The Liberator

SLAVERY.
From the Herald of Freedom.
TO THE SENATOR WHO THREATENED ABOLITIONISTS WITH HANGING.

Sir, I have heard, not without some interest, of the threat made by you in your place in the Senate, that if an abolitionist should come to your state he should be hung! Now, sir, you could not have done any thing calculated more effectually to advance the cause of 'equal rights,' or the abolition of slavery, than this felon threat. When slaveholders resort to such extraordinary means to prop up their falling system of 'whips and fetters,' it carries irresistible conviction to the minds of the reflecting part of community, that the system of American slavery is from its father, the devil. Were your 'peculiar institutions' in accordance with the doctrine of the Declaration; with justice, mercy and humanity, slaveholders and their abettors would never have resorted to brute force, to the outbreaking of lawless mobs, and to deliberate murder, to defend the system of slavery from the attacks of moral power. How, sir, do you imagine that you appear in the eyes of the world, declaring in the Senate of the United States, that should one who holds that 'all men are born free and equal,' and acts consistently with that belief, come to South Carolina, he should be murdered !! Thousands and tens of thousands in the free states, who have been hitherto opposed to interfering with those 'peculiar institutions' which enable certain thieves and robbers to live in splendid pauperism on the productions of unrequited toil, have been led by the exhibition of the same spirit which you manifest, to renounce their former opinions, and come out uncompromising opponents of your system of 'gags and thumb screws.' The southern members in Congress have done more to make abolitionists than the abolitionists themselves have done. Men have paused and reflected when they have seen Congress trample under foot the constitution 'as though it were a rotten parchment, not fit to be trampled in the mire;' when they have seen the respectful petitions of the people hurled back in their faces, they have asked, does slavery indeed bring to its aid measures so fatal to the liberty of the free? They have seen, sir, that the South are ready to sacrifice the liberty of the northern free laborers to the chains of southern slavery. The spirit of slavery, when no opposition aroused it, like an undisturbed hornet's nest, or a den of sleeping rattlesnakes, appeared quite harmless; but when justice and equity had roused it up, it began to show its stings and its poisonous fangs. Were the slaveholders conscious of the rectitude of their conduct; did a conscientious conviction of the justice of slavery ever attend them, the movements of the abolitionists would give them no uneasiness: feeling that their system was based on the immovable rock of eternal truth, they would fear no danger; they would be ready to defend it by arguments drawn from justice and truth. The slaveholders and their northern vassals, knowing that justice, mercy and humanity refuse to defend your 'domestic policy' of brutalizing your brethren, have defended it by brute force, trampling down order, constitutions and law in so doing. Sir, your system of slavery is clearly unconstitutional. Every slave now held in the United States is so held in direct violation of the constitution, and Congress has the power, by a declaratory law, to abolish slavery in all the states and territories where it now exists. There cannot be a shadow of doubt, that the very extraordinary position assumed by the slaveholding members of Congress, will cause an early exercise of the power of that body to abolish slavery throughout the Union. I have no doubt, sir, the day is very near when electors of both political parties, in the free states, will vote for no man to represent them in Congress, who does not concede to that body the power to rid the Union of slavery, and who is not in favor of an immediate exercise of that power. Sir, you and your friends, who hold their 'equal brethren' in cruel bondage, may foam and rave, but it is all in vain; for however desperate may be your determinations; although you may hold your victims with the grasp of a drowning man, yet the representatives of the free will unclinch your fingers. Although the medicine is distasteful, you must swallow it. It will cure your madness and restore you to a sane mind. Were none but the oppressors concerned, you might perhaps be excused from swallowing the nostrum; you might be left to eat the bitter fruit of your doings; but others besides you are concerned; for their sakes your best friends, the northern political doctors, will prescribe for you. While your delirium destroys the peace and happiness of others, it is more important that you should be cured than if the bad effects were confined to you alone. We have seen with alarm, that slavery has not only eradicated all the better feelings of human nature from the breasts of the despots, taken from the slave all that renders life desirable. but it has threatened to put to death the friends of equal liberty, while standing on constitutional ground !!! And although many members of the 'dastard house' from the nominally free states may have 'tacitly endorsed the threat, yet you may rest assured that the people are not so tame. They must soon 'give an account of their stewardship.' The 5th article of the amendments to the constitution says, 'Nor shall any person be deprived of LIFE, LIBERTY OR PROPERTY, Without due process of law,' i. e. trial by jury. Now, sir, there is not a slave in these United States who has been deprived of liberty by due process of law. Nor does the constitution confer the power on our courts even by due process of law to reduce a man to 'goods and chattels.' You will call to mind, sir, that those deprived of liberty by due process of law are not turned into merchandise to traffic in. As Congress possesses the power to abolish slavery in these United States, a due regard for our national honor, suitable respect for the doctrine of the Declaration of Independence, the law of justice, mercy, humanity, and the rights of man, require the earliest possible exercise of that power. A due regard for justice and the 'blessings of LIBERTY' to secure which to the people of the United States was the primary object in adopting the constitution, require us to give an unlimited construction to the article alluded to. If we limit its application to white citizens only, the object of ordaining the constitution will be but very imperfectly accomplished. Every better feeling of human nature indignantly forbids that it should be thus limited. If the footmen have wearied you, how can we contend with horses? If, when we have petitioned Congress for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, ye have acted like the inmates of bedlam, rather than like men of sober and sane minds, what will ye do when we petition for its abolition throughout the length and breadth of the Union? when we shall demand it in language not to be silenced or disobeyed. When that day comes, as it must come, you and your slaveholding friends in Congress may console yourselves that you have hastened the day of jubilee 'many and many a long year!' Yours respectfully, FRANKLIN.