William Jay and the Constitutional Movement for the Abolition of SlaveryTuckerman, Bayard
History
William Jay and the Constitutional Movement for the Abolition of Slavery
Tuckerman, Bayard
Antislavery movements -- United States; Jay, William, 1789-1858; United States -- Politics and government -- 1815-1861
"4th. We believe the American citizens have the right to express and
publish their opinions of the constitutions, laws, and institutions
of any and every State and nation under heaven; and we mean
never to surrender the liberty of speech, of the press, or of
conscience--blessings we have inherited from our fathers, and which
we intend, so far as we are able, to transmit unimpaired to our
children.
"5th. We have uniformly deprecated all forcible attempts on the part
of the slaves to recover their liberty; and were it in our power to
address them we would exhort them to observe a quiet and peaceful
demeanour, and would assure them that no insurrectionary movement on
their part would receive from us the slightest aid or countenance.
"6th. We would deplore any servile insurrection, both on account of
the calamities which would attend it and on account of the occasion
which it would furnish of increased severity and oppression.
"7th. We are charged with sending incendiary publications to the
South. If by the term 'incendiary' is meant publications containing
arguments and facts to prove slavery to be a moral and political
evil, and that duty and policy require its immediate abolition, the
charge is true. But if this term is used to imply publications
encouraging insurrection and designed to excite the slaves to break
their fetters, the charge is utterly and unequivocally false. We beg
our fellow-citizens to notice that this charge is made without
proof, and by many who confess that they have never read our
publications, and that those who make it offer to the public no
evidence from our writings in support of it.
"8th. We are accused of sending our publications to the slaves, and
it is asserted that their tendency is to excite insurrections. Both
the charges are false. These publications are not intended for the
slaves, and were they able to read them, they would find in them no
encouragement to insurrection.
"9th. We are accused of employing agents in the slave States to
distribute our publications. We have never had one such agent. We
have sent no packages of our papers to any person in those States
for distribution, except to five respectable resident citizens at
their own request. But we have sent by mail single papers addressed
to public officers, editors of newspapers, and clergymen. If,
therefore, our object is to excite the slaves to insurrection, the
masters are our agents!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account