makes Slavery impossible under the Constitution, he vainly tugs to drag down a luminary from the sky. The enormity of the pretension that Slavery is sanctioned by the Constitution becomes still more flagrant, when we read the Constitution in the light of great national acts and of contemporaneous authorities. First comes the Declaration of Independence, the illuminated initial letter of our history, which in familiar words announces “that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life, _Liberty_, and the Pursuit of Happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Nor does this Declaration, binding the consciences of all who enjoy the privileges it secured, stand alone. There is another national act, less known, but in itself a key to the first, when, at the successful close of the Revolution, the Continental Congress, in a solemn Address to the States, grandly announced: “Let it be remembered that it has ever been the pride and boast of America, _that the rights for which she contended were the Rights of Human Nature_. By the blessing of the Author of _these rights_ on the means exerted for their defence, they have prevailed against all opposition, and form THE BASIS of thirteen independent States.”[130] Now, whatever may be the privileges of States in their individual capacities, within their several local jurisdictions, no power can be attributed to the nation, in the absence of positive, unequivocal grant, inconsistent with these two national declarations. Here is the national heart, the national soul, the national will, the national voice, which must inspire our interpretation of the Constitution, and enter into and diffuse itself through all the national legislation. Such are commanding authorities which make “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” and, in more general words, “the Rights of Human Nature,” as the basis of our national institutions, without distinction of race, or absurd recognition of the curse of Ham.