Such a principle, properly understood in its simplicity and just limitations, must find welcome in every Republican breast.

Reading it on the banner, I responded with joy: “‘Trust the People,’ and Might will no longer make Right, Government everywhere will be founded upon the consent of the governed, and Slavery will become impossible!

Studying the banner further, I found written above this fair device the names, “DOUGLAS AND JOHNSON.” And then I was saddened to see how here in Massachusetts a great principle of human rights is degraded to be a cover for the denial of…

Johnson, who is his associate, declares, in well-known words, that “Capital ought to own Labor,”--that is, that mechanics, workmen, and farmers, in fine, all who toil with hands, should be slaves; and this is the Popular Sovereignty which…

Sovereignty is properly limited by right; Tyranny is without any limit except force.

But when presented under the captivating device of “Trust the people,” its true character is concealed.

It is the Devil radiant with the face of an angel.

It is an apple of Sodom, fair to the eye, but dust and ashes to the touch.

Glance for one moment at the vast spaces which it would open to this mad conflict, and you will be awed by the immensity of the question.

And the simple question is, Whether this enormous territory, with this enormous population, shall be exposed to all the accumulating evils of Slavery, with their hateful legacy, at the mere will of the handful of first settlers?

Never were these time-honored maxims more applicable than in the present case, when such prodigious results are involved.

All experience shows that it takes very little Slavery to constitute a Slave State, and that Slavery, when once introduced, is most tenacious of existence.

Fellow-citizens, I deny this pretension in every respect and at every point.

I assert the power of Congress, founded on reason and precedent; and I assert the overwhelming necessity at this moment of exercising this unquestionable power.

Guardians of this mighty territory, the destined home of untold millions, we must see that it is securely consecrated to the uses of Freedom, so that it cannot be pressed by the footsteps of a slave.

The angel at the gates of Paradise, with flaming sword turning to every side, might be fitly summoned to guard this grand inheritance.

Not only do I assert this power, but I deny that sovereignty, when justly understood, has among its incidents the right to enslave our fellow-man.

And here is the vital question: Is there any such power incident to sovereignty?

And since the Declaration of Independence is invoked as authority for this new pretension, I shall bring it precisely to this touchstone.

Ascending far above the simple idea of National Independence, they made their Declaration an example to mankind, in two respects: first, as a Declaration of Human Rights; and, secondly, as an admission that the Sovereignty which they…

Here was a Declaration of Natural Rights, the first ever put forth in history, unless we except the declaration only a few months earlier in Virginia.

In England there have been Bills of Rights, beginning with Magna Charta, all declaring simply the rights of Englishmen, and all founded on concession and precedent.

Now came a Declaration of the Rights of Man, not founded on concession or precedent, but founded on Nature.

And this Declaration, though made the basis of the new government, was universal in application, so that people, wherever struggling for rights, have been cheered by its words.

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