_First_, and foremost, is the _Preamble_. This discloses the prevailing objects and principles of the Constitution. This is the vestibule through which all must pass who would enter the sacred temple. Here are the inscriptions by which they are earliest impressed. Here is first seen the genius of the place. Here the proclamation of Liberty is soonest heard. "We, the People of the United States," says the Preamble, "in order to form a more perfect Union, _establish justice_, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, _promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty_ to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Thus, according to undeniable words, the Constitution was ordained, not to establish, secure, or sanction Slavery,--not to promote the special interests of Slaveholders,--not to make Slavery national, in any way, form, or manner,--but to "establish justice," "promote the general welfare," and "secure the blessings of Liberty." Here, surely, Liberty is national. _Secondly._ Next to the Preamble in importance are the explicit _contemporaneous declarations_ in the Convention which framed the Constitution, and elsewhere, expressed in different forms of language, but all tending to the same conclusion. By the Preamble the Constitution speaks for Freedom. By these declarations the Fathers speak as the Constitution speaks. Early in the Convention, Gouverneur Morris, of Pennsylvania, broke forth in the language of an Abolitionist: "_He never would concur in upholding domestic slavery._ It was a nefarious institution. It was the curse of Heaven on the States where it prevailed."[109] These positive words, in harmony with other things from the same quarter, show a vehement determination that Slavery should not be national. [109] Madison's Debates, August 8, 1787.