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Slaveholding Principles

Slaveholding Principles image
Parent Issue
Day
19
Month
May
Year
1841
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

We showed, last wee!;, thatat the South, uil laborers, throughout the earth, are accounted and dentod slaves, Another principio uatur.tfl flfcclose upon that, whioh is, that afl K not 0 j,uoe aUy vcice in making o!culing the lows.- Tliis folloHaas a matter ofcourse: ibr what hav slaces to do with logislaüon? Hear what iM'Duffiein his messnge to the legislature of South Carolina, in 1C36-7. "In the vcrv nature cf ihingp,there ttiüai bè classes of persöfts tn clUcKai-gd all ilife diflercnt offices óf SQCTöiy, froüi thé hi-ihest to t!ie lovvesi. Snme of theíb offices aro reardod as degraded, uiihoiih tliey must a.ïd wiil he pè'rformed. "lenco, tliosc líiárirfes'.t ibrrns of tlepénctèut serviHiile, whieh produce :i eensu ofsuporionl}' ni (fio miïstörs or ëlnpl iy'er's; and úí' mioríority on the part ff ihe'si.MVMrus. U'liere vhc.- .fKcc? ;uc perfjtrifned ly memhers of ine poüiica! commiVñiiv; daïiorousmeui is üDvioysiy introduced in(o the body politie. IIt;!!Ce, ilie iiWrming londencv to vio!a;e ihe rfclii? of prbperJy, hy ngran.'in legislaron", fthifcfi is begïttning to tíe ni,inlïgt m the cAiier States ivhenj universal surlrnije prèvaila without domestic slavery . Says I!r. Pickens, in his speech in Congross, Jan. 21, 1836, "If laborera ever obtain the poütical power of a country, U ís in fací, in a state of revolution," 4iBut let me say to goiillemen ho ie,,ivifcni Fltffgredt massiif the capitaHsts n tiie Nxjrth, beware that you do not drive us inlo a sopurnte sysifiin; fur if you do, as ccrfíiíii as tlie dcortics'-of heaven, you will bc contjpetied to oppcal to the. sword to maihtain yóiiñelvcs at home. h may noi .-'.):ne in yóurday, hu' yotir filiïtóren's'cliife dren wül bè Rovèred witH ihe blpötl öf dómestrc íactíons; and a pltindeVing mob, contending for power and conquesi." Again. Watkins Lcigh, ont" of the most distmgmshed slaveholding statesmen of Virgiuia, once a membe.r of ihe Uoited States Sonate, contended in 13ü9, in the Virginia Convention, that thnse who earn their bread by the sweat of their brow, in political economy, fill exaclly the same place as slavee. He furtlier snys: - ( "I Ikivc ns sincere a regard for that pcopi'e as miy nmri that Uves among tliem. 13ui I aslt genilemen to say wheiher thoy i)dieve thöse viio depend on their duili hbor for their diiily subsistence, can ordo ever enter hto'frólitjcaí nffuifá? Theynever do - never ivill - never can."We aak the citizens of Michigan, wlio "depend on tbeir daily labor for theirsistence," to think of these thinga attentfy ly, and mnke au application of tbe principie, llore luid down by slaveholding wisdom, t théir ovvil State, and their own individual circuinstaiices. Let us see what would bethe conditiou0f the working men of Michigan, if these elave. holding Doctors could be the suprema Legislators tbr tbis State. Mr. Pickens and Gor McDuffie were Demócrata, and Watkinj Luiorli, a WJiig. 1. There mnst be an alteration in the 80. cial relations of Ijfe. Thase vvho ere Dot 'empbyers or masters.' wLen they look up to heir erliployers, the capitaüsis, should do it vith a bec'oming "sense of their own inferu "■i'y;" una Ifaiè feelmg on iheir part must ba y a correspoiioujg onein the bteastsof the capitalists, "a senso of siiperiority over ftosè persor.s who are ao uufortuuate as to bó obi.ged to degrade" ihemselves andtheir fannl.es by manual labor. In olher vvords, Üiü poer should fee! that tliey are degraded because they are obliged "to labor wiih their o-.vn hand.;" whiie the rich, or the capitalsts, njoy jusily 9tand up and t,,ank God tliey are not as otJ.er men are-, uor even as tbese laboring pubheans, wfiom Providencehas so far snnfi down n the scale of beinr as to stamp on them tbe mask of inferjoritjr 2. U ibese slaveholders could k-gislatc for Michigan; thcy woulJ deprive of the privilege of yoting, and of holding nfïi. ni sw o, -.,. vi iiviuuiy uuice, arxi ot any connection with. "poliücal nffairs" or "the body politie,'" uil wbo "depend on their düüy lübor for their daily subsistence," vizAll the ugrieuituralists who have nol property euough to live without work. Tho nuaber oí those who live by agnculture, as nppoars by t!ie last census, is 57,79a The greater part of the tradeamen and manufacture who numbor 7,640 A part of those who live by commerce nnd navigation who ntuuber l,2io Trie wholegovernmentof the State would lien be in the hands of the members of the learned professions, who are in number 983, "nd ofsuch other individuals as mifrht ba ablc to live without manual labor, whomight amount, perhnps, to 5000 more. Upon this principie, úx thousond men would legislate Tor the whole State, while more than fifty Ihousand would be deprived cf all political privileges. Why? 1. Because they are "a dangerous element of the body politie," and their influence tends to "agrarian" legislation, and to a violation if the rights of properly."2 Because the in!erest8 of the employers r capitalists cannot be safo unless the persons employee] are excloded from all ehare in the government. 3. Becnnse those who subsist by daily labor are mcompetont to entor into the affairs of government,- "they neverdc- never wil!- never can." ÍJOW can the workingmen of Michigan opposesuch an argument? 4. Because the posere ofgoyernment Iegitunately belong to the capitalists or employers, and where they ore oossessed by the employed, or by working men, the Sta'te is .'in a state of revolution." That ie, no man has any right to exercise the powers of government bot on employer or capitalist, and noot her person can have possession of any officia! Ainctions, or can vote, unless it be by usurpation of powers which do not belong to him. Such are the principies by which the laboring classes in the slave States are governed and these same principies the elaveholdin statesinen would rejoice to see hrmgttig into snbjeolioii. and grindïnfv down to slavery, tho free working men of Michigan,.and of all tho free Statrs. U wül appear, by the rurthertestimony.we ehallpro(iuce,tbat these aentimentBareenter, tnined, pulilished ano acted out by the elaveholders througli ihe longth and breadth of the plave States, and that they govern and control iheentire legislalion of those States ;ii is noi strunge Umi, havingsuch feeling to wards the freemen of the North, they should treat thoir petilioiis with contempt and scorru What right have slaves to petition? What do Jaboribg men know about poütical affaire? We have reason to beleve that the PresiJe.nof the United Stntca sympatbises in all these abominable sentiments. Yet this man roceived from the North nearly a nwllion of líté votes of Northern freemen, by the far grcatr part of whorn are working men. In theirattachment to slavery, and tlieir contempt of Northern fieemen, both politica! parties at the South are perfectly united.- This isa matter ofgreat congratulación with t'iem, and by this union among themselves, and an adroit management of northern politicians, they have for a great length of time been able to monopolize most of the offices of govemment, and control the r.ational Iegislaiion at will.