At the head of her Declaration of Rights she solemnly asserted that all men are born free and equal, and in the same Declaration surrounded the liberties of all within her borders by the inestimable rights of Trial by Jury and Habeas…

Recent events on her own soil have taught the necessity of new safeguards to these great principles,--to the end that Massachusetts may not be the vassal of South Carolina and Virginia, that the Slave-Hunter may not range at will among us…

Here in Massachusetts a large majority concur in sentiment on Slavery,--a large majority desire the overthrow of the Slave Power.

Through this organization we shall secure the election of men who, unseduced and unterrified, will at Washington uphold the principles of Freedom,--and also here at home, in our own community, by example, influence, and vote, will help…

I might go further, and say that by no other organization can we reasonably hope to obtain such men, unless in rare and exceptional cases.

Massachusetts will do well in following Vermont, which by special law places the fugitive slave under the safeguard of Trial by Jury and the writ of Habeas Corpus.

Besides more rigorous legislation, Public Opinion must be invoked to step forward and throw over the fugitive its protecting ægis.

When, under the heartless Charles the Second of England, the Act of Uniformity went into operation, upwards of two thousand pulpits were vacated by the voluntary withdrawal of men who thought it better to face starvation than treachery to…

It is sometimes gravely urged, that, since the Supreme Court of the United States has affirmed the constitutionality of the Fugitive Act, there only remains to us, in all places, whether in public station or in private life, the duty of…

Yes, Sir, that is the assumption, which you will perceive is applied to the humblest citizen who holds no office and has taken no oath to support the Constitution, as well as to the public servant who is under the special obligations of an…

Now, without stopping to consider the soundness of the judgment affirming the constitutionality of this Act, let me say that the Constitution, as I understand it, exacts no such passive obedience.

In adopting this rule, first authoritatively enunciated by Andrew Jackson, when, as President of the United States, in the face of the Supreme Court, he asserted the unconstitutionality of the Bank, I desire to be understood as not acting…

Beyond these, it has the unquestionable authority of Thomas Jefferson, by whom it was asserted again and again as a rule of conduct.

But let me ask gentlemen disposed to abandon their own understanding of the Constitution, and to submit their conscience to the standard of other men, By whose understanding do they swear?

Surely not by that of the President: this is not alleged: but by the understanding of the Supreme Court.

The power of our Supreme Court is great, and its sphere is vast; but there are limits to its power and its sphere.

If the Court itself be not constrained by its own precedents, how can coördinate branches, under oath to support the Constitution, and, like the Court itself, called incidentally to interpret the Constitution, be constrained by them?

Not lightly, not rashly, will he take the grave responsibility of open dissent; but if the occasion requires, he will not fail.

I repeat, judges are but men, and I know no difference between the claim of power now made for them and that other insulting pretension put forth sometimes in the name of a king and sometimes of a people.

The whole dogma of passive obedience must be rejected, whatever guise it assumes, under whatever alias it skulks,--whether in tyrannical usurpations of king, parliament, or judicial tribunal,--whether in exploded theories of Sir Robert…

The citizen who has sworn to support the Constitution is constrained to support it simply as he understands it.

The citizen whose private life has kept him from assuming the obligations of official oath may bravely set at nought the unrighteous ruling of a magistrate, and, so doing, he will serve justice, though he expose himself to stern penalties.

In early colonial days, the law against witchcraft, now so abhorrent to reason and conscience, was regarded as constitutional and binding,--precisely as the Fugitive Slave Act, not less abhorrent to reason and conscience, is regarded as…

There is nothing good--not a breathing of the common air--which is not on our side.

Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.