The Moral Responsibility Of The Citizen And The Nation In Respect To The Fugitive Slave Bill PDF Download

Excerpt from A Sermon on the Duty of Citizens, With Respect to the Fugitive Slave Law That the object of this law is constitutional no one can doubt. The constitution does, beyond all question, recognize the right of property in Slaves, and it guarantees to every man the en joyment of his lawful rights. But it would be a manifest viola tion of such guarantee to allow men to be dispossessed of their property, whether in slaves or otherwise, contrary to the laws of the State in which they live. The very design of the con stitution is to secure equal rights to all, without respect to state lines Hence, if it recognize a slave as property, and that without respect to the place he may be in, it must uarantee unto the master the lawful possession and service of lfiis slave, wherever he can find him. The lawful claim of the master is not vitiated by the removal of the slave a certain number of miles, but in the eye of the constitution the slave is his, wher ever he can establish a legal title to him and it follows that the constitution must protect him in the enforcement of his claim, in whatever part the United States the slave ma be. It ao cordingly makes provisions that no person he (i to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another State, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such sen ice or labor may be due. The constitution does not create slavery it simply guarantees that the laws of one state shall not be an nulled by the people of another state, and that therefore a slave under the laws of one state, shall not cease to be a slave by the removal of his person into another state. It is to carry out this object ofthe constitution that this obnoxious law has been passed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.