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8
of the system which they were about to establish, gradually to
remove the sore. They made a mistake. That sore has
spread, and proves a corroding ulcer. For the sake of gaining
the security to freedom in all the other provisions which
have been specified, they unwillingly assented to one aristocratic
condition, which gave to a small number of whites, in
the slave States, a disproportionate share of political power,
on account of their property in their fellow-men. That single
aristocratic condition has, from its commencement, worked
unmixed evil to the Union. It now bids fair to overturn
and destroy all the safeguards of the constitution. It bids fair
to make that instrument a mere nose of wax, with which to
accomplish the selfish purposes of the class whom it protects.
The policy of the United States has been and is to make
slavery flourish under the constitution. Mr. Stiles says it
has succeeded-thus far. Perhaps so. But it is as yet barely
established. The victory has not been gained without a
struggle. And the last act yet remains to be done-the annexation
of Texas-before it can be said to be beyond the
reach of danger. This once accomplished, it will not be difficult
to foresee the consequences, as it respects any hope of
effective counteraction on the part of the Free States.
One of the least of these consequences is war. War with
Mexico, certainly-with Great Britain, probably. Let the
people reflect upon these matters well. For to them the result
is of no trifling importance. J. war to protect slavery
against the civilized world, is the ultimate point of degradation
to which a nation, boasting to be free, is likely to be
driven.
Let us however now consider still more closely the assertion
of Mr. Stiles, and let us ask ourselves whether the constitution
of the United States is what he leads us to infer it is,
only a stupendous fraud upon mankind. He affirms that its
object was to guarantee the existence of a state of domestic
slavery in the Union, and that whenever that object should
be made to cease, the constitution mnst cease also. We
should not rest upon the argutnent of this individual, if we
did not know that in it he represents the sentiments of the
great mass of the people in the Southern States, who really
believe that slavery is an inseparable attendant of our free
institutions. We may wonder at the strange nature of the
inconsistency committed by men who profess themselves to
go to the extreme of democracy in doctrine, but such is yet
the fact. Our business is rather with what is, than with what
ought to be. The Legislatures of Virginia, of Alabama, and
of Louisiana, as well as the House of Representatives at
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Adams, Charles Francis. Texas and the Massachusetts Resolutions, book, January 1, 1844; Boston, Massachusetts. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2355/m1/8/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .