JOHN Q. ADAMS.--"Nay, I may go further, and insist that that (the slave) representation has ever been, in fact, _the ruling power of this government._ The history of the Union has afforded a continual proof that this representation of property, which they enjoy, has secured to the slaveholding States the control of the national policy, and, almost without exception, the possession of the highest executive office of the Union."--_Speech in Congress, Feb. 4, 1833._ "Fellow citizens: The numbers of freemen constituting your nation are much greater than those of the slaveholding States, bond and free. You have at least three-fifths of the whole population of the Union. Your influence on the legislation and the administration of the government ought to be in proportion of three to two. But how stands the fact? * * * By means of the double representation, the minority command the whole, and a _knot of slaveholders give the law and prescribe the policy of the country_."--_Speech at North Bridgewater, Nov. 6, 1844._ JAMES K. POLK.--On the 12th of May, 1841, a resolution was introduced in Congress, to the effect, "That the President of the United States be requested to renew, and to prosecute, from time to time, such negotiations with the several maritime powers of Europe and America, as he may deem expedient _for the effectual abolition of the African Slave Trade_, and its ultimate denunciation as _piracy_ under the law of nations, by the consent of the civilized world." The vote on this resolution was 118 ayes and 32 nays; _James K. Polk voting in the negative_. (Cong. Deb. vol. 7., p. 850). Mr. Polk, since occupying the presidency, has pardoned two individuals, convicted in the courts of having been engaged in this trade. BURDENS OF SLAVERY ON THE FREE. The Presidency. Of the fourteen presidential terms, now expired since the formation of the government, eleven have been filled by slaveholders, one by a "Northern man with Southern principles," and only two by Northern men. The present incumbent is a slaveholder, sworn fully to do his utmost to uphold, and even extend the abomination; and most terribly he is fulfilling his vow, in the surrender of free territory in Oregon, and in a war of conquest for slavery in Mexico, at a cost of millions of dollars and thousands of lives. By holding the Presidency, slavery controls the cabinet, the diplomacy, the army, and the navy of the country. The power that controls the Presidency controls the nation. No Northern President has been allowed to serve more than one term. The Vice Presidency.