Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 05 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
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Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 05 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
Now, Sir, consider these words carefully, and you will see, that,
however plausible and velvet-pawed they may seem, yet in reality
they are most unjust and cruel. While affecting to initiate honest
proceedings for the formation of a State, they furnish to this
Territory no redress for the Crime under which it suffers; nay, they
recognize the very Usurpation in which the Crime ends, and proceed to
endow it with new prerogatives. It is _by authority of the Legislature_
that the census is to be taken, which is the first step in the work.
It is also _by authority of the Legislature_ that a Convention is to
be called for the formation of a Constitution, which is the second
step. But the Legislature is not obliged to take either of these steps.
To its absolute wilfulness is it left to act or not to act in the
premises. And since, in the ordinary course of business, there can be
no action of the Legislature till January of the next year, all these
steps, which are preliminary in character, are postponed till after
that distant day,--thus keeping this great question open, to distract
and irritate the country. Clearly this is not what is required. The
country desires peace at once, and is determined to have it. But this
objection is slight by the side of the glaring tyranny, that, in
recognizing the Legislature, and conferring upon it these new powers,
the bill recognizes the existing Usurpation, not only as the authentic
government of the Territory for the time being, but also as possessing
a creative power to reproduce itself in the new State. Pass this bill,
and you enlist Congress in the conspiracy, not only to keep the people
of Kansas in their present subjugation throughout their Territorial
existence, but also to protract this subjugation into their existence
as a State, while you legalize and perpetuate the very _force_ by which
Slavery is already planted there.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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