Carl Schurz

“ The shouts of the people, who cross the streets, shake the walls of the old quiet Quaker city, and from all hills, and out of all valleys rises the great word of promise to the skies, — All men free and equal! No, not even the broad desert of the Atlantic ocean stops the triumphant shout! Behold, the nations of the old world are rushing to arms! Bastilles are blown into the dust by the omnipotent cry as by the trumpet of Jericho, and like a pillar of fire by night, and a pillar of cloud by day, the great watch-word of the American Revolution shows forever the way to struggling humanity! ”

“ Those who endeavor to revive its original spirit by constructing its provisions favorable to human freedom, or those who, like Taney and Douglas and Buchanan, endeavor to destroy its moral authority by preferring to all possible interpretations, those that are most favorable to slavery and oppression? What is it, sir, that entitles the State-paper to the veneration of the people? Is it the mere name of a constitution? Is it the mere fact that it has been framed by wise men? Impossible — a constitution may constitute despotism as well as liberty ”

“ How many men were there in Congress at the time of the passage of the Missouri Compromise, who would have considered it possible, that such a thing as the fugitive slave law would be spit into the face of the North? And yet it was done, and you Northern Democrats called it justice. How many people, who acquiesced in that disgrace, would have thought it possible, that a few years afterwards all barriers to slavery would be broken down by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise? And yet, it was done, and the Northern Democracy called it Squatter Sovereignty. ”

“ And I assure you, sir, within the last past fortnight I have had an opportunity to ask scores of democrats, serious men, what are to-day the principles of the democratic party, and that question was to them a serious puzzle.
No sir, as a man, who has no principles, cannot be a moral man, so a party, that have no principles cannot be an honest party. It cannot escape from the grasp of corruption, for, if a political organization has no higher object, it will but serve the ambition and avarice of the few, who are the shrewdest and the most influential among them. ”

“ The constitution is not so cruel as to impose upon her lovers the sacrifice of their dear anti-Slavery feelings! The constitution takes you by the hand and shows you the path of progress — but you turn your faces away, you do not want to see it — it might injure the party. Slavery, then, must be national in spite of the manifest intentions of the Revolutionary fathers, in spite of the carefully guarded wording of the constitution. Slavery must be national. ”

“ Does the impossibility of the immediate execution of a principle preclude in a man the sincerity of its profession? Indeed, to me it is inexplicable, how a man of but a mediocre knowledge of American history can escape the conviction, that the signers of the Declaration of Independence, after having laid down the great principles of human Liberty and Equality, endeavored to introduce them into practical life by the only practicable way of gradual emancipation? ”

“ It is natural, therefore, that the purer that spirit of Liberty is visible in its construction, the higher the constitution will stand in the hearts of men, and that, when it is stripped of that sacred character, and is perverted into a pillar of slavery and oppression, it will cease to be the great authoritative arbiter of political controversies. ”

“ Yes sir, the next Democratic measure will be the throwing open of the gates of the Free States to the free ingress and egress of Slavery, and as the slaveholders will want their slaves to earn their living during their stay in the Free States, you will, perhaps, see the slave working side by side with the freeman on the beautiful fields of Pennsylvania, and on the broad prairies of Illinois, and Toombs will call the roll of his slaves under the shadow of the Bunker Hill monument, and the whole South will, if necessary, defray his expenses on subscription. ”

“ No, sir, our respect to the constitution has another origin, it is the fact that it has been made to be an impregnable bulwark of Liberty, and of the rights of man! The spirit of liberty which pervades it, is the only source of its dignity and of its moral authority. ”

“ The Free State men of Kansas, evidently a large majority of the inhabitants, then proceed to frame a Constitution of their own, and although this Constitution is adopted and sanctioned by a large majority of the inhabitants, that Constitution is called an usurpation and put down with the cry of Treason, for that constitution is anti-slavery. In spite of all this, and thanks to the heroic efforts of Northern freemen, it becomes evident, that the Free State men far outnumbering the proslavery party, Kansas will eventually become a free State, if squatter sovereignty be fairly executed. ”

“ Armed bands pour into Kansas and control the election by fraud and violence. A legislature is set up by the most atrocious violations of the ballot-box, set up by a bloody and lawless band of invaders, set up in defiance of the fundamental principles that rule or ought to rule the policy of this Republic — but that legislature is pro-Slavery, and though its criminal origin is manifest to all, the Democrats recognize in it the highest law-giving authority of Kansas. ”

“ Who may, therefore, be considered the true friends of the constitution, those who by liberal constructions build up for it in the hearts of the people a temple of respect and admiration, or those who prostitute it by their treacherous embraces and expose it to the just criticism — aye, to the contempt of an enlightened century? ”

“ Sir, it requires a prejudiced mind or a disordered brain to misunderstand the principles contained in that Declaration, but it requires the heart of a villain knowingly to misrepresent them. No man ever read the preamble of the Declaration of Independence without seeing and feeling that every word of it has been dictated by deep and earnest thought, and that every sentence bears the stamp of philosophical generality. ”

