Yet
these States are, in population, numerically weaker than those of the
North, and inferior, to a far greater degree, in wealth, intelligence,
and the other elements of political power. They are strong only in the
compactness of their union, while the citizens of the free States are
divided in interest and opinion. Here, then, is presented a distinct and
legitimate object for those of the abolitionists who regard their
political rights as a trust for the benefit of the oppressed and
helpless, to combine the scattered and divided power of the North into a
united phalanx, which shall wrest the administration of the Federal
Union from the slave-holding interest, and shall purify the general
Government from the contamination of slavery, by reversing its general
policy on that subject, and by the adoption of the specific measures
before mentioned; while, in the States in which they respectively
reside, the abolitionists feel it to be their duty to exert themselves,
to wipe away from the statute book every vestige of that barbarism which
makes political, civil, or religious rights depend upon the color of the
skin.
Pages:
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327