John Quincy Adams has already remarked that in this much debated clause the laws of grammar are violated in order to assert the claim of property in man; for the verb “shall be delivered up” has for nominative “no person,” and thus the grammatical interpretation actually forbids the rendition.
Sumner references John Quincy Adams' critique of the grammatical inconsistencies in the constitutional clause regarding slavery.
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The devices of party can no longer stave it off.
According to recent calculations, its annual cost is not less than a thousand millions of dollars.
It is clear that the only question of present practical interest arises from the usurpations of the Slave Power and the efforts to extend Slavery.
Above all, welcome to the united regenerated Democracy of the North, which spurns the mockery of a Republic, with professions of Freedom on the lips, while the chains of Slavery clank in the Capitol!
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