“ And this moment, dear, familiar faces rise before my eyes, faces on which once the sublime glow of genius and enthusiasm shone brightly, now tinctured with the lurid paleness of dungeon life, but within a restless fire devouring them; the burning desire of free activity, checked by the clanking of chains, almost driving them to madness. ”

“ And party drill and discipline is the only strength of the Democracy. Your leaders boast of it, and secretly laugh at your ever ready obedience. How tauntingly they assert that the Republican party is no party at all, because there exists a certain freedom of opinion in it, and the leaders can not rule the rank and file just as they please. ”

“ I have seen the great masses of noble nations brutalized by the blighting sway of absolute government. I have seen fond hopes dying, and noble aspirations turned into despair. I have seen blood spilt for liberty, spilt profusely, but spilt in vain. ”

“ O, my friends, you cannot imagine what electric thrill the word “liberty” sends through the heart of a man whose head is borne down by the leaden weight of oppression. You perhaps, have never measured the incalculable value of the treasures you possess. ”

“ It is in vain to endeavor to reform such a party by a mere change of persons. Though undertaken with good will and honest purpose, such a reform would hardly outlast the hour of its beginning. But if you can place that party again upon the moral basis of great moral principles, you will kill systematic corruption with one blow. Afterwards there may be corrupt men in its ranks, but it will no longer be a corrupt party. ”

“ Douglas whips in Pierce, the Nebraska-bill is made a test of Democracy, that is to say, nobody that opposes it, will have a chance of partaking of the sweets of public plunder under democratic rule, and there are the post-masters, and the mail agents, and the custom-house officers and the marshals and the whole host of federal officers, and you plodding after them in dumb obedience. ”

“ It is not the question how the public lands are to be disposed of; that has not yet become a party issue. Even in our State policy — there is neither a question of banks, nor a question concerning railroads before the people; the whole political struggle is narrowed down to two issues — the Slavery question, as far as the whole Republic is concerned, and the question of political honesty, as far as State politics are concerned. ”

“ Now, as to America, I wonder with what arguments Taney and Douglas and Buchanan will deny that the fathers of this Republic, when they said, that all men were created free and equal, went at the same time to work and endeavored to pave the way to gradual emancipation? ”

“ Northern Democrats will tell me that they are not responsible for what the pro-slavery Democrats in Kansas have done and are doing, they will tell me that Southern Democrats may be in favor of the universal sway of Slavery, and that Northern Democrats may be opposed to slavery. But do they not tell us at the same time, that the Democracy is the national party? ”

“ The constant necessity to help themselves, has developed their mental independence, and, inured to political strife by the continual defence of their colonial self-government, they have at last become familiar with the idea, to introduce into practical existence the principles which their vigorous minds have quietly built up into a theory. It is the theory of the Liberty and Equality of all men. ”

“ They stand on the threshold of a new era, and they know it. — The honest earnestness of a great determination is written on their countenances. Cautious considerations have long kept their enthusiasm in check, but now, conscious of their willingness to sacrifice everything for their holy cause, and conscious of the purity of their revolutionary idea, they shut their eyes against all dangers, and are ready to pass the Rubicon. ”

“ The philosophy of the 18th century counts many of them among its truest adepts. They welcomed heartily in their scattered towns and plantations the new ideas brought forth by that sudden progress of humanity, and, meditating them in the dreamy solitude of virgin nature, they enlarged the compass of their thoughts and peopled their imagination with lofty ideals. ”

“ But if sometimes in unguarded moments a cloud of general distrust in man rises within my heart, it is at the aspect of such gratuitous self-degradation, for which even error and ignorance can hardly serve as an excuse. ”

“ The constitution has been dragged down from the unapproachable region of infallibility, and has become a mere weapon in the hands of controversing parties, appealed to when it is expected to be of advantage, and thrown aside and despised, when not. ”

“ I know, it is in vain to speak to those democratic leaders whose consciences go with their fortune. They have, knowingly, gone so far, and they will go farther. — But let me speak to you, who have carelessly followed in their track. ”

“ There are your boasted revolutionary sires, no longer the greatest and noblest men of the age, no longer heroes and sages, but accomplished humbuggers and hypocrites who said one thing and meant another ”

“ A democratic authority says: “Such a right is a worthless right, unless sustained, protected, and enforced by appropriate police regulations and local legislation, prescribing adequate remedies for its violation.” ”

“ I have stated already that all the old party issues have become obsolete, that the United States Bank question, and the Tariff question, and all others have been disposed of, and that there is but one great national issue remaining, and that is that of Slavery. ”

“ I know I might receive the votes of a good many men out of personal friendship or sympathy, and it would perhaps be better policy for me to leave our opponents alone. But after the election it shall not be said of me that I have craved and obtained the support of one single man by concealing my opinions. ”