By Dr. Bangs. [The doctrine laid down in the Declaration of Independence is utterly incompatible] with the system and practice of slavery in our country. Instead of all men being "born equal," thousands are born every year, under the aegis of our constitution, who are by the laws of the States in which they are born, disfranchised the moment of their birth until the day of their death of all the rights and privileges of freemen--that neither their "life, liberty," nor "the pursuit of happiness" is in their own power--that "the government is not instituted by their consent," nor does it "secure their rights"--nay, they are reared in such total ignorance that they know but little more of the laws which govern mankind than the beasts of the field--and all this exists in republican America, where our fathers fought and bled for freedom, and where we claim an enfranchisement from European and Asiatic despotism. In this instance, then, the fundamental principles on which the fabric of our government is founded, are contravened by those individual States which not only tolerate slavery but prevent emancipation by those stringent regulations which bind the slave to his master, put him completely in his power to dispose of as he may please, and which deny the validity of his oath in all courts of justice where his master is a party.
This is a blot upon our national escutcheon which I am most anxious should be wiped off, that every State in the Union may present a harmonious conformity to the constitutional compact which binds us together, and under the protection of which every citizen may enjoy the rights and privileges of a freeman; that the despotic governments of the old world may no longer have any just cause to reproach us for our inconsistency between profession and practice--that while we profess a love of freedom we continue to bind the slave in perpetual vassalage--that while we profess to hate tyranny, we exhibit the attributes of the tyrant in our conduct towards the slaves. This view of the subject addresses itself to us as American patriots. While it protests against all those acts of violence which brought the African to our shores, in spite of his own and the remonstrances of the colonists, it pleads with all the force and eloquence of political consistency, for an abrogation of those State laws which make the condition of the slave so irksome and hopeless;--that our constitutional compact may appear consistent throughout every part of our confederated republic, and that every citizen, whether black or white may have it in their power to say,--I am free! I am a free born citizen of the Uniied States of America.--Zion's Herald.
