But in the only territories at this time belonging to the nation, the broad region of the Northwest, it was already made impossible, by the Ordinance of Freedom, even before the adoption of the Constitution.
Charles Sumner
The Public Record
Charles Sumner was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1851 until his death in 1874. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading American advocate for the abolition of slavery, and after the war he was a key figure in the Reconstruction era, during which he and other Radical Republicans successfully fought to end slavery and ensure basic rights for Black Americans. He continued advocating for racial equality until his death, lobbying in his final days for a civil rights bill that served as a model for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Historians credit Sumner with coining the phrase "equality before the law," which he first used as part of an early attempt to integrate Boston's public school system.
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In the States, as a sectional institution, beneath the shelter of local laws, Slavery unhappily found a home.
On the sea an execrable piracy, the trade in slaves, to the national scandal, was still tolerated under the national flag.
Then, indeed, was Slavery Sectional, and Freedom National.
Trial, struggle, and war were now ended, and the Union, which they first heralded, was unalterably established.
In the early days of the Revolution, in those darkest hours about Boston, after the Battle of Bunker Hill, and before the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen stripes had been first unfurled by him, as the emblem of Union among the…
At such time, and in such presence, beneath the unveiled heavens, Washington first took this vow upon his lips: "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my…
The Thirteen States stood forth a Nation, where was unity without consolidation, and diversity without discord.
The Constitution, slowly matured in a National Convention, discussed before the people, defended by masterly pens, was adopted.
In the spirit of Freedom the Constitution was formed.
This law is respected, and all rights under it are protected, by the Federal authorities; but the Constitution acts upon slaves as PERSONS, and not as property....
In any question under the Constitution every word must be construed in favor of Liberty.
Here, Sir, is the national heart, the national soul, the national will, the national voice, which must inspire our interpretation of the Constitution, entering into all the national legislation and spreading through all its parts.
Earlier than the Constitution was the Declaration of Independence, embodying, in immortal words, those primal truths to which our country pledged itself with baptismal vows as a Nation.
Thus distinctly and constantly, from the very lips of the framers of the Constitution, we learn the falsehood of recent assumptions in favor of Slavery and in derogation of Freedom.
Two questions naturally arise: If we ratify the Constitution, shall we do anything by our act to hold the blacks in slavery? or shall we become partakers of other men's sins?
But Slavery cannot be national, unless this idea is distinctly and unequivocally admitted into the Constitution.
By these declarations the Fathers speak as the Constitution speaks.
By the Preamble the Constitution speaks for Freedom.
They shut off from the Constitution every fountain out of which it can be derived.
Each and all make Slavery impossible as a national institution.
With electric might for Freedom, they send a pervasive influence through every provision, clause, and word of the Constitution.
The name Slave does not pollute this Charter of our Liberties.
Slavery, I repeat, is not mentioned in the Constitution.
It must be declared by unambiguous words, incapable of a double sense.
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