thought. That many of them may have been mistaken in their views, and that they did not fully carry out the principles they had promulgated, or rather they did not enforce the carrying them out, we must admit. But, because we admit this, it is not necessary that we must deny them all desire, on their part, to have fulfilled all their obligations to their country and the world. They had a great work to accomplish ; they had much opposition to encounter, both from secret and open foes; and we must be thankful they accomplished as much as they did, and now help carry out their principles of liberty, either upon the foundation they laid, or upon others, which greater light in this later age may have thrown in our path. But, before we lay any other foundation than that that is laid, let us clear away the rubbish that has been thrown upon it, and see

if it is not sufficiently broad and well founded for all the purposes we would accomplish; and, if it is so, we may be saved the trouble and expense of laying another. For this purpose, we will go to the Declaration of Independence, the Confederacy, and to the Constitution. What is the distinctive character of each and all of these instruments? Without commenting on the explanation since given of the expressions on the subject of the equality of man, that they are but a "flourish of trumpets," what do they say?

CHAPTER III.

THE ARGUMENT DERIVED FROM THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, THE CONFEDERATION, AND

THE CONSTITUTION.

THE Declaration of Independence declares, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." Here, we think, are principles broad and comprehensive enough, and which, if carried out, would annihilate, and in fact, when they were adopted by the people of the United States as their opinions, and the reasons why they took up arms against the mother country, did annihilate, so far as words could, the whole slave system. That moment, every slave in the United States was

free; and, if our colored friends had taken advantage of the declaration here made, and laid in their claim to be included in the family of man, and as a portion of the people of the United States, we do not see, we cannot see, how their claim could have been disallowed by the men of that age. In fact, we believe the writer of these sentiments, seeing how utterly the colored man's rights were denied him, suggested to his mind the expressions here used, and he meant they should be broad enough to cover his case; and, unless we deny to him and the men associated with him the knowledge of the meaning of words, and of their bearing, we cannot get rid of the consequences; they meant every person in our country should be free. They made no exception to the African race; but, on the contrary, it is well known the person who wrote this declaration made the observation, that he trembled for his country, when he reflected that God was just, and that he could not take sides with us in such a contest as might take place between the oppressor and the oppressed. have seen what many of the most active men engaged in that Revolution have said; we know what was the action of the States north of the Potomac; and we must come to the conclusion that the people of that time both understood the meaning of the language here used, and meant to have the principles carried out to their fullest extent. In order to show that such must have been their intentions, we will go on and examine the Constitution, and endeavor to see how that harmo

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nizes with these sentiments; but, before going to that instrument, we will make a few observations on the articles of the Confederation.

The Confederation was formed at the commencement of the revolutionary war. It was a league among sovereign States for the purpose of repelling a common enemy; and, as it was formed in anticipation of an arduous contest, it is for the most part taken up in defining the powers of congress and the several States, as regards the preparations and carrying on of warlike operations, and in describing the powers of the several States, and that of congress in their action on this subject. They had just made their declaration of sentiments; it was for liberty. They had taken up arms; and it was for liberty. They were to be united; and we perceive this idea of liberty to be the prominent one running through this whole instrument. Without making any other professions than those they had made in the Declaration of Independence, they, in the first place, simply style the confederacy "The United States of America." Then each State was to have its own sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and all powers which were not expressly delegated to congress. It was a "league of friendship

with each other, for their common defence, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare," &c. And, "the better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different States in the Union, the FREE inhabitants of each of these

